Canter explosions and other stories

[ester]

Do not under any circumstances list this horse as a companion. He would be a prime candidate for the dodgy dealer circuit. I'd see if I could find a pro who is good at feeling what is going on underneath them and on the back of that either vet or schooling.

 

[paddy555]

a companion would be a poor idea unless of course you knew the people and they would really keep him.
The replies come split down the middle. There seems to be a definite choice of he's fine, turn him out and get an experienced rider or he more than likely has KS or similar.
Sadly no one can guess which.

Can you go back to when you went to see him and tried him. What exactly happened, what sort of living regime did he come from and can you find out from the passport etc who had him before the dealer. How long the dealer had him. How did you try him, what did you do. Try and piece all the background info together to see if there are any clues. Is there any research on the dealer, dodgy dealers etc and other people's experiences to try and see if this is the likely problem.

Have you done a bute trial? I would possibly try giving him a very good dose of bute. , let him settle on it and then work him (not ridden) and see if there is any difference. It may bring the answer down on one side or the other and give some idea where to go. It may also suggest that the horse was drugged when you tried him and that was why he was so nice. A couple of days max and there should be a difference.

I would also trial him out 24/7 and again do the stuff on the ground to see if he is calmer.
Those are both safe things that you can do and may give more info.

Have you watched your YO ride him? how easy does it look or does it look like they are really having to work at it. What would happen if your YO or experienced yard rider took him over for a week's full livery and rode him daily?

I would be looking to follow Red's advice to start with.

I am trying to work around the situation without costing you too much before having to move onto spine xrays etc.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

A bute trail might be a good place to start. Do be aware though that some physical conditions are not eased by bute.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

Lots of brilliant advice as usual from other posters, if its physical i hope you get to the bottom of it.

Just wanted to tell you a bit about my exracer. Had him 4 years now, love him to bits and I've done stuff this year that I havnt had the confto do in years but......his canter transition was scary. He would shoot forward then bounce around as soon I asked for canter. Didn't do it on the lunge tho. I've competed up to elementary dressage so I'm not a total novice but him doing this was very scary. I got so frustrated with myself one day, as I was just completely avoiding canter, that I asked for canter on the buckle end. No problem at all!! I carried on with the long rein theme for a while, we had the occasional scoot but nothing terrible. That told me it was all down to my riding!! We now have the very odd few and far between scoot. We have come on leaps and bounds and I wouldn't change him for the world. There is always a reason, be it physical, mental, rider ( usually) . Good luck with him, good job he gas landed with you.

 

[tristar]

before going down the vet route i would turn out 24 7 in a decent warm rug, not on rich grazing, NO hard feed, a little hay if needed, but not enough to rise him

i would give him 2 weeks of this to see if he comes down, then test, starting with several days lunging to see him let off steam and work out any frustration from his previous lifestyle, then reassess.

i have one who last week jumped about in canter, only because his work load was lighter and the autumn grass is lively, after a couple of days he was fine

young tbs are generally explosive especially as they want to canter, gallop, its what they are bred to do! and sometimes will settle when they are allowed to go on, and he could well have frightened himself into a state

trying the obvious first might , i hope, save a lot of money, or might not, but as its a tb would be well worth trying

 

[New2this]

a companion would be a poor idea unless of course you knew the people and they would really keep him.
The replies come split down the middle. There seems to be a definite choice of he's fine, turn him out and get an experienced rider or he more than likely has KS or similar.
Sadly no one can guess which.

Can you go back to when you went to see him and tried him. What exactly happened, what sort of living regime did he come from and can you find out from the passport etc who had him before the dealer. How long the dealer had him. How did you try him, what did you do. Try and piece all the background info together to see if there are any clues. Is there any research on the dealer, dodgy dealers etc and other people's experiences to try and see if this is the likely problem.

Have you done a bute trial? I would possibly try giving him a very good dose of bute. , let him settle on it and then work him (not ridden) and see if there is any difference. It may bring the answer down on one side or the other and give some idea where to go. It may also suggest that the horse was drugged when you tried him and that was why he was so nice. A couple of days max and there should be a difference.

I would also trial him out 24/7 and again do the stuff on the ground to see if he is calmer.
Those are both safe things that you can do and may give more info.

Have you watched your YO ride him? how easy does it look or does it look like they are really having to work at it. What would happen if your YO or experienced yard rider took him over for a week's full livery and rode him daily?

I would be looking to follow Red's advice to start with.

I am trying to work around the situation without costing you too much before having to move onto spine xrays etc.

Again this is all good stuff. Thx! Don’t want to say too much about his last “home”. I ll pm you (when I can get the energy - all of this is v dispiriting).

 

[Flicker]

It is hugely dispiriting and you have my every sympathy. Just remember, you don’t have to do anything today. Give yourself some time to take a step back, take a deep breath, reflect on where you are now, where you want to be and what options are available to you. When something goes wrong with our horses we are tempted to just blindly fling every resource at the problem in the hopes that SOMETHING will fix it. This may be the start of a long road so prepare yourself for the journey.
And, if like Scarlet o’Hara you just need to think about it tomorrow then put it off until then and do something today that you enjoy.

