# Dixie



## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

Hi friends. Feeling at home enough here that I thought I might start a journal on this snowy morning.


Dixie is my new (as of Christmas, 2018) mare. She is a 17 year old Tennessee Walker, my first gaited horse. Being an old gal, 68, and not real brave anymore, I bought Dixie for her seemingly gentle temperament, not for her gait. She (hopefully) replaced my 19 year old Morgan mare that I'd had for 17 years, who passed last fall. 



I got to ride Dixie on a trail before I bought her and she seemed nice enough, but her footfalls were "clompy". Since I know nothing about walkers, I thought, maybe this is normal, I'll get used to it. I did, however, notice her plattered out feet first thing, but I was as yet naive to the consequences. this is where I waived the prepurchase exam and bought her.


When I got her home, I soon discovered the source of the clomping. Dixie was landing toe first strongly in all four feet. The toe would hit, then the unextended joints of the foot and leg would "snap" down as the heel hit the ground. Her strides were long, and she wasn't "ouchy" in the sense of walking on sharp rocks. Just these clacking joints. There was no limping nor hesitation to move.



This is where I experienced an extended fit of hysteria. I'd just purchased my last horse and she was ruined. I am already supporting a freeloader, so this brought my world crashing around my ears.


Once I recovered, I had a good look at her feet. She was practically walking on the hairline, her heels were so run forward, and my first move was to bevel toe wall and wedge back a good half inch! It took me some time to realize that the quarter walls needed the same treatment. Her bars were badly curved outward. I was on the hunt for information about long toe/low heel treatment, and found everything from opinionated bloggers to fatal prognosis by vets. 



Hoping that there is no lasting damage within the hoof capsule, Dixie is about six weeks on the road to recovery. 



What has been fascinating has been watching Dixie's heels literally "uppen" from within. How else do I describe it! Each entire hoof still needs to move back and regain solid connection, but the heels have raised themselves off the ground and her quarters are developing an arch. Since her soles are also thin, she sports modified hoof boots during the day (that bring her breakover back) and is on shavings/mats at night. I can't afford to let her get a bruise and an abcess! She walks about 95% or better normal in the boots now.


We have spent our time getting to know one another and getting our communication going. I've ridden her at the walk in the arena a handful of times for a few minutes last week. She is very sweet and VERY smart, perhaps just a little jumpy on occasion, but the more she takes possession of her new circumstances, the more relaxed she is.


In the first hoof picture, I had already backed her toes up, two weeks before the picture was taken. 



Oh, Dixie's back is also lacking muscle, so this is another objective. Her right forefoot toed out really badly at first, but given the apparent quality of her breeding, and based on my previous experience with painful hooves and muscle atrophy, I have simply taken for granted that these issues are due to compensatory movement. Her foot is already straightening out, doing nothing special about it, and I expect other physical changes for the better as her foot pain diminishes.



Anyway, this is our beginning. Thank you for reading!


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

Nice looking mare. How tall is she?


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## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

wow! signifcant difference in those two photos! I don't know much about hooves, but I can sure some improvement.


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

whisperbaby22 said:


> Nice looking mare. How tall is she?



Thank you. She is about 15.1


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

tinyliny said:


> wow! signifcant difference in those two photos! I don't know much about hooves, but I can sure some improvement.



I've actually taken a picture every other week, and it looks as though she's got a tiny air pump attached to her heels! LOL!


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## WalkTrotLope (Jan 4, 2019)

She's cute! Looks a bit like my Dixie


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

JuliaWhitehead said:


> She's cute! Looks a bit like my Dixie


Aww, too cute!


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## AnitaAnne (Oct 31, 2010)

She is really cute and looks much younger! YAY that you can still ride her as her hooves undergo rehab. 

She looks like a GEM


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## rmissildine (Feb 1, 2019)

Huge improvement... We have TWH, a 12 year old mare and 8 year old gelding. They are very gentle and responsive. A joy to ride...


The hoof work appears to be working, shouldn't be to long before she's back to her old self...
Keep us posted...


Roger


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

AnitaAnne said:


> She is really cute and looks much younger! YAY that you can still ride her as her hooves undergo rehab.
> 
> She looks like a GEM



Thanks! Her airplane ears in this picture give her a bit of a goofy look. LOL! Here is a pic of the lax muscles in her back, which makes her look not-so-young. Although the day I first saw her, I actually thought her back had "dropped" some. I believe this is from pain/incorrect movement and will improve as her hooves (and the tissues inside them!) continue to heal. So I'm not real sure I'm very smart to sit on her this early. Better to just take walks in hand. 



