Kai- day 24 Finding issues

I wasn't happy with the saddle fit on the first saddle I used on Kai, it seemed to sit too far forward. So I put Beamer's Wade saddle on and it seemed to sit a lot better, with lots of room for his shoulders.

Compare it to where the other saddle sits:

It looks really close to being the same but it feels different. There is also more room in the shoulders:

Today I wanted to get more trotting done. After the usual preliminaries I could see that he was still having difficulty turning right when I did the rein around from the ground. I did bit him up again and it got a little better, but still not good. I got on anyway, and worked to the left with no problems, getting a nice trot all the way around, and nice whoa and back up. Then I asked for right circles. He did ok at the walk, although he did stop a couple of times, and I made him keep walking; when I asked for the trot he would only give me about 3-4 strides and then walk. Odd, because he was so willing to the left.
After a bit I asked for hip over- no problem both ways- and then shoulder over. This is where it got interesting. He gave nicely to the left, but when I picked up the right rein, and applied my left leg in front of the cinch, he literally felt stuck. He gave to the leading rein, but it's like he couldn't move that shoulder over. I could feel that he wanted to, but it's like his feet were stuck! I bunted him hard on the shoulder and he popped up and over on the front. I made sure to keep him moving in a right arc, and asked him a few more times to give that shoulder. He did, but I could feel that it wasn't easy for him.
I worked a little more on figure 8's and a few stop and back ups, then stepped off and longed him both ways to see if I could figure it out. Nice and easy to the left, he kept slack in the lead, but when I asked for a right circle he was leaning on that lead line. I'd bring his head in and he'd lean it right back out.
Hmmm. Before riding I had given him stretches, and had checked for soreness. I found tight sore muscles at the top of his neck- right behind those wing bones on both sides, and found reaction in the middle of his back on both sides about 8 to 10 inches behind the withers. I did neck stretches both ways, getting him to touch his shoulder by the cinch area with his nose. He tilted his head more away to the right and touched with his chin rather than his nose.
So what I did after riding was to stand him up square and look for issues. And I found one glaring one.

I had actually taken this photo in 3 different spots and got the same results each time- that right hip is dropped. Shayla had noticed in several of his photos that he always seems to have that right hind foot forward a bit, and  I guess this would be why, it probably gives him a bit of relief. Also explains why he is having difficulty to the right- perhaps it hurts to plant that foot for the right turns, and as far as trotting to the right goes, that inside hind foot takes most of the weight so it probably bothers him. However! He seemed quite alright this morning when he and Josie were ripping around!!!



Kai will be getting body work next week, and that should help with a lot of his issues. I will continue to ride him but will change my focus a bit, and give him more mental challenges; the physical stuff like trotting, loping and turns can wait for a week or so, I'm sure. I could keep at it and insist, but I don't want to build resistance in him.