Advice/ideas please :)

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jenningtons

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Hello I recently decided to put my horse back in to work in the menage after his legs started to pick up (he has arthritis in both back hocks). I understand because he's been out of work apart from occasionally hacking he will be a bit rusty and i have started working on getting him in more of an outline which he has improved with but he seems to have trouble bending and holding himself up especially with his head. I know he will need to build his muscles up but from having ridden him in the past he has always been quite difficult to maintain good head carriage. He also seems to be worse in walk that trot he can be quite lazy and tends to trip over his own feet. Any advice or any schooling exercises i can try?? Thank you :)
 
You can do a lot of your schooling whilst hacking, where hopefully he'll be generally more forward.

If he's tripping over his feet it means your not riding him from behind and 'up' in to the bit. All of this he might now find more difficult because of the arthritis and as a result the school surface.
 
Okay thank you :) He is generally worse on hacks than in the school. He seems lazier and constantly tries to put his brakes on or nap slightly which is hard for me as he does require a lot of leg in general.
 
He is on 2 danillon a day, everyday :) and his feet were trimmed not so long ago by the farrier and they are done regularly i think his tripping is him being generally quite lazy from what i can gather :)
 
Does he trip a lot out hacking in field etc?
Can be a sign of issues.
He could be finding it difficult and painful if he is stiff any way.

He needs to be encouraged to move forward from behind and hold himself, regularly do give and retake of the reins yo stop leaning.
 
Hi ,he seems perfectly fine out in the field and on the ground it is usually just when ridden and seems to be more when he hacks. He doesnt seem to have any discomfort or pain in his legs now he is on his medication and the vet said if anything he's improving a lot on his legs and steps under well with them :) I will try that with my reins thanks he really leans on my hands and i hold a lot of his head weight at the moment as he doesnt have the muscle to hold himself yet but when i give him more rein he just lowers his head more
 
He has being doing it for a while since he has been hacking and now that he is being schooled. My friends have advised its him being lazy and not picking up his feet. He doesnt have any problems with his front legs its just his back ones. He is slightly pigeon toed on his front though but he has never had problems with this :)
 
I would have thought that it is obvious that the horse is still in some pain. Unless your friend is a vet (or even if she is), I would ignore her theories and concentrate on getting the horse well again, if that is possible. Usually horses which trip through laziness do so on the front feet.
I have had good results with magnetic boots in similar circumstances. I would stick to hacking until the horse's muscles develop enough for him to carry himself.
 
When my mare was pulling the reins out of my hands and putting her head to the floor when ridden and tripping I got the vet and he felt her all over found some sore spots and then she had ultra sound. It may be your horse is trying to stretch his back muscles perhaps they ache, tripping can be because they have a muscle problem and cant lift their legs high enough or long toes or saddle fit,good luck finding out what is causing it all.
 
Has your horse seen the physio at all? My arthritic gelding improved lots after a couple of sessions - the pain in his hocks had led to tension in his neck and pectorals.
 
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