something is wrong with my horse

[gottaloveanimal]

so i have a Belgian Draft Quarter horse cross and he is 15.3 hands and he is a bit stocky but i have seen that gelding run like there is not tomorrow but only when where on trials and on a certain hill that is flat with a bit of height so it is not steep and he goes really fast but let me get back on track here he only runs fast when he sees a hill and i'm fine with that but i do gymkhana on him (barrels, pole weaving, putting a golf ball in a cone with a hole cut in the top and putting it in while on the horse) and i'm going slow and i'm going through a trainer thing right now i has one trainer for a year and then i got another trainer for 4 months and last week i switched to a new trainer and so far in looks like he is a great one! but haas is doing fine and back to what i was saying he does not want to run fast in a arena in my 3 trainers agree he has a lot of speed in him but he does not want to let it out and if a give him a whip on the butt he goes but he lops in place for a bit so with him it is either run and keep running or walk and trot not both and what i realized is that he does not want to extend his legs and body all the way he does not short stride but he always extends the same amount if he is really slowly loping or if he is going really fast so what i'm trying to say is where do i massage/stretch him i have a book about horse massage and a book about stretching out horse mussels and i have 2 massage mitts with the magnetic balls so how do i tell him to give it his all when i'm in the show ring and how do i find out what is bugging him is it my other his name is toby and he can be REALLY annoying but there in 12x12 stalls but we like to turn them out together in a arena so toby is a TN and he scratches his head on haas's butt but when haas cracks and he tells toby to back off toby things he is the big stallion of the group and rears and waves his hooves in the air but haas cares about toby so he lets him and backs off so he does not have to hurt toby but me and my dad both have whips to make sure they don't hurt each other.

btw i'm 11 haas is 11 and toby is 10





this is haas and me with my old/first trainer

 

[cassie]

I can't help you, but will he extend himself if no one is on him and if he is running loose in a pasture?

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

What do the trainers think?

A few things I would do:

The stretching is really good. Make sure he is also well warmed up before trying to run him. Just like humans, horses need to be warmed up and cooled down.

I would check your saddle fit and rule out any back pain. Bad saddle fit and back pain is a big deal for horses and can definitely cause issues under saddle (hesitation, bucking, head throwing)

I would check his feet. Have the trainer or a vet/farrier look at him to rule out any lameness.

I would also check his teeth. Make sure the bit fits him correctly and is not overly harsh. Also be sure he doesn't have any ouchy parts in his mouth causing him to be hesitant in the arena.

I agree with Cassie. If he is extending himself in the pasture when he runs but not in the arena, there may be something physical or just training wise that is preventing him from running. Remember that some horses just don't like to run in arenas. I had a horse for years that was just lazy. Gymkhana is not for every horse, but I would rule out the other things first before settling on the fact that he is just being lazy or doesn't want to run in an arena.

 

[gottaloveanimal]

i do not have access to a pasture and there teeth got done a month ago and there hoofs got done 2 weeks ago and i pick there hooves before and after a ride and if they feel off i will get of and check there hooves and if i'm at an all day show i pick there hooves after each event and there are 6 events each show

btw thanks for all the help and please keep it coming

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Where are you located, here in Wisconsin where we have lots of Lyme disease even horses get it. If it's in your area you might want to have him checked for it.

Otherwise I might think he has a back problem.

 

[gottaloveanimal]

i live an hour down or so from LA in laguna hills

 

[Bunnylady]

Let's see if I understand your problem . . . . .

You say that when your horse has all the room in the world to run, he can really rock and roll, but when he's in a confined space, he doesn't get anywhere near his top gear?

One thing that nobody has specifically mentioned (though Chickerdoodle went this direction) is that Haas may not be suited to scampering like a bat out of you-know-where in an arena. He's a big, solid boy, and with that draft breeding, it going to take him a while to get rolling. Even if the Quarter Horses in his background were cutting horse bred, Belgian bones and muscles are not engineered with agility in mind. He's not built for quick acceleration/deceleration and changes of direction; if he tries to hustle too much, he might wind up wrecking, and he doesn't want to do that. Even if there is nothing physically wrong with him, draft horses are generally pretty smart, and he may just not see the point in stomping on the accelerator just to slam on the brakes two strides later. He may prefer to be careful rather than fast, and no amount of bullying is going to make him go all out (can you tell I'm used to working with a mule?) There are stretching and limbering exercises you can do that may make him a bit more comfortable and willing to try, but there's a reason that the horses that do well in speed events are usually on the small side - they are naturally more nimble.

Muscle is not created equal. People who specialize in sports medicine talk about "fast twitch" and "slow twitch" muscle fibers. They are structurally different; what an athlete is good at depends on what kind they have more of. A person with a lot of fast twitch muscle fibers would be good at sports that need quick reflexes and fast reaction times - something like table tennis, maybe. Someone with a lot of slow twitch muscle would be better at endurance events like running marathons. While I suppose a draft horse might have a lot of fast-twitch muscle (pulling competitions are timed events, after all) I would think that they'd more likely be endurance athletes.

 

[gottaloveanimal]

thanks and you made me realize that i think my first trainer is why she told me if he did not stop the second when you ask him to stop you pull on the rains really hard i mean thats not exactly what she said but thats what i thought back then but now i have learned to really sit deep in the saddle to stop and then hank on the rains but not full power just so he gets the idea to stop the first time then i ask and i will not pull on the reins. so what parts of his body should i focus on stretching and massaging the most to make him feel better to run and make him to be more willing to go faster?

 

[cassie]

One thing to consider is that he just may not be a suitable horse for what you want to use him for. Kind of like trying to stuff a round peg into a square hole. I used to ride drafters and mine liked to have a lot of room in which to maneuver.