Stride too Short

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jbgalex1

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Joined
Sep 3, 2008
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3
My son has a Shorthorn heifer that is 11 months old.  We took her to her first show on Saturday.  There were 4 different rings with different judges.  Two of the judges said that her stride is too short.  After hearing them say that I watched her and she does tend to be very short strided on her hind legs.  What can we do to correct that?  We tried a couple of things last night like holding her head higher which seemed to help.  Also from a stop she'll take several good long stided steps and then starts short striding.  Would it help to stop her immediately when she starts short striding?

This is our first venture into the show cattle world and we are having fun and learning a lot.  Thanks for any advice any of you can give us.

Jennifer
 

cowz

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Jan 10, 2007
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1,492
I second the hoof trimming!  Get someone that works on show cattle, not just the guy down the road with a hoof table.  Also, does she just get "choppy"  when she is fired up or nervous?  We have a heifer like that.  If she is the first one in the ring, she is nervous and she makes quick, uncertain strides.  If she is following someone else in, she is fine.  Just my humble opinion.  Maybe really excersizing her a lot and getting her out of the pen at home more will help lengthen those strides.

 

amss101

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Joined
Aug 10, 2007
Messages
198
A good hoof trimmer will help.  Last year, we practiced walking at a pace where the stride was right and tried to walk a mile in the morning and again at night.
 

kane1598

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Joined
Dec 9, 2007
Messages
897
What is everyone opinions on natural stride?  I have noticed that our heifer is starting to get a little short on her left side, we would just like to help her be a little more flexible.  I have heard that natural stride is the real deal.  Anyone feed it?
 

knabe

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Feb 7, 2007
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13,639
Location
Hollister, CA
find the knots and press with your thumbs.  get used to picking up their feet and stretch their legs.
 

jbgalex1

New member
Joined
Sep 3, 2008
Messages
3
Thanks for all the replies.  We had her hooves trimmed about 3 weeks ago and it was done by someone with experience.  However, I believe this was probably her first trim ever.

I do believe we do need to exercise her more.  We've been so focused on rinsing and brushing over the summer that we've neglected the exercise somewhat.  Now that it starting to get cooler we are definitely going to start walking her more.

Thanks again!

Jennifer
 
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