Looking her pictures I think she has a back injury as well as her hind legs. I think the kindest thing you could do is retire her and make sure she is eating enough to kept weight on.
I agree with you cnigh, she looks to have a roached back which means she has overstrained what were probably already weak loin muscles. She looks to be in pain and the paddling behind left me speechless to think she was being ridden that way.
Dear all,
I am a guy, nourah is my mare name, I am not sensitive of advising me to ride or not to ride ( LOL). Actually, I do not enjoy riding her ( I like ride stallion).
I got her for my son ( 7 yrs old). I got her from my farrier who I used to trust. He told me she is highly trained, very respectful, and very nice with kids. I thought it will be great starting horse for my son, they will grow together. Actually, I bought her with out seeing her. It was until next morning when I saw her. It was clear she walks in Odd way. I called him immediately, he assured that she is fine. I had three uys look at her, they told me she is okay. Why did I trust them back them, because they told me the owner did not tell the truth about her age. The owner told me she is 7. they estimated her between 9-12. Actually one of them offered to buy off me with more money. She was extermly thin. I got her teeth done, dewormer plans, etc… .
One month later, I had my son ride her, he had difficult time steering her. I was told because she has not be ridden for over a year. So I decided I should give it shot, she was difficult to ride, she wants me off her back. So I decide to wait for her to gain some weight weight. Also, I was told she is on heat, that is why he is misbehaving. I got her bred to calm her down. I think It did work.
Since then she is moody. Sometimes I feel riding her like driving gear automatic car, ( I used only verbal command) and other times she is just nasty.
Again, I like riding hard ( i used to ride stallion with proud walk raised head confiedent move and strong build). I do not enjoy riding her. I Ride her on average once a weeks 40 minutes each trips. The reasons why I ride her are; a) To exercise her ( she is tied to a rope), b) She like trotting by keep posting I get myself a little exercise, c) This also help her during foaling d) Make her used to the idea of being ridden so my son develop enough skills to ride her around the house.
Going back to the problem,
-
Yes she has been walking this way since the day I got her.
-
As for the saddle, She has high wither, the first day I got her I noticed, she has old mark on the top of her wither ( like old burn), I used two thick blanket to clear the wither. I perform the back sore exam by applying pressure by two fingers sweeping along her spine, she is normal.
-
I mentioned the story of my son ride behind me to help you guys with diagnose. Again, my son rode behind me for 1/2 a mile. I can tell she was unhappy. The next few days, I noticed excess twisting of her leg ( at the lower part of her leg). I have her incomplete course of antibiotic ( she is extermly difficult with needles). Two week later this excess twisting disappeared.
-
As far as her weight, she is definitely not small. For the fun of discussion I will weigh her. I used to have stallion weighing only 720 pounds ( 14.2 hand, 147 cm). He can go and go and go and go. If that stallion received proper exercise he might be champ for endurance.
People replied they have non seeing such odd movements. Well, I am also have not seen such movements. I would love to know what is her problem. Is it related to injury or conformation faults.
Honestly, I do not think she is in pain. Knowing her, she will tell me. She can not withstand the needle pain, she will be rearing …etc… How could she withstand me on her back!!!
I Recorded this vedio two days ago, I hope it will provide better view.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/t3shbf0r23nwtyz/20150117_101834.mp4?dl=0
I replied on your other thread as well.
You said you didn’t have good horse vets in your country, where are you and what city?
Sometimes American horse vets do charity work in other countries, they would be able to help you and it would be very affordable as well.
Your mare is in good weight and you look like you care about her.
[QUOTE=nourah;7963487]
People replied they have non seeing such odd movements. Well, I am also have not seen such movements. I would love to know what is her problem. Is it related to injury or conformation faults.
Honestly, I do not think she is in pain. Knowing her, she will tell me. She can not withstand the needle pain, she will be rearing …etc… How could she withstand me on her back!!![/QUOTE]
She is willing and obedient so she lets you ride. She knows riding is her job. It is sometimes hard to know when a good horse is in pain because they try anyway. If she is refusing to work and heading back to the barn then you are right to find out why.
One thing you said is you ride her once a week for forty minutes. This could be part of the problem. She is happier staying home than going on a long ride. This behavior problem would improve with shorter daily rides. If the long weekly ride is a day when she is in a nasty mood from being in heat, you have a double problem.