 

[paddy555]

It is hugely dispiriting and you have my every sympathy. Just remember, you don’t have to do anything today. Give yourself some time to take a step back, take a deep breath, reflect on where you are now, where you want to be and what options are available to you. When something goes wrong with our horses we are tempted to just blindly fling every resource at the problem in the hopes that SOMETHING will fix it. This may be the start of a long road so prepare yourself for the journey.
And, if like Scarlet o’Hara you just need to think about it tomorrow then put it off until then and do something today that you enjoy.

very much this. You don't have to put anything you don't want to on here. Just take note of the various ideas, add them to your list and work to develop a plan of action. The problem won't be solved today, tomorrow, this week or even next week. It takes time to work out the best way forward for both you and your horse.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

Looking back I made some very stupid mistakes. I was so excited to buy my first ever horse. A dream I ve had since I was 7. I should have slowed down. I knew the market was hot, but I shouldn’t have bought so quickly.

I am reading all replies. And thinking thinking. What do people think of listing him as a companion? With everything declared? He has a genuinely lovely temperament. I don’t mind losing nearly all my money on him.... but don’t want him falling into wrong hands. I owe him that much.

Sadly the only way to ensure that he doesn't fallinto the wrong hands is totake full responsibility for him yourself. When you have had a full work-up from the vet and found out what the problem actually is, if it's not fixable, or too expensive to fix, you have 2 options imo.
1) loan him as a field sound companion, if he is field sound, bearing in mind that not many people want a huge companion
2) pts, which will guarantee him a painfree future.

 

[Sossigpoker]

Looking back I made some very stupid mistakes. I was so excited to buy my first ever horse. A dream I ve had since I was 7. I should have slowed down. I knew the market was hot, but I shouldn’t have bought so quickly.

I am reading all replies. And thinking thinking. What do people think of listing him as a companion? With everything declared? He has a genuinely lovely temperament. I don’t mind losing nearly all my money on him.... but don’t want him falling into wrong hands. I owe him that much.

That's understandable and you've learned the hard way just how dishonest horsey people on the whole are. Most of them would put your granny on a killer if they made a few quid out of it.
If you sell him on ,.he will just be drugged and sold on again as a riding horse
If it is financially viable , i would work with your vet to see if he can be treated and rehabbed. And if not again if financially viable,.consider keeping him as a non-ridden horse for yourself. Not ridden doesn't mean worthless. You can still enjoy a relationship with him , although I appreciate most people buy a horse to ride it.

 

[Sossigpoker]

And I agree with above: only way to guarantee a horse's future is to either keep it or have it PTS . There are fates far worse than a peaceful death for sick or complicated horses.

 

[Scarlett]

Sending him out into the world as a 'companion' risks him ending up in the wrong hands and someone else being in your shoes with him in the future. He's your responsibility. You either continue to find the issue, or PTS.

I bought young tbs when I probably shouldn't have. It was a learning curve, certainly, but ultimately I got good help and learned what I could, and it all worked out eventually. That's not to say there wasn't tears spilt and cash spent, but now exracers are my favourite thing in the world and I have 3. However I know just how easy it is to get in trouble with these horses.

Imo you need to get him scoped first if all, and move to a yard with more turnout. EVERY tb I've had has, at some point, had gut issues - ulcers or hindgut - so much so that when I got a 5yo exracer last year I just did a course of ulcer meds from Abler as soon as I could.

That little turnout is not, imo, enough for a young tb. Get him out in a field where he can graze, move freely and has companions. My own 6yo exracer is a big, athletic boy and being stood in that much would turn him into a real handful under saddle. They need to move their legs!

Hard feed is important, for gut health and energy levels. I've got in deep trouble before by feeding the wrong thing. Some feeds can turn even the loveliest horses into unrideable nutters. Do you know what he's fed?

Remember too that, whilst the people at your yard might be able to ride your horse he's not their horse. They need to work with you to make him your horse, and suitable for you. Their routine, their decisions, might work if he was theirs, but it's not working for you and him.

Where are you based? Someone might be able to recommend someone who could help?

 

[TPO]

Agree with almost everything posted so far re second opinion/full work up, cutting hard feed and finding somewhere to keep him with more turnout and treating like an ulcer horse.

Do you have any photos of him standing square on level ground side on, front and behind?

Also photos of his hooves at ground level front, side and back as well as sole shots?

What size is the arena and what surface is it? How do you feel walking across it on foot; is it deep and hard work to walk through, hard hard dead underfoot, variable or slippy?

The dropped fetlock thing, if it is a thing, might be affected by current shoeing and/or surface.

How long was horse lame for, how long was he off work for, was he box rested and how did an introduction back to turnout and work go?

 

[canteron]

Not much use but my sympathies.
I had similar situation - in the end horse went to training yard and was great. Stayed there for 4 months due to Covid and didn’t put foot wrong, sold to local girl as by that time I knew I wouldn’t ride him again.
It was an expensive way (sale price only just covered the training) but I do have a completely clear conscience and love having updates of her jumping / riding bareback etc!!
It was a mixture of not enough consistent riding, my fear, and a pretty useless person helping!!

 

[ycbm]

last year I just did a course of ulcer meds from Abler

This isn't something you want to be declaring on a forum if you are in the UK, it isn't legal to import those drugs from Abler.
.

 

[Tarragon]

Not much use but my sympathies.
I had similar situation - in the end horse went to training yard and was great. Stayed there for 4 months due to Covid and didn’t put foot wrong, sold to local girl as by that time I knew I wouldn’t ride him again.
It was an expensive way (sale price only just covered the training) but I do have a completely clear conscience and love having updates of her jumping / riding bareback etc!!
It was a mixture of not enough consistent riding, my fear, and a pretty useless person helping!!

It was lovely that you did this for the horse, you have ensured his future in the best possible way.

 

[Rowreach]

Has the OP come back to say where they are based? I might have missed it. There are at least two of us who are geographically possibly able to help or at least advise about places to go.