Thoroughbred turns into giraffe?

[KourtneyAnne]

I have a 11yr old ottb, and she is a hot one. I ride her in a happy mouth peanut roller bit and she is very sensitive in the mouth. She previous barn was a small private facility at her owners house and she was a perfect lady there. She was calm, she would stretch down into her striding, never knock a rail, NEVER refuse a jump. She was the perfect horse, really.

We moved to a larger competition barn at the end of October and she was awesome there for the first month or so. But suddenly her demeanor changed. She turns into a giraffe and holds her head up to high that she almost head butts me in the nose. She avoids any contact really. She rushes to jumps. I keep catching her in the mouth cause I try to slow her down and she gets a bad distance, or I see the distance but then she flies through my hands and leaves me behind. and today at our lesson, she refused on me for the first time ever! At least a half a dozen times too, and the jump wasn’t even 2’3.

I know never to blame the horse for anything, and I’m starting to think I’m a bad rider and I’m starting to lose my confidence and she’s started to lose hers as well. I dont trust myself, so then I don’t trust her to get the striding and I get nervous, even though she is built amazingly, has the stamina and balance to do anything. It hurts me because I want to do eventing next show season and if I can’t even get her around a 2’9 course without her ducking out on me, I dont think I can do any showing at all. Please help!!

[c0608524]

To cover the basics:

Has her turnout changed?
Has her saddle fit been checked?
Has her teeth been checked?
Is she getting the same amount of exercise at the new barn?
Has her food changed?

[IPEsq]

It sounds like she hurts somewhere.

[RiderInTheRain]

It can help to make a list of all the things that have changed since you moved barns.
Think about:

• turnout (size of area, # hours, #/type of buddies, footing, availability of grass/hay)
• feeding changes (more/less/different hay, change in grain, change in frequency or regularity of feeding)
• change in tack
• major differences in training/riding style at the new barn/from the new trainer
• anything else you can think of!

If it is a sudden change, I would expect that either something about the move is not agreeing with her in some way or she is in pain somewhere in her body and trying to compensate for or avoid it.

[KourtneyAnne]

[QUOTE=c0608524;8974513]
To cover the basics:

Has her turnout changed?
Has her saddle fit been checked?
Has her teeth been checked?
Is she getting the same amount of exercise at the new barn?
Has her food changed?[/QUOTE]

At the old barn she got 24/7 turnout with a shelter. Now she gets stalled at 430 and back out at 830.

We just put a new gullet in her saddle because she bulked up in her shoulder. She uses a medium-wide gullet paired with a wither relief pad.

As I only ride her 2 days a week, I’m not too sure on her vet schedule or if her teeth have been checked. But her owner has said that she is 100% sound everywhere.

She now gets 4-5 days of work. Where at the old barn she got 2-3.

Her hay has changed, but her grain is the same.

[outside_leg]

It sounds like she has other riders. Are these the same people (just her owner?) who also rode her at the other barn? Since you only ride her twice a week, she could be reacting to what her other rider(s) are doing.

It could also be a fitness issue. Now that she’s in an increased training program, she could be getting fitter, and therefore more energetic.

But evading contact and refusing still sounds like a soundness issue to me. Drastic, sudden behavioral changes may also be EPM.

[asterix]

Being “sound” as in not limping is not the same thing as “feels great.” She is clearly physically unhappy. I would give her a vet workup. You could also try bute for a few days (a fairly cheap way of figuring out if she is in pain, though of course then you have to figure out where). I also like massage for helping pinpoint areas that are uncomfortable.

[SolarFlare]

Did you just recently buy this horse (you say at the previous owners she was perfect, in the summer)?

• it’s winter and she’s TB
• she went from pasture board to half of her normal turnout
• she is being ridden more - fitter? Or possibly sore if she was put suddenly into a harder work program?
• new hay = possibly richer/more calories
• recent move = stress, could possibly be a sign of ulcers
• different riders? I wasn’t clear on this but perhaps she was in a different program before? Again no idea of your/other riders’ abilities but maybe she was getting pro rides or had more advanced riders on her?
• teeth checked? Evading contact would have me checking there

[Limerick]

How is the footing at the new place?

