This has to be frustrating but… maybe he had a reason like your trainer suggested. The loudness of one side makes hearing on the other side very difficult. Mine get nervous when stalled - all in the barn, can see each other) during rain storms (pole barn, metal roof) so it gets LOUD. They all nicker and check in w/ each other - heads high, ears back. Then, on the flip side - where my jumps are stored - they find them spooky at times - but there are Critters in there - currently 13 lined ground squirrels. I KNOW they can hear them. So it may have just been a bad combination of too loud on one side, so he couldn’t hear the critters well enough? Now mine know about the ground squirrels and don’t even flinch when we nearly squish one ducking for cover…
Not dismissing your thoughts and worries - have a KS horse myself and any little thing gets me thinking about it… so I really do understand.
Yes definitely might get there myself one day… It is tough.
Maybe it was sensory overload but I guess we will just see the next time we ride him over there (hopefully on a quiet day!)
I suppose that very well could be the reason. I guess we will see how he does next time.
I just always want him to be as comfortable as possible and I don’t want to dismiss anything too long if it’s something bothering him.
But we will see 
You will have off days. Reporting in solidarity as my KS horse did not have a good ride today. It has been so long since I’ve had a discouraging ride but this one was one of them. We’ve been dealing with some herd-bound behavior, so I thought I should hack to the conservation land across the street for an hour, and then finish up riding a quick dressage test in the local barn. He jigged the entire trail ride – and this is a horse who averages ~1500 miles a season on the trail. Forget putting a civilized test in. I could feel the ball of yarn unraveling. You’re not alone - everything has good and bad days. We can only do our best to overcome the bad, and appreciate the good.
I was already having a bad morning so perhaps I’m taking the bad ride a little too hard. Like you said, they have bad days too.
Thank you, may we all have good rides soon!!
Don’t discredit them picking up on our bad days, too. Horses are more emotionally sensitive than most give credit for.
Hopefully today is a better day! I’m giving mine the day off. I think he’s been telling me in the best way he can that it’s time for some routine maintenance (mesotherapy & some injections). I usually do it mid-summer but he is getting older.
This may be completely unrelated, but do you ever ride or lunge him on grass instead of in the sand arena?
My chonky, halter/Western pleasure bred, big-bootied, appaloosa gelding loathes sand footing and I honestly think my initial insistence that he work in the dressage arena at our old barn pushed him into some brewing physical issues (angles on hinds almost negative, tight over SI, wonky in stifle and hocks, etc.). Eventually, while attending to all the issues, I gave up expecting him to ride in the sand and just rode in the fields. He always preferred it much more. It’s easier for him to push as he’s not a big, lofty mover by any means and gets easily bogged down in sand.
He’s the same in the little sand arena at my new barn. He hates it. I can feel him on the struggle bus underneath me, but as soon as we’re on grass, he is so much happier.
Just a thought. Mine is very similar to yours. When he’s in pain he’s spooky and anxious. We went through a couple of years of on and off again hell trying to get him straightened out. It’s a chicken and the egg thing because I don’t know what came first and caused the ripple effect, but hoof angles, ulcers, ill-fitting tack, and a sand arena all seemed to create a perfect storm of misery for my boy. He’d always been Mr. Calm and Cool and was suddenly Mr. Nutcase. I felt to sorry for him. He’s good now. We ride in fields and on trails in tack he likes and he lives the “ulcer prevention” lifestyle. Adequan ever six months and Equioxx now and then as needed helps. Also, Durasole to keep him soles tough because he does have thin soles.
Just some thoughts. I totally feel for you and your boy. He’s a cutie pie!
So very true. Granted I wasn’t the one riding him but I did tack him up. And we didn’t lunge or do any ground work (just underestimated it that day maybe.)
Mine got yesterday and today off (although I will probably do some carrot stretches with him later tonight.)
