Horse Comes Out Stiff- Need Advice

[jamie123]

I currently ride a horse that always comes out stiff when I begin the ride. I try to do all the right things… horse is turned out half the day, chiropractor, lots of walking to start, trail rides to build muscles, BOT products, expensive joint supplements etc, but I seem to have no luck. Once I begin to trot, she gives me a jig/jog. If you didn’t know the horse, you would think she is lame. After a couple laps around the arena, she works out of it and starts pushing from behind and feels good. Vet came out and did a flexion test not too long ago. Said she is not lame, just stiff. They recommended Adequan/Legends/Pentosan or Hock Injections.
We are primarily doing flatwork and a little jumping.

• What do I do? Any tips or advice? [LIST]
• Training Tips?

Have you worked with AQ/Legends/Pentosan before? Seen results?

Best oral joint supplement on the market? [/LIST] *Edit: I am in a boarding situation. I do not have control over turnout. Horse is out for 12 hours*

[ChocoMare]

"horse is turned out half the day" - I’d start here. Horses are created to nibble and move, move, move. She’s telling you what she needs: movement - outside, all the time. I know it’s tough in boarding situations but do whatever you can to leave her out.

I know of no oral supplement that does anything. How can an oral supplement navigate thru miles of intestinal tractor to affect a joint?

[Tarlo_Farm]

And stop jumping.

[trubandloki]

Is more turn out an option? I think I would start there.

My old horse did so much better when he had 24/7 turn out.

Heck, I look horribly lame when I get up from my desk after sitting for an extended time. When I keep moving I look far less lame.

When you had the vet out to do a lameness evaluation, what else did they say? What specifically is causing the stiff look?

[Obsidian_Fire]

Don’t waste your money on oral supplements. I would go for the Adequan. It does help. And turnout. Whatever you have to do to get more of it.

Aside from that, what is horse eating? That can be of help/hindrance to inflammation also.

[She_s_Pure_Gold]

I know you edited to say you can’t control turnout, but as others have stated, this would be the absolute # 1 first thing I would change. I’m assuming you mean half day is 4 hours of turnout- that means the horse is standing (mostly still) in a stall for 20 hours a day. That is the worst thing possible for a stiff, arthritic horse (aside from even less or no turnout!). Are you able to move to a new barn that can provide at least all day turnout (24/7 would be better)?

When you say that you start out with “lots of walking,” what does that mean? 5 minutes? 10 minutes? 20 minutes? That would be another place to adjust- increase it from whatever you are doing, if possible. Can you start your rides with a hack on a trail or around the property? I would recommend that you start with at least 15 minutes of walking, more would be better. Injections are certainly an option, but I would start with turnout and increasing walking and seeing where that gets you.

[trubandloki]

@jamie123

I currently ride a horse that always comes out stiff when I begin the ride. I try to do all the right things… horse is turned out half the day, chiropractor, lots of walking to start, trail rides to build muscles, BOT products, expensive joint supplements etc, but I seem to have no luck. Once I begin to trot, she gives me a jig/jog. If you didn’t know the horse, you would think she is lame. After a couple laps around the arena, she works out of it and starts pushing from behind and feels good. Vet came out and did a flexion test not too long ago. Said she is not lame, just stiff. They recommended Adequan/Legends/Pentosan or Hock Injections.
We are primarily doing flatwork and a little jumping.

• What do I do? Any tips or advice? [LIST]
• Training Tips?

Have you worked with AQ/Legends/Pentosan before? Seen results?

Best oral joint supplement on the market? [/LIST] *Edit: I am in a boarding situation. I do not have control over turnout*

I see you added the part about turn out.

Are you sure you can not change it though? Have you asked specifically if there is anyway your horse can get more time out? Offered to pay for additional out time?

[MsM]

Is this your horse and an older horse? If you are dealing with arthritis in a number of areas, Adequan would be a good option. Many horses (and people - me!) start out stiff as they age and have small issues. As long as she warms out of it pretty quickly and doesnt worsen with work, I think you are doing pretty well considering the circumstances. If you cant get her more turnout, then the more daily gentle exercise you can get her the better. I have had some luck with MSM to reduce inflammation for my old horse (tho some have reported temperament changes, I didnt get that)

[jamie123]

Hi- Thank you for your advice. Horse is 15 years old. Vet thinks it is early stages of arthritis in hocks.
Sadly, I cannot really control the turnout situation. I am not interested in leaving barns at this time either. It’s tough…
I think I will put on Legends and take longer to warmup. Maybe I am rushing it?

[dearsalter]

Have you tried lunging for 5-10 minutes before you hop on? It’s always a good way to check in with your horse — see how their body and mood are going that day, etc.!

[TheHotSensitiveType]

One of the horses I ride has arthritis, and I hand walk 5-15 minutes before getting on to help him warm up. Lunging is out of the question with him due to the arthritis. Can you try that?

[Scribbler]

My horse is now 16. Ever since I started riding her 10 years ago she has needed a solid 20 minute warmup walk and jog trot before she is ready to do anything much. I got in some fights with her when she was younger when I asked for too much, too soon. I don’t know if she is getting legitimate aches and pains as she gets older, but I’m pretty sure there was nothing wrong with her at 6 or 7. Anyhow once I accepted that she needs a 20 minute warmup being gently encouraged to walk bigger and then to try to trot, jog walk transitions, we have both been much happier. Once she is warmed up she can be quite fiery. She can end up wanting to gallop everywhere. I don’t know how much is physical and how much is emotional :). She lives in a stall with small runout, but she was exactly the same this past winter/spring when she lived on a field 24/7. Longeing doesn’t help, it something about making up her mind to move out with a person on board.

