Wall "sitting"

[Critter]

Curious if others have noticed this to indicate anything. I noticed my 4yo gelding has started standing with his butt against the wall…usually against the support pole on the wall or on his slow feeder net. Sometimes against the water/feed buckets but never hard enough to squish those. But leans more on the wall/post. Saw him doing it in the field the other morning before I fed.

Now…this is the guy who is on rest from the rib fractures (but trust me when I say that he does not seem to be in pain from those…he can buck and roll like nobody’s business!!).

I did start to wean him off the sucralfate this past week…and I think that is when the wall sitting behavior started to be more pronounced? I don’t recall it being this bad most of the summer (he had ulcers, treated with UG full dose 6 weeks and sucralfate…scoped clear…slowly weaned off UG…now weaning off sucralfate). He’s not working…just chilling…lots of turnout (maybe 5 hours in the stall during the afternoon for a bug break).

Thought I could cut the ulcer meds out…but maybe not? I am going to put him back on the full dose sucralfate and see if the wall resting behavior goes away again.

No hind end issues (this guy had a major work up at the university vet which is how we found the ribs…bone scan, CT, etc. so we would have found hock/stifle issues…there was no indication of those). He also is standing so his hind feet are on the front of the stall with the mats, so not piling bedding under him. It’s just odd that all of a sudden the behavior is much more pronounced.

[JB]

Is he trying to scratch ticks on his tailbone?

[joiedevie99]

Or have a very dirty sheath?

[OzarksRider]

Pinworms? Look for a yellow exudate on his anus.

[173north]

Just leaning or also rubbing? Maybe something in his hind end is tight or sore and he’s trying to get some relief. I had a pony who liked to rub the lower part of her buttock/back of her stifle on fences and was also sort of dancy behind on crossties… improved a lot with regular massages from loin to hock just done by me. Obviously also check they don’t need to be dewormed, there isn’t an itchy scab somewhere, etc.

[greywithchrome]

I had one horse who did this (mostly sat on her buckets) and I believe it was because she had DSLD. She was 17 though!

[Angela_Freda]

My horse who had DSLD did this too.
He also backed up to get his toes low, heels high in a hole.

[rockymouse]

An old gelding of ours had significant navicular changes in his fronts and would position himself so his hind end would be higher than his front end. Sometimes he’d even sorta futz around and create a dished spot for his front feet.

[OverandOnward]

I had one that took his afternoon nap backed up to the fence. Leaning very gently, it wasn’t supporting him.

With this one, I thought it had more to do with his general anxiety about things behind him. Feeling the fence on his butt was protecting him from boogey-horses. My guess.

When another horse was moved into the run next to him, and that horse decided he had to nap in that exact spot on the other side of the fence, my horse took issue with this effrontery. Both could have moved 4 feet in the opposite directions and had adequate space. But no. They spent nap time snarking at each other about those particular inches of space.

[Critter]

So to clarify…he’s not rubbing/itching at all. Just standing with a light pressure of the wall or haynet or fence directly behind him. No hair is rubbed at all…no ticks/bites/signs of worms (on a vet recommended deworming schedule). Sheath could be a bit dirty, but when he drops he’s not excessively dirty. No pawing/digging or moving bedding/dirt around to change the angles. He is shod up front and barefoot behind.

His bone scan did show some uptake in the front feet…xrays didn’t really show anything and he’s sound. He’s also standing with weight even (not foot pointing, etc).

Could be general tightness behind…I mean he does have two healing rib fractures, so that has to have some muscular impact on the rest of his body to some degree. Just strange that the behavior was there…seemed to stop…and is now very pronounced again. He did just have his feet done about a week ago, so maybe there is something to that?

[Xanthoria]

I had one with a blown cruciate who did that. It certainly means something needs to be investigated.

[jvanrens]

My SO always suspects something going on in the hind end when his racehorses (STBs) start doing something like this (leaning on a wall etc.). He’s usually right.

[Jealoushe]

I’ve heard this is heel pain.

[Kati7095]

I had one that did this - wall, buckets, paddock fencing. She ended up having MFM.

[Feathered_Feet]

What’s MFM? I don’t think I’ve seen this acronym before.

[Kati7095]

Myofibrillar Myopapthy. She was diagnosed in 2016.

https://cvm.msu.edu/research/faculty-research/comparative-medical-genetics/valberg-laboratory/myofibrillar-myopathy

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