A little unlevel at the beginning when lunged

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Grace is not lame on a straight and is working really well in the school and in her competitions, but sometimes when I put her on the lunge the first few circles are a bit laboured and she starts nodding her head and looking a bit lame.

When I get her moving more, she is completely sound and works very nicely.

Could it just be that she looks unlevel because she is laboured and not working forwards? Or is this something I should get the vet up to have a look at (her back etc have all been checked recently). She has been flexioned, trotted up etc etc and all is normal
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Any advice would be very welcome.
 
I have noticed it before, but after 2-3 circles it completely disappeared. The vet has been up and flexioned, trotted her up etc etc in between with nothing showing at all other than an abscess.
 
Forgot to add, I have regular lessons with a BD trainer and they have not spotted anything. In fact, they have said Grace is working better than ever.

I have also competed at the Areas and under four judges (two for each class) again nothing was brought up.
 
Yes... everything is fine. I have it checked every three months and it has recently been done and given a clear bill of health.

Our arena surface is wood chip so can be a bit slippery under foot... could this make her unwilling to go forwards and therefore look a little unlevel?

Or am I clutching at straws
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Hmm, well that was my idea out the window!

Our pony goes lame sometimes on our woodchip surface when he has thrush, but like you say its unlikely?

Could she be slightly jarred up from the hard ground?
Have you tried her lunging her on concrete?

Its all a bit tricky really isnt it; I dont really know what Im talking about, but if it was my horse Id probablly just wait and see for a while to see if anything changes...
 
I think that is probably what I will do, and if someone needs the vet out in the next few weeks then I might jump on the call out and see what happens. The head vet is away for 2 weeks, and I would prefer him to see her. The other option is I could take her down to the vets and see what they think???
 
hey, sorry to say but i know a young horse who was similar to oyurs-a bit unlevel and unwilling to go forwards - her BD trainer and judges didnt notice, she was winning everytime out etc, her vet didnt even see a problem at first untill her physio really pushed the issue

.....a few weeks later and a scan on both hinds it turns out he has high suspensary desmitis. seems alot of it around at the moment, fingers firmly crossed its not but the sooner its found and treated the better-i hope it is not and is probably not but thought i need to put my experience in.

xx
 
I think that sounds like a good plan; the problem with option B is that it will get very expensive very quickly & if the head vet isnt there, it may just be a waste of time anyway.....

Best of luck & keep us updated xx
 
Oh, there is no problems going forwards at all...

It was just tonight I dragged her in from the field and she was a bit tired as it was so warm here today, and took her straight in the school because there were lessons all night. Forwards is definitely not a problem with Grace, it is quite the opposite
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But these are the kind of experiences I would like to hear about so I can assess what to do next.
 
Thanks... honestly, I need cases like that to look at what it could not be (if you know what I mean). I do think I'll try to have a vet look if it continues, but because he dressage work has been so fantastic lately, I am a bit dubious of starting to poke around
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How old is he? My 16yro has arthritis in his neck which causes his legs to get dodgey nerve signals occaisionally which can make him nod for short periods. This goes as soon as he is flexing slightly and taking up a contact.

The good news if your horse has something like this is that schooling and dressage are like physio - by building up his topline and general fitness, the muscles support the bones and he should be sound and painfree.

If this is likely to be an option- don't panic, the best treatment is schooling and glucosamine.
 
Could it be the school? My pony always throws a few unlevel steps by the gate where it's a getting a bit hard and worn (need a new surface top up soon!). As soon as I move him away from the gate to a better surface he's fine. It's also only when he's being lunged, he doesn't do it when he's being ridden, obviously the hard ground on a circle makes him more uncomfortable as he's getting on a bit.
 
It is definitely something to do with our surface I think... it is woodchip so it tends to give when they start leaning in. I rode her this morning (lunged her again last night with someone watching and they just said she looked to hold herself a bit which concurs with the surface) and she was absolutely fantastic to ride.

Then, all of a sudden, she tripped as she came out of the school and went dog lame... I'm going to put a new post about it actually
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