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Shifting before jumps and twisting body in air?

I think it might be helpful for diagnostic reasons to figure out at what height he starts doing this. Different parts of the horses body are used more strongly as you go up in height.

Another thing is, this horse is very young still. He’s still growing both mentally and physically. It’s possible he feels mentally overfaced and is showing it this way. But I would try very hard to find out a possible physical reason before chalking it up to that.

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It would be fairly standard practice here to give a few months in the field after groundwork, backing, and the first weeks/months of ridden work-- particularly as daily turnout is a bit less standard. The rest were at the trainer’s discretion: Over Christmas when weather turned and show season ended; when trainer went to America to give clinics for a few weeks; when horse had an “overreach.” In total, he had 4 multi-week periods of time off during the year he was at that stable.

Honestly, with lockdown, I was much less present for his training than I would have preferred and perhaps a bit naive. Trainer can be somewhat vague/elusive. My feeling at this point is that my horse went into the field for some kind of accident/injury, not an overreach, as I didn’t see evidence of damage there when we picked him up a week or two later. Perhaps it had healed and I have a suspicious mind :woman_shrugging:

Thank you for sharing your successful rehab journey, that’s awesome and encouraging :+1:

I love the Equiband idea as well as the raised walk poles. If I’m honest, I don’t think I’ve been fair to this horse. We decided to put him up for sale through a professional and clearly the program hasn’t worked for him. I’ve been working away with other horses at home so I was happy enough to be hands off, but it certainly looks like he needs some tlc.

I hear this. I made the same decision and stepped away from horse. Noted he was getting rather plump… and seemed a bit worried whenever I saw him. My husband went to visit with me asked if I was sure he was a gelding and not a mare (bc he looked preggo). It took about another few weeks and a few strange other events, but I finally ripped him out of there after 2 months.
He’s been with another professional for about 4 months now and it’s a different horse. I’m not even considering keeping him for myself. So the training and handling truly makes all the difference. Pick the one that’s not afraid to walk you through it all and treats both of you with a level of respect and appreciation.

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That’s what I saw as well, but I am no vet and consistently pick the wrong “off” leg sooooo :woman_shrugging:t4:

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This is actually so interesting as we had his hocks x-rayed when he was 4 as a vet out for a separate call noticed he had “boggy” hocks. Vet thought we might find a career-limiting issue and was surprised by the good images. Have to wonder if maybe he was onto something. I will definitely mention this at our appointment, thank you! :slightly_smiling_face:

Such great advice, thank you. You’re absolutely right.

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Has he seen a chiropractor?

It definitely looks SI related, as everyone else is saying. I would probably start there (with the vet’s permission) – as it may be the path of least resistance. No sense doing all sorts of diagnostics and injections if it turns out it’s something as “simple” as his SI being out - whether from being cast, or perhaps he reared up and fell awkwardly, or any other number of things horses do.

There’s definitely something wrong, but what a good boy for continuing on despite that - I have a couple that would throw a fit and say the world was ending if they so much as slept wrong. :joy:

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He has had a few different physio/chiropractors work on his back over several sessions. They have all agreed he’s sore but none of the treatments have helped us to resolve whatever’s going on, unfortunately

He is such a good boy! I’m really impressed with his attitude actually. Have high hopes for him making a lovely horse for a variety of riders if we can get him moving correctly and comfortably :crossed_fingers:

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Thought I would update here for anyone interested or anyone who might come across this thread in a search :relaxed:

Based off of above videos + a couple more, and standard lameness exam, our orthopedic vet feels this boy’s problem area is either sacroiliac or sacroiliac + related issues through back/pelvis/possibly hocks. X-rays of hocks, back, and neck were all clean, so he’s injected his SI today. We’ll also be putting him on a course of ulcer treatment. Vet noted his large, gangly, weak frame and said SI issues are particularly common with his sort of skeletal shape. So perhaps not a case of stable injury. His inability to maintain muscle mass this past year won’t have done him any favors. Hoping to bring him back slowly over the next 4-6 weeks and get some good weight on him. Will update again if further treatment needed :pray:

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