Horse Conditioning

Photo by Ty Holland

I realized today that we have a lot of horse training to do. I have three that need to be reconditioned and several more that need training of one kind or another. Last night I had a riding school class for the new recruits and we worked on lead changes. We had all kinds of problems. Not because the students didn't understand, but because the horses were not cooperating. I tried to demonstrate lead changes on the Wonder Horse who refused to take up a right lead--except once--grudgingly. Likewise Kidd and Journey were not playing nice and I'm not sure what Cochise was doing. Cochise would take the correct lead every time but was otherwise not responding to cues. Of course, the 45 mph wind gusts may have had something to do with the problems we were having.

Today I debated trying to work with the Wonder Horse and lead changes--which is what I really wanted to do--or do some conditioning work with Charlie. I decided to save Apache for tomorrow and work on Charlie today. Charlie has what the mil vet calls "body wall defects" which look and feel like hernias but apparently aren't. They are supposedly common after colic surgery. It feels like little bubbles on his belly along where the incision was. I have decided to improve Charlie's muscle tone before allowing him to do the heavier work so his "body wall defects" don't turn into real hernias. I may be overly cautious in this but it can't hurt.

As always, Charlie starts out slow. I'll walk him around the track one time then push him into a trot. Charlie's initial trot is one that is designed to expend as little energy as possible. You can sit it for hours if you needed to but you won't get anywhere very fast. After a while I pushed him up to a slow canter and then brought him back into a trot. I try to work on his down transitions as much as possible because he has trouble with those once he gets fired up. Sure enough, after working through a series of gait changes he started to get a little riled. He gets irritated when he decides he wants to gallop and I make him trot or walk. Then, when I go back to a canter, he starts to "gallumph." A term I use to describe an intentional, excessive rocking of his back during a canter designed to bounce me out of the saddle. "Gallumphing" is Charlie's way of getting back at me when I won't let him do what he wants. It is similar to a child stomping his feet. Of course, I take him back down to a trot and then try again until he canters nicely. It takes a few tries but eventually he gives in and plays nice. Hopefully, some of the other troopers and ladies will help Charlie by taking him on some trail rides to strengthen him as he still looks like a horsehide bag of potatoes. We will need him full up again by summer so we need to get to work.