My eyeball wants to believe her back is improving. When I first got my half draft, his whole shoulder girdle was skeletal. Because he didn't "limp" it took me a long time to discover that his hooves were deeply infected with thrush and white line disease. This is what turned me into a hoof geek, since all my "professional support" people failed utterly to recognise the problem. And we don't know about these things until they smack us upside the head for the first time. Once his feet healed, his whole shoulder girdle and topline filled out and his front legs stood farther apart.


This is my first experience with the consequences of long toes and low, underslung heels. The photographic progress has been pretty gratifying, as well as seeing Dixie move so much more naturally!


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

rmissildine said:


> Huge improvement... We have TWH, a 12 year old mare and 8 year old gelding. They are very gentle and responsive. A joy to ride...
> 
> 
> The hoof work appears to be working, shouldn't be to long before she's back to her old self...
> ...



Thank you Roger! I'm looking forward to our first trail ride together!


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## humanartrebel1020 (Nov 12, 2018)

Wow that's much better. How uncomfortable poor girl. Good luck!


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

*Dixie Update 2-17-19*

Dixie sends greetings!

I think the visual drama of Dixie's heels remodeling is about over. Now it'ts the long slog of growing down well connected hoof walls and getting those hooves under the bony column where they belong. I can only detect about 3/8" of tight new growth below the hairline, so it will be months. In the meantime, she's moving real well in studded boots and pads.

I'm going to disclose that I use some Parelli stuff, so prob'ly if you don't resonate with that, maybe Dixie's story isn't on your reading list! No hard feelings.

After a winter of very mild weather, the nasty stuff arrived a couple weeks ago, along with a "spell" with my back and hip, so very little riding has been done, but nice opportunities for these great communication ground exercises! Trying CBD oil for the first time.

We're just starting to introduce Level 2 groundwork (and a wee bit of riding when possible). Dixie has quite a profound resentment toward traditional lungeing! She does NOT like that whip! So doing "transitions on line" is teaching her she has control over how close the "string" comes to her when asking for an upward transition, and that it will not nag her. She is Genius Mare, and gets stuff SO fast! Today was her introduction to TOL and I expect tomorrow she'll understand perfecty.

Our other ground exercise is "Direct Rein" in preparation for the disengage from the saddle. She is so sweet and tries so hard! When I turned her out this morning after our lesson, she had a joyful fit of bucking and running, so I think those feets are feeling heaps better!


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

Yea, looking good.


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Hello, @dogpatch! :wave: How neat that you're doing a journal. That was great reading - and very impressive rehab. Might I just ask what sort of hoof stand you have for the bevelling?

Wishing you and Dixie a wonderful road together. :cowboy:


_May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields.
May those who love us, love us,
And those who don't, may God turn their hearts, 
And if He doesn't turn their hearts, 
May He turn their ankles so we'll know them by their limping. _


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

SueC said:


> Hello, @dogpatch! :wave: How neat that you're doing a journal. That was great reading - and very impressive rehab. Might I just ask what sort of hoof stand you have for the bevelling?
> 
> Wishing you and Dixie a wonderful road together. :cowboy:
> 
> ...


Hi Sue, and thanks for good wishes! I have a Hoof Jack brand stand.

I am going to have to start keeping an eye on my rubbery ankles! Lol!


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

*Upon achieving irrelevance*

Caution: Parelli content 

Dixie appears to have categorized me as Kindly Barn Help, while I've categorized her as Princess Never Asked To Do Anything. she has slotted me as irrelevant and I think she's one of those horses that's been giving pony rides all her life. 

I've had her for about seven weeks and taking things easy as her feet rehabilitate. We're phasing out of level 1 into level two, which requires a little more focus from the horse, and we're getting into the "make me" attitude of a little diva! Lol! 

From the first day I met her, Dixie has gone out of her way to ignore me. Stuff in her environment that she completely ignores at liberty is utterly enthralling when she's on the end of a lead! Nah, I don't wanna be riding a horse like this.

So we're up to "transitions on line" which is an approximation of lungeing but with its own specific goals. Someone may have given Dixie the business with a lunge whip, because she does NOT like to be told what to do on the lunge! One thing about TOL is that it absolutely requires the horse to be paying attention because of the cue delivery method. Dixie's mind is off with the pixies on the lunge, and when I get to phase 4, which doesn't involve physical contact, she gets seriously huffy! Lol! She wasn't paying attention and the cue sneaked up on her, even though it started half a circle away!

