Bryan Hooper

Columbus, GA, United States

Lucas Truax Much better.  Still on anti inflammatory but is back to be great partner.  We're slowly working up to trotting. He has a little difficulty transitioning from firm to a soft surface so we're doing some short light training and then trail walks. Thanks for asking. 

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Richard Boatwright Finally got a full wellness check and X-rays. Some wear on his right rear tarsal bones.  A bit of treatment and meds.  Looking forward to first (very light) ride with him Sunday. 

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Richard Boatwright    Good checkup with the vet. Was due for dental but that wasn’t the issue. Looks like strained right (primarily) hip, left is a little tight but more pronounced on the right. Good news is he is recovering well, relatively quickly, and getting behaviorally back to normal; though I am not riding him yet. I think the injury may be from working in an area with very soft and relatively deep sand which affected his footing.

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Richard Boatwright I do take him out on trails and am getting him introduced to cattle slowly. Based on yesterday I made an appointment for a vet check.  He's dragging that foot a bit more and has a pretty good chip in his hoof from doing that.  Think there's something going on with right rear leg. The bit chewing/ constant mouth action is back without me even touching the reins. 

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I’ve been working with him for over six months. I essentially restarted him because he had so many holes in his training. I used the snaffle bit basics series to help with this. Lately, we’ve been working on roll-backs and smoothing out setting up the lope and transitions. I don’t see any changes in his demeanor until I am mounted. I did notice lunging yesterday that for the first time he was dragging his right rear toe a little at a trot to the left. No resistance to trotting, but a slight drag. He did have a little protest when trotting right but got over that quickly and no toe dragging. Thanks much.

Didn’t video it yet…need to charge the Pivo. I did try a basal yesterday. No more constant mouth action (not really a surprise), no resistance to moving in a particular direction but still heavy resistance to trotting. 

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24 Sep 19:52

Looking for a little advice. My 6 yo has become a little fractious lately. Great attitude from the ground, including at liberty. No issue saddling and he takes the bit without any prompting.  We’ve had a few changes at the barn and between that and weather I have not been riding/ training as often as usual (2-3 times per week vs 5). He has started resisting right turns (head down and pulling, tail twisting a bit). I’ll make going to the left more work and he’ll return back to the right for a bit and then the struggle begins again (slight rearing and protesting). He’ll also trot a few circles when asked but after a few will start to tighten up a bit and lope. I’ll bring him down before he gets too tight and things get a little interesting. Throughout this, I’ve noticed he is constantly working his mouth and I mean constantly.  He doesn’t have a foamy mouth, and I like to think I’m giving gentle cues, but his mouth doesn’t stop. The bit is a D-Ring snaffle with a full bridle. I’ve made a dental appointment and well-check but looking to see if anyone has any  other advice. I am going to take a video of the next ride to see where it starts to shift.

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Richard Boatwright Thanks for the advice.  Quick turnaround with no drama.  

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Richard Boatwright Thank you very much.  Will follow up on how it goes.  

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Thanks for the quick reply, sir. I think I have a drape in the reins and am using less hands and more legs and seat but maybe I need to record myself and see what leads up to the protest. The only time I’m consciously pulling on the reins is when he goes for a snack (there’s grass in the small arena where we work).

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