Any suggestions

[foxy]

I have a 4 year old which I bought him for myself but he has not grown big enough. Last May he had a really bad injury in the field and the prognosis was not good, he underwent laser treatment and I did lots of rehab with him and come November he was seen by the vet and rescanned and given the all clear. Due to a fall I had, I had to turn him away over winter. He is now with a trainer being started and they have said he can be spooky and difficult....this had started towards the end of his rehab. I initially thought it was because of the accident and the constant work so figured being turned away would help...it seems not. What would you do? I think my only options are to get the vet and do a full work up. My gut feeling is the injury he sustained means he will never be sound and is in some pain, hence the intermittent spooking.

 

[twiggy2]

I too would speak to the vet and go from there

 

[be positive]

A tricky one because you really do not know what he would have been like at this stage if the accident had not happened, he may well have been a bit spooky and difficult in some way, I think this would be a get the vet in for a basic check over with the injury given another scan just in case something is easily found but not go into all the diagnostics until you have done a bute trial, that may rule in pain, it is not definitive one way or the other but could be useful at this early stage in his training.

 

[foxy]

Thanks, that's what I am planning on doing now and see what happens

 

[SpringArising]

What was the injury? I agree with BP - what makes you think he's in pain rather than it's just his nature? There are a few things you could chalk up to being in pain but being spooky isn't one that would make me stop to think.

 

[foxy]

My other horse reared up and came down just above his hock damaging his tendon. Originally the prognosis was poor but to the surprise of the vets he became sound. Before his injury I had done groundwork with him and had a saddle on him and he was super chilled...like a dope on a rope. Now however he goes from dope on a rope to very reactional and shooting off sometimes there is a noise which sets him off something nothing at all

 

[be positive]

I am guessing you did the initial work at home and possibly during the summer months, he is now 6 months or so older, physically stronger and more mature, is in a new environment with new people dealing with him, which in itself can have implications, he may be getting less turnout and the weather recently has been enough to make even the quieter ones overreact to things.
It is not the ideal time of year to be starting a youngster I always preferred to have them come in when the weather was settled, they could be out most of the time to remove at least some of the outside influences that can make life more interesting, often the supposed quiet ones were the ones that proved sharper whereas the sharper ones often settled to a good routine and benefited from the varied work.