Anyone elses big horses?

PurplePickle

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Have trouble getting down to roll?

my 17.2 always has a bit of a groan, but hes been on box rest an awful long time and lost muscle, I leave him out as much as possible but today when I watched him go for a roll his legs were shaking, and it took him 3 attempts to get down, with a big groan he did it. Hes also been on bute for 2 months and now isnt so maybe that masked something.

Any thoughts?
 
How long was he on box rest?
did he lie down when he was in? Big horses are less likely to lie down when they're stabled - we have one who never lies down - he goes out specifically to roll and rest his legs - he lies down and grazes
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I expect he's just lost strength in his muscles with being on box rest and out of work - when he's fitter and stronger, he'll be fine again!

He's probably out of practice rolling if he's been in for some time too

He'll be fine!
 
thanks, your probably right, he had been in for 8 weeks with some turnout at the eod of that. hes been out every day now for 3 weeks but was still on bute so i suppose it was a bit of a shock to see him struggle so much
 
i'd imagine its more to do with the box rest than his size.

my 17.1hh gets up and down to roll very easily.

i did once have a 16.3hh gelding who got down very gingerly and his back legs would shake- i put it down to his roach back as he was fine to ride.
 
Nit usually, Ron trots along and flings himself at the floor and gets up again and that's what constitutes a roll...

Tom on the other hand walks in ever smaller circles like a dog going to lie down, stops, digs a hole, walks a few more circles and then puts all 4 feet on one spot and lowers himself to the point of no return. He then spends a good 5 minutes making sure every inch is covered in a 3inch thick layer of mud. including under his chin, between his ears and under his rug!
 
Having watched the entire field roll at one point or another today whilst I was on a poo picking marathon I wouldn't let it concern you to much!!
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They all did different things - my boy (he is grey!
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) had a good dig around first before going down - had a false start so I can only assume there wasn't enough mud
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....my cob just flung herself down (on two seperate occasions!
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) and made funny noises whilst rolling, one of the others had a couple of false starts before going down and then stopped halfway through - not sure if it was a quick kip!
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One of them was mid roll when the others went for a hoon up the field and he was the funniest as he stopped rolling to watch them before deciding rolling was important - he did join the hoon when he was finished!!
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lol thanks all, I guess it was just seeing such a big difference in his normal roll than this, but tonight he cantered up out of the field like nothing else. Might get him a massage session all the same lol
 
"Big horses are less likely to lie down when they're stabled - we have one who never lies down"

Sorry never heard of that, Cappy had a friend at our last yard, who was same size as him and he loved to roll. Cappy even has a huge, 19x16 stable because of his love of rolling. So I think it must be the box rest, Cappy is 17-2/3hh, 14 yo and gets up and down very easily. He also loves to lay down and is often to be found fast asleep in the stable.
 
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