Horse has a strange lope
Today’s horse training question comes from Christy. She writes: “My daughter got a 7 year old paint several months ago and has been riding her western and working at the walk and trot. She is great at these gaits but when she started to lope her she looks really strange. The closest thing I can equate it to is she looks like a rocking horse. She swishes her tail like she is going to buck and seems to be driving with her front end rather than her hind quarters. It is such a weird lope that its hard to tell if she is trying to buck or not. Other than this she has great manners and will walk and trot forever but what is up with her lope?”
Hi Christy. Thank you for your horse training question. I can’t tell for sure without seeing your mare move, but your description of her lope brings a few different things to mind. How much contact does your daughter have when she is riding her at the lope? If she’s riding with a lot of contact, the mare may be moving like a rocking horse and swishing her tail because she is not sure if she should be moving forward or stopping. Try giving her more rein and see if the problem improves. Your observation that she is driving off her front end is a good one. For her to start driving from behind, she needs to have energy in the lope. So I would give her some room with the reins, and push her up to a faster lope to see what happens. If you think she is likely to buck when you do that, make sure whoever is riding her is experienced enough to be safe and able to sit that out. Also, I’d be interested to see if she moves the same way out on the trail (I’m assuming she’s riding in the ring now). She might be ring sour. My other thought was that she might have some chiropractic issues that are making it painful for her to lope, and causing a strange gait. However, I would try the other suggestions first and see if you get an improvement before you put money in to chiropractic treatment for a problem that may just be attitude.
Please let me know what you discover, and if you have any further questions. Thank you for your horse training question.
