Have you ever wondered why horses spook at certain things? It's all about their sensory soundness. Sensory soundness refers to a horse's ability to process and respond appropriately to stimuli, such as sounds, sights, and smells. It's important as it can impact their behaviour and performance.
Or in this case, Roger’s sensory unsoundness. I’ve been videoing our sessions to watch our progress and this little snippet shows what I talk about when I talk about my red pony. While I’m actively working with him, asking him to focus and stay with me, he travels around really nicely. You’ll notice about the 15 second mark where I pull back my intention and we become disconnected. He had the full impact of the rest of the world hit his senses and he couldn’t process it.
Watching Lulu walk after the shoe package was applied was night and day to the way she moved before the trim and shoes were applied. If you haven’t seen the before video of her walking then go back and have a look so that you can notice the differences.
Her off side front foot (left) lands flatter. Her near side foot (right) also lands much flatter without the same movement in her coffin joint. This foot breaks over easier, there is less leverage forces on the foot and leg and this lets the leg travel straighter.
Continuing on with the assessment we did of Lulu, we watched her move at a walk on concrete to determine how she was landing and loading. We call this a dynamic assessment.
We aim for a flat landing, medially to laterally, to ensure that the forces through the leg are balanced and not putting additional stresses on boney structures or soft tissue.
When we watched her move from in front her near side foot landed medially and she broke over the lateral toe pillar. We can see that we need to remove leverage from her medial toe pillar and that the leg is moving quite dramatically to try and get out of its own way.
Her offside front foot landed laterally and also broke over the lateral toe pillar. It’s common for toed in horses to break over the lateral toe pillar. Where the knee faces is where the foot will break over.
Putting the static and dynamic assessment together gives us lots of information as to what the best thing we can do for the horse in order to improve function; we want to reduce leverage and balance the forces on the hoof capsule and leg as much as possible.
Lateral: outside of the foot
Medial: inside of the foot
‘Shame dies when stories are told in safe places’ -Ann Voskamp
I wasn’t going to share this but why not!? It’s messy and isn’t our best work but… we are doing it. Showing up and trying our best.
A few weeks ago I had a bit of an incident riding that rocked my confidence a little. At the time it shook me but hadn’t put much thought into it. I didn’t fall off but it was enough to trigger my brain back into some of the terrible habits it has. I’ve avoiding riding. I’ve avoided cantering. I’ve buried my head in the sand a little and didn’t notice when I held my breath every time I rode.
This week I have kicked my own ass. Back into lessons. Back at the gym (have a listen to the podcast about confidence and the connection between moving our bodies and riding confidence). Back riding every day.
Tonight was the first night cantering in a while outside of lessons. It was messy. I held my breath. Roger objected. But we got there.
The best little red pony 💕
A person’s (or horse’s) startle response is directly proportional the the amount of tension that they were holding before the startle.
I was explaining this to mum this morning as I rode around on my little pony who was spooking at the monsters in the bushes. I was driving home last night listening to Jane Pike’s Podcast Confident Rider, this point really resonated with me, even though I’ve heard Jane talk about it before.
This means that the more relaxation we are able to achieve the less dramatic the spook or reaction from horse or human will be. It’s the reason I let Roger have a canter on the lunge this morning before I got on. We all have our own little rituals that keep us sane in life.
This video is definitely not from this morning and is not overly relevant to the topic but how cute is the little red rocket? 💕
My last two for the night were two of my absolute favourites! Little Noah and Floyd are the most adorable and well behaved weanlings you have ever met ❤️ They just make my heart melt.
📸 @steph_yarralearidingponies
Tonight I rode my little Rocket. Absolutely stunning weather for a ride. We have been working the horses late in the afternoon so that we miss the hussle and bussle of our new arena being built.
@hockingnorman stole our stirrups but that didn’t slow us down 🤣
There is something so fascinating about watching the way a horse takes off and lands as it walks.
This little mare isn’t the most straight forward horse to trim but who doesn’t love a challenge 😍
Cheraton Caesar’s trim before he heads to the Australian Ridden Welsh Championships. Wishing him and his lovely rider all the best❤️
.
@cheratonstud
Days off are for ponies! Today we went Cross Country at Tooradin Estate with Penny Johnson Eventing
Larry was a good boy. I am not very brave but I didn’t die or fall off. The mosquitos 🦟 at Tooradin today were absolutely horrendous and very distracting.
Larry and I are home! We made it through about 60km this weekend. I’m having an early night and will update you all tomorrow about our adventures.
