After Racing: Retraining Thoroughbreds

I worked Jimmy on the lunge yesterday. He seems to be feeling better. At first, he was a little gimpy on the front right, but when I asked him to trot, he didn't have any problems aside from his usual stiffness. It takes him a good 5 minutes or so to loosen up.

He worked in sidereins yesterday and did quite a bit of trot work. We also worked on canter transitions. His canter is improving, but his departs are pretty crappy. He tends to race off for a few strides, then come down to a more relaxed tempo, but he can't yet sustain it -- especially on a 20m circle (lunge line). He doesn't yet push from behind as much as he pulls from the front. I also noticed that he would only do the canter depart when circling around to the long side of the arena. When he would canter towards the short side of the area, he would always slow to a trot. I think strengthening the hind end and back will help him be able to sustain the canter on bending line. Right now that is very difficult for him.