Читать книгу Finding the Missed Path. The Art of Restarting Horses онлайн

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To be fair, he would have been fine just the way he was as far as being able to do the job we had gotten him for, which was to simply be an extra horse for the movie, should we need him. But he was such a nice horse that it was clear he not only could do better than he was, but he could surely feel better. And it was the feeling better part that we were particularly concerned with.

Rusty seemed to have a fairly strong foundation already. The only problem, if we want to call it that, was that everything he did was pretty mechanical and void of the kind of suppleness that allows for ease of movement. It was clear that much of the mechanical feel to his movement stemmed from his past training and handling, but some of it also came from some physical issues he was dealing with.

You see most any horse ridden or handled with rigid hands will develop defensiveness and rigidity in his response. That rigidity of response was most certainly present in Rusty. But a quick look at Rusty’s conformation and movement when he wasn’t under saddle also added to his story. He had muscle atrophy at the withers and behind the scapula, along with a large white spot on his left side just behind the scapula, both of which are indicative of having been ridden for a long time with a poorly fitting saddle. He also had some atrophy in his topline and flanks, usually a sign of teeth problems.