Bucking in right lead canter transition

[FineAlready]

Discuss possible causes.

Some may recall that I posted a thread a while back about this same horse being sound on the lunge but being totally screwed up, broncing, etc. while ridden. I ended up switching saddles, which resulted in immediate improvement of about, I don’t know…80%?

Carried on with that for a while, and he was doing much better. However, remaining issue is/has been that he will plant and buck when asked for an upward trot to canter transition heading to the right. Once in the canter, he also sometimes bucks/crow hops. Left lead is fine, transition is fine, no bucking. He is also fine if I just do a flying change to get from the left to right lead. Change is clean, and there is no drama.

The problem with the right lead canter transition is present when ridden and also when lunged, both with or without tack.

Horse looks and feels sound, and I rode him in a dressage clinic this past weekend (yes, we did have some problems with that right lead in the clinic- we worked through them, but he remained tense).

Does this jump out at anyone as anything specific? I have two primary ideas at this point, but I’d like to hear others’ thoughts.

[SuckerForHorses]

Could be anything really, but I would start by checking out his stifles and hocks.

My arab mare did the crow hop/bucking transition for a while, and once xray’d, she had significant arthritic changes in both hocks. If I kept her collected in the canter, it was better, but you never know when she’d throw in a crow hop and she almost always did it during the transition into the canter both from the walk and the trot.

[FineAlready]

Really, no one else has ideas?

The horse is due for dental and is at 6 months on hock injections. He has known narrowing of the joint space in one hock and a very mild spur in the other hock. He normally can go longer than 6 months between hock injections, but I’m thinking at this point that the problem is hocks. Or teeth…

Teeth are scheduled for next week, and if that doesn’t fix the problem (which I suspect it won’t), I’ll set him up for a lameness evaluation and probable hock injections. Just curious if others think those are good guesses or if this behavior just screams something else entirely.

[FineAlready]

And, thank you SuckerForHorses!

[FineAlready]

I guess I mostly find it really weird that he is fine doing a clean lead change from left to right (and right to left, FWIW), but picking up the lead from a trot (or walk) is horrible. But then again, this horse has always had a fantastic and very natural change, so I don’t think it is hard for him at all.

[honeychile]

I was trying to bring my friend’s mare back into work and she presented with the same symptoms. Trot to canter left was fine, right was not. Ended up being a problem in her hock related to a previous injury.

[FineAlready]

[QUOTE=honeychile;7499243]
I was trying to bring my friend’s mare back into work and she presented with the same symptoms. Trot to canter left was fine, right was not. Ended up being a problem in her hock related to a previous injury.[/QUOTE]

Ah, thank you. This is helpful information. Was the injured hock the left or right hock?

[tbchick84]

Wow, how timely is this thread? I just spent the past two weeks trouble shooting a right lead canter head tossing bucking issue. We systematically ruled out teeth, pain and saddle fit. Vet just came today to do shots, and I presented all the facts to him. He came to the same conclusion. Hocks. We will be doing our first injections next week. Hopefully that’s really it with the cost of those things, but I’m happy to see this thread. I wasn’t sure that was it, but it sounds like it’s dead on.

[mroades]

I had one that did that and it ended up being SI

[merrygoround]

I have seen horses do this. It stopped with further flatwork that helped strengthen the hind end… Sometimes it’s just the huge effort to engage everything they need to get the lead.

[Desert_Topaz]

I have a friend whose pony wouldn’t pick up one lead. Turned out he had torn several ligaments and meniscuses in one of his hind legs. Not picking up the lead was his only symptom (yes, I know how insane this story is. The thought is it happened when his legs were swollen from being attacked by fireants so no one noticed and they didn’t discover this injury till months later. He’s extremely stoic.)

[jetsmom]

I’d say left hock pain.

[FineAlready]

[QUOTE=mroades;7499317]
I had one that did that and it ended up being SI[/QUOTE]

I do think this is a possibility. He is frequently out in his SI when he gets chiro (done by a vet). He was last adjusted 6 weeks ago and was out there at the time.