A bit later today, she was quite ignorant of our lessons in personal space. She made a feeble pushback during a refresher, but suddenly remembered. Then it was back to the arena for a little more
Transitions On Line, where she earned a gold star in her little princess crown! Not to mention her skill at Change of Direction On Line!

She is starting to grow an attention span!


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

*Stretches!*

Seeing more and more about bodywork for horses undergoing hoof rehab. Dixie's hooves are recovering from damage done by hoof neglect and possibly diet issues. Coming along, but those lower leg joints just don't always move smoothly. She doesn't limp but her stride length has always seemed exaggerated (she is TWH so don't know for sure). Even so she doesn't always extend the lower leg joints fully sometimes and they clunk into place in a toe first landing.

I've been suspicious of tight extensor muscles due to long term compensative movement, protecting her heels. I finally made an appointment with a body worker for next Friday, but started leg stretches yesterday.

She wasn't quite sure what to make of it yesterday, but boy did she catch on quick!

This morning when I extended her forelegs forward, she stretched into my hands so hard it totally caught me off guard! Wow did she like it! I quickly learned to brace myself to take that much weight!

She also enjoyed hind leg stretches. I have to study that technique carefully.

This morning after booting her up, I turned the horses out and I swear I didn't see her take one clunky step. The same yesterday.

So I'm looking forward to the results of professional bodywork! My other horse will receive it too. He's got a laundry list of his own complaints.


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

*Body Work!*

Last week I had a bodywork person out to work on both Dixie and Laddie, my ClydeX. Dixie is about ten weeks into rehab for hoof problems. She spent hours on the horses! My hope was that she could loosen tight muscles (from chronic poor movement) so that Dixie could fully extend her leg joints to achieve a heel first landing. I didn't believe the clanking joints were caused entirely by the hooves at this point.

On Saturday, Dixie was still having trouble, but by Sunday, her body had made the adjustment and she was walking virtually sound in her boots. The only trouble I could detect was the fault of her modified boots.

This morning I put a different pair of boots and pads on her fronts and couldn't detect a trace of trouble with her joints!

My plan is to keep her booted through March, then eliminate them and switch to Hoof Armor to help her continue to build sole thickness.

Laddie, the big galoot, has been a pasture potato for months due to his bad attitude, but I have a new perspective on that and have thoroughly enjoyed a couple of short rides on him this week.

Seems like everything is pretty much on the upswing here at Dogpatch!


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

*Putting the Walk in Walker*

Like probably most uninformed first-time gaited horse buyers, I learned as soon as I bought Dixie that some gaited horses would rather pace than do their preferred gait, and that training and conditioning are daily fare for such horses. Dixie will go lateral at anything above a dog walk.


She's at a point now in her hoof rehab where I'm confident to begin a little work with her. I suspect she was a pasture potato for a considerable length of time before I got her, so is very out of shape. Her topline says so. And her hooves were causing her untold mischief, so her musculature was in a mess from compensative movement.


I've had body work done on her and I took the turnout hoof boots off this week. I'm applying sole hardener to help her be comfortable in the soft paddock. I'm really keen to do something about that pace! 



I've got two books (a third one coming) on training gaited horses, and they are full of conflicting information about eradicating the pace. I tried a little ground pole work and thought, this is so not the right thing at this time.


Every morning, I offer Dixie an opportunity for a forward stretch and she loves it so much it makes her groan! Before saddling this morning, I rubbed her poll and asked her to drop her head. She's a really quick study and is doing so well with this little exercise. In the arena, I put some super long side reins on her that barely have any effect. Oddly, just the presence of the reins seems to cause her to relax her neck. We warmed up at a walk without the sidereins for five minutes, then attached them and did some exploratory walking. I could spot it in a heartbeat, the exact spot where the head flew up, the body stiffened, the stride shortened, and off she went at a pace.


So for just a few moments in each direction, I asked her for just a little more push from behind and got an astonishing overstride, like 16", and a nice little working walk, being able to calm her back into a slow walk before she went all stiff and took off at a pace. It was such a rewarding effort! She has a bee in her bonnet about lungeing in the first place, and I could see her relief when we only went to "the edge" of her ability to walk. The sidereins never went taut, but they had a relaxing effect and helped her stretch her spine.


