Banana horse

[Clodagh]

My 9 year old ISH has started going along like a banana when on hacks. He isn't well schooled (It is being worked on) but does move well away from the leg. He bends to the left and if you really ask him to straighten out he has a hissy fit and usually ends up very stroppy and cantering sideways. There is sually something else to trigger the cantering, another horse going in front when he wants to or a scary pigeon, it is when he is being held back, a half halt or similar.
Could this be pain related? He had his back done recently and the vet has seen him trotted up while on the yard but we haven't looked into it properly. His saddle has been recently fitted and his teeth done. I have owned him about 3 months and he was very poor when I got him.

 

[Birker2020]

My 9 year old ISH has started going along like a banana when on hacks. He isn't well schooled (It is being worked on) but does move well away from the leg. He bends to the left and if you really ask him to straighten out he has a hissy fit and usually ends up very stroppy and cantering sideways. There is sually something else to trigger the cantering, another horse going in front when he wants to or a scary pigeon, it is when he is being held back, a half halt or similar.
Could this be pain related? He had his back done recently and the vet has seen him trotted up while on the yard but we haven't looked into it properly. His saddle has been recently fitted and his teeth done. I have owned him about 3 months and he was very poor when I got him.

I would consult a decent recommended physio who is prepared to work along side you and implement an exercise routine that will take into effect any problems they find when they come out to do an assessment of your horse.

You say he has a 'hissy fit'. He is probably acting like this for a reason, either because it hurts him to straighten up or he has muscle wastage on one side which makes it very difficult to work well on the side you are trying to straighten up. In my experience horses do not misbehave over numerous periods of time without there being a physical reason. Yes, horses will buck through sheer joy on ocassion or they may get strong from time to time if excited but when it becomes a daily routine for them, that is the time you know there is a problem.

It sounds like there is a reason for your horse behaving in such a way and this really does need looking at before the situation deteriorates or your horse starts using himself in a different way to over compensate for the areas that are hurting him.

As an example i rode my horse on sunday in a borrowed saddle. He went lovely in it until I started to canter him, and he suddenly wouldn't go forward into the contact, and started swishing his tail and keeping himself all coiled up. I got off him straight away and put him away.

Later that day I rode him again in his normal saddle and he was fine. It didn't take a genius to work out the borrowed saddle didn't fit him properly. Had I have kept going he would have started to display other signs, although being the stoic good natured horse that he is, he would have probably toiled away for weeks before coming in such pain he would have dumped me on the ground. There will always become a time when a horse will stop whispering, start shouting and eventually start screaming for us to listen to it. Best to get things sorted whilst they are still at whispering stage I think

 

[benson21]

benson used to 'slip his pelvis' occasionally, and the first sign of this happening was walking in a banana shape. osteopath always came and sorted it, so not a great hassle.

 

[Clodagh]

Thank you both. He is weak behind the saddle - possibly an old sacro iliac injury? - but looking better as time goes by.
I do think you are right Applecart as he isn't normally a bad tempered or difficult horse. The only point that it is temper is that if allowed to go in front and to walk on on a loose rein he doesn't do it, but perhaps it is the whole collection thing that is an issue.
Who knows, ho hum horses! Will get the vet to recommend someone I think.