When someone mentions the term, what do you picture in your mind? Is it something that would put you off buying a horse who was otherwise perfect? I’m assuming tack fit is fine, there is no discernible physical cause etc. Curious as to what the term means to this group of knowledgeable horse people.
To me it means a horse with a sore back (or elsewhere) who acts out violently when first saddled/ridden. And perhaps has an owner who uses a euphemism instead of diagnostic work…
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Cold backed horses often object to having their girth tightened and will “sink” and hollow their back when the rider mounts. This is typically due to soreness in the back. Some work out of it, some don’t. Ideally the owner would have the horses undergo diagnostic work to understand what is causing the pain and the appropriate therapy(ies) would be applied.
A cold-backed horse will put a lot of buyers off. The assumption is there is an underlying issue causing the discomfort which could get worse with time. A complete diagnostic work-up from the seller’s vet assuring a potential buyer there are no underlying issues causing pain or discomfort may help to make the horse more saleable.
Here, a cold backed horse means, whatever the reason may be, a horse that will have a tendency to buck.
It may buck when first saddled, when first mounted or any other time.
It may buck hard or just crowhop around.
It may be easy to talk out of bucking, it may buck like a rodeo bronc.
It may be a learned response, many cowboys used to start a horse by forcing the saddling on the horse and then “let’er’buck” until it got tired and quit bucking.
Many of those horses thought when saddled they were supposed to buck for a bit.
We had a ranch horse like that, his name was Hoppy.
It may be a horse that had a badly fitting saddle or bad rider hurt it’s back and that was the way it resisted, by bucking.
In general, here it means, that horse will be apt to buck, beware.
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A cold-backed horse is one that will have a hump in his back and may/quite often will buck when first mounted. They usually work out of it after initially getting through it at the beginning of the ride. But it is something that usually shows up each ride. I do not like a cold-backed horse, because i don’t want to have to ride that buck out if that hump becomes more than just a hump.
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The visual I have is either of a ranch horse having to be “bucked out” before he settles down to work or an English Horse on the longe line exhibiting various stages of bucking before being ridden. It’s a well known element of riding, whatever your background. As the science (for lack of a better word) of horses being ridden evolves, I think there will be better a understanding of underlying causes. Personally, I would be put off by the idea of a cold-backed horse, no matter how well it settled after the initial blowup, and no matter how mild the behaviour. I also think it is a learned behaviour that can return, even once the underlying issue is resolved.
A cold backed horse, to me, is one who will “sink” if the rider doesn’t sit lightly. But then no horse should be plunked on. And it’s amazing how many riders know no better.
I agree with the other descriptions, but having had a horse with kissing spines, if I hear “cold backed” it makes me think of him. And makes me wonder how many of those cold backed horses actually have ks or some other physical ailment that causes the behavior. So as a buyer, cold backed would for sure turn me off.
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Anything from a horse that’s slow to warm up, to one that “breaks in two” as soon as a rider is seated, to anything in between. Not sure I would still look at a horse described as “cold backed”. Too many out there that aren’t.
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I use the term for my mare, who has some soft tissue issues we are rehabbing, to explain why I warm her up from the ground before I ride.
When someone else uses the term, I generally think that at best the horse struggles to loosen up through its back; and at worst, bucks.
I am in the camp of someone who assumes the term comes from undiagnosed pain.
I interpret cold backed as used to describe a horse who exhibits defensive/guarded behaviour about their back. This can be as mild as dropping their back (sensitivity to brushing, tacking, mounting) or as severe as bucking.
I typically assume a pain issue unless I see very clearly the horse is managed in such a way to incite it (saddling roughly, sitting heavily, landing heavily after fences, staying in the saddle over fences would all be indicative of a horse that has every reason to get defensive).
To me, “cold-backed” is a frilly way to say the horse has major discomfort/lameness/pain issues in his back.
Most of the time when I hear it, I assume the horse has KS or some other form of discomfort. I don’t hear many very educated horse-people use it - usually it’s only people who have not done diagnostics on the horse and just shrug and say “Oh yeah, Dobbin’s just naturally cold backed!”.
Not to imply that anyone that uses it is ignorant, it is just not common here - if people have a horse with diagnosed back issues they usually say what the issue is, they don’t say “cold backed”.
So, when I hear it, I assume “undiagnosed back pain” and as a buyer, it would ward me off.
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I would not call a horse that bucks on the longe or at liberty cold backed. I’d just call them high spirited! I actually think a certain amount of bucking at liberty gets the kinks out and if they don’t get turnout they’ll do it on the longe.
I too would expect undiagnosed pain issues in a horse described as cold backed.
It would be worth talking to the owner and evaluating how honest or knowledgeable they are, and what they see the problem as. Ask what they’ve done for diagnoses already.
Also your own ability to put money, time, and your own neck (literally) on the line to diagnose and treat.
If you are a young trainer with a sticky seat getting a fabulous bargain on a horse that you otherwise couldn’t afford, you might want to take the risk.
If you are a one horse ammie looking for as close to perfect as possible, and you know your confidence and possibly body will be shattered if you end up with confirmed bucker that you can’t rehome, then keep looking!
