I'm doing the happy dance..followup to my dressage guru ? thread

[dalpal]

I posted a couple weeks back that my horse would come up, but would not give in the jaw…no matter what.

When the trainer came back from Christmas, we discussed the situation and he totally agreed with me that something was amiss with this 7 year old horse. I then explained to him the family history…brother was diagnosed with DJD of his jaw two years ago.

So trainer talked to the vet (I had this conversation with him two years ago and he didn’t really agree with me on my theory) and this time, he agreed to inject her jaw (temple area) to see if it would help.

OH. MY. GOD

I have a new horse. :yes: I’ve gotten more compliments on her the past week than I’ve ever heard before. I’ve been asked…“What have you done wtih your mare?” “That’s an 8 trot” “She looks so much better” “There’s no more fussiness”

Trainer came out to the ring when I was riding her on Monday and he was actually astounded by the difference…here was a horse that two weeks ago would jerk your arms out of your body, stiffen her jaw, would not give…now here she was rounding up in the bridle on a shorter rein. So I asked him…“Do we reassess now, do you think she can go on up in dressage? Or do we stick to our hunter plan.” He said…“What I just saw, I definitely think she has the potential to move on up…you could probably be showing her second level in the near future and we’ll see from that point.” (I need a standing ovation icon). He said that she now looks happy in her work, her gaits have improved tremendously…something we didn’t have before.

And to credit this mare for her incrediable giving temperment…instead of being ugly and nasty about her face, she just truly tuned you out and didn’t use herself as the defense.

I cannot tell you just how happy I am…it looks like I can now keep my wonderful sweetheart mare and as someone said today…“Now you’ve got a dressage horse.” :yes:

Just wanted to post incase anyone else ever goes through anything like this. My friend went through months and months of vet exams with my mare’s half brother…she finally did sell him as a hunter prospect and that person had Bob Grisel look at him from Atlanta Equine and HE diagnosed the horse correctly. Thanks to her saga, I was able to put two and two together with my horse…I just wish my vet had listened to me two years ago and I wish that I had been more presistant with him.

[Hazelnut]

That’s a happy ending. Will she have to be injected again to maintain the results?

[dalpal]

I am assuming so…now that we know this is the problem, we’ll be using Hylaurinic acid injections in the future. I’m hoping this will last for awhile.

[slc2]

is…good!

[egontoast]

Good for you for following your ‘gut’ on this in spite of advice to the contrary!

Too often people will dismiss the idea that there could be a pain issue.

You sould bump up the other thread so people can read the full story.

[EqTrainer]

Yeah!! So much better than buying and selling huh!!!

[slpeders]

Hooray Dalpal!!!
i hope I can have a similar experience with my new mare…I have a hunch there’s a problem or maybe even two and where they may be…now just need to try to test out my theories. If I can get her happier/painfree, I’m hoping we will be the partners I dreamed we’d be. If it’s not pain, she may need to go back to her former owner or to find a new person. If I can’t be safe on her back, it’s not a good fit. I have no agenda though, so have time to try to sort it out.
I hope you’re able to enjoy your new partnership and maintain her comfort for a long, long time!!

[dwblover]

Such good news! I’m so happy for you that you get to keep her. And good for you for searching for an answer to make your horse happier. I hope you two go up the levels and have great fun doing it!

[dalpal]

[QUOTE=slpeders;3788896]
Hooray Dalpal!!!
i hope I can have a similar experience with my new mare…I have a hunch there’s a problem or maybe even two and where they may be…now just need to try to test out my theories. If I can get her happier/painfree, I’m hoping we will be the partners I dreamed we’d be. If it’s not pain, she may need to go back to her former owner or to find a new person. If I can’t be safe on her back, it’s not a good fit. I have no agenda though, so have time to try to sort it out.
I hope you’re able to enjoy your new partnership and maintain her comfort for a long, long time!![/QUOTE]

What is happening with your girl? Mine was just continously fussy, she would go out to the end of the rein and then immediately bounce off of it…I couldn’t flex her at all. She did the same thing to anyone who rode her. She even went through a head slinging stage a year ago…as soon as you got on, she would immediately start slinging her head backwards, refusing to go forward.

