Follow up - Too much knee?

[butlerfamilyzoo]

So for those that read my thread a few weeks ago on purchasing a pony mare with "too much knee" if it would effect her test scores etc... Well, she passed her vet check with flying colors and i decided she was staying. Pulling her shoes helped SOOOO much. She is now barefoot. I do not have wacko knee into her throatlatch in the trot, nor the forging every stride.

Now i have not got to ride her much in the past few weeks, but today i had my instructor come out and give us a lesson. I just had to share. I know we have a lot to improve. But here is my pony with "too much knee" that i took a chance on. And these moments in the canter are not a fluke! She seriously has a droolworthy canter, that i'm having a hard time riding, but i love it non-the-less... :lol: I'm hoping to take her all the way. I think she's got what it takes.

And yes, i need to lose weight, i'm trying. I had a baby in Oct, so its slow going... sigh... "I" have also hardly ridden (not at all while pregnant) and got yelled at constantly for having my hands too low... big sigh...

But remaining very hopeful to hit a couple training level tests this year!

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/butlerfamilyzoo/Fudge/SDC10566.jpg?t=1240527255

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/butlerfamilyzoo/Fudge/SDC10575.jpg?t=1240527288

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/butlerfamilyzoo/Fudge/SDC10584.jpg?t=1240527338

And the best... This made my instructor go, OH my gosh, this is a Grand Prix canter... :eek:
http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y67/butlerfamilyzoo/Fudge/SDC10592.jpg?t=1240527439

I'm SOOOO happy i kept her!

ETA- She is 14.1 and change, QH/Welsh cross, 6yrs old.

[goodpony]

you guys look great, congratulations.

Im in a similar situation....I bought a weanling pony mare as a future ride/ breed prospect. I came close several times to selling while we went through all sorts of growthy stages. This week my husband put her back under saddle and I can't believe how amazing she is. It took a while, but Im so glad now I didn't let her go. My other little guy has a huge canter too....wonderful to sit!

[Izthatrt]

She looks great. A good friend always says to me.,"Don't judge them too soon."

[Fixerupper]

low heel, long toe = 'too much knee'/forging - any horse, any sport :-)

[butlerfamilyzoo]

Actually, she was the opposite... tall heel, block feet, with shoes a size too big on her. Think more "park horse" shod (but not that extreme.) I would have swore she sighed in relief when her "new" feet were set on the ground...

[JackSprats Mom]

Congratulations! She looks great, and you're right, what a great canter :D

[Fixerupper]

Actually, she was the opposite... tall heel, block feet, with shoes a size too big on her. Think more "park horse" shod (but not that extreme.) I would have swore she sighed in relief when her "new" feet were set on the ground...

That too ;)
more common the other way

[unbridledoaks]

Very nice pony!

[pintopiaffe]

:cool:

Great photos. Took me a minute to suss out the mirror though... huh? :lol:

You're well matched. Fills your leg beautifully. (oh, and fits a saddle--that's the only reason you kept her, isn't it? Be honest now... :lol: )

She is very nice. What crossbreeding is about. ;)

I personally think it's easier to get the hands too low on a smaller horse. I don't have that bad habit on bigger guys, but on MY guys I do. You're hard on yourself. You look like you are stable and having fun. What else matters, really? :winkgrin:

[merrygoround]

Amazing what some good shoeing will do.

She looks great.

[butlerfamilyzoo]

Pinto-My Mirrors... Oh such a labor of love. :) Now i just need to get used to the fact that the gosh darn things are there and i need to remember to use them!

I think you are right about keeping hands lower on smaller horses/ponies. I dont notice it at all when i ride something 15h or more. But yes, going threw all the pictures (you know, all those ones that you hide, fret over, and eventually trash so they dont make you sick.. :) ) I couldnt believe how low my hands got in some of the shots.

Otherwise, at least its all "coming back" on my end. I do not feel quite so lost, the cobwebs are starting to clear up there...

And of course, that saddle fits her super... What on earth would posess me to send her back?! :) Now lets just hope she doesnt outgrow it. But this girl, unlike my others, has a wither and more of a "normal" shaped back vs my stupid wide... (Who's saddle is supposed to arrive today, the right size this time. Cross your fingers!)

