re-round pens and shoulders

["John & Sue Greenall" <greenall@vermontel.com>]

The over/under development of the shoulders is a function of the 
hindquarters.  A horse that "crabs" in one direction only will end up 
unsymetrical in the shoulder.  One of my favorite pastimes  on CTR is 
to ride behind various horses and watch how they place their 
hindquarters.  Arabs especially.  "straightness" is a mythical place 
that riders want to go, but horses seldom do.  I suppose in the wild 
it was not such a big factor as it is when a horse is asked to carry 
a saddle and rider and perform as we ask.  A really "talented" horse 
can work in a round pen and still not bend correctly.  I have a horse 
who I must have in a slight right bend, even going left, to keep him 
straight.  Can I do that for 100 miles-I doubt it.  But ring work and 
awareness might help him in the long run.  I had a horse with a club 
foot behind and he compensated by travelling crooked.  Great horse, 
terrific hunting horse and jumper and did do well, for a while, in 
distance.  But the asymetrical shoulders became very obvious when I 
asked for more speed and distance (won some 50's and BC's even) and 
he could not hold up under those tests.  Interestingly, he is now on 
the junior jumper curcuit and the shoulders are less obvious.  
John and Sue Greenall
mailto:greenall@vermontel.com
http://www.vermontel.com/~greenall