De Luca is a homebred gelding by Arlento x TB. He is a gorgeous natured boy who was easy from day one, but due to a lack of time he was late started.
This wasn't an issue for me as I prefer to let their bones set before asking them big questions but as a 5-year-old, I felt that he was ready to begin more body control work and begin working on the contact with the goal to prepare him for his first show and first competition season.
In his early sessions, he struggled with lateral work, and I ended up hassling him to be sharper and more forward thinking, a mistake I made at the time because I thought his issues were training issues. After two sessions, I went over his body to figure out why these sessions were a struggle for him and ended up having him seen by a chiropractor and the improvement was fantastic so I thought everything was all fixed.
He vastly improved in his body work, was much more lighter off the leg and seemed to be on a really good track. But after a winter break things didn't look good at all and I had him taken to the vet for a further diagnosis. The results were pretty disappointing.