2011 – Rock & Roll – 7-5-11 – OUTDOOR ARENA TRAINING

7/5/11: Rock and Roll did well today, however, Rock had problem with his back just in front of the croup. It appears to be out of alignment and we scheduled the chiropractor before his next massage on Thursday, July 7. Rock was standing flat on both hind feet during grooming in the tack barn, but exhibited a little soreness in that hip when in motion and stopping in the sand of the arena. He tends to be lazy through the pattern now and even though we raised the poles to 4-2” poles, he still dragged his hind feet over the top of the last 2 rails, so I decided to ground drive him to exert more pressure for impulsion. He seemed to need a very heavy contact on both lines to keep him from overreacting in the beginning, but he softened by the end of the lesson. It worked well once he figured out what I wanted. Rock backed VERY well about 8 steps.

It was a hot day so I skipped the walking pattern with Roll and went straight to his exercise tin the round pen. He walked 5 rotations at walk, then trot each way. I then attempted to move his hind feet backward with a touch from the whip, but it send him forward in fear. A couple of times and he finally got what I was asking and automatically set up square when I touched the forward hind foot. It seems he always wants to stop with his left hind forward. That would be in keeping with the tendon injury on his left hind and stiffness through his right hip from compensation. When turned back to pasture, Rock and Roll had one of their little spats over the treats! Rock thinks Roll is fat enough!