After about 15 minutes of lungeing I got on, and we worked only on putting a little energy into the walk, and relaxing her neck and head down, which she is just learning how to do.


This is just the best starting point for a couple of out-of-shape old girls! LOL! It's such a joy to see Dixie moving comfortably on her damaged feet. She has months to go before fully growing out, but she is really doing great! It's been a nail-biting wait to see if she was permanently damaged, but it seems that we caught things in time.


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

That's great, I've never had a gaited horse and am following along to see how you work this out.


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

It's been three months since I got Dixie and I've spent most of that time dealing with her feet. I've only plinked around on her back a handful of times in the arena. Unfortunately I'm one of those beat up old ladies with some fear issues, so have been building a whole inventory of what-ifs about this unknown mare. Her feet are doing great, so yesterday I decided it was time to take those first tentative steps out the arena gate into her paddock. Then out the gate into the driveway. Then off the driveway into the little thicket of trees. At the turn of 30 minutes I was happily untacking a very good little mare! 

Dixie is super out of shape and of course the feet have been a problem. She is a very pacey TWH and the way to the walk appears to be getting her to relax, strengthen the back and get the rear end engaged. One of the recommendations is hill work, since it's apparently very hard for a horse to pace uphill. Our property is made to order for that exercise, since it slopes gently through the center to a seasonal stream. Unfortunately, I've had a lot of mischief with barn sour horses in the pasture so confidence was low, but I decided today was the day.

I think I has more fun today than I could have ever hoped for! Dixie was beyond wonderful!

But the best part was, for the first time in my life, I rode just a tiny bit of the legendary Tennessee Walker glide! Oh merciful heavens! Dixie kicked it into gear going up the slope and I couldn't believe the sensation!

It won't be long now before Dixie and I will be trailering to the gorgeous nearby state park, which is seriously up and down, for some wonderful trail riding! But in the meantime, I can actually start having some fun with her here at home!


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

That's great.


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

Here's a view I've been anticipating for awhile!


I've been riding Dixie all around the property this past week. Her hooves still aren't 100% but I think this movement will do her a lot of good. I know it's doing me a lot of good! Can you imagine, after years of dealing with a very big, bad attitude and going down to the barn each day dreading the next ride, to brushing the horse down in the barn, with a tingle of pleasant anticipation? Dixie is my dream come true! 



We warm up by walking over two sets of four ground poles in hand for about ten minutes. A wonderful little book I have on training gaited horses is giving me just the right encouragement, saying that right now, to cure Dixie's pacey-ness, it's all about getting the tension out, getting the head down, developing her topline and hindquarters and getting her to "separate her feet" in her mind. For a good year, I can work on developing the "dog walk". With the poles, I've been able to help Dixie achieve a gargantuan overstride with very little encouragement. When we first started, she was only "capping" her front hoof prints.


I am riding her in a full cheek snaffle, no noseband. Her mouth is unspoiled (at 17!) but it needs a little tuneup. So when I ride (she stands like a rock at the mounting block!), we work on lateral flexion and lowering the head for awhile. She was very inattentive and high-headed/tense when I first got her. Now I am riding her with her poll level with her withers and lots of relaxation. We are also working on the one-rein stop, which she's really starting to understand.


She put up a feeble back-to-the-barn performance the first couple of days, but that's evaporated. I like to take her into the trees in the photo, and weave around a lot, do a lot of work around the barn before we head into the pasture, which has gentle slopes and a large flat-ish area. She tends to want to charge uphill, and I guess lots of trail riders like to do that, but it's unauthorized, so we are working on calm uphill work. She responds immediately when I check her with one rein. We get to walk, and sometimes graze up on the flat, then before getting put away, she gets to do some more approach-retreat from the barn and weaving through the trees which are very near the barn. Throughout the ride she is keeping her head down and now she's flicking her ears back to me. 



Hubby's going to uncover the horse trailer today, maybe, so I can add in some loading-unloading practice. She's been a wee bit reluctant about loading, so that will be a useful addition to our daily exercise.


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## carshon (Apr 7, 2015)

Congratulations! What book are you using? When we first went gaited (about 3yrs ago) my husbands horse was a tense nervous wreck and her gait was a nightmare. He worked with his trainer (who is an AQHA trainer) on just relaxing and using her back end and he has a horse loves to gait on now. We never had much luck finding books for gaited horses.

So glad that Dixie is helping you regain your love of [email protected]!