In your last video I don’t see the same wringing of her lower hind leg as your first video. And I don’t think she is roach backed (maybe a little), but she may be hunching up from back pain. It could be pain only when she is in heat. It could be pain from occassional riding when she is not strong.
It is sometimes hard to find the cause, even with very good vets and equipment so don’t be too discouraged. I think it is good that you see a problem and want to help her. I hope you find the solution.
You were taken, plain and simple. The last owner pawned off a broken down animal that will probably never be sound to ride.
Her weight looks better. But those legs are too weak to carry any weight.
Did you seriously breed this mare? I am just too shocked for words.
To also help explain why she lets you ride. A prey animal that shows lameness in the wild is a dead one.
Horses are sometimes too accepting.
Thanks for the additional history and video.
I agree with SmartAlex in that shorter work periods at more frequent intervals are useful for building strength and obedience, and also make a horse more confident about leaving its usual surroundings. I know it can be hard to find the time to do this, but it really does make a positive difference, especially when you are training a horse for a younger, less-skilled rider.
Think about it: if you lived in a small room and only got out for exercise one day a week for 40 minutes, how likely would you be to be agreeable about someone telling you what to do? And how would you feel physically after that 40 minutes? And how happy would you be to see that person again after the next week of being confined? Happy to get out - yes - but not so happy to have to follow orders during your freedom and use muscles that weren’t toned.
Each time you work with a horse, from the ground or in the saddle, you are training. So each experience should be positive. This builds trust and makes the horse look forward to working with you. If each ride has a problem and the problem continues to get worse, the horse is learning the wrong behavior. Ducking and turning back for the barn can be very difficult for an inexperienced rider to handle. I think it’s wonderful you want your son to enjoy horses and ride with you. It’s important to have him work with a horse that will build his confidence and joy.
Hopefully we can help you find a vet who may be able to figure out the physical problem with your mare. I can see the gait irregularity as you begin to get her to trot in the most recent video. It’s also more obvious that she has significant muscle atrophy on the left side of her hindquarters, and it appears her point of hip is also a bit lower/more prominent on that side. I wonder if she has injured her pelvis in the past, perhaps even broken it. I have a friend with a horse who had this type of injury and his physical condition and movement are similar to what I see in your mare.
Nourah certainly does have a “roached” back, but that is not necessarily something that causes soundness problems. It’s not ideal conformation (and not something you would ideally want to reproduce) but I doubt it has anything to do with her hind leg movement.
The more video you can show us, the more likely it is we’ll be able to help you pinpoint the problem. Among our members here we have skilled veterinarians, and hopefully one of them will take a look at this thread soon.
I’m also curious about where you live. I think it’s a wonderful thing that the internet allows us to communicate with horse owners around the world. It’s a good reminder for us in the United States to realize how lucky we are to have excellent resources within easy reach!
Please keep posting updates.
Ouch, I have never seen a horse throw the legs out like that. She must be severely cow hocked. For that reason alone, I would never breed her. She doesn’t appear to be 9 months pregnant from the photos, so I would imagine she absorbed the foal (or aborted it) which would be a very lucky thing to have happen.
She needs at least 100lbs added onto her body.
ETA: I just watched the video you posted in DropBox. She appears to have an issue with her pelvis. I don’t know if it was broken at some point, but the left side of her hip is very sunken in from “protecting” herself. I feel badly for you and wish I could help her. I hope, after seeing that video, that she truly did abort the foal, as this could cause some serious issues in foaling. She also doesn’t appear to be 12 years old. From the look of her head, and her body posture I’d say she in her late teens, closer to 16 or 17+ years old.
I would agree her muscles on the hind are week. She is exermely difficult with needle, I got her AD3E vitamins, I ended up giving the shots to my friends horses, , But she got excellent muscles on the shoulder nick and chest. This is a photo three months ago.
As for her age, I am not expert, but people who looked at her usually talking about hock?!!. If I recall right, I was told that this hook appear at 8 yrs and disappear at 11 yrs. I know she was imported from Europe.
As for breeding her, I did not want to breed her, not because of the genetic or foaling difficulty, I am not ready to have foal in my place. When I got her I had stallion, she really really really wanted him. I felt bad. She was making circles around the clocks for two months. I knew she had son probably now she is around 18 months. I will try to relocate him and see how he is.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/szl37gblhay62ab/20141021_175752_4.jpg?dl=0