Once in a blue moon, something is going on that gets her all excited right out the gate, and we don’t need a long warm up, but that’s pretty rare.

So just calculate that warmup into your ride.

[Posting_Trot]

I wouldn’t routinely lunge a 15-year-old horse that has the beginnings of arthritis. Lunging is hard on the joints and won’t do the horse any favors in the long-run.

Just walk the horse around for the first 10 minutes or so of riding. Put out ground poles to walk over, or if you can walk the horse around the property (out of the ring) for the first several minutes that would work too.

Does the horse loosen up after a canter? You could incorporate a quick canter in each direction after you finish walking around, and before you start to really work.

I’d also check how well the saddle fits. Sometimes a poorly fitting saddle will cause the horse enough discomfort to make it change its way of going; after a few minutes, the nerves may go numb and the horse can move well again, but over time a poorly fitting saddle will cause significant physical changes.

[Freebird]

Lots and lots of warm up. Big school figures, getting her walking in front of your leg.

you could certainly try something like MSM, which has proven anti-inflammatory properties, but dirt cheap. Another one to try would be Actiflex. Again, cheap enough that if it doesn’t work, it won’t hurt. The move up from there would be Pentisan, then Adequan.

But regardless, as others have said, movement is best. Are you able to set up a paddock attached to her stall? Even a small one would be better then nothing.

[Backstage]

I would:
1 - get X-rays to see what is really going on in the joints
2 - if arthritis is there, I’d inject and do adequan
3 - increase turnout if possible and slowly warm up

[RedHorses]

I had a horse who needed at least 20min of walk to warm up in colder weather or his trot would be lame and he could not work out of it. The walk progressed from long rein on the rail and large circles, to a shorter contact and a few steps of LY, SI, HI while passing through lengthening and collecting (not collected) and rounding the topline (lifting back) for a few steps at a time. None of this was perfect but more a gentle stretch and test of how willing and able he was on the day.

How long is your walk? And what do you do?

I have a horse who is a pill to ride if he got cold last night. Not shivering, chilled core, cold. Just not warm enough for his comfort. I discovered this by accident and keep him in slightly heavier blankets than my other horse and he’s happy.

Is your horse warm enough?

I have another horse who I warm up in the walk until he feels loose and ready to trot. He usually took 10-12 minutes. I started giving him Pureform Glucosamine (he’d been on MSM for years by then) and within ten days I was trying to understand why he was ready to trot in 5-6 minutes. I had a walk warm up routine and he was suddenly ready to trot before it was finished. I figured it out after 3-4 days. Giving him the glucosamine had been a test to see if he would benefit - the benefit was obvious.

Try an oral supplement if you’d like and see if it helps. Having something established like my walk warmup time/routine can help you determine if any changes are real or just you being hopeful.

[AllTheCarrots]

I’m currently riding a 22yo TB whose track days are long past. No issues other than “old man who needs a good amount of time to get loose.” But once he’s going… whee!

What helps our rides is to gradually and gently activate his muscles and joints. Work at the walk doesn’t have to be (and shouldn’t be) a pony ride on the rail. Change the tempo, change the direction, change the bend. Circles, serpentines, SI, HI, and moving into and out of a frame all help loosen up my horse. We’ll do lots of halt-walk transitions and figures at the walk before beginning the same menu at the trot. Then he’s cheerful and ready to get to work.

[Renn_aissance]

Well, I would follow the vet’s advice- all of the therapies recommended have demonstrated clinical benefit for arthritis. Adequan and Legend are regular parts of life for many older equines; so are hock injections. These are pretty normal courses of action to help a horse with the beginnings of hock arthritis, which is not an unusual finding for a 15-year-old horse.

Motion is lotion for older animals, humans included, and although yours is by no means senior she is also no longer young. Would more turnout help? Sure, it might. 12 hours turnout is generous in some areas of the country and if you can’t get her out more you acknowledge that you have a limitation there and you’ll have to lean more on other options to better support her body. @AllTheCarrots made a great point about activating the horse’s limbs in the warm-up and I think that you should read that post about four times, go do that, and you’ll probably have a better horse. You can also talk to your vet or body worker about stretches that you can do on the ground before riding to help the horse start looser. At least 10 minutes of active walking warm-up will prepare the horse’s body for your ride- that’s 10 minutes of the activity AllTheCarrots describes, added to probably about 5 more minutes of walking to get the blood flowing enough to start activating her joints and soft tissues.

In addition to all of this, my horse also responds well to magnetic hock boots in winter- he shows improved range of motion after wearing them for 15 minutes- and you might talk to your vet about Surpass, or OTC diclofenac cream, which is a topical NSAID that can be helpful in de-creaking us. However, the vet’s suggestions are all good starting points with research behind them. Personally, I would start with Adequan or Legend, picking whichever my barn could administer if you don’t give IM or IV shots yourself, and see what you have before going into the joint.

[S1969]

How many hours is “half-day” of turnout? 12 hours in/12 out? Or half the “working day” out? At what point in the day is the horse turned out and how does that match up to your riding schedule?

It’s hard to know whether this is really arthritis or not; I would think most horses would be stiff if they were stalled 20 hours/day.

One of the reasons I don’t board is that I think turnout is essential for horse’s health and longevity. Not a lot of boarding barns provide enough turnout for my opinion. And I think that some horses probably need to retire sooner because of that.

[Conflicted]

The two things that have worked marvelously for my guy are Adequan and turnout, mainly turnout. We do a decent amount of walking to start; a few minutes on a loose relaxed rein at his leisure, and then a couple minutes forward, long and low, and then we progress to a working walk where we incorporate bending and backing.