01/29/2021
Did you ever wonder why, suddenly, your horse "goes lame"? The Mystery Lameness? No trama ever occurred, no slip, no bad landing, no kick mark from a pasture mate, but somehow, one day, seemingly out of the blue, your horse has a head bob or a dragging hind foot.
The crazy thing is that the head bob sometimes is a result of months and months of us, the riders, being unbalanced in our own bodies and in the saddle as well.
Spend enough time riding your horse this way, and sometimes our horses will begin to compensate for the riders lack of stability and unbalanced position.
If you've taught or observed enough riding lessons in your life, you're probably lucky enough to know one of those magical, saintly lesson horses that will actually swerve to get back under a new rider that has lost her balance, or just stop completely, so the rider can adjust.
Imaging hiking in the mountains with a backpack that is loaded with the majority of the weight on one side. Each mile gets more and more uncomfortable as you continue to readjust the pack on your aching back. By the end of the day all of your joints are screaming, and if you carry that same backpack everyday you'll soon start walking with a hitch.
The Sainthood of that great lesson mount might just as well be a result of experienced self preservation!