Thanks everyone, i really love this pony, i'm glad i took the advice of those on here about giving her a chance. Above all else though, i love her brain. She's just one of those that you get excited every day to ride, and instantly makes you smile just going out to feed her as she's always happy and lovey. Such a neat pony!

[WBLover]

Unless you are doing the hunters, a little knee action is not a bad thing! Unless of course the legs are just going up-down like a sewing machine and not coming through. Sounds like that's what she WAS doing, but she looks great now!! What a CUTIE!

[Ginger]

She's darling!! Lucky you, and you look great together. Love those welsh-crosses!

Could you PM me about your mirrors? I would love to do something like that. Thanks!

[tempichange]

I. must. resist. the. urge. to. ponynap.

[butlerfamilyzoo]

Ginger- I got all of my mirrors free. I sat on craigslist waiting to pounce on any large mirror available. I think i did pay a small fee for a couple of them... But around $10-15... (took me many months to collect them all) However, because i did it this way, some mirrors are not as good of quality as others and get a little more distorted than others when you get further away. I also had trees to deal with and one post ended up needing to be very close to a tree, which a trunk would not let it get perfectly in line with the others... Its about an inch out of line, but because of that, it bows 1 of my mirrors and makes it a little more distorted. I ended up leaving about a 6" gap by that post that i just painted black to let it blend in a little more, and that helped with my distortion. We also broke 2 mirrors... So my wall does not quite go down my whole short side. However, i'm getting two long mirrors for the ends of the short sides so i can see a little lower on the horse to check straightness. So in the end, (which those long mirrors are not up yet) it will cover all but a couple feet of my short side. The frames are wood, we made them "floating frames" mirrors are not attached to anything, they are just sitting in there, so if the wood expands/contracts with weather it wont crack them.

By no means are they perfect, but they are nice to have. Wood got expensive buying all that treated stuff. I'm not sure in the end if metal frames would have been cheaper. I think i've got $400 or so in wood alone. My ring (the chain and poles) i did myself too and saved a bundle. My letter towers are garbage cans that i found at walmart, my letters to attach to them have not arrived yet... But i've got flowers and ivy growing in the towers, they just do not quite show over the top yet, i only planted them a week ago. All said, i think my total arena cost me $600. Which i consider a good deal when my chain/poles if purchased as a set would have ran me a grand or more, letters/towers would have been $250+, mirrors a small fortune... Mirror placement was key, make sure you wont have the sun hitting them. Because i had to manuever around Pecan trees (i have a pecan orchard), my arena ended up being a few feet short of 40m to put the mirrors facing the right direction. BUT, the upside, my lovely annoying pecan trees also shade 3/4s of my arena in the heat of the summer... :) YAY! They are actually good for something other than shedding branches and knocking you upside the head with pecans in the winter...

[grayarabpony]

Amazing what some good shoeing will do.

She looks great.

She's barefoot. ;)

[butlerfamilyzoo]

Yes, barefoot and proud of it... :)

[Ginger]

Thanks! great info. I guess my issue would be where to place them, the long axis of my arena is roughly east-west, so putting them on either short side would get some sun. But I'll figure something out!

Tempi, because DH doesn't "do" mares, you are lucky your ponynapped mare wouldn't mysteriously end up at my place! :lol:

BFZ, she's a doll, have fun with her.

[Gloria]

What breed is your very cute lovely pony? She looks like a Morgan to me (moves like a Morgan too).

[butlerfamilyzoo]

Gloria- She is welsh/QH. No morgan in there. Cant say she moves like one really in person, i love morgans, but never had/seen one move like she does. Trot possibly, but right now that is her weakest... My QH/Morgan cant compare, but i think he got most of the worst of both breeds... Sigh...

I do not see much of the QH in her, the welsh i see big time and i think that's who she owes her movement to.

[tempichange]

Tempi, because DH doesn't "do" mares, you are lucky your ponynapped mare wouldn't mysteriously end up at my place! :lol:



Aw heck, all my mares are under lock and key. You'd have to pry their reins out of my cold dead hands;)