Question on driving a horse with kissing spine ?

[Cartfall]

Hi folks --wow!! this will be twice in a month!!!

I got a call from a local 4-h club sponsor who consideres me her go to for driving questions. She asked me one that was a bit out of my knowledge, so I present to for all opinions. Here is the scenario,–

Rehomed Thoroughbred given to them for a 4-H horse. Horse had kissing spine somewhere behind the withers and had some sort of operation to grind and separate the vertebrae. But there was more damage somewhere in the spine that could not be reached or fixed. The horse can be ridden for short times but almost always comes sore. The original owners had hoped that the lighter riding would be possible for the 4-H kids. Since this horse (I have not actually seen the horse) is supposed to be a beautiful mover and a really nice horse, the kids are wanting to know if they can drive it in a light jog cart. There is some sort of discussion of driven dressage being less difficult for a horse in their mind. I told them that if they were considering actually competiting in driven dressage, the horse still is expected to come up in frame and perform extensions, flexing and bending correctly.’

I told the sponsor to long line the horse and ask for these movements (I think it is dressage trained) and see what happens.

I also told her my concerns where if the back saddle were to sit where the operation had been, I got the idea the actual place where the problem occurs is more to rear.

Any opinions? Sure could use some one with more experience in this kind of problem. Thanks in advance.

[buck22]

I will share my limited experience.

I took up driving because my project-intended for dressage-mount turned up to have broken withers. Hence why he was a project from the outset, he’d never really been successfully ridden before me, was in too much pain. With very careful saddle padding and saddle choice, AND regular chiropractic work, AND a pain killer was able to get him moderately happy about being ridden, but never truly thrilled about it, so I looked for a second career. Driving came to mind, and thats how I got started in the sport.

In order to be happy driving, my horse MUST pull a 4 wheeler. Unless a cart has the shafts floating and we stay on a perfectly groomed terrain for ever and ever (not in our universe) even the small amount of pressure from a light jog cart was too much for his back. Better with a sliding backstrap, but still he would get small back spasms.

Second, my horse can ONLY drive with a custom made saddle. While it may exist someplace, I have not seen a saddle that has the specifications he needs off the shelf, so I have them made. He cannot tolerate any pressure on or anywhere near his spine at all. The saddle must be treed, it must be 5" wide minimally (6" is better, and he is a 14.3 morgan), and it must have a gullet that is 3.5" open at the bottom, so its a full 1"+ clear on either side of his spine.

Neck strap is also of great importance, must be wide and padded.

He also prefers to be girthed more snuggly that typical, he does not like any sliding of the saddle back and forth.

Fortunately, the Comfy Fit harness fit our needs, the custom saddle was only $150 extra and was made perfectly. For our leather harness, Driving Essentials made us a custom saddle for our russet harness for only $450.

With these issues addressed, my broke-back pony is a happy camper.

Otherwise, dressage is fantastic for the horse with back problems generally speaking. Anything that strengthens the abs and promotes stretching over the topline is fantastic stuff that makes the back muscles more able to support and protect. My horse has never had any issues with bending or extending.

He’s actually perfectly 100% fine at everything aside from bearing weight on his back.

Hope this is helpful

[Cartfall]

Thank you very much for your reply. I will pass it on to the 4-H sponsor. Hope to get some more