But when ridden over fences, she was fine…if you didn’t touch her face, she was fine. But, if you tried to ride with any contact, She would barrel through the transitions and she would try to run in every gait. My back, my arms, everything was sore.

I talked to the vet about it about 2 years ago, when my friend’s horse/half brother was fianlly diagnosed and he said he just didn’t see it with this horse and that it seemed like a training issue to him…and to be fair to him, it seemed like a training issue/attitude problem to everyone.

So I put her in training with one of our trainers and let him work on getting her over fences and sell her as a hunter.

I was thoroughly enjoying my sweet TB schoolmaster. When Christmas came, he went home for a few days, so I rode both horses. The second day I was riding her (she was so much stronger since she had been ridden by a professional for 2 months), she offered to come up and sit, but would not let me even think about touching her face.

I went back to the “THIS IS NOT RIGHT” campaign. :lol: How can an 18 year old horse be softer in the jaw than a 7 year old horse? How can a horse who seems to be so willing to do everything, just have an attitude problem about her face? Why will this horse go out to the end of the rein and then immediately back off of it? Why will this horse never settle on the bit, and wiggles continously in order to avoid contact?

That’s when I went to the trainer when he got back…Is it me? And he agreed that something was NOT right with this horse.

So HE convinced the vet to inject her jaw…and today, she wasn’t perfect…but for the first time EVER, I felt like this horse does have the potential to actually collect at the canter…she actually felt very similar to my schoolmaster.

I just hate that I wasn’t more presistant to begin with…poor girl, she is such a saint…never tried to kill anyone, just tuned you out and shut down her gaits to keep herself off the bit.

[SisterToSoreFoot]

Funny how so many bad horse problems are really due to pain. Kudos on listening to your horse. Vets are great, but they only see a small piece of the horse, when the rider asseses the horse daily. Great news!

[dalpal]

[QUOTE=EqTrainer;3787772]
Yeah!! So much better than buying and selling huh!!! :D[/QUOTE]

You aren’t kidding!!! I would have no problem buying, but the selling part…don’t want to deal with it.

[slpeders]

Dalpal – part of my problem is moving from a QH to a TB. I do like the new girl quite abit, even if she isn’t St Katie, and at walk and trot we’re fine and I smile like a fool when I suggest half-pass and she glides sideways like silk. At canter however, we have little track flashbacks I think, even though she never raced and she’s been off the track for 12 years. She REALLY didn’t want to be a track horse and tried rearing, bolting, jumping into the infield and was finally ejected for refusing to go near the starting gates. She’s very Type A and I’m really thinking I can be ok with that, but I’m not sure I can take the odd charge/leap stuff that happens in canter. It’s more to the right than left and she’ll be going along fine and then POW! it’s a panic attack. Sometimes I can find a cause (someone she can see out of the corner of her eye moved, the door creaked, etc), sometimes not. She’s quite agile and can look like a little sunfish flopping on the lunge sometimes…kinda scary. I’ve been reading all the ulcer threads on Horse Care and have a strong intuitive feeling that’s part of the problem – she’s girthy, bad to the right, not much topline, tense in the back/body. I’m planning to try the maalox test as soon as I find the dosage in the threads. She’s also getting regular bodywork. I do equine massage and have a friend who’s excellent with myofascial release and chiro work who has worked on her twice. I have seen a change in the two months I’ve had her, but a friend and trainer I respect worked with us Weds and said she wasnt’ sure I shoudl be on the horse for my safety.
So I’m hoping that I can help her to be happier by figuring out what she’s trying to tell me and build up her back and we can be happy together. I think it’s brilliant that you were such an excellent advocate for your horse. It’s nice to see.

[Valentina_32926]

Can you PM me on what bloodlines appear to have contributed to the problem?

[dalpal]

It was an OTTB…Both my mare and the gelding had the same dam. So I am assuming that it would have come from the dam’s side.

Gelding’s sire was West Coast and my mare’s sire was Graf Genius.