A question about Chrome's back (more riding pictures/video)

Okay, first off, these pictures are horrible!  They are dark and blurry because it was getting late and my posture is horrible (look up and quit slouching grr!).  What I noticed when I looked at them (and the reason I'm sharing them) is that Chrome has his back dropped really bad under me . . .  check out the pictures.  You can click them to enlarge them.

 

 

He was looking around, so I turned his head a little to keep him on the road, but otherwise I wasn't doing anything.  Just riding on a relaxed rein headed for home.  Now check out this video to see him actually walking.



Notice how he doesn't even step into the same spot as his front hooves (I should have posted this in slow motion).  He isn't limping, but he has shortened his stride.  When I'm not on him he walks down the road with his hind feet tracking in front of his front feet by several inches (I've looked at his hoof prints in the mud to be sure).  Of course when I'm not on him his head is usually lower, he was really looking around at everything when I rode him (see previous post for the video of him spooking).  So is that a normal amount for a four and a half year old, barely ridden (this is only his 37th ride in a year and a half) horse to drop his back?  Is it a lack of back and ab muscling?  Or do I weigh too much for him?  He is 15.2hh and I'm 5'11" . . . and I'm going to do it . . . I'm going to share my weight . . . I weigh 170lbs.  Is that too much weight for him?  I can try to lose weight (I miss being 150), but I doubt I will be able to because any fat I lose will probably be replaced by heavier muscle so the number probably won't change.

Or the other things that came to mind are a sore back or maybe it has something to do with his weak, locking (they haven't been locking lately) stifles.  Yesterday morning (I rode on the 18th, but didn't notice the dropped back until I looked at the pictures the next day) I ran my fingers down both sides of his spine.  His ears were forward until I got to his loin and they flicked back, even when I did it a couple of times, but I couldn't tell if it was a pain reaction or an irritated "would you quit doing that" reaction, so instead of running my fingers the whole length of his back I did it just over his loins and didn't get a reaction at all.  Weird.  So I have no idea if he's sore or not.  I really wish I could find a chiropractor just to check him out but we have a shortage of qualified people around here.  I can't find a single dentist or vet that does dentals on draft horses... what the heck.  Sorry that's a whole different story.  I thought about asking the vet, but I'm not sure a vet would know/care about possible back pain in a young horse like a chiro or body worker would.  Vets around here are kind of oblivious if it's not something bleeding and/or obvious limping or something.

My gut feels like it's just because he has no strength in his back, abs, loins, haunches or stifles.  His haunches have gotten so weak and scrawny since he moved off of the hilly thirty acres where he used to be.  The way he plays in the pasture and with the donkey makes it hard to believe he could be in pain.  You should see some of the stuff he does with Zep when they play.  So if that is a normal amount for a young, lacking in muscles/fitness horse to be dropping his back under that much weight, what should I do?  Work him without riding?  Or just keep riding him to build his strength?  Should I do cavaletti?  Walk him up and down the slope of my pond banks and the dirt pile?  Make him back up slowly and correctly a lot?  I know he needs to do all of those things just for his stifle strength, but what I'm asking is should I do that before I ride him again or should I keep riding him while doing all of that or should I do all of that stuff while I'm mounted?  If you think I should build his strength before riding him how long should I work on it before I get back on him?  Anyway thanks for any advice you guys can provide!

ETA:  Also I almost forgot to mention that the next day after the ride (approx. 18 hours later) Chrome was galloping around, bucking, chasing the donkey, rearing up (at Zep), doing his big fancy trot, etc.  How I wish I had had my camera with me because they were really playing hard.  They were biting faces, neck, legs.  When Zep would bite Chrome's front legs he would sit back on his haunches and pull his front legs up out of the way (almost like a levade) so he couldn't reach them.  I mean seriously, I just don't feel like he's in pain lol.  This all took place a couple of hours after I ran my fingers down his spine looking for any soreness.  Also when I led him to the pond he was back to walking with a several inch overtrack (the back of his rear hoof print a couple of inches ahead of the front of his fore hoof print, big overtrack!), so he only shortens his stride when I'm on him.  If I'm not mistaken it takes the stifle muscles to reach under with his rear legs when being ridden right?  So maybe the lack of overstep is due to his weak stifles while carrying weight?  Anyway sorry for rambling.  :)

Ride 37 (video)

My husband wanted to take Faran for a walk on the road, so I jumped at the chance to ride Chrome out.  I've only ridden him once in the last month and a half (that ride wasn't on the road), so he was excited and looking hard at everything, but he didn't spook at anything he was looking at... he spooked at leaves rustling in the trees... you just have to watch the video.  It's hilarious.  Also I sound like a total dork talking to him, but that's part of what makes it funny so turn your sound up.

