I have a 7 year old Arab I rescued a year ago. He was very green and had no understanding on contact, connection or steering. He started accepting the mylar comfort snaffle and was doing a fairly decent job learning to connect over time although sensitive and a little unsteady. He would have “off” days where either he felt like his hind end was slipping or when he would actually seek the connection forward and down i felt I slight hitch in the right front. Had him vetted and found inflammation in the right front suspensory but no tear. He had about 3 months off until ultrasound was good and was started back. The hind end was thought to be weak stifles by the vet and chiropractor. I was advised to keep working him to build muscle etc. The slipping improved some but after 5 months or so he gradually got worse about connection. Feels like his hind end will not connect to front. He began to get more unsteady in his rhythm and fussier with the bit. I took him to a great lameness specialist who did hock flexions and xrays. Turned out his hocks have severe arthritic changes on both legs. He suggested trying injections and previcox and continuing work to try and promote the hocka to fuse. He did great for about 3 weeks and then over night he was worse than ever with contact. The vet has suggested I take him to Oklahoma to have his hocks surgically fused with a laser.
Anyone have experience with this surgery? Would you think the hock arthritis is causing the evasion to connect?
Any pain can cause evasion and a lack of connection. It could definitely be his hocks. No experience with hock fusion though.
The thing about horses and pain, is that you can identify a source of pain, but it doesn’t mean it’s the only source of pain, or even the one causing the problem that got you poking around in the first place. Also, hind end lameness and joint changes don’t tend to be isolated to just one spot. Especially if the horse has been compensating for pain, say in his hocks. If you haven’t already I would get a through work up on his hind end all the way up to his SI. It’s nice to have base line x-rays to compare to later. The hitchy right front might just be his hind end feeling weird, but if I was going to haul a horse all over to get surgery I’d want to know exactly what’s going on. Talk to your lameness expert if you haven’t already about all of your concerns. I’d also want to get his back/neck checked out. Not sure what your long term goals are with this horse, but hock troubles at 7 don’t bode well for his career in dressage 
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Any pain can cause evasion and a lack of connection. It could definitely be his hocks. No experience with hock fusion though.
The thing about horses and pain, is that you can identify a source of pain, but it doesn’t mean it’s the only source of pain, or even the one causing the problem that got you poking around in the first place. Also, hind end lameness and joint changes don’t tend to be isolated to just one spot. Especially if the horse has been compensating for pain, say in his hocks. If you haven’t already I would get a through work up on his hind end all the way up to his SI. It’s nice to have base line x-rays to compare to later. The hitchy right front might just be his hind end feeling weird, but if I was going to haul a horse all over to get surgery I’d want to know exactly what’s going on. Talk to your lameness expert if you haven’t already about all of your concerns. I’d also want to get his back/neck checked out. Not sure what your long term goals are with this horse, but hock troubles at 7 don’t bode well for his career in
I agree he is not an ideal candidate to move up the levels. If I could comfortably school him up to 1st level and trail ride, I would be happy with that. Vet felt confident that was the source of his pain issue and didnt seem concerned with any other areas as far as back or neck etc. Just never ridden one so light and hesitant to connect. I have ridden some that take too much connection and soften over time when they developed strength and flexibility, but this feels more like there is no push from behind to balance into the contact and recycle back. Hoping it is because the hocks not being comfortable to engage. Hoping someone has had a similar experience with hocks being the issue and had resolution with connection after either injections or surgery. Thank you for responding. I will continue to have his back etc checked by chiropractor once started back.
