If you can find someone to teach you, then long lining might be a good compromise between ridden work and longeing. I long line my 29yo once or twice a week between rides because he thrives in light work. I enjoy it and it adds a little variety to the routine. Best of luck!
A little update!
I was riding the goober one day and doing some small jumps, and his typical winter bucking started. However, when he kicked up and out once, he didnāt catch himself well on the landing-he stumbled and almost ate it. I got off right away because Iām not messing around with a horse that trips.
Had our vet out to check him over and make sure first and foremost that I should even still be riding the horse at all. Given his neck arthritis, I wanted to make sure I didnāt have to worry about a neurologic issue. Vet saw absolutely no problem with his neck, watched him on lunge and under saddle, said he looks fabulous on the lunge (honestly the best heās looked in a while), he carrot stretches well, has no neurologic symptoms, etc. We did scope and find ulcers so weāre treating for that.
Since my vet said to not worry at all about riding him (unless he trips again and more consistently), and that she doesnāt think his neck is an issue, I think Iām going to play around a bit with different treatments this spring. She did say he seems really tight through his SI region, but the movement in his joints looks great so sheās not super concerned about his hocks.
His SI issue is a pretty constant thing and Iām sure contributes to his consistent back soreness. Iāve done injections a few times and never noticed a positive difference. I think what Iām going to do is get through the winter with just a lot of light light riding, then take rads of his hinds for NPA. If he presents with it, Iām going to pull his hinds (which I was planning on doing anyways) and then work extra hard on fixing his angles. After finding pretty bad NPA in my other horse, I do suspect this guy has it as well (not as badly) - so maybe that will help his lower back discomfort. Since he isnāt a competition horse anymore and he isnāt leased out, Iām super willing to play the long game with him and try things that may disrupt heavier riding. Iāll probably try Adequan in the spring as well before doing his hock injections, and see what that does for us.
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I have a 24 YO retired dressage horse. I recently switched from monthly Legend to Zycosan. The price is about the same and it appears to have better results. YMMV
ETA: Zycosan is 4 weekly injections every 6 months.
I think Iām going to do either Zycosan or Adequan in the spring - Iāll have to look into both and decide which to go with.
The tripping has gotten a little bit more consistent - or maybe Iām just more cognizant of it now. Itās actually not a trip but more a buckling of his kneeā¦so right now Iām taking it day by day and deciding how much to do with him based on how he feels, but Iām hopeful that just adding one of the two will help him enough for that to go away.
So what is the difference between the two?
Iāve always used Adequan - is Zycosan better, or different?
I have used both Adequan and Zycosan on my 23 yo dressage horse. I find the Zycosan more effective personally. Plus the dosing schedule is so much better!
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Interesting ā howās the price comparison?
Pretty similar AFAIK, around $400. Thereās been a $40 rebate on the Zycosan the last year or so.
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From experience, the knee buckling is likely from his neck and a mild neurological gait deficit (assuming he does not have any arthritis in the knees). Most likely, heās judging the ground just a tiny bit wrong in his proprioception. Iāve found that sometimes if you look at what is or is not on his legs, that can make a subtle difference. For example, I could never ride my one neck horse in boots on the front legs. Also couldnāt do polos without those missteps when his neck arthritis was not controlled. With injections, he did fine in polos but still not boots. Just on the front legsā¦no issues with hind legs. He did sometimes interfere hence my use of some leg protection.
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This is something I have not considered-Iāll have to keep a closer eye on it. I donāt usually do polos-I will do sheepskin brush boots if Iām doing a heavier ride with him but if Iām just doing a basic flat ride I havenāt been using them as he doesnāt really interfere. Iāll start keeping track and see if it makes a difference at all for him.
I do think it is most likely his neck-thankfully thus far he has no other neuro symptoms, itās just that weird little knee buckling from time to time. I am getting an updated rad of his neck right now, and then might ask for a knee rad just in case if the neck arthritis hasnāt progressed much.
Thankfully the neck arthritis & bone spur havenāt really gotten much worse if at all - so Iām going to get feet and that knee radiographed in the spring just in case. In the meantime, Iāve been riding for 25-30 ish minutes at a time with him and just doing super super basic flatwork and some poles, a few jumps if he seems game for it.
There has been more snow and less ice lately, so I took him on a hack the other day finally. He was quite excited and once he saw a flat stretch he ran off bucking and leaping through the air (this is very common for him in the snow so I was fully expecting it). Funny enough I brought him back in the indoor after for a lap around and he felt so much better-itās almost like he needed to get the bucks out to loosen up or something. He still was stiff laterally but he felt much more balanced underneath me. Now Iām actually hoping for more snow rather than less!
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My horse has been on a daily Equioxx pill since he was 16. He will be 26 in March. His vet has never told me to take him off it and he approves the script at for the pharmacy, he certainly knows how long he has been on it.
I had one vet really put up a stink about keeping my guy on Equioxx through one winter (I think it was 2.5 months). It was right when we first found his hock arthritis and I wanted to wait until the spring the inject so heād feel his best while competing. She actually rejected the prescription refill and emailed me to tell me no.
My vet now doesnāt seem to have any issue with them being on it long term-obviously itās not the most ideal (most ideal being horse is sound and happy without anything lol) but itās not the end of the world. Interesting how different vets have such different takes on this!
In my opinion Equioxx is not a very effective pain medication. With my old mare, I switched her to Aleve (sodium naproxen) and she was much more comfortable. She did get a break from the Aleve so it wasnāt a continuous treatment but the alternative was euthanasia. The Equioxx just wasnāt enough.
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An update! We have made it through the winter unscathed-honestly, this winter just swapping dressage work for more polework and just super basic wtc rides with me in a two point at the canter gave us the best winter yet despite the lack of asking him to go on the bit much. Heās pretty consistently crooked, and it took a long while for him to gain strength in his left canter lead, but by spring he was doing basic polework really well and overall felt very balanced.
His feet had neutral angles in the hinds, and we recently got wedges put on so for the past week and a half-ish weāve been just taking it slow. Just got his teeth done, and I just ordered his Adequan to try for the first time-Iām excited to see how it helps him! I am imagining come next winter we may just throw in the towel on riding and resort to more groundwork and lunging type stuff just to keep him moving, but I do secretly have a little bit of hope that maybe by then with these changes heāll be feeling even better throughout his bodyā¦a girl can dream!
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