I have a 6 year old Irish gelding who I’ve had for a year and a half. I know his history from birth. When I tried him and for the first six months he was very sweet, quiet and enjoyed his work. Wouldn’t say boo to a goose. At the pre-purchase vetting (no problems) even the vet said how lovely and relaxed he was.
For the first six-eight months everything was good. I was riding him a few days a week doing a mix of flat, pole-work and hacking (trail riding) and he slowly gained muscle and fitness. I made everything slow and consistent with him.
By his fifth birthday he was quite fit and some feistiness started to come through. We were doing all of the above plus some jumping (once or twice a week, max) which he loves.
He started bucking here and there and when something excited happened or he was anxious - e.g. we were at a show, we were jumping, a horse in the next arena was pratting around. He would often explode intensely (full on rodeo bucks) for a few minutes, and then go back to normal.
Since the beginning, he’s been stiff on the right rein, never wanting any inside bend and swinging his quarters out. This has slowly gotten worse. For carrot stretches, he has no problem reaching right the way to his quarters on both sides. He’s been seen by chiros and massage therapists and nothing’s ever been flagged as being a big problem.
He had a few months off over the winter due to some injuries he picked up in the field (wounds to his neck and leg).
When I started bringing him back into work, he was reluctant to move off my leg, his ears would pin back (something he’s never done) and started bunny hopping and cow kicking if I asked for any impulsion. Something was obviously bothering him and I could feel him tensing physically under me as soon as I applied any pressure to move forward. Sometimes not asking anything of him he’d do it. Same thing bareback. Same thing bitless. I’ve tried riding him through it but he just continues acting uncomfortable.
Spoke to vet and asked to do some X rays but they got cancelled due to coronavirus, so we agreed to do a Danilon trial in the meantime.
It hasn’t made any difference - he’s either mega hot and explosive or has NOTHING in the tank at all. He’s been in consistent work for the last month doing a mix of long lining, lunging, groundwork and riding (area and hacking) and he’s the same. One day it’s like he really just doesn’t want to do it and will give as little as possible, and the next day I get on and he’s full of beans and broncs and bucks and wants to run the whole time.
Last night we went for a ‘chilled’ walk around the farm, something he’s done most days for the past week, and he was exploding constantly and suddenly. Got back to the arena to lunge him and he ran, at a gallop, for about five minutes. It was like he was possessed. Earlier this week he fell over from pratting about so much. He’s not lame.
Saddle was checked a month ago (really well respected fitter in my area), teeth were done a few months ago (both have always been done routinely), he’s turned out 24/7 and fed one cupped handful oat straw, one cupped handful grass nuts, one tablespoon salt and a vitamin E supplement once a day. He’s pretty much perfect weight wise. Barefoot.
I’ll be doing a full work up once my vets are operating again, but wondering if anyone’s had any similar experiences? I do have videos of some of this behaviour so please PM me if you’d like to see it.