I haven’t ridden him in the field in a long time. We could try it but I’m not sure if he’s mentally there yet lol. The field is kind of away from the barn if that makes sense. There are trails around but they’re very suburban like go through neighborhoods that are not rural at all anymore.
I could talk to my trainer and see. But he’s been fine in the sand most of the other rides so not sure if it was just an overstimulated day or what. He goes to the vet on Tuesday regardless (made the appointment before this bad ride!)
Sure. If he’s been fine in it, it’s probably not the issue Best of luck getting him figured out!
Okay just got back from the vet clinic. He was SUCH a good boy trailering alone and was good at the (small) clinic with being the only horse there!
We ended up not injecting the SI as they thought he felt very good in his back and hind end. We almost nerve blocked his front feet but he don’t flex positive and wasn’t positive to hoof testers. So we just didn’t think it would be a good use of funds. Because I am a little limited…
But she thinks it’s not really one thing standing out over the other kind of just probably compensating from one thing or another. So the plan right now is to get him on Zycosan AND potentially add equioxx at the same time. Just heavy hit any inflammation and see if we can get him using himself better. Then then see what we have after a month or so. We also are going to tweak the shoeing just a little bit more but nothing drastic…
She said if after 2 months we’re not seeing some major changes with that then we can look at Osphos. And if that doesn’t get us anywhere then probably going to CSU? I don’t know. Or retirement. But again they don’t think he looks awful he just doesn’t look great either. Just looks kind of meh, not great.
So all in all she said we are definitely on the right track and making some small improvements just not quite 100% yet.
Just FYI, my horse never palpated sore, but had persistent odd injuries. I x-rayed him anyway and the kissing spines were pronounced. We did the ligament snip and the difference in his movement was noticeable.
How long ago was that? Surgery is definitely on the table but it’s just hard to know if that’s the primary issue or not.
CSU had also questioned if there is a muscle disorder like PSSM2 which we have not ruled out yet. I mean he’s never tied up or anything.
I’m so glad to hear that the surgery worked so well though!! That is always encouraging to hear.
We did it in 2016. He rehabbed perfectly, but then unfortunately tore a medial collateral ligament while being an idiot in turnout. That one was career-ending and he’s now retired.
Ugh, horses! So sorry to hear he did that! But I appreciate the thoughts on the surgery and definitely have it in my head as a possibility later on down the road.
He’s been on equioxx for about five days (and nexium.)
I’m picking up the Zycosan today but not sure when we will start it.
The good: he had a 2 really nice and relaxed canter transitions yesterday with my trainer. I noticed he was happily blowing out air in the canter which I take as a good sign for him. Not sure if that makes sense but it wasn’t like a spooky snort but the kind of happy noise they make…
I also noticed for the first time in forever that he was wanting to stretch out TO the contact instead of behind it like he was before. So yay!
When I got on he did try spooking at the mounting block but I ignored that because it doesn’t feel like a true spook. Like maybe he’s a little suspicious sure but he’s not super tense and terrified of it so we keep going. Editing to clarify, He doesn’t spook at the mounting back when mounting , just going past it occasionally. But seemed pretty half hearted yesterday…
that sounds fantastic! Yes, the difference in the blowing vs snorting is real and very telling. They have to be relaxed for the motion of the canter to force air in and out which is what results in the “blowing”. And seeking contact? YAY!
Yes exactly that! I wasn’t sure how to describe it but I knew most horse people would understand 
definitely a good sign in my opinion!
I will take every tiny sign I can get that we are inching towards improvement!
Today we rode in the “spooky arena” and he was very good. I rode and I focused on relaxation over anything else today since the last two rides in there were so incredibly tense. He was a bit more lazy today, but it was 80 degrees by like 8:30 am this morning so I don’t blame him for that. Still wasn’t behind the leg like he used to be, but more energy conservative today
He got his first dose of Zycosan today as well so fingers crossed that it makes him feel even more better instead of throwing money into the wind! And hopefully no reactions…
love this update!
