All Play Fancy-Free Fillies, LLC
Sent Feb. 7, ‘10
All,
Silver Minted did not work yesterday because a good old-fashioned ‘gully washer’ made it impossible for Susy to train.
Silver has been ‘cross-firing’ a bit more lately, and that gave me pause, so I asked Dr. Redman (chiropractor) to go over her and give me an update. He reports that she’s 100% everywhere except her lower lumbar region, where there is still some evidence of minor mis-alignment, which in his opinion is probably the cause of her cross-firing. He suggests that three laser treatments should go a long way toward getting that alignment to come around and end the cross-firing. At $85 per treatment I authorized, and we’ll do that next week.
By now you’re asking, “What the heck is ‘cross-firing?’
Horses hit the ground one leg at a time and in rhythm. Left front, right hind, right front, left hind, and repeat. The previous rhythm pattern describes a “right lead.” In other words, of the two front legs, the right is leaving the ground last, “leading” the horse into the next sequence of strides. So in that rhythm, the left is the ‘landing’ leg and the right is the ‘lead’ leg.
Horses also ‘change’ or ‘switch leads’ in mid stride. In other words, following a repeated front-leg pattern of left-right, l-r, l-r, l-r, in mid-stride (and at full speed) they can change to right-left, r-l, r-l, r-l. (Changing leads enables the horse to ‘find’ additional energy. The landing leg uses less energy than does the lead leg, so the lead leg tires at a faster rate than does the landing leg. Switching leads turns the landing leg into the lead leg, and vice-versa. This taps into the energy ‘reserve’ of the (former) landing leg – now the lead leg, and as they continue running in this ‘new’ rhythm, the (former) lead leg – now the landing leg, can rebuild its relative energy ‘reserve.’ When your horse cross-fires, it means that he or she is on two leads—the front two legs are on one lead, while the back two legs are on the opposite. They are out of rhythm.
When a horse switches leads, the back end is supposed to follow suit, which it always does, just not necessarily right away. When the hind end does not follow ‘on cue,’ there’ll be a stride or two (or three) where they are ‘out of rhythm,’ or ‘cross-firing.’ (During that brief time they somewhat resemble the action of a free-legged pacer or a Tennessee Walker.)
When in full stride this is awkward for a racehorse and will cause them to slow down a teeny bit. One-fifth of a second = one length. If for example, a race horse loses a fifth of a second each time they cross-fire, and they cross-fire three times during the running of a race, they ‘gave’ three lengths to the field.
Cross-firing will not prevent Silver Minted from racing. What it will do is prevent her from being the best she can be. If Dr. Redman is right, we’ll be solidly on track. Meantime, we are to continue training as usual.
Next, Mirthful Flirt ‘worked’ a half in 51.2. ‘YEAAAAAAAAAAACK! What the heck happened?’ Mmm,hmm. My thoughts exactly. So I called Joe and asked.
He explained that the track is lightning fast (rain yesterday put extra ‘bounce’ in the surface, plus the extra grooming for today’s Donn Handicap), so he chose to ask his horses to simply ‘open gallop’ a half following a one mile ‘regular gallop.’ His comment: “Paul, actually that was a really nice move. It wasn’t a work, just an open gallop, and a very nice one, at that. She’s doing great and I’m very pleased with her progress. She’s doing great, still gaining weight and is happy as the devil. No worries today.”
Racetrack adage: “Time is only meaningful when you are doing time.”
Best regards,
Paul
Sent Feb. 7, ‘10
Feb. 7, ‘10
All,
Here is (almost) everything you’ve ever wanted to know about cross-firing, but were probably afraid to ask.
A basic fundamental of horse training is ensuring that your horse stays on the correct lead during the canter (slow gallop). Horses have two leads—right and left—which refers to the leg with which your horse leads during the canter. On the left lead, your horse’s left leg stretches out while the rest of the legs follow. When your horse cross-fires, it means that he or she is on two leads—the front two legs are on one lead, while the back two legs are on the opposite.
Usually this problem boils down to lack of balance and muscle. Horses are often prone to cross-firing when moving in a circle, such as cantering in a round pen. If they are lacing balance and muscle control, they cross-fire to compensate, just as a human would do if compensating for an injured limb.
If your horse is cross-firing on a regular basis, it’s time to go back to the fundamentals of training. Most often cross-firing can’t be corrected while riding because you aren’t able to dissect the problem from his back. Instead, spend a few days working on the lunge line to observe your horse while he moves. If he cross-fires each time he picks up the canter, he’s either unbalanced or has an injury.
In this case you’ll have to find a way to improve his muscle tone and balance while ensuring that he is in no physical pain. You might want to have your veterinarian or an equine chiropractor look him over to check for misalignment; if that doesn’t pan out any results, start working on that balance and muscle tone.
Free-lunging your horse or working him on a lunge line isn’t sufficient for this purpose. Instead, you’ll need to put him in some type of a rig, such as side reins or a bitting rig. These devices help build topline muscles (the muscles from the poll down the crest to the withers) and improve balance without you’re having to be on his back.
That’s it!
Best!
Paul
