weighted shoes

Question
i'm sorry, i wasn't very specific. we havent' started jumping yet. he's not quite ready, but i meant that i show him hunt pleasure. i forget that there's all the arab sporthorse sections.
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Followup To

Question -
I have an Arab that i show as a hunter. I took about 6 years off of showing and I just bought him and I'm back showing in the Arab circuit. He moved beautifully, very true hunter style. His hind is very nice, drives great. But I noticed at the first show back that the Arab hunters are becoming a lot more round and almost a lower moving country english horse. I just had standard shoes on him. I'm wondering if I should put some toe weights or just add a little more weight all around on his feet. He did really well at the last show, but I'm wondering if many judges like the true hunters, or if I should add more to his feet to get him to come up more with his feet?
Thanks.


Answer -
In my opinion jumping is already hard on a horse's leg, as is racing.  If your horse is doing well without additional weight, why add something which could cause injury to his legs just to please a judge?  You must ask yourself, "How important is the blue ribbon?"  I'm so glad you are thinking about the welfare of your horse and it is wonderful that you are showing in the jumping classes.  Arabs do a great job of jumping in competition.  Best of luck in the show ring.

Answer
You might use cavelleti exercises at home to encourage higher action if that is what you are looking for or you also might train using bell boots.  When the boots are reomved, the horse will step higher for a short time due to the excess weight being removed. I do not believe in "making" a horse do something that is unnatural for that horse.  Some horses naturally step higher than others.  Another thing you should check into is learning to carefully and slowly increase the lateral flexion of your horses legs.  Slowly lift a hoof just barely off the ground and make a small circle.  Gradually, over time the circles will be larger but start small and do all four feet. Massage the muscles too which will make a more relaxed animal. Good luck.