[tbchick84]

She’s getting less turnout time but more work, so more muscle with less time to expend excess energy. Rushing and runouts are a 50/50 crap shoot whether they are training or pain related in my experience. I agree with doing a bute ride. If she’s still acting up when you know she’s in no pain, there’s your answer.

Regardless of the cause, it would make sense to back the truck up a bit and take jumps out of the equation for awhile. Repeat all the same exercises you’re currently having issues with using ground poles to make sure it is not just holes in your training. New environments always seem to bring out areas we need to work on. Hopefully that’s all that’s happening here. Much cheaper than vet bills.

[findeight]

Is this a school type horse with multiple riders? And who owns her now?

Some ideas
Some horses just don’t do well with multiple riders
Increased work can reveal soundness problems-kissing spines for example
She may be saying no to contract due to either incomplete training or pain
Saddle fit

If she’s running out or stopping she’s going to hurt somebody sooner or later, is unsuitable to try to learn anything on and every time she does it, it gets more deeply ingrained. Plays that, if it is pain related, you her are hurting her.

If she were mine, I’d stop riding her and investigate. If I were riding her for somebody else, especially paying to ride her in a lesson? I’d decline until this gets sorted out…

I sure the move, change in routine and “winter horse” is not helping but such a drastic change in attitude indicates something is wrong. Giraffe action hints at back trouble, either saddle caused or something like neck or spine.

Shes not sound just because she doesn’t limp and if Trainer is using her as a school horse, trainer needs the income she generates and might be kidding themselves she’s sound.

[Skip_s_Rider]

Many great comments/suggestions here. This stuck out to me, though.

[INDENT]We just put a new gullet in her saddle because she bulked up in her shoulder. She uses a medium-wide gullet paired with a wither relief pad.
[/INDENT]

When did that change occur? Maybe the horse doesn’t like this change, or it hurts.

[poniesinthenight]

Teeth and a mullen mouth bit

[NeedsAdvil]

Agree with others, something has happened that has resulted in your horse being uncomfortable. It could be footing, the change in turnout, different riders, changes in muscling that is making tack not fit anymore, etc.

If it were me, and not my horse, but a lease or partial lease, I would ask permission to get the horse some massages. A good massage therapist can generally pinpoint areas of soreness, giving the vet a better starting point than “my horse is unhappy”. It could be something fairly simple, like your horse is cold backed, so you change your tacking/girthing/mounting routine, or it could be more serious and need some medical or therapeutic interventions and/or tack changes. It could also be a footing issue, which is more complicated, but in my experience, with all other things being equal, horses can be very tolerant of different types of footing. However, a horse who is already hurting or sore added to bad/different footing is a recipe for a worse injury.

[jetsmom]

Teeth, ulcers, eyesight, feet (harder footing?), other riders being heavy handed or lying to her when jumping/over facing her/using harsh bits.

[Alterrain]

[QUOTE=tbchick84;8974768]
If she’s still acting up when you know she’s in no pain, there’s your answer. [/QUOTE]

I’m not sure how 1 gram bute = no pain???

It decreases pain sure, but that’s a stretch.

[IPEsq]

Any Bute trial my vets have recommended have been 2g and over a course of 3 days at least.

[mmeqcenter]

First things I would do are have her teeth looked at and have a chiropractor out. To me, it sounds like her saddle does not fit and is pinching behind her shoulders. I understand you’ve upped to the medium/wide tree, but if you’re using a super thick wither pad, you may have only provided her a few MM of additional space. A chiropractor can tell you if your saddle is causing any pain issues.
As an example - my mare does all these things with the Medium-wide tree in (stops, takes off after fence, etc.). It does not appear to be pinching her behind the shoulders, it has even been checked half a dozen times by two saddle fitters, and been reflocked! However, I put the Wide tree in, add a thicker half pad (Thinline now) because it’s a smidge too large (because why wouldn’t she be in between tree sizes, and she’s happy as a clam again.