Agree with others that this timeline was probably rushed as injections but I’m not a vet.
What did your trainer say? Is the mare going how you described in the other thread? No horse is going to jump well if they’re running you up to a chip. They’ll “frog” their hind end increasing the chance for a rub (or rail) and land in a heap.
Injections on stifles Thursday and then a full jumping lesson Sunday? That’s way to early……normally it would horse off for 4 to 5 days then flat for a few days then light jumping! I ride a 22 year old mare that got her coffins injected almost 3 weeks ago and today was the first time she felt completely normal….last week almost normal but still a bit off (so recheck to make sure) and she just needed a bit more time! Your timeline is way to fast!
And sires bloodlines mean not much, or as others have said we’d all have 1.50 jumpers! My geldings sire was amazing (Salito)nand his grand sire even better (Stakkato)….I ended up with a hunter, granted a lovely one but one with some major stomach issues (thus why I no longer have him)….and he defdid not inherit his sires jump! In my opinion, it’s the mare that you want to bring to the table……a fantastic mare with a great stallion and you have a better chance but still not guaranteed!
I do have to say that I’m shocked at everyone who gives multiple days off after injections. If that were the required protocol, most of the top horses would lose insane amounts of fitness and never get to show! My vet prescribes a day off, a day of tack walking, a day of light flatting, and then back to normal work.
But yeah, as someone who also owns a teenage Lordanos who is a very cute and careful jumper, I don’t think this issue is behavioral as much as it is physical.
Yeah this is what we do too. One day walk to graze only, one day tack walk, one day light flat, fourth day is back to normal. Maybe pleasure horses who get treated once a year or less can have 2 full weeks before returning to normal, but show horses would miss a LOT of showing on that timeline.
OK, so, mare has always done this even before you bought her? Did you get any imaging done when you bought her (xray, ultrasound etc)? When your vet recently did a “ lameness exam” did they do any imaging or just look see and flex?
Doubt you can fix this on a (teenaged? Is she 15ish?) horse thats always done it. It may be conformational, just the way shes built and she just cant get over bigger jumps. Rubbing most or all fences without sharpening up over the following is a pretty clear sign the horse is being asked for more jump then they can physically deliver for whatever reason. Bless her heart for trying, many would just start stopping.
Maybe her physical build just doesn’t allow it, maybe it is painful but doubt jumping exercises are going to fix something like this shes always done.
Have to add that, having been in barns that had alot of horses jumping 3.6”-1.3m on up, most don’t come back from anything but the most minor colic surgery at the same level. The abdominal wall muscle can be compromised by the incision. Most step down to 3’ ish. But this mare has been doing this for years, apparently.
Perhaps OP could try for Children’s Hunters instead of Junior? Better to be successful at 3’ then know the jumping style will be a significant deduction at 3’6”…assuming she can get over a 3’ course without the bunny hop behind. That might be the best answer.
Are the parents here supportive and willing to investigate further?
In OPs defense on the injections, we had them back in work in 3-4 days as our vets recommended for our horses. But, do I understand she has been having hocks and stifles done but this time only had the stifles?
Protocol depends on the type of injections and type of work! (Along with age of horse) by our vet! They are not on stall rest while they’re off and still outside but they don’t get jumped or fully flat lessened until a certain amount of days (eg, hocks or stifles done on Friday, the vet wants them off until Tuesday, coffins normally they’re off until Sunday or Monday ….except in the case of the mare I’m riding as they are being extra careful as she has had founder previously brought on after injections due to her having Cushings). We don’t have GP Horses so we don’t need them back jumping ASAP, we like to give them a bit extra time to hopefully spread joint injections out longer! We do however, have show horses but we don’t campaign all year……and our school horses also get as long as they need off! While yes, they make us money, they can’t if we don’t give them what they need ……and if that’s time then time they’ll get!
Oh, had a navicular bursa injected on one and a coffin on another and those both had most of a week hand walk and/or restricted turn out starting back with light riding only for a few days after that. Depended on the procedure IME. Routine hock or stifle maintenance was usually just a few days.
Reading the original post, it had me thinking that if this horse was a jumper it would probably use double strap hind boots (velcro or fei-compliant)…
My GP horse always tucked his hind legs since he started jumping, and in order to get him to open up behind we jumped a lot of low and wide overs to get him stretching, and when he was old enough and strong enough we added the hind boots which fixed it almost 100%. He is ultra careful, so now we use hind boots strategically as their effect “carries over” if that makes sense.
Just because a horse naturally tucks vs opening up behind does not mean they are scoped out or hurting. If it has changed with time or height dependent then that is different. But if they have done it since day one, they may just need to be shown how to open up.
Re the vet work> top HJ vet clinics (Palm beach equine, Hagyard etc) typically do one day of stall rest, one to two days of just turn out/walker/treadmill (schedule dependent) and then ideally one day of flatting and then are good to return to full work.
I agree. I think it’s important to note that different vets have different procedures after injections and it also matters what the vet has injected them with
just going to reply to this post with an update, i have lessoned on her the past 2 weekends and she has gotten a lot better with her hind end and getting on the bit. she probably was tired the first lesson we had back, i also hadnt jumped her in a while so it makes sense why she was tucking her legs. my trainer has been riding her most of the weekdays, mostly working on the flat. she also magnawave therapy done, and a few other things to help! yesterday we were able to course around at 3’6" with minimal mistakes (got deep to a jump) but i think sending her to my trainer has helped a ton. she finally is getting on the bit and getting on her haunches, and we are going to a show in 2 weeks. the injections were also a bit rushed just because the day she was supposed to originally go, our truck broke down and we had to wait a few days for it to be fixed. we also needed to get her out to the facility so she could have a good amount of training done. this weekend we are going to the trainers place that we are going to be showing with, the instructor i currently have her with works with the show trainer (its hard to explain haha), but thank you guys for all the help! i will keep posted on how the next few weeks go and how she is at the show with the spooking issue, it has gotten better so far though!
The issue here was that “normal” for this horse previously hasn’t been this much work. It was a couple days off then to full training boot camp. I would not expect to see the best results from injections on the first day back and straight into a show prep program; I wasn’t saying she needed two weeks off.
OP, do not take this personally, perhaps this mare does better in a more regular program with a Professional level rider? By Pro, don’t necessarily mean being paid, mean extensive experience and top level strength, balance and skills.
Would advise sticking to the Jumpers with her at least for now unless its not a particularly competitive show. Even in the 3’3’ Junior Hunters, need to be pretty good style wise.
she has always kind of done it, recently when we have been jumping bigger and she has been in work with a professional she hasn’t been doing it almost at all. we didn’t get anything flexion wise or x-rays done when we bought her because we had originally leased her, and even then we got nothing done because i was moving to the barn she was at so we trusted the trainers because they already had her in the program for over a year. we have been doing the children’s for almost a year already, and the jumps are like speed bumps for her, but we have been pretty successful and gotten a lot of top placings. she loses focus easily though because she barely has to pay attention to the jumps at shows. we have been looking to move up because my parents cant afford to let me show all year long and this year we have only been able to go to 4 shows (2 weeks of 2 different shows), so i am never going to end up getting a year end award or anything and there’s no children’s hunter finals, so there is no point in really doing it anymore.