I have an 8 yo PRE mare acquired as she turned 6 for English non-jumping disciplines and light trail riding. I am coming around to the idea that she may have been pushed too hard when she was green-broke before I bought her, and may need to be limited going forward.
Background: Breeder sent this mare to a “cowboy” for 60 day start at age 5. She hadn’t been ridden for several months when I did my test ride and PPE. The breeder only lunged her for exercise. No concerns noted by me or independent vet in flexion testing/physical exam. I did not do x-rays due to her age and lack of visible symptoms. Reason for sale was that she was maturing “too small” to throw big babies for dressage. She seems to have topped out now at about 15.3hh but is still adding muscle. Mare can be very athletic when turned out. She lives in her own 1/4 acre paddock 90% of the time (shares fenceline with an aged companion horse, stalled only in bad weather) and is turned out in a large field 2-3 times a week.
I did 3 months of ground-work with her before “re-starting” at age 6. She did not do anything longer than 30 minutes of walk and some trot until age 7, except for a few longer trail rides at the walk only. At age 7 we lengthened her workouts to 45 minutes 3 to 4 times a week, worked on canter transitions on lunge and under saddle in large round pen and arena, kept trail work to walk. At age 7 1/2, I noted some small, intermittent fluid pockets in her stifles and some “clicking” in her knees. Never any lameness, but she does sometimes “vibrate” her knees when ready to move. Had vet out, discussed, trotted her out, no flexion testing or x-rays recommended. The vet did recommend changing her joint supplement from an HA- only supplement to something more complete, and said to consider Adequan injections if the clicking did not abate. She also said “many horses click and are sound their whole lives”. That made sense to me because I have a hip that clicks but is not painful and the clicking goes away when I am doing hip exercises regularly.
The mare has been on Equithrive Original for 6 months. Fluid has mostly abated but clicking/vibrating has not. Still no lameness. The clicking usually disappears during work, and returns when she’s been less active.
What would your next step(s) be? TIA
