The Huey Diaries: Free Lunge, and Groundwork 101 ...

Well, Huey's been in the paddock for about a week now, doing nothing but eating gourmet food - so, I decided it was about time we had a little lesson.

I grabbed both him and Red from the paddock, and walked up to the arena, one in each hand. We came to a bare patch of dirt where an old shipping container used to sit. Huey walked over without a care in the world, Red, on the other hand, decided to flip out, rush over it, and subsequently knock me over it the process. That was fun. Anyway, Red went into the roundyard while I worked with Huey in the arena.

I took his rugs off and gave him a good brush down first - then picked up all 4 feet. He only has 1 shoe left one - and it's a raceplate; specifically designed for pacers. Interesting. The farrier has gone AWOL, so it seems I have to find another one ASAP - Huey's feet desperately need doing. I popped a lunge roller on him (no side reins), and he reacted slightly to the girth, but nothing major, and nothing after that when I was tightening it. I also popped some nice support boots on him. He has a few nasty cuts/scratches on his hind legs (that are healed more or less) and an old wound that's got some proud flesh on it, so I didn't use any rear boots on him today...
So we move away into the centre of the arena. We worked a little bit on:

Leading - He's fine at this. Moves almost immediately from pressure; forward,back and to the side.

Yielding - He's actually very responsive. Will move away from pressure, and took a few very nice steps to the side, ala sidepass/leg yeilding beginning

Flexing - To either side. He's a bit stiff, but willing.

Lunge - He has no clue, however, by the end he could walk a circle to either side, and if he stopped, I'd give the whip a wiggle and he'd generally move on. I say generally, because he's obviously never done this before and was a wee bit confuzzled.

And finally, free lunging. I want this to have it's own bullet points, as I have noticed some more interesting things from just watching the way he moves. This is what we did:

Started free lunge with lunge roller/boots on. He looked quite stiff in the hip, and was 'popping' on his hind legs, and flicking his quarters into the air. Not pig rooting, just popping ... As he moved a bit more, all I could see was the strange action from his hindquarters; he even let out a couple of bucks. Not sure at this point if it's a pain issue, or he was reacting to the lunge roller.

So, I called him in, removed his gear (boots and all), then sent him back out. No popping or bucking. Nothing. However, he still moves strangely .... I'm still undecided as to whether or not this was a reaction to the roller/or a pain issue - will investigate this further.

However.....Watching him; He's using his back-end in a very exaggerated way - he's on the diagonal, but he's using his back end the same way he would when he's pacing/racing. Very high, very wide action. Not to mention very strange!! Not sure I've never seen a horse trotting on the diagonal, but using his hindquarters with the same action as a pacer before.

He also thought ROLLING in the sand arena was a great idea! hehe. Cute. If my gear wasn't on him at the time, haha.

Conclusion after the free-lunge session: I'll be doing basic groundwork only with him over the next couple of weeks ... when he's put on enough weight, I think I'll start a lunge routine with the roller/side reins.... as well as alot of trot poles and perhaps cavaletti work ... At the moment, I think he's so hung up on race movement, that it's causing some discomfort, not to mention weakness, through the hindquarters/back/hips... I think if I encourage roundness and softness, and build up that topline, he'll move more freely and correctly... That, and I'm going to get a chiro out, just incase...

I'm betting money he went straight from the races or from full work training to the sales and was picked up from there - then he came to me..... 1) His last race was June this year. (according to his freezebrand records) 2) He's still wearing raceplates. 3) His action is pace-racer through and though - I've NEVER seen it quite like that though..... I think I've managed to track down the name and number of his previous trainer - I do believe I'll give him a call and see if I can piece some more of Huey's puzzle together.

He's a real sweetheart - love scratches and brushes (but turns into demon-horse at dinner time) ... He's very calm. He's alot calmer than Red, so I think getting him going under saddle is going to be even easier than Red (and Red was no trouble at all) ...

Okay, piccy time!!