I've posted Justin here before, but I only had winter pics of him. He's a fuzzy little bastard in the wintertime! Hopefully it's easier to see his conformation now?
When I got him in the winter, he'd been trained saddleseat, then ridden in a very very severe bit by a lady who wanted to trail ride him, but didn't enjoy the fact that he moved really fast and tried to slow him down via his mouth. His under-neck was very muscled from bracing against the bit, and that's going away as he stops bracing and starts accepting contact; his neck isn't upside-down anymore! I also think his back is looking better, but I might be barn blind. Any thoughts from you guys?
We've been doing a lot of 'long and low' work (for a certain value of 'a lot', since my knee has been acting up quite a bit). He's slowly muscling up along his topline, and I think he's in a slightly awkward stage where he's a little chubby, a little muscled, and halfway to where he needs to be! His left rear foot looks a little strange in these pics, almost clubby, but it doesn't look that way in person, so I wonder if it's something to do with his very light coronet band and an optical illusion.
Anyway. Thoughts, critiques, opinions? He's still hot (fast and looky, not spooky) as hell, but finally getting out of resistance and into acceptance and softness. He's 15hh flat, 12 years old, classic lines (Upwey Ben Don, Corlyndon, Eventide), and I took him for free as my dressage project to keep him from going to an adoption/rescue place. Before/After pics, even though we're only halfway to "after!" Any ideas from you dressage folks about areas you think I should work on to get him really fit?





