http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zMvQxjYDE ... This is a brand new video of Zip schooling WP. Every few months I take another video and compare it to old ones, and usually I post them here just for unbiased opinions. I'm overly critical of my own, and I do have help from a trainer, but I've gotten a few good suggestions/comments in the past that are helpful so I figured I would try it again:). This isn't to start a WP debate or anything; I assure you this horse can gallop and jump when asked. But WP is what we focus on. Any comments/suggestions regarding his performance in that aspect are welcome. The problem areas this summer (and now) are that he gets lazy and doesn't want to engage his hindquarters or his head/neck come up at the lope. He has days where he does it great and days where he still struggles with it, but I know it's an issue.
And if you're bored and want a comparison, here are the older videos. Any comments regarding changes/improvements/regression since these would be great. My goal is for him to progress, regardless of how slow, and I certainly don't want him to go backwards.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1xIjIvOO ... - late July 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iob_h_5jG ... - early July 2010 (big horse show, so may not be completely accurate!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=12xAOS0cd ... - May 2010
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbJ-ltYnB ... - March 2010
Your horse looks like a very quiet, pleasant "pleasure" to ride. He looks pleasantly obedient, and looks like he likes his job. I like his level neck, but I think he is avoiding using his back by rooting his nose out to balance himself. He has a great split in his hocks, the inside one comes way up inside, but he drags the outside one too much, as you noted. If he was mine, I would ride him in a snaffle (probably the dreaded twisted wire, or a somewhat thin mouthpiece), and really DRIVE him up into himself. The "harsh" bit would keep him from leaning;). Gentle hands are important here, of course. Lots of stop and roll back would drive him up under himself too, especially if you were diligent to do it EVERY time he dragged. Remember "make the right thing easy, and the wrong thing hard," if he gets lazy, make him work.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com Riding WP is like riding dressage, but on a draped rein ..... its quite a challenge, isn't it?
Ed to add: Please, this is not to start an arguement, everybody had different opinions, thats what makes it a horse show, but .... I disagree with the comments that the jog needs to be more short strided, or up and down. I do agree with slower, but there is a little too much knee action already, IMHO. As he gets stronger and more collected (gently) his legs will hopefully move slower and flatter. Before I wrote this, I went back and looked at my bench mark horse, Ona Good Impulse, I think you have referred to her too, and she is definately low and slow at the jog, and she just won her 4th congress title, including 3 in a row at Select WP. I sure agree about the poster in reference to the perfect lope departure. If the departure isn't perfect, there is almost no way to get it back, but I didn't notice any bad departures.:)
He seems to have a hard time holding the gait, and he always breaks on the right hind leg. This makes me think that you are sitting with most or more weight on your right seat bone or butt cheek. When looking at you from behind, you are shifted to the right in the saddle. (very, very slightly only!)
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com Try moving your seat to the middle of the saddle (we're only talking less than an inch) and keeping equal weight in your seatbones. Especially in the canter/lope, your weight should shift from outside to inside seatbone with each stride. This will help him keep the gait.
Even in the jog, you are sitting harder on your right seat bone; I would bet if you checked your saddle you would find a deeper dent in the right side. This is really common for right handed people to do; we are stronger on the right whole side and abdomen, not just the right hand and foot.
first thing i noticed is that his jog doesn't seem consistent. its really hard to get it consistent, but it can be done: D he also looks a little flat in his jog, like he is plodding along, you want his back to round, and for him to push in his jog, but still stay slow.
if you don't have a perfect transition into the lope, you should NEVER let him continue to lope. every time he tosses his head into the air, even if it is a little flip, stop him back him up while bumping his head down , and ask for the lope again.
pets question and answers,www.5d2d.com horses can be lazy at the lope, but its your job to push him up, not him to be expected to hold his frame 100% of the time if he is still having trouble. what you need to do when you feel him getting flat, is to add more outside leg. push him up and into the bridle. as soon as you do that, he will round his frame up, and drop his head. this may take a few tries to perfect, and if he doesn't put his head down, hold your outside leg on him, and bump him until he breaks at the withers, not the poll.
