As mentioned above, if you’ve been seeing these symptoms for a while now, you may get into the “peeling the onion” scenario, where you find something that seems to be IT, so you address that, and then another issue pops up somewhere, hidden until the bigger issue was resolved.
Can you post a couple of pictures?
1- him standing how he likes to stand, and often stands
2- decent confo pic
3 - lateral pictures of his feet, him standing on a flat, level surface, cannons vertical, camera at/close to the ground and lens perpendicular to the middle of the foot
I’m interested in his feet, his stifle/hock angles, and his natural stance preference
My horse has a lot of those problems. she has kissing spines and SI issues. Hopefully this is not the case for you but if you run out of options, xray the back. Good luck!
I would have the hocks checked first. I would back off the higher workload until the vet is out. Make sure you ask the vet about something to help the sore back and sore muscles all over from compensating. If it is the hocks, the less stall time the better. Horse needs to get out and move as much as possible.
I prefer not to ride a horse with a sore back, it’s how bad habits start. I’d probably bring him back slowly after whatever is bothering him gets figured out.
I’ve also thought about kissing spine. The vet that is coming has a new and very good x-ray machine, so that is a plus. Obviously if she feels it is beneficial, we have two clinics within 2 hours we can drive to.
And of course, I will post results and potentially x-rays for those that are curious.
Remember that if it is the hocks (or stifle, or SI, or whatever) that may be a symptom, and not the root cause. I mean, the hocks may show actual arthritis, but that’s not necessarily where things started, so don’t just stop there in looking at the bigger picture
Did we ever find out when all this started?
What symptoms are there only when lunging, and which only when ridden?
Yes, I know that it could be one thing solved that leads us to another, and another, and so on. I’m really dreading it being kissing spine. I can accept this horse not amounting to what I’d like him to due to physical limits, but I’d still like him to be able to have a job.
His left lead was slightly sticky over the past 3 months. Intermittently. I noticed slight back soreness over the last few months but I got the saddles fitted again, and wanted to see if they helped. His back wasn’t terrible, but still cause for concern.
He didn’t act out under saddle really until the last 3 weeks or so. I’ve noticed he has less power and movement in the trot, he does not want to extend the canter, and often bunny hops or kicks out with his hind end. He walked out on the trails down and up hills, and didn’t display any great discomfort or wanting to stop on the hills. He took the downhill slowly, but that’s pretty normal to be cautious on a decline. He has lost some swing over his back and just feels kind of locked.
On the longe, less or no kicking out and hopping with the hind end as of 1-2 weeks ago. I plan on lunging him tomorrow to see how it goes. Just lightly. He does swap leads and cross canter on the longe/free lunging. Sometimes he breaks to the trot after a jump, or does not want to keep his canter through pole sets (bounce, one stride, bounce gymnastic type set up). He can naturally be a little lazy, but I don’t know if that’s due to pain, or personality, or both.
Some quick pics of his hooves. I can get a better angle now that I look at it. I also turned him around and he is at a somewhat funky angle with his hind end. I will get a full picture. I do have a short video that shows the canter under saddle as well. When the issues started. Now he’s much more insistent on not cantering forward.
I’d like to, but I don’t have any on hand at the moment, but I am planning on asking my regular vet this week since she will be at the stable. I will also see what our comparables are here in Germany to those.
I did mean to add “or whatever your comparables are” LOL I am quite sure you have phenylbutazone - how easy it is to get I don’t know. Flunixin meglumine (Banamine here) is also something to consider to see if it’s muscle related.
Interesting. The leg pointing thing makes me wonder if he’s got really tight adductor muscles. Of course, SI issues could be a problem too, though chicken/egg. Will he let you run your hand way up in his business inside his thighs? Work from the outside in, don’t just jump in there lol Once they get used to that, because face it, most of us don’t really give that area much attention, they usually realize it feels good. Flat palm, just lay your hand in there to get him used to the contact, move around a bit so you’re just moving skin, and then quietly start using some finger pressure and see if you find any areas that are knotty and/or that he reacts to. Just be careful, as you’re definitely in a position to get cow-kicked.
Hmm…I’d still start with hocks. Then back. Then feet. Then SI based on that video. I think it would be worth trying a NSAID trial first. He’s definitely objecting to going forward. Otherwise, except for traveling a bit narrow behind it doesn’t look bad. It would be nice to have a video where we could compare directions.
I have a short trot video to the right, but it is uneventful. I will say that to the right he is less stiff, and a little more willing to go forward. To the left he has more stiffness (being to the left), and protests more about the canter. The hopping has become more severe/turned to a kick out or buck since the video.
Other observation: he kicks out only under saddle. He swaps leads in and out of corners, only not under saddle (free lunge in a smaller arena). Sometimes swaps the full lead, but usually just the hind or front and then will usually correct in a straight away.
Starting to “peel the onion” and there is a saddle fit issue. The osteopathie said that it’s not terrible, but there is too much pressure in the front. We also used a gel type pad to look at weight distribution (see picture). Horse is also “blocked” between the two areas of chalk marks at the shoulder area. Makes sense. He also is slightly stiff and blocked about mid neck. I’ve been working on that since he was upsidedown muscle wise when I got him. Progress has been made, but there is still work to do.
The vet comes this Thursday, so she will do a further assessment to see if it is more than saddle fit. I suspect that it is more than saddle fit, but I am not a professional/vet.
The saddle fitter will be called. It has been incredibly frustrating getting a good saddle fitter. This is his second saddle and since I bought it new and fit to him, you’d think it would be OK…but not so much.