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

carshon said:


> Congratulations! What book are you using? When we first went gaited (about 3yrs ago) my husbands horse was a tense nervous wreck and her gait was a nightmare. He worked with his trainer (who is an AQHA trainer) on just relaxing and using her back end and he has a horse loves to gait on now. We never had much luck finding books for gaited horses.
> 
> So glad that Dixie is helping you regain your love of [email protected]!


Oh thank you Carshon! Out of the three books I have on gaited horses, the one that absolutely drills on relaxation and slow, gentle training is "Training the Gaited Horse from the Trail to the Rail" by Gary Lane. The book rambles a bit, but there's no question about his take home message.

I also have "Easy Gaited Horses" by Lee Zeigler which I like a lot, but the emphasis on relaxation, and strengthening to be able to do the gait is not so profound. Lane reckons a lot of gaited horses are wrecked because of people asking for too much speed when the horse isn't strong enough.

One other book I have is The Gaited Horse Bible by Brenda Imus, which I haven't been able to get into.


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## Kalraii (Jul 28, 2015)

WOW just caught up and subbing. I might have probably missed your journal due to timings etc. What a journey so far. Love the pics.

Seriously though before this forum I didn't understand much about gaited horses. But now I need to experience this myself as the more I read about how good it is once going the more I'm like yeah... I wanna pace around the countryside too!


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

Kalraii said:


> WOW just caught up and subbing. I might have probably missed your journal due to timings etc. What a journey so far. Love the pics.
> 
> Seriously though before this forum I didn't understand much about gaited horses. But now I need to experience this myself as the more I read about how good it is once going the more I'm like yeah... I wanna pace around the countryside too!


You haven't missed anything! Lol! I've only had Dixie for three months!

What I have found out about buying a gaited horse is do your homework first! I only bought Dixie because she seemed like a good granny horse, I wasn't looking for a gaited horse specifically. But Dixie was plagued with hoof problems and turned out to be very pacey (she is a Tennessee Walker). Now it seems that pacing is a huge problem with some gaited horses, which seems to be more of a rider induced problem. A person needs to be aware of the effort it takes to preserve the gait!

Dixie and I are the perfect match, because I just want to go slow, and strengthening her slowly is just what the doctor ordered. As it turns out, she seems to be very happy just walking in a relaxed frame. I am already beginning to see her "walk" away when her buddy chases her in the pasture, instead of pacing away, and getting a giant overstride where she was just "capping" her fore hoofprints.

I do look forward to the experience of "riding the glide"!


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

*OMG! We Gaited Today!*

Been working on getting the bracey-ness out of Dixie, As well as teaching her to go with her head down. Plus, improving her lateral response, and yes, teaching the one rein stop.

She has been a little chargey going up the gentle slopes, and I've been discouraging that, but not happy with my own handling of that, been a little too strong, so recalibrated my brain to approach slopes differently so as to avoid unnecessary tussles.

Dixie is really "getting" walking with her poll level with her withers, or a little lower. She seems to like it.

This morning as we approached the first little slope, we had a real two way conversation.

Dixie: "I want to speed up on this slope."

Me: "Okay, but be cool and keep your head down."

Dixie: "Deal."

Wow! We got halfway up the slope and The Glide kicked in! I've never felt it before, but there was no mistaking that this was something entirely new and wonderful!

I didn't mess with perfection! Lol! Only rode long enough to do a little lateral work and make sure there weren't any barn sour bugs. Oh, and she has started daily trailer loading lessons today, as she was a little balky about that when I first got het. No problem today!


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## trailhorserider (Oct 13, 2009)

Wonderful! You guys are really coming along!

I love all sorts of horses, I've had Arabians and a Paint and a Mustang.......but now I have a Missouri Fox Trotter and I tell you, gaited horses are so much fun! Just a total blast. When they hit just the right gait, I get a big grin ear to ear. :smile: 

So anyway, I'm so glad to hear you are enjoying your Walker.

I have three books you mentioned and also liked Gary Lane's book the best. Less pretty photos but really good training and riding advice. 

So enjoy your beautiful TWH! I am looking forward to enjoying my MFT all summer too. They are so much fun! I really don't understand why gaited horses aren't more popular. They are the cadillac of trail horses, imo. My girl is black with a little star and a sock too.


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

*She's Sound!!*

Dixie passed her lameness exam with flying colors today! Yay!!


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

What great news!


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

whisperbaby22 said:


> What great news!



:loveshower:


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## SueC (Feb 22, 2014)

Fabulous! Well done. Your effort really paid off!