And yep I was bareback (see above; picture was taken after the spook on the way back home).  When he spooked I was holding the reins at the buckle in my left hand and the camera in my right hand.  He spooked big to our left and I slid to the right, but amazingly I didn't fall off.  I couldn't believe it.  There was a second where I was looking at the pavement thinking dang that's gonna hurt!

So you would think a big spook would shake my confidence, but it actually made me feel better because he just jumped sideways and then stopped.  He didn't spin and he didn't try to take off.  I stayed on bareback so if I'm in the saddle when I ride out alone I have an even better chance of sitting a spook.  I guess it takes seeing what he does when he spooks on the road to give me confidence to go out by ourselves.  He never once tried to trot and I had him on the buckle almost the whole ride.  He stopped when I asked and even stood still.  We had a bunch of vehicles drive by and none of those bothered him.  None of the dogs bothered him.  It was just the rustling in the leaves lol.  Silly horse.  We were only out for thirty five minutes and stood talking at the neighbor's for about ten of those minutes (he did better about standing still there, but still tried backing up a lot.)  Anyway here are the pictures.

We started out following Faran to see how Chrome would act.  He was definitely looking hard at everything.

 Then we started leading because he was fine, just looking around a lot.  

We were leading when the spook happened and he did not try to turn back to Faran or home.  He just stood there.

This (above picture) was just before I started video taping.  They were much closer because I had stopped to wait for them. If you watched the video you saw how far ahead we got just in that short time.  I love how fast my boy walks.  :)

So I had fun and I can't wait to try riding out alone.  I have some more pictures and a short video of me riding Chrome yesterday, but I have a question I want to ask so I will save it for tomorrow.  :)

So Scary!!! (just kidding)

I love how handsome my boy is with his gray face. :D  Okay first of all I took these pictures on Friday, I've just been too busy to post them.  Oops.

ETA:  I have baling twine around his neck in the above picture.  I use it to lead him to the pond for his drink when I'm too lazy to get the halter (or if it's raining).  Don't worry though, it can't hurt him and he listens really well.  :)

You have to watch the video first, then you can see the pictures . . .  see if you recognize the sound in the video before I tell you what it is.



Okay now you can see the photos.  Or if you can't watch videos due to your internet you can just skip to the photos.  I took some screenshots off of the video.

 Hundreds of blackbirds migrate through here in the fall.  I grew up listening to and watching them every fall, so I'm used to them, but Chrome hasn't!  The area where we used to live was near a lake and not covered in trees like it is down here so we didn't see them up there (we only lived an hour away from where we are now, but it was much closer to a city).  Chrome was excited, trotting, cantering and bucking around his pen so I let him out to play.

 

 

I wish I had caught the picture above two seconds earlier because Faran was completely in the frame and they were both bucking at the same time.  Dang digital camera delay!! Faran doesn't buck very often, so when he does you know he's really riled up and having fun.  :)

 "Mom!  The blackbirds are going to eat me!  Haven't you ever seen the Alfred Hitchcock movie??"

This one (above) is so cute.  He was trotting toward Faran making ugly faces because Faran was eating the persimmons and I got the picture right as he was stopping.  I thought for a second he would just run right into Faran.  :)

Here are some screenshots from the video for those who couldn't watch it.

Chrome can trot when he wants to, he just prefers to canter.  :)

He looks so much bigger than Faran because he's cantering and Faran is doing his flat trot.

Faran prefers to trot.  :)

I love how uphill his canter is getting sometimes.  His canter shots used to look like he was diving on his nose lol.

And one of Mr. Zep so he doesn't feel left out.

Well that's it for today.  Sorry the pictures kind of suck, but I wanted to share the video of the horse playing and I also wanted to share it because of the birds.  I love the racket they make when migrating!

I'm so going to miss this gorgeous southern autumn weather!  I was outside all day yesterday in shorts and a tank top!  In mid November.  I love it here.  :)  Sorry for rubbing it in.  I know some of you already have snow... that sucks and I'm sorry.  You should move down here with us!  :D  Also if it makes you feel any better it's about to get cold here too.  For those of you with nice weather go enjoy riding your horses and for those of you with crappy weather I hope you can enjoy a nice horse book, movie or blog in front of a warm fire (or in your wonderful central heating if you're lucky enough to have it).  :D  Later!