Share ideas for a horse that's a little cold backed/grumpy about going forward

[weixiao]

PSSM diet and a magnesium supplement helped my cold backed one, as well as making sure her back was actually warm with a cooler/blanket/BOT/whatever. She was always worse in the winter. A big key with her was not letting her get chilly between taking her blanket off to groom and tacking her up to ride. I usually groom around a blanket or cooler and it helps.

A friend of mine had good luck with a string girth on her girthy mare and we had a polo pony that liked it best, once. We also had a couple that hated them, but it could be worth a try.

[RW06]

Lots of walking and movement before getting on- enough to really get the muscles warmed up. Saddle pad out of the dryer and battery-powered heating pack are also helpful!

[Thames_Pirate]

I don’t know if this was mentioned, but make sure you walk for 10 minutes on a loose rein before ever asking for anything. Towards the end of that is when you should tighten your girth once more, then walk just a bit more before starting work. Ten full minutes of loose rein walk at the start and end of every ride is so critical to physical and emotional health. This applies to lunging, too; the first ten minutes are walking without any pressure.

[endlessclimb]

No, I’m saying I had a girth, not by that name, but EXACTLY the same style. I did not experience back problems.

Two anecdotes don’t equal anything in the grand scheme of things - think about it. Two horses hated Stubben saddles at my barn, so all Stubbens must suck! Hmm…

It sounds like you have a grudge against this designer/manufacturer.

[stargzng386]

It’s so frustrating to me that pretty much no one does this. It’s so simple, it takes ten minutes to physically warm the muscles up in order for them to work well and not be damaged. I took a scientific based strength training class in college that explained the physics behind the warmup and any workout we did started with us walking on a treadmill slowly for ten minutes. Any upper level athlete knows this. When I ride I set a timer on my watch, my trainer doesn’t come out to start our lesson until my ten minutes are up. Those ten minutes are on the buckle with zero contact. I use it to relax myself, stretch my muscles out, legs out of stirrups and in stirrups. If I start riding at the same time as anyone else in the barn it’s guaranteed they’re trotting and cantering before the ten minutes are up. I can feel my horse’s walk really relax and start swinging around 8-9 minutes. It’s not that much time to give up when you’re asking your horse to work hard for you.

[findeight]

Mares…

Try slowing down your tacking up routine and I had best results with a couple of spins on the lunge or short turn out/ hand graze before tacking up and a double sided elastic girth. My horses liked the Pro Choice synthetic girth. Me, not so much but whatever works best for the individual horse.

I also had great luck just bringing a heated throw or small electric blanket from home and putting it on while I groomed around it. By the time the saddle went on, no issues.Think they run around $20 or maybe you have one laying around. Yes you stay right there with them and use only in a proper grooming enclosure in case somebody objects to not using a $200 horse product.

We all often start out a little stiff and uncomfortable and are probably the worst sport about warming up and stretching properly or putting a routine, slow warm in every ride. Like 10 min loose rein walk before and after every ride. Unless they are dead fresh in which case, let them canter a couple of laps instead of fight over staying in an awkward trot that obviously makes them uncomfortable.

[fatappy]

I share in this frustration. Does everyone on this forum wake up and just bounce out of bed every morning without any twinges or aches? And if you do wake up with an ache or start/ end a workout with a soreness, are you calling a specialist for a diagnosis?

I expect a few minutes of this when I start my day/ workout and am unclear why it’s so unrealistic for it to be normal for a horse.

I look forward to the pitchforks.

[SuzieQNutter]

I know I am one of the lucky ones, or I have looked after myself pretty well through the years but yes I bounce out of bed every morning or get up from chairs with no aches or pains and yes I am overweight.

I am also in a hot country without snow and I don’t like cold.

I know what it is like to be in pain as I lost my job and career with the loss of the use of my right arm and was given 45 minute lectures from Doctors that I would never ride again and I should be home making babies.

Yeah right. I was in another State, in constant pain and the day I visited a house with a fire I moved immediately.

One day I walked up to a Chiropractor and without knowing there was anything wrong with my arm, he said, All you bl###y horse riders, you have landed on your head. You have hurt your arm. He fixed my arm in 2 sessions.

I am riding again, no kids.

My main drink is rain water. I have never drunk alcohol. I do not drink cocoa cola or sars. I have never drunk tea or coffee. I HATE the smell of coffee. I have had milk on cereal, I don’t drink it. I have never put a cigarette to my lips. I have never taken illegal drugs and you could not pay me enough to try any of the ones I have never tried. I shudder at the thought of drawing smoke into my lungs.

I have no piercings and no tattoos.

I have been around horses before I was born. A bit of a hiatus with the death of my father and I have owned horses from 15 years of age. I am now 50 years of age. I don’t look it though.