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

SueC said:


> Fabulous! Well done. Your effort really paid off!


Thank you SueC!


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

This was posted by Idrivetrotters on another thread:

"I follow the "old school" 100 mile walking rule. That horse has to walk (4 beat square walk) for a cummulative of 100 miles. This does a few things, 1) strengthens their backs/muscles to hold their gait 2) gets them in the "square" naturally via muscle memory. Once you have racked up(pun intended) those 100 miles, slowly ask for the intermediate gait. Like with many disciplines, I start off in a snaffle (mullen or 3 piece no two piece nutcracker) so light contact to start and direct reining. I gather them up, squeeze and gentle ask for more lengthening at the walk. If they do the RW I let them gait for a few strides correctly, them bring them back down to the dog walk. Wash, rinse, repeat until the horse can gait with light contact correctly and easily for a good distance. "

I decided to take up this challenge, since Dixie's been declared sound by the vet! It's hard to get out in this rainy weather without a goal. We logged a whole 1.54 miles yesterday. LOL! but at that rate, it would only take 64 days to meet the goal, which seems like a reasonable time. Dixie was a little bit bratty yesterday, because of too much time off. Since I have the vet's blessing to ride, this will give me a good chance what Dixie's really like, and get the communication going. 

So, onward to the next mile and a half!


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

Dixie and I have completed the first 10 miles of our "100 mile walk", and they may be the happiest ten miles of my life! What a little jewel she is. 



This is where we play every day. On the other side of the barn I have a small outdoor arena, and behind the barn is a vacant paddock with cavaletti set up. The whole ten acres is pretty much rideable. 



At 17 years old, Dixie is more of a "blank slate" than "spoiled". The challenge is to get her to relax and walk with her head down, in order to help her develop her strength for gaiting. She has tended to be upheaded and hollow, which explains a lot about her pacey-ness.


I've collected a few beginning exercises to help her flexibility, soften her responses to the snaffle, get her head down and do a one rein stop, so our "mileage" would probably be longer during our 40 minute daily rides (which don't include ground work). We spend some time walking the cavaletti, then out into the meadow to "mosey" around, and work on walking steadily up the gentle slopes. She tends to want to rush uphill and pop her head up, but she's getting SUPER good about putting the head back down. It's just getting a steady, fluid walk up the slopes that will be a nice accomplishment. We weave in and out of the trees on days when the ground is a bit drier. She has shown zero anxiety about leaving the barn or going back to it, despite her pal Laddie whinnying at her. She just gets better, and softer, and more attentive every day. Stands tied forever, stands perfectly at the mounting block. No fuss tacking up. She's turning out to be a unicorn! inkunicorn:


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

*Dixie and Cavalletti*

Cavalletti work is now part of Dixie's daily "physical therapy" and gait training. Getting those flexors and extensors working! And getting the head down and relaxing the back. She does ten very conservative minutes at a "plod" and then asked for more energy. 



I never really grasped Cavalletti work before, but I also never had a horse that needed the amount of re-conditioning that Dixie needs. She's just starting to to be asked to go over the poles with energy, although she's plodded and stumbled over them all winter. I think the risk of tripping has really sharpened her up and made her pay attention! I think the work is already having a really positive effect.


PS The GoPro wide angle camera does nothing to enhance her actually slim physique! LOL!


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

*Clicker Training!*

Lots going on in Dixie's world!


After she passed her lameness exam, I took her hoof boots off, which turned out to be a mistake. Over a couple of weeks, her clunking fetlocks deteriorated into wobbly knees and elbows. Sigh! So back in the boots. After resuming the boots I put her on a joint supplement and there was such a profound turnaround in her movement that I couldn't believe it. Still a skeptic, but not messing with success! Her movement is now just about rock solid (still in boots), to the point where the "beginner's horse" has shed her skin. LOL! Something about a horse that feels good!


She's got 1 1/2" of new hoof growth. I'll try taking the boots off with every quarter inch of new growth.



We've logged 42 miles of our 100 mile "challenge".


Dixie has been a very indifferent horse, giving a minimum of effort. She has been very resentful of a lunge whip, even when it's flopped on the ground 180 degrees away from her. That's taken an important tool away from me.


