Storm Cat offspring for eventing?

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@khalliaar

http://www.pedigreequery.com/cantcatchtherabbit

this has been quite interesting for me as I know nothing about bloodlines. I bought a storm cat grandson to be my event horse and man has he been a problem. His soundness issue is that he has kissing spines and he has an attitude and aggressiveness that lead people to believe he was not gelded correctly (I tested, he’s gelded). He has progressed greatly over the past year I’ve had him but he still tries to kick you and spins and bolts on the lunge line and under saddle his go to is rearing with bolting and bucking a close second. All the behaviours are slowly being worked out with very consistent and correct training but he has been a huge challenge. When I got him I thought it may have been the upbringing he had but now I’m seeing it might be partly his breeding too!

I have a horse with KS. I’ve taken care of many horses with KS.

To me, it 100% sounds like it’s the KS. KS is really a systemic issue IMHO, because it causes overall body malaise, not just in the area that is impinging.

When they are in pain they don’t think normally, or “rationally” as we put it. They get defensive, they’re extra worried, they can really act or jump out of their skin and we chalk it up to their personality when most of the time, it is because they are in pain and they are guarding themselves. A wild horse in pain has to be extra vigilant - it’s just their instinct to be protective of themselves… and pain really does change how an animal or human processes things.

My own personal horse with KS has never offered to buck, or kick out at me – but he has a very hard time lunging. Lunging is very painful to most horses with KS, and I suspect that’s why you’re seeing the misbehaviors - if you can even call them that.

I will say when I had my horse’s back injected after the KS diagnosis, some of the minor things I always thought were weird about him went away – he became much more friendly, and in my pocket. He had never been rude or aggressive or grouchy but he had always seemed emotionally distant, a consummate professional type. He’s still not cuddly, but he’s much sweeter. He was in more pain than I realized.

He also demonstrated no lameness or back pain on palpitation, but the x-rays showed a different story and when we did mesotherapy he was incredibly reactive - so he was in much more pain than we realized, but since he was such a stoic, quiet horse, he didn’t let it on.

It sounds like there are multifaceted issues here, unrelated to your horse having SC all the way back in his pedigree. All things considered he has a fairly “quiet” pedigree in terms of sire/family personalities.

Investigate the pain. He’s not an idiot for reacting to pain. What are you doing to manage the KS? Did you have lig op, injections, are you supplementing with any sort of pain or muscle medication, robaxin, previcox, the like? Have you had his saddle professionally checkeD? That’s very important for a horse with KS.

[khalliaar]

@halt

I have a horse with KS. I’ve taken care of many horses with KS.

To me, it 100% sounds like it’s the KS. KS is really a systemic issue IMHO, because it causes overall body malaise, not just in the area that is impinging.

When they are in pain they don’t think normally, or “rationally” as we put it. They get defensive, they’re extra worried, they can really act or jump out of their skin and we chalk it up to their personality when most of the time, it is because they are in pain and they are guarding themselves. A wild horse in pain has to be extra vigilant - it’s just their instinct to be protective of themselves… and pain really does change how an animal or human processes things.

My own personal horse with KS has never offered to buck, or kick out at me – but he has a very hard time lunging. Lunging is very painful to most horses with KS, and I suspect that’s why you’re seeing the misbehaviors - if you can even call them that.

I will say when I had my horse’s back injected after the KS diagnosis, some of the minor things I always thought were weird about him went away – he became much more friendly, and in my pocket. He had never been rude or aggressive or grouchy but he had always seemed emotionally distant, a consummate professional type. He’s still not cuddly, but he’s much sweeter. He was in more pain than I realized.

He also demonstrated no lameness or back pain on palpitation, but the x-rays showed a different story and when we did mesotherapy he was incredibly reactive - so he was in much more pain than we realized, but since he was such a stoic, quiet horse, he didn’t let it on.

It sounds like there are multifaceted issues here, unrelated to your horse having SC all the way back in his pedigree. All things considered he has a fairly “quiet” pedigree in terms of sire/family personalities.

Investigate the pain. He’s not an idiot for reacting to pain. What are you doing to manage the KS? Did you have lig op, injections, are you supplementing with any sort of pain or muscle medication, robaxin, previcox, the like? Have you had his saddle professionally checkeD? That’s very important for a horse with KS.

Yes his saddle has been fitted to him and we have investigated his pain. When it stopped he went back to rearing and being reactive. He gets shockwave as well as meso for the kissing spines and is checked by the vet every 3 months or so. I want to be clear he was xrayed during his pre purchase and did not have kissing spines and yet reared both in hand and under saddle from day 1. The back pain started 6 months into his training and the new X-rays showed 3 lesions. During the time I thought had developed a pain issue all rearing stopped. His vet has flexed him and many diagnostics and the back is his issue which he presents in a very obvious way.