Chip has taught me so much lately. You forget how much you have learned over time but starting all over with a new horse quickly reminds you. It has been pretty slow for Chip for most of the year. Recently he has really picked up in his mindset. His body has also changed dramatically. He always had a strong looking body. However, while the hind legs looked long and powerful, his front legs moved like a short fat man struggling to keep up. His head position and neck movements where also not ideal. He carried his head high and his neck short, moving it like a chicken. Peter Decosomo described this as being a demonstration of poor balance, the horse will use its head like a tightrope walker uses a pole to counter any variances in balance.
Over the course of the year Chip has learned to free up his front legs and to move with his head in a lower frame. His shape has clearly shifted (according to me anyway) from being that of a quarter horse to that of a racehorse. bearing in mind that he has breeding of both. His racehorse shape is proving far easier for him to move and for me to work with. He is more easily able to yield and flow in his movements. He turns much more smoothly. I can’t wait to see how the next few months unfold.