After having resisted for the last five months (for unknown reasons), I decided to introduce Dixie to the clicker this week. I have unleashed the inner beast! LOL! Started targeting on a kitchen spatula. She quickly picked up that the click was somehow very important! Fast forward a few days. I'm using the clicker to get better responses to the thing's she ought to know - head down, vertical flexion, that sort of thing, and the responses are coming thick and fast. But some really cool stuff happened today. I introduced the clicker on the lunge. Dixie is very pacey, so my long term goal is to teach her to do her TWH gait, well I'll be happy with flat walk. The first flops of the whip brought the usual temper burst, but as she moved out a bit she was FLAT WALKING, and I was able to "capture" it with a click! "WHAT! WHERE! COOKIE???" The click totally captured the flat walk before she could degenerate into a pace. 



This went on for several minutes, and soon she began offering a little flat walk (and getting a click!) before I flopped the whip, and when I did, she was beginning to understand that it was the beginning of a sequence of events leading to a cookie! She started losing her mad!


Well, let's go for a ride! I'm pretty sure Dixie has been allowed to bolt up hills. As a result, she's been very rush-y going uphill on our gentle little slopes, sometimes tossing in a grunt and a little caper. But when she's got her head down and going slow enough, she CAN flat walk up the slopes.


Today, instead of just going all the way to the top of the slope, I captured the flat walk within a stride or two with the click. She would come to a confused, rolling stop, and I would reward her! Then we'd go back to the bottom and start up again.


WELL! After a few repetitions, Dixie was one very excited little learner! I have a feeling she's actually been trained to gait early in her life, but lost it to indifferent riding. With the clicker, she's just acting like she has that muscle memory. But we'll keep working at it bit by bit, capturing the wonderful voluntary behavior, and eventually putting it on cue.


I actually taught my Morgan mare how to fox trot with the clicker. She had a slight natural inclination, and I was able to shape it into a WONDERFUL fun gait!


And, Dixie's attitude toward people is making a heartwarming little adjustment! I love this girl!


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

*A Dixie Update*

I haven't updated Dixie's journal in over a year. A lot has happened since then, though it's all very subtle. 



She is a Tennessee Walker, who came to me with bad feet, body issues, some attitude issues, and very much gait issues, being inclined to pace.


The attitude issue is completely gone. She is the kindliest, sweetest mare on the planet! The feet are a work in progress, but all the physical issues are behind her and she has gone from being a little dumpy looking, with a sagging back, to becoming quite beautiful with very low-key, steady work.


The gaiting is a work in progress, but at this point, is AMAZING! These last couple of months she has been able to flat walk on level ground for short distances for the first time. There have been moments where her true ability has been revealed when it feels as though her feet never touch the ground! 



We've tried a lot of things that have been advised to "get gait". We've tried with great success, things like lungeing, which people have said doesn't work. Mostly we've relied heavily on clicker training to capture the instant where her effort is the height of her ability, which has helped her understand what it is I'm asking her to do with her feet. 



Her head has been too high. Her head has been to low. She now preferentially carries it with her poll level with her withers, flexing softly to the bit with no tension on the rein.


She had tremendous resentment toward lungeing and the lunge whip, and following the advice to NOT lunge her because it's "hard for them to gait on the lunge" was a huge handicap. At present she understands clearly that rushing with mincing steps is NOT the same as going forward slowly but with greater engagement, resulting in the lovely four-beat footfalls of a very slow flat walk. She is learning that pointing the tip of the whip at her hind leg is not a threat or a demand for speed, but a request for a little stronger effort to step under her body more deeply with that leg. From where I stand, I would guess that she is capable of overstriding at least 18", sometimes maybe more, without a great deal of effort. I do not push it, but ask her for what seems effortless for her. 



Every morning she comes to me and puts her head down for the halter. She bridles herself. After our ride, when I open her stall door, she steps outside, then stops and waits for me so we can share mutual grooming before I let her pasture mate out and we three walk out to pasture together.


We try to take a weekly trip to our nearby state park for a low key trail ride. She has proven virtually fearless. What a lovely, lovely gift to have had her come into my life as my last horse!


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## whisperbaby22 (Jan 25, 2013)

Great news.


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

*Gaiting Secrets*

Since going back to exercises on the lunge (which some gaited folks seem to discourage), I'm finding some neat little things to help unlock Dixie's gaiting potential. (She paced when I got her.) It's all about the relaxation and the overstride. Since she was mortally offended about lungeing when I first got her, the first stage was teaching her that asking her to lunge was not an act of aggression from me. I still have to exercise a lot of tact. 