Except from that one knock on the head when Pepper stumbled, came up and flipped and my helmet hit the ground first and he ploughed me 6 foot across the ground and breaking both bones in my wrist as a child, I have been very lucky as a kid not to have had lasting injuries from falls.

Touchwood as an adult I have not had a fall and the good horsemanship I have been taught means that I have not been bitten, kicked or trampled over … yet.

As I said above walking him did not make any difference. After 20 minutes of walking the exact same thing happened with asking for trot. I now walk until he is walking freely and ask for trot, and later asking for canter.

Again we are in a hot country with no snow. Although the heat of the day doesn’t seem to make that much difference either.

This is when he is out of work. When he is in work, he goes into trot and canter much quicker and easier.

I tack all horses with the method of letting them warm to the saddle and girth and girthing slowly.

As above he has a chiropractor. To those that say it is due to a pain we have not found, please explain why he is like that out of work and is not like that in work.

The horse on the lunge on day 1 is so uncomfortable in his own skin. Day 2 better, day 3 better. Day 6 dressage superstar. Then you start with the same thing under saddle. The horse on Day 1 is nothing like the horse on Day 14.

I will look into giving him Vitamin E from this thread.

[Thames_Pirate]

In Germany this is taught to beginners. The lesson starts after the first 10 minutes of walk on a loose rein. Every horse, every ride. There is also research that it takes this long for joints to produce fluids to lubricate, so doing this extends the life of joints. Walk for 10, tighten the girth and then remove the cooler. Then put the horse on the bit and start your work, still in a warmup frame of mind. All young horses are ridden this way as well, so horses learn early that being ridden is no big deal, and they start their work relaxed. It’s so good for all horse brains, especially babies, and creates a better work ethic.

So we have the horse’s joints and muscles and brains all benefiting. I find it helpful, too–I use the time to get into riding mode. I can start focusing on how my hips are swinging, if I am truly straight and even, warming up my own muscles, etc. I can use the time to develop my goals for the session a bit more carefully because I now know what I am sitting on for the day. At shows, it allows you and your horse to see the grounds and the spectacle and settle in.

The walk doesn’t replace the normal warm up. It precedes it. It doesn’t replace things like ensuring saddle fit, chiro, etc. that the OP seems to already be doing. Some horses might still benefit from something like vitamin E. But it makes every ride so much better. Having learned the benefits far later in life that I should have, I will never skip it again. Same with the cool down, by the way; that time works out the lactic acid. If you worked hard, do a few trot laps each direction, letting the horse stretch down over his back, before you walk. Your horse will be less stiff the next time and if not completely dry, at least well on his way.

Horses that are less stiff thanks to the walk work before and after are also more likely to be more relaxed under saddle in general, have a better work ethic, and be fitter and less prone to injury.

[endlessclimb]

I do this, slightly modified. I’m at probably 7 minutes on a totally loose rein, just letting them go where they want but with a good march to it. For the last 3 minutes, I am loosely doing flex/counter flex on a large figure 8.

I get on, and the first thing I do is look at the clock to know I give a long enough warmup. When you’re in a hurry, 10 minutes feels like an eternity… but that’s too bad. It’s a must!

[foursocks]

Goodness. What a picture! I have scoliosis and spondylosis, so I certainly benefit from stretching before working out. I run six days a week and (when my horse isn’t on stall rest, which he sadly is right now), ride five to six days as well. While I have not lived the life of virtue sketched above I feel as if advocating for extra stretching isn’t some sort of immoral notion. It’s backed by science, as others have mentioned.

I am also 50, have multiple tattoos and used to have several piercings, spent a lot of time in very loud, smoky bars when they were still a thing, drink too much, eat lots of carbs, and enjoy cheese. I fail to see how any of that is relevant to the fact that stretching a horse properly, whether in cold weather or not, is a rational thing to do. If it doesn’t help then of course there is something else going on, and that should be investigated.

[stargzng386]

So I don’t even ask for a march at this point. If he wants to poke around slowly that’s totally fine. Extending for a march still needs warm muscles. I ensure he keeps walking but ask for nothing more, not a faster speed just walking at whatever pace he picks. After the ten minutes then I go into my warmup asking for a more engaged walk, I still do a looser trot before asking for any real work.

[EventingMaff]

For girth recommendations - my mare has always been girthy and she loves her Stubben Equisoft girth. Girthiness went away completely after 2-3 rides and only came back when she developed hind gut ulcers. Treated those and now no longer girthy.

Similarly she is cold-backed and I’m still trying to figure out what’s ultimately driving it. She works out of it, but with her I think there is a veterinary explanation I’m just trying to get to the source (in the meantime all of the above tips have been a useful starting point with how to minimized her discomfort while we sort out the underlying issue).

