After trying out some lateral work with Joey, I have discovered that he is very stiff and ‘straight’. He doesn’t seem to be able to move his hindquarters sideways as easily as Copper does, and I can feel a lot of stiffness through his back, which would explain why he ‘locks’ up his shoulders a lot!
I’ve been so focused on forwards with him that I’ve forgotten about sideways and suppleness – thus the reason why circles unbalance and slow him down, and why he gets stuck on bending. His corners are still good, which fooled me into thinking that his suppleness and flexibility where ok, but that is not the case.
He seemed to be able to leg yield a lot more easily in a trot than a walk, so we definitely have a lot of work there. Joey can bend and flex around my leg through his spine and back – so we can do 10m voltés and serpentine down half of the arena, but like I said – his hindquarters are not as activated as they need to be.
When asking for a leg yield it’s like your tapping against a wall – there’s no response and no softness. He just doesn’t get it. Yet!
Lots of lateral home work for him!
And yes, the lateral walking warm up helped with our forwards and trot work. (=_=); (Well, no duh Bonita!) Loosening up his shoulders, back and hind end meant that we could finish with some lovely forward trot and some quick walk/trot/walk for five strides/trot transitions. He does a great stretchy trot after all that hard work I can tell you. (>u<)
See ya,
Bonita
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