Cold Backed Cure!

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MagicMelon

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I mentioned a while ago on the odd post about joint supplements that I thought my boys cold back had vanished after being on NAF Superflex.

Just thought Id encourage people with a cold backed horse to at least try it! I KNOW not all supplements work on all horses by any means. But jeez, the difference in my horse is amazing. He's always been "cold backed" in that 80% of the time when I got on he would arch his back up and dance about for about 30 seconds before being fine (but in these 30 seconds he had actually panicked and bronc'd me off twice). He would tend to be worse on cold winter days and also if I hadnt ridden for a few days. Well Ive been riding him on and off for about a month and a half now and no cold back! Its VERY VERY strange. I thought he was getting better after about 2 months of being on this stuff over the summer then I gave him a short holiday until I began riding again.

Im not quite sure how this stuff could work on his back, but my vet said it could possibly have helped with the cartilidge in between his spine if there was a problem (I had had his back checked several times to no avail).

Anyway, it seems to have cured my boy after 4 years of putting up with it!
 
fantastic you must be so pleased well done ,my mare kept getting colic when in season we put her on regumate whic cured her but we now find that pink powder everyday stops it too ,as you say one thing works for one and not another so always worth a try .
 
Yes, I am very pleased. As you can imagine, I started to not want to get on him simply because I hated that feeling he gave and the fact he'd had me off in a big way twice! Am so pleased as apart from this one thing, the horse is perfect so now he really is
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Ive had my athritic pony on it too and thought I saw a difference, but since she's retired its hard to tell! But I took her for a little walk today down the road and lets just say she decided to take off up the road with me in tow! Luckily I managed to stop her JUST. So think its working rather TOO well on her!
 
I have exactly the same problem with my mare i have had her for a year and have worked through lots of issues with her.
I still have a problem with getting on her, its, like you said, the initial 30 seconds, if she panics and reacts, shes off and so am i, if she doesnt, i can relax and know we'll be ok for the rest of the ride.
shes such a gentle horse with no malice but totally unpredictable when mounting her. she always tenses up, arches her back brings her head high but sometimes she'll react and other times she wont. she like to move as soon as youre on her and panics if you dont push her on straight away.
i dont want to get to the point where i'm scared to get on her incase she gets me off before we even start!
did you do any other work as well as giving the supplement?
 
i know this is a very old post but hopefully you'll still have the same email.
if not, any other input from other people on this forum would also be appreciated
 
Yep, old post! Nope, I didnt do any other work with the horse - in fact he had 3 months off over the winter that year (which I did every year) whilst on the Superflex and when he came back into work, he seemed to be cured. It was very odd, but I wasnt about to complain. He was great thereafter and the cold back never came back. This same horse sadly did his tendon last March and is now a right-off, although I did get back on him for the first time since then a week ago (purely to walk about very gently because he's so terribly bored) and I wondered if he might explode when I got on, but nope he was perfect, as if I'd never stopped riding him!

Sorry to hear you're having problems, its a horrible feeling not knowing if they'll explode or not. All I'd advise is always using a sheepskin saddlecloth (with the sheepskin against his skin), as he was always a lot worse with any other type (like plain cotton etc.). Have you tried lungeing yours before you ride? I know that can help with some cold backed horses although never really worked with mine.
 
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Just something to consider my mare was cold backed but after a few minuets would relax and work fine she went lame about a week ago so went to the vets as well as having other checks we xrayed her back and she had kissing spine right under where the saddle went. Up until this point the mare was in hard work having a lesson once a week and competing . I now feel quite guilty if I had a horse showing cold back symptoms again I would get it
Xrayed I had the physio and chiropractor out around every 4 months they picked nothing up .
 
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