[luv2lope]

My mare was doing the same thing some months ago and we have since worked through it. Holy mother, this has to be the most frustrating and PITA habit a horse can have!

Mare never had this issue before, was always a superstar under saddle. She has always had a pretty great work ethic but I think this was her way of saying '“no” to harder work. Different saddles, saddle pads, longeing before getting on…nothing worked! When asked to trot or canter she would stop and automatically sull up (she’d pin her ears flat back and get snaky with her head). Using a crop, she would just plant her front end and buck.

I started doing something I HATE the most-- using treats. Once I could get her taking a few strides forward at the trot, I would reward her with a treat. I also tried not using my legs so much, just cluck to her instead and “wave” my legs against her sides if she was lazy. I found by squeezing my legs on her, I would mentally prepare for her to shut down. No contact with her face either in the beginning, just a loose rein. After a few weeks of riding like this, my horse is happy and obedient in doing as I ask.

I also want to add: Like others have posted, I always give my horse around 10 minutes of walking around to get warmed up as I feel this is very important. She is on a regular chiro and massage schedule every month as well. The REMT showed me some great massage exercises that will help her before and after every ride. The things I do for this horse…

[EventingMaff]

What battery-operated heat pad do you use? i’ve tried searching online and seem to only find options that need an outlet (which doesn’t work with the set up at my current barn)

[Renn_aissance]

I have no idea, sorry - I got it at Target years ago.

[SuzieQNutter]

Ri[quote=“foursocks, post:71, topic:757277, full:true”]
Goodness. What a picture! I have scoliosis and spondylosis, so I certainly benefit from stretching before working out. I run six days a week and (when my horse isn’t on stall rest, which he sadly is right now), ride five to six days as well. While I have not lived the life of virtue sketched above I feel as if advocating for extra stretching isn’t some sort of immoral notion. It’s backed by science, as others have mentioned.

I am also 50, have multiple tattoos and used to have several piercings, spent a lot of time in very loud, smoky bars when they were still a thing, drink too much, eat lots of carbs, and enjoy cheese. I fail to see how any of that is relevant to the fact that stretching a horse properly, whether in cold weather or not, is a rational thing to do. If it doesn’t help then of course there is something else going on, and that should be investigated.
[/quote]

I didn’t say a life of virtue. No religion and met my husband rock and roll dancing!

I am sorry about your scoliosis, hubby’s sister has that and had an operation on it I her 20’s

I also said I did not agree with a walk warm up. He is walked to the tacking arena.
He is walked after tacking up to the arena and the girth is still being tightened and across the arena to the mounting block. He is walked after being mounted and I wait until he is walking freely before I ask for trot.

What I said was 20 minutes of forward walking, throwing in lateral work and turns on the forehand, etc, etc, etc makes no difference to him. Whether I walk him for 5 minutes or 20 minutes, the asking for trot is the same when he is out of work. I do not have that problem when he is in work.

Other than that I have been taught your warm down is what you will get in your warm up the next time you ride. I do ride him in long and low to stretch.

To warm up I have no contact in walk, then contact in walk, then no contact in walk or canter, then long and low in trot then no contact in canter and then pick up contact in trot.

[Words_of_Wisdom]

@vxf111, mine with similar behavior had hind gut ulcers when we scoped her-- she’s just starting a full ulcer protocol now but happy to keep you updated on how she does if you are interested.

[SuzieQNutter]

@Words_of_Wisdom

@vxf111, mine with similar behavior had hind gut ulcers when we scoped her-- she’s just starting a full ulcer protocol now but happy to keep you updated on how she does if you are interested.

Yes keep us updated.

Horses with ulcers usually get worse after you canter them, this is because the canter causes the acid in the stomach to splash on to the open wound of the ulcer. I have no idea if that happens with hindgut ulcers but they must be painful for the horse to act up.

Cold backed horses get better with being cantered, as it warms them up and no worries about the acid being splashed.

[mmeqcenter]

@SuzieQNutter

I didn’t say a life of virtue. No religion and met my husband rock and roll dancing!

Virtue doesn’t mean religion. It means high moral standards, dignity, integrity, etc. These are are not synonymous with religion, nor are they mutually exclusive with rock and roll.

I also fail to see what tattoos, piercings, and coca-cola have to do with the discussion at hand (nor with moral standards for that matter.) Lucky you, you have no aches and pains at 50. I’m 33 and have had aches and pains for 10+ years thanks to genetics - a discoid lateral meniscus in a knee, a hip “in the socket” at a wrong angle. Doesn’t have anything to do with what I drink or smoke, nor with my tattoos.