Bunny Hopping Canter

[Adriana1837]

Hey there, hoping for some advice/insight.

I have a 8 year old quarter horse/paint cross mare. I have owned her for 4 years now and bought her as a wild 4 year old. She was bred and turned out onto 160acres and never touched by a person until I brought her home. She does have beautiful movement and naturally floaty and reaches nicely. As I have been moving along with her training she is quite a fire cracker. She’s spicy, she loves to run and very playful. Even just in her pasture she runs tons and plays a lot.

But she occasionally does a bunny hopping canter. Both in the pasture, when I ride and when lunging. But the bunny hopping isn’t regular and doesn’t follow a pattern. The only thing I really notice is she always bunny hops when she’s EXTREMELY excited and worked up. Like we re talking super high tail, super high head, snorting like a dragon then she bunny hops. But regularly she does have a nice canter and is totally capable of doing a great canter. To me she does seem to have a weaker hind end and I have had regular chiro and physio on her and it makes her hind end feel much better, but it doesn’t get rid of the bunny hops when she’s hot and excited.

Now I have had my vet out to evaluate her, we did nerve blocks, bute test, she’s had saddle professionally fitted. And with all that she remained the same even with the nerve blocks and pain medication she still would bunny hop when excited and was the same cantering regularly. I do notice her hind end does just generally feel better with her being fit in regular exercise but still the bunny hops are there. I worry about SI or stifle/hock issues or wobbles syndrome. Which maybe I am just over worrying. I already spent $1,000 on vet to tell me they think she seems fine and conformationally she’s great and well muscled good topline no atrophy. And they said to continue training and continue massage and chiro if I find it makes her feel better.

Now I know she’s a very hot and sensitive horse. But I worry if there’s more. I am just not sure if I am being paranoid, or if I should be going to a specialty vet. I would have to haul her over an hour to one and would likely cost me $1,500+ to have x-rays ultrasound and evaluation, which I can’t quite afford. But wondering what other people think and opinions on what would you do if you were in my shoes?

Should I be concerned? Or could she likely need more training? As when she relaxes her entire body and is nice and focused her canter is beautiful and soft and floaty and nice to ride. It’s when she gets worked up and excited that she gets stiff and tense. Now she’s only been broke and been ridden for 2 years so she’s still very green and learning a lot, and she was previously wild so its been a lot to tame her. Any advice is appreciated!!! I can possibly get videos also!

[beau159]

@Adriana1837

I have a 8 year old quarter horse/paint cross mare. I have owned her for 4 years now and bought her as a wild 4 year old. She was bred and turned out onto 160acres and never touched by a person until I brought her home. She does have beautiful movement and naturally floaty and reaches nicely. As I have been moving along with her training she is quite a fire cracker. She’s spicy, she loves to run and very playful. Even just in her pasture she runs tons and plays a lot.

But she occasionally does a bunny hopping canter. Both in the pasture, when I ride and when lunging. But the bunny hopping isn’t regular and doesn’t follow a pattern. The only thing I really notice is she always bunny hops when she’s EXTREMELY excited and worked up. Like we re talking super high tail, super high head, snorting like a dragon then she bunny hops. But regularly she does have a nice canter and is totally capable of doing a great canter. To me she does seem to have a weaker hind end and I have had regular chiro and physio on her and it makes her hind end feel much better, but it doesn’t get rid of the bunny hops when she’s hot and excited.

Now I have had my vet out to evaluate her, we did nerve blocks, bute test, she’s had saddle professionally fitted. And with all that she remained the same even with the nerve blocks and pain medication she still would bunny hop when excited and was the same cantering regularly. I do notice her hind end does just generally feel better with her being fit in regular exercise but still the bunny hops are there. I worry about SI or stifle/hock issues or wobbles syndrome. Which maybe I am just over worrying. I already spent $1,000 on vet to tell me they think she seems fine and conformationally she’s great and well muscled good topline no atrophy. And they said to continue training and continue massage and chiro if I find it makes her feel better.

Now I know she’s a very hot and sensitive horse. But I worry if there’s more. I am just not sure if I am being paranoid, or if I should be going to a specialty vet. I would have to haul her over an hour to one and would likely cost me $1,500+ to have x-rays ultrasound and evaluation, which I can’t quite afford. But wondering what other people think and opinions on what would you do if you were in my shoes?

Should I be concerned? Or could she likely need more training? As when she relaxes her entire body and is nice and focused her canter is beautiful and soft and floaty and nice to ride. It’s when she gets worked up and excited that she gets stiff and tense. Now she’s only been broke and been ridden for 2 years so she’s still very green and learning a lot, and she was previously wild so its been a lot to tame her. Any advice is appreciated!!! I can possibly get videos also!

I think videos would be quite helpful.

In my late high school years, my horse got injured. So we bought another horse for me to ride while he healed. I think he was probably the FASTEST horse I have ever owned in my life. But he could not do a nice slow lope to save his life. Lovely responsive, sensitive horse, fun to ride. But my booty literally bounced out of the saddle with every stride. I rode that horse every single day, all summer long. There was only 1 time that he loped normally and I was about in shock when he did it, and never again.

Back in those days … we didn’t take horses to lameness vets. Didn’t really even know about it. So part of me wonders if there was something wrong with him, or what he just that anxious that he couldn’t lope normally?

If you let him run, he lowered to the ground and was smooth as glass. And FAST! But just want to leisurely lope? Nope, couldn’t do it. He was also the type of horse that if I even so much as shifted my weight, he was wondering what I was cueing him to do.