I am actually going to switch his dental appointment to a lameness eval/probable hock injections appointment instead for next week. At this point, I think the hocks are the most likely culprit. I’ll reschedule his teeth, which need to be done anyway.

It’s not likely a strength thing. He is quite fit, works at least 6 days a week (sometimes 7, with at least one walk only day). He’s also 9 years old and not a baby just learning how to work.

Oh, and I agree more likely left hock based on the right lead being the problem. That’s the one with the small spur.

[salymandar]

Usually when my horse has trouble picking up a lead - usually his left - I have a litany of go-to causes. For him it is generally not hock pain, though it sometimes factors in. Most of the time it is back soreness from a variety of reasons: he tends to carry his tenseness in his back, his saddle fit may be off since his back has done a lot of changing (withers popping, increasing flat work, weight fluctuations), or bucking/playing too rough in the field. My horse also has chronic lyme, which also affects his back.

He prefers to land on the right lead, but generally does not mind his right-left change. He finds it easier to pick up the canter from the halt or walk (but when he hurts, they cause him to worry). The trot-canter transition can be very tough for him.

This is just my experience with my one horse who on occasion bulks/balks on canter transitions and while cantering, so take it for what it is worth (probably not much!). My horse responds very well to acupuncture, though I have done some chiro and injections when indicated.

[honeychile]

[QUOTE=FineAlready;7499263]
Ah, thank you. This is helpful information. Was the injured hock the left or right hock?[/QUOTE]

My PM are messed up. So I’ll answere here:

It was right hock. She was not my mare and the owner has decided not to do anything regarding it. (She was a broodmare after a rotated coffin bone due to an abscess, compensated for a while which resulted in issues with her right hock) so unfortunately I have no diagnosis from vet or treatment protocol, she just went back into the field. She stayed sound for about 5 weeks then the hock started having issues again, which presented in the right lead canter (bucking, trouble picking up lead, not wanting to go forward to the right)

As a vet didn’t look at her, no official word on which hock, but a few of us looked at her longing and we could see the right hock was just not quite right.

[FineAlready]

[QUOTE=honeychile;7500593]
My PM are messed up. So I’ll answere here:

It was right hock. She was not my mare and the owner has decided not to do anything regarding it. (She was a broodmare after a rotated coffin bone due to an abscess, compensated for a while which resulted in issues with her right hock) so unfortunately I have no diagnosis from vet or treatment protocol, she just went back into the field. She stayed sound for about 5 weeks then the hock started having issues again, which presented in the right lead canter (bucking, trouble picking up lead, not wanting to go forward to the right)

As a vet didn’t look at her, no official word on which hock, but a few of us looked at her longing and we could see the right hock was just not quite right.[/QUOTE]

Thanks! I wouldn’t be surprised at it being either one with my horse, honestly. The left has the small spur, and the right has narrowing joint space/is in the process of fusing. So, really, it could be both. Makes me a little sad that he didn’t make it longer than 6 months before needing injections again, but it was a REALLY hard/cold/limited turnout winter, and he did race as a youngin’ so this kind of wear and tear isn’t particularly surprising to me.

I mean…assuming this is hocks and not something else. But we have defnitely had some refusing to go forward problems in the past when he needed hocks injected…so… My vet who knows him pretty well also looked at a short video of him last night (we board together) and thought hocks was a reasonable guess. He will of course be examined before we inject him next week though.

[slp2]

Had this happen on the left lead. It was an SI ligament injury on the right side.

[FineAlready]

[QUOTE=slp2;7500815]
Had this happen on the left lead. It was an SI ligament injury on the right side.[/QUOTE]

Interesting. What led you to the diagnosis?

[slp2]

It was diagnosed by a vet who specializes in backs. He did a complete lameness exam and evaluated the back. Based on that he recommended a bone scan. The bone scan revealed no areas of bony involvement, but some areas that were inflamed. He then ultrasounded those areas and found the ligament damage.

[FineAlready]

Thank you for that info! If we rule out hocks and teeth this may well be our next try.