Starting Again

Phantom has developed to have a rather strange (and faulty) conformation. When moving he does not engage his hind end and he moves extremely heavy on the forehand. He is coon footed in the rear and I am trying to figure out if it can be changed with correct hoof trimming or is this perhaps DSLD/ESPA.

He drags his hind toes at the trot and as you can see from the above picture, he shows some muscle atrophe in the haunches. He has been difficult for picking up his hind feet and has been falling down  a bit in the hind end under saddle. He also has a hard time picking up the correct lead while free longing in the round pen. He either crossfires or the legs move together if I make him gallop.  Then he gets his lead figured out. OR I can fix the lead myself by stepping out in front and pushing his nose to the rail, causing his hip to come in.  Then when I let him go he canters correctly, maintaining the correct lead. He has a terrible attitude when asked to work :-)

So I was asked to keep a simple journal of his exercise program mark and his improvement. From 1 - 10.

Here goes:

December 2, 2012 Day 5 of Program

Attitude:7
Starting Effort: 5
Finishing Effort: 9
Movement Before: 5
Movement During: 8
Movement Afterward: 7
Flexibility: 6

Considering that he started out on day one trying to kick my head off because he didn't wanna and I got less than 2 seconds worth of ear pinning yesterday, I gave him a 7 on attitude. He also trotted away from me yesterday when I asked him to move so I didn't have to really BEAT (figuratively) the trot out of him. He was not going to just offer a really good effort at the trot so I had to drive him to it. At the end of our session, He just OFFERED maximum effort at the trot, powering with the hind and really lifting his shoulder so I took off all pressure immediately and left the pen and fed him right there. It was about 15 minutes work total.  He is still having a problem with leads at the canter which is concerning for as much riding as he has had over the years. Hopefully with some strengthening it will help him out. It still makes me wonder about DSLD or some neurological disconnect.

For flexibility I gave him a 6 because while he is flexible side to side he does not have much reach fore or hind. Reach improved markedly during and remained improved afterward.