Something 'Off' about horse

[tempest_eventer]

Longtime stalker but just made an account…

Sorry about the novel…
I have this horse that has been ‘off’ for a while but as the competition season is starting and training has been increasing I am struggling to work out what is wrong and would appreciate any suggestions on what could be wrong because I am out of ideas.

A bit of information on said horse;
-13y/o Mare
-1/2 Appaloosa, 1/4 Paint, 1/8 Arab and 1/8 TB
-I have had her 2 years (Dec 2014)
-Eva80 eventing (80cm)
-80 and 95cm Showjumping
-Before coming to me she did not do much jumping, she was mainly a hack that showed a bit and did low(50cm) Showjumping

-She has always (at least since I have had her) been a bold, forward horse that has had no problem with impulsion but recently has just lost it.
-She always loved jumping but has just turned off it.
-She is seemingly struggling with basic 80cm jumps, this horse has jumped up to 1.15m easily earlier in the year.
-She doesn’t even ‘take-off’ anymore(she has always been one to GO if lazy riding)
-I am quite worried about her not being herself and it is getting to the point where I am not convinced she is safe to do cross country as she is getting to a point where she is close to getting stuck over a fence because of a lack of impulsion(more than one very close call happened a few weeks ago at the last XC school we went to and this was at 80cm)
-We did have a drought over the summer competition season and the ground was quite hard…

She has no physical issues that are showing up.
We are SURE it is not me or my riding.
She was turned out for 2-3 months over winter to see if it would help, hasn’t.
I have not done a lot of jump training or competitions with her and she is not acting sour.

Any suggestions about what may be wrong would be appreciated, TIA

[Highflyer]

Time for a comprehensive vet exam-- pull blood, check for Cushings disease, check her hocks, check for Lyme if you have it where you are.

[vineyridge]

Also check her back, her pelvis, her female organs, her stifles and her sacroiliac and all her hooves. It sounds as if she doesn’t want to push with her hind legs. You might also want to ultra-sound her abdomen. Something in that area may be bothering her.

Or maybe she doesn’t want to land on her front legs. I’d guess it would have to be one of those two problems. But that’s just a guess.

On the other hand, if she is dull and flat all the time, even when you are just hacking around, she may well have something systemic that will show up in comprehensive blood work.

Is she willing and able at dressage or galloping?

[tempest_eventer]

[QUOTE=vineyridge;8937601]
Is she willing and able at dressage or galloping?[/QUOTE]
She is fine holding herself and working well when doing dressage, but it does lack a bit and her galloping I really have to push, which is not right either…

[asterix]

I’d be most suspicious of hocks and of front end, as mentioned before. Definitely time to back off the work and call in the vet.

[JJA]

Agree with all who have answered about needing a vet for answers. You mentioned a drought- I’ve seen a few horses not do well on hard ground from a drought, and it wasn’t necessarily as “obvious” in terms of diagnosing lameness since they hurt evenly on all feet if that makes sense- just appeared off overall. Pads until the ground softened helped a lot. Hopefully for your sake it’s something that simple but definitely consulting with a vet will help you figure it out!

[Larbear]

First thing I would be doing is blood work…CBC and liver panel and go from there.

[merrygoround]

Think too of a respiratory problem.

[RiverBendPol]

Appy/Arab? I’d do some front feet X-rays. Hard ground, not wanting to leave the ground might mean not wanting to land. She may just need her coffin joints injected. Do you have Lyme disease down there? Ask for the bloodwork to include titles for all tick-borne bacterium. Saddle fit? At 13 she may deserve to have her hocks injected, too. Good luck.