Does she do this at the canter without you on her back?
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Not nearly as much but yes. That said, nothing she’s asked to do on the lunge can compare to being asked to put her hind end deeper under her and sit.
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So my guy does the nose to the ground thing too. I’m not sure what to make of that myself. For him, he just came back from our clinic with mild c5-6 changes so we did injections there just last week. We’re also putting his front shoes back on this week.
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She’s done the put her nose in the dirt thing since I got her as a 3 year old. She will go round and round like that. It was really windy and the arena was creaking and cracking so she’s a bit up in the videos.
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I had one like that last year. Upon ultrasounding the hocks, she had zero cartilage left in her “bad” hock. Same exact symptoms
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So probably not saddle fit if she’s doing it free. Which would have been my first thought.
I think we underestimate how much hock pain can cause them to freak out without necessarily showing much obvious lameness. I’m guessing it must cause “zingers.” That would be where I’d start my investigations if I were you.
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What could you do at that point, following that diagnosis?
I’m getting my saddles looked at in a couple weeks anyhow, just to be sure. I’ve never used one of those Port Lweis impression pads before but it didn’t look too bad to me, maybe a little bridging? It’s possible I didn’t ride long/hard enough, I don’t know.
I’d love if someone else would sit on her, to see if it’s something I’m doing that pissing her off, too.
Hmmm well my horse, that I told you also go weird with poles, also had started rooting and head flinging a bit last year. And he also has a canter that’s very up and down but not bunny hopping in my opinion.
In his case, mild kissing spine and stifle was the cause. Or that’s the thought. He’s doing better but we’ve taken it very slow and haven’t retested canter yet. He has a vet recheck on Thursday.
He still very very occasionally roots…but the head tossing was only during the canter transitions. So not sure if that’s still there or not…
Good luck!!
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retirement
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Rooting is the technical term- yes. I had so many people say “oh he’s just being a jerk”. But this horse is not a jerk. He’s very willing and compliant so the pulling, rooting, and flipping was a huge red flag to me that something was amiss. We checked the hind pretty thoroughly. I was always bothered that he flung his head free lunging so I knew it was not the bit, me, or saddle fit. That led me to the neck. My BO uses hay feeders so I asked her to please feed him from the ground instead. I wasn’t necessarily happy to see his X-rays and the vets didn’t seemed concerned- he is young and felt this could be well managed for a while as he is a pleasure/trail horse too.
OP, hope you can figure out your horses issues. It’s always interesting to compare stories and see what others have experienced and where it led them.
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Yep! Had someone tell me he was just being a young horse but it was weird. And he was spooking more. And just nqr behind. He’s such a workerbee happy guy that it didn’t fit at all.
My vet x-rayed his neck but not at the clinic, the barn. We sent the rads to CSU and they didn’t see anything so hopefully that’s correct… He barely does it now so maybe a pain memory… He does kind of like to swing his head around in general though. Bored with the farrier? Swing the lead rope around! Don’t want to be tied? Test to see if you are tied by swinging your head in a circular motion to see if you can get free! Lol
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For my mare it’s not the transition (generally). We get into the canter, everything’s ok, she gets a little heavy and down, I half halt, she gets more heavy and down instead of sitting back, I ask again, then she loses her mind.
Chiro today so I don’t know if I’ll be able to get the video. Maybe I can ride her ahead of time if I can get out there, otherwise I like to give the day off or just do stretching on chiro days.
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Another vote for hock or SI issue. Screams hock to me, but I’m no pro. Hocks can make SI sore and vice versa. Is this the kissing spine on PPE mare that you saw the KS disappear with work? Or am I thinking of someone else?
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That’s the one. Her back was xrayed just last year with no findings at all. That was last year though, who knows. I also had her suspensories ultrasounded, just for peace of mind.
I have a gut feeling it’s SI or stifle.
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You could have them ultrasound the back, in case. My Wobbler’s horse, had clean back x-rays but CSU did an ultrasound and found arthritis. Just another thought. I don’t remember him being very back sore either if at all but was resistant to belly lifts which is what made them ultrasound. He did do this weird head toss thing mostly or only in the canter when I first was trying him out. Not so much me but I remember seeing it in the sale videos. He was very green though and it wasn’t a very agitated head toss… I almost worried about him being a head shaker. But I did a trial and I feel like he stopped the head thing or maybe I decided he was just green…
My sister in law has a horse that’s great except in the canter and he has back arthritis. It’s pretty well managed now but the canter is always his worst gait by far.
It’s hard because in the lunge video, she looks pretty cute. Best of luck. Hopefully the chiropractor figures something out and helps her.
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FWIW, a weirdo I worked with needed FRONT shoes to stop this kind of nonsense. For that one, the rooting down and then head/neck tossing in canter was a form of running away from front foot tenderness rather than just (or combined with) hind end weakness.
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I was going to say one of the most frustrating things about horses is they don’t read the textbooks! They choose to react however they feel to whatever they want.
Good point.
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We had a boarder with somewhat similar symptoms who had had negative palmer angles in the hinds for who knows how long before the owner figured it out, and he had started to sit on his dutch door and his waterer (and yes, lots of waterer pooping, ugh) to relieve the stress of the compensation patterns he had developed in his hind end.
Also on the Port Lewis pad, I have one too. I was taught that you should take it off the horse and lay it on your car’s windshield on a sunny day and then get inside the car to analyze it. It makes it much easier to see thinner vs thicker spots when there is light shining through it. Although it does sound like since this happens both with and without a rider, the saddle is not likely the culprit.
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“Higher up” hind end issues are the worst. One thing sets off the other in a big cycle. Jingles for answers!
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