Young horse swapping behind

[MapleLeaf]

Update - Injected SI (ultrasound guided) and stifles on August 23. Vet said he suspected SI by the way my horse turned during the flex and jog and how he navigated the little hill in the driveway of clinic. But he agreed with approach of doing both. He said sometimes with an SI, it takes a second round of injections before the issue completely resolves. He said horse should have three days off and could go back into work gradually. I’ve taken the slow course, but I’m feeling hopeful. I rode lightly at one week post injections, and he felt the same. At two weeks post injection, I hopped on and he felt better but still gave me accomplish changes. Last night I rode in our small indoor and he felt great with no changes at all. I’m praying this progress continues.

In the meantime, in addition to the injections, we’ve also continued playing with his feet. His hinds are fitted a bit more fully laterally and farrier made sure inside heels were not higher. He also has a bit less lift on his low foot right now (not intentional as it was done by fill in farrier while mine was on vacay). I think he needs another degree of lift so hopefully that doesn’t screw things up when shoes are reset next week. He also had a massage a week ago.

Hopefully this good ride was not a fluke and there’s more in our future.

[Palm_Beach]

@MapleLeaf

I had a big university equine hospital work up the high/low hoof issue. He had a 0 degree palmer angle, so we had to add a bit of wedge. We only added one degree wedge pad and the pour in, and he was much more comfortable. We have followed up with x-rays this year and the angle is perfect. As you say, the hooves do not match but he is more structurally aligned now. I feel like I’m on the right path with the front feet at least, haha. Now to figure out everything else.

He is big and I’ve been taking it slow with him because of it. He’s really not being asked to do anything overly strenuous for a five year – training and first level work with an emphasis on the right balance/connection and transitions within and between gaits. He works 4 days a week for about 45 minutes and sometimes finish with hacking in the fields. He spends 12+ hours turned out each day or night.

Thanks for all of the advice and shared experiences. It’s definitely helpful to hear what has worked and what hasn’t.

Hill work will be really beneficial for him. It doesn’t need to be a steep incline - even a mild hill is really helpful. In fact, I think trotting up a gradual incline is better than a steep hill. I get it about the weather, but even if you can do it once or twice a week you should see benefits. And it’s free.

[MapleLeaf]

I may have spoken too soon. We had lots of changes against last night. I’m going to give it a little more time since it’s only been three weeks, but I’m guessing a bone scan is in our future.

[MapleLeaf]

UPDATE: Given how I search these forums for advice, I wanted to update this thread, especially since we’ve actually made progress.

From September to November last year, I continued riding and attending clinics, but the cross- cantering continued. I was discouragd beyond belief, but my trainer kept telling me that it was strength-related. Some days would be great with only one change and it would be followed by a ride riddles with changes. To make sure it wasn’t just me, my trainer hopped on and had a lovely ride, but it included lots of swaps as well. Finally somewhere between November and December, I started to have longer streaks of good rides with one or no changes. And it has gotten so much better since then, that now they are infrequent.

So I really think this was strength and balance related, but my riding had a huge effect as well. Late last year, I started riding with the thought of shorter reins and keeping him more balanced back over his hindquarters. As a big, young horse, I spent the first 18 months (I think appropriately) encouraging forward and seeking the bit down. I really did not spend much time balancing him back, at least in the canter. I thought just letting him pick his own working canter (which was not rushing) was fine. I was wrong. I will concede that maybe it took time to build to a point where I could ask for this balance, but I sure wish I had tried a little more of this earlier.

Now, I start each ride in what I call a conservative canter. It’s not as forward or pushing as it will be later in the ride. I use lots of little half halts to keep him balanced a little more up and back. It’s a fairly boring working canter where I keep him very balanced with thinking of keep his hindlegs under us.

Straightness has also been huge. I really make sure I am balancing him with my outside rein, sometimes with a touch of counter-flex. Too much of this is also not good, so I have to be careful to allow his neck to follow around the bend as well without blocking.

Overall, once I rode with a touch more “collection” (I hesitate to use that word on a young horse), but truly thinking of riding him a bit more up and under, everything started to improve. We ride in more of a first/second level canter, instead of training level most rides now.

Now that we are schooling shoulder-in, legyield, counter-canter, and haunches-in in the canter, it is improving amazingly. I can still unbalance him and get an accidental change if I ask for too big of a canter without support. Also, if he’s tense, the changes will still come out occasionally.

However, I was thrilled that we were able to show training and first level without any changes during the tests (and only one during warm-up). It’s a work in progress, but the solution was not to ride more down and round. Instead, I had to pick him up and think of haunches under and front end up all the time.

I’m not sure if all of the injections made a difference. It’s possible that those helped quiet some soreness to allow us to have these break throughs as well. So, if anyone reads this down the road, have patience and get yourself balanced over the booty!

[Libby2563]

Thank you for updating! I’m really happy for you that your horse is doing so much better!