We do a nice warmup at the ordinary walk, where she is capable of an enormous, effortless overstride...to the left. To the right, she tends to cap her front hoof print. So I've been very patiently working to show her the way to engaging the right hind, going clockwise. She can still find the lunge whip to be telling her to speed up, which puts her into an upside-down skittle. It's actually a little alarming to see her fall apart like that! When she returns to calm, she may overstep a foot or so, but go back to capping her front hoof print. So I choke up on the lunge to walk with her. This can result in a squeak of protest but she is confident that I'm not moving in to hit her! I can tap the back leg with the stock of the whip when it is preparing to go forward, and obtain a deep, reaching stride. She immediately gets clicked and rewarded for this extra effort! It takes once or twice, and I can rely on her to reach forward with that giant stride after that. On this side I constantly reward her for a few deep strides, until she can make the circle unassisted.

Once gaiting work begins, she still defaults at first to skittling, but I let that go, and we start again. Then, THERE IT IS! Beautiful outline and big reach in a slow flat walk for several strides before being clicked and rewarded for the wonderful effort. To the left, there is much more walk and less skittle! LOL! The lungeing warmup is probably taking 30 minutes, with lots of rest breaks. After that, we ride out to the pasture for slope work. She has been truly capable of gliding over that rough ground like a ghost! We still only gait for short distances before a reward for work well done. She gets lots of grazing breaks. She has been able to gait on the flat now, not just up the slopes. This is huge progress. We just keep working on her strength and muscle memory. The lungeing warmup has revolutionized her gaiting in the field.

I am considering a chiropractor, but only considering at this point. Her last "body worker" and I did not hit it off. I think "body worker" was a pseudonym for "Practices Chiropractic Without a License". Mostly I think in her 18 years, she never learned how to use that right hind.


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

Pulling It All Together!


I think I have officially got gaiting fever! We went to the park today and instead of taking the forested trails, we opted for the road/trail around the giant meadow that flanks the equestrian trail head. Dixie has been so successful lately, that I decided it was time to put her new skills to a little more challenge. At first, as usual, she complained, "I don' wanna!" getting heavy on the forehand and slopping along a little faster. This behavior had me thinking about the Pelham bit a few weeks ago, but I decided since she knows how to go so well in her snaffle at home, she was perfectly capable out on the trail. 
And bless her, she was in heat and calling frequently to other horses and copping a squat about every 15 minutes! LOL! A year ago, I'd have been hard pressed to get her attention back, but today, she was right there for me, coming back to school with a great attitude! 
And the gaiting! Oh lordy! I took advantage of every foot of favorable ground to ask her to gait...and she did! Once she had done it grudgingly the first couple of times, she was lovely and light as a feather! 
There was lots and lots of relaxed walking too. I love this mare for her ability to relax! Even though she was in heat, she never got fizzy or disobeyed.
And I think she was a tuckered little girl when we got back to the trailer after an hour! I couldn't have been more proud of her! She was gaiting for longer distances than she has done before and needed very little assistance from me. I am so proud of her!


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## dogpatch (Dec 26, 2017)

This has been "Lost September". First it got really hot, then it got really hot and dry and windy, then suddenly we had unprecedented wildfires here in western Oregon! We had to take the horses, dog and poor little house cat and evacuate for a few days, though the fires were quite a distance from us. The smoke was horrific! I had to wait a couple of weeks before I was able to ride, because everyone's lungs had to recover from the awful smoke.


Then it got cold and we had some terrific rainstorms come through! Now we're back to very warm and dry and today I had my first opportunity to go for a little ride on my beautiful Dixie. Oh! She was just a dream!


Before our rides came to a screeching halt I had just introduced her to a Pelham bit with a sweet iron French link type mouthpiece with a copper lozenge. I had done this because I was researching ways to help her gait on the flat. She does beautifully uphill, but let's say she needed a little help with her "posture" and I'd discovered a fair bit of information written about the Pelham by one of my favorite gaited horse gurus. Dixie quite likes the mouthpiece. She works beautifully off the snaffle rein. And on the flat, I have discovered that the tiniest bit of curb rein just tweaks her posture enough - I'd say, tucking her nose a tiny bit and perhaps elevating her shoulders, I don't know how else to explain it - that gaiting on the flat has become much easier for her! And that on a loose rein. She just needs that little nudge, and a little support here and there and off we go!


I still need a lot of practice with two reins, but am managing very well, once I get them sorted out! LOL! 



She is making it very hard for me to want to ride my big ol' clompy half draft! That's okay, he likes retirement just fine.


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