Sooooooo sorry for my long windedness there, but I would say it is encouraging in your case that your horse only seems to do the bunny hop when excited. That would make me think less lameness since horse CAN do it. And perhaps just needs better fitness. And needs more skills to keep her mind more focused, which comes with experience.

Did your other vet do any xrays at all? I’m kinda paranoid about hocks and such so if it were me, I would probably at least check out the hocks and stifles just to easy my mind. But from what you describe, the bunny hopping comes from her mental state … and not her physical state. (I think)

[luvmyhackney]

My pony bunny hops when he’s tense or if someone takes too much contact he feels he can’t move forward.

Sometimes it’s SI issues, but who knows without video.

[sascha]

2 things come to mind right off the bat - PSSM and loose stifle ligaments. If the horse were mine I’d want to rule out PSSM right off the bat, then play with mental state (figure out how to “break the trance” ) and possibly treat for a month or so with Sucralfate to see if reducing the impact of sloshing gut acid has anything to do with the mental state. It could be a few things chasing each other in never-ending cycle, or it could be something else entirely. The things I mention are ones that I have fairly recent experience with.

[Amy3996]

It could be behavioral, or it could be related to pain (thinking specifically SI). If you haven’t done balance X-rays of her hind feet, that’s an easy box to check off the list. Negative angles in the hind contributed to hind end/SI soreness in my young horse that presented as bunny hopping.

I’ll also second the suggestion to (preferably scope and) try a round of ulcer treatment. A bute challenge could have aggravated existing ulcers or caused them in the first place.

[endlessclimb]

I tied pom-poms to my mare’s halter as a desensitizing exercise yesterday, and was laughing because she started off bunny hopping, not sure wtf the things were that were tied to her face. Once she figured out they weren’t going to eat her, she cantered just fine.

So, going along with what @beau159 said, some horses do it just when excited or stressed, and actually are just fine.

For your horse, personally I would hold off on any further diagnostics until she presents you with something you can actually find. Don’t waste more money.

Most horses move a little like a mule deer when FIRED up the way you describe. Boing-boing-boing along they go.

[fivestrideline]

Many sound horses do that reindeer hop canter when fired up - video would be helpful but if she’s got a nice canter otherwise, I wouldn’t worry. You’ll get a lot of people throwing things at you here (and that’s completely valid), but I suspect your horse is fine. If you’re worried, do lots of slow, quality backing in hand, hills, poles/cavaletti, anything to work her stifles and abs. You’ve done a lameness exam and saddle fitting, now go enjoy your horse! If anything changes for the worse, then you can start looking for problems.

[Adriana1837]

Tha ms so much for your reply. I did forget to mention we did scope and check for ulcers in the first initial exam and she has no ulcers at all. Which was great news. But for the more in depth x-rays I’d need to haul her an hour to a clinic that would be able to do those and any ultrasounds. As I live very rurally and my small town vet sadly can only offer so many diagnostics.

[Adriana1837]

Thank you so much for your reply, I do think I’ll keep working her and if I see any drastic changes then I’ll opt to haul her and spend the money. But I can’t quite afford it and since she only does do it when she’s super excited and will otherwise canter nicely that does give me some peace of mind.

[Adriana1837]

I appriciate your reply! I’ll definitely keep this in mind, my vet had mentioned PSSM and stifle issues when I originally had them out to examine her. They did say that she didn’t show all of the characteristics for it and because she is normal otherwise and it seems to only be when she’s worked up that it shows up. He left it up to my choice if I wanted to haul to the specialty vet hence what till cost me an excessive amount more.

So I know he said that I should be fine to continue working her and he determined she seems like a good sound, healthy horse, I believe I over analyze and then think the worst! Ugh haha I don’t know why I do this to myself. Of course if I were to see it more consistently and regularly or a pattern or anything worsening I’d be heading to the other vet right away.

[greywithchrome]

My morgan mare is the same and is probably shaped a lot like yours (assuming from the QH/paint lol). She is hot to ride/lunge to begin with and if she gets worked up she’s got the tail up, neck up, all that fun stuff. She bunny hops when she canters and in the winter when it is cold having her canter at all causes her to get very very sore. I always thought it seemed SI related but she also has a very weak core and has stifle issues.

All that being said If your mare has a soft floaty canter when she is relaxed I would assume she is fine, and that when she is excited she tenses up in a way that causes her body to move in short strides.

[Paint_Party]

Unless I’m misunderstanding your description, your horse sounds fairly typical for many—not all, but many— horses when they’re very fresh and frisky, and snorting like a dragon. We call it the Pepe Le Peu canter, after the cartoon skunk with the uppity tail and the floating movement. Their legs are stiff and they do sort of canter like a mule deer. Once they settle down they regain their normal gait.

[Adriana1837]

@greywithchrome and Paint_Party, yes definitely I think I am just over analyzing and trying to worry and find an issue that’s non existent (I tend to do that a lot) but thinking more about it, she definitely only does it with the high head, tail almost straight up in the air and tense and snorting dragon then comes the bunny hops exactly like you said like a Mule deer. But when she calms and in the pasture and when I ride she does have a nice canter and floaty and smooth! So I think unless I see any lameness or major changes I’ll leave out hauling to the specialist vet to pay $1,500 +

[4horses]

It can be a symptom of pssm. My type 2 pssm mare didn’t present symptoms until later in life with the exception of the bunny hop canter. I would try not to worry about it unless it continues to be an issue. Even if it is pssm, your horse may not develop symptoms like exercise intolerance for several years down the road.

I would enjoy your horse and just keep it in the back of your mind that it could develop into something more, or it may not be anything at all. Just don’t breed the mare unless you are certain it isn’t a potential problem. Bunny hopping can be a sign of SI issues or stifles as well.