Does her loin look good? I can't tell.
My vet said to keep her thin rather than fleshy to avoid any surprise weight gain with the changes in grass, but yes, I want some more pounds on her because the ribby and pointy hip look is painful to look at. My farrier goes globally and says it's common for European sport horses to be on the thin side and the American horses to be the fleshy side. Meh. It's hard to get that ideal balance of not-too-fleshy and not-too-skinny.
We've been working on the long and low
She does like to be a giraffe, I only recently started setting barriers for that last month... She developed hock arthritis this year at 12yo and I've been loading her up with MSM which has helped SO much. She's somewhat cow-hocked and had a rushed training as a 2yo so I think that did her in so early :/ I think once she realizes that she can practice self-carriage without experiencing soreness, it'll be easier, as at the moment she tries various ways of trying to make me give her something to lean on--- I figured out the reason she was jigging sometimes, she wanted me to put on enough pressure for her to lean, because I only use enough force to break a horse tail hair when she is speeding and ignoring my lighter aid. She usually responds to light aid sensitively, it's just when she feels lazy she'll use me as a shortcut. I think it's okay to let her practice long and low on her forehand, slow, for a while until she can balance, and then ask for the energetic pace, right? Currently, she thinks that when I release the reins it's a cue to stretch, but raises her head more than not when I pick up contact or add pressure. My method is just sitting with the same small pressure and, if she doesn't respond for a long time, wiggle at the corners of her mouth, letting her have a loose rein when she lowers just a bit.
Her line of work is novice Eventing and in-hand showing, her showing history says she's a winner for speed events, currently she goes XC the best, she lives to gallop between jumps and reacts quick on her feet. I've been riding her for about 6 years, owned her for 2, she was such a nutty filly back when she was 7yo. Vet cleared her for performance as long as I keep giving her liniment, MSM, and constant work. She went off the treatment for a week accidentally, and went lame on her left hind leg, the worst leg :shock: ... but I put her on a new brand of MSM and vetrolin, she's doing brilliantly in just 4 days, no soreness besides a tiny twitch in her back muscles on the shorter side when I check for soreness there. It's hard to gauge how she rides, because she changes each time I get on. I would say more whoa than go but difficult to keep calm in energetic exercises. She doesn't buck or kick but tenses terribly if I let her go stiff. Haha, 6 years and I still don't have her figured out! Never getting rid of my best personal, 4-legged trainer.