Cold backed?

[paddi22]

Its impossible to know whether a horse has pain or not... even if all the tests come back as pain free it doesnt mean there is no pain... ask someone with fibromyalgia... all the objective blood tests/ xrays /scans come back normal but the pain is very real.

thats a brilliant example. same with the SI and sciata human pain threads here recently. that's agony for people and not always visible. but people seem to definitively state their horses as definitely it not having just because a vet did a flexion test.

we get a lot of horses described as cold backed into the charity. they get saddle fitters, physios, vets etc.. because it's a charity the vets hospital takes them in for free as study subjects and they ALL have come back with reasons for reacting to the idea of being ridden, every single one of them.

 

[Tihamandturkey]

thats a brilliant example. same with the SI and sciata human pain threads here recently. that's agony for people and not always visible. but people seem to definitively state their horses as definitely not having just because a vet did a flexion test.

we get a lot of horses described as cold backed into the charity. they get saddle fitters, physios, vets etc.. because it's a charity the vets hospital takes them in for free as study subjects and they ALL have come back with reasons for reacting to the idea of being ridden, every single one of them.

And to think that people still persist in believing that cold backed is a "thing" horrfying ?

 

[hock]

You are wrong.

Hopefully

 

[InklePickle]

there's always something. it's a reaction to something, somewhere in the body. it could be a fascia thing, a muscle thing, a nerve thing. but horses don't manifest a reaction for no reason. we get a good few ones in described as cold backed, there has always been something when explored deep enough. it mightn't be kissing spine or sever pain, but there is something that causes them to react.

She sees a physio monthly and a craniosacral therapist every other month as she did have an injury that now healed but non related to her cold backed Ness, the physio is a vetinary physio, my vet has seen her multiple times for other things and she has been scanned/x-rayed for kissing spines. I do everything I can to help her. Tacking up 30 minutes before work and always only having sheepskin on has helped immensely. She has her saddle checked quarterly as I'm lucky enough to have a saddle fitter on my yard. We swapped her out of a synthetic saddle into a leather saddle and that has helped. I really think something went wrong at the backing stage which has caused her sensitivity. When she is in full work she is perfect but with any time off the first few times back on she is hyper sensitive. She has a low sugar low calorie diet too

 

[RHM]

My horse is/was cold backed when I got her. She had historical muscular damage on her back from a badly fitting saddle. I have had her just under a year and she is fine now. Treated the source of pain and are very careful with saddle fit and you would never know she ever reacted like that. I would agree that there is nearly always a source of pain but I wouldn’t rule one out because of it.

 

[sbloom]

She sees a physio monthly and a craniosacral therapist every other month as she did have an injury that now healed but non related to her cold backed Ness, the physio is a vetinary physio, my vet has seen her multiple times for other things and she has been scanned/x-rayed for kissing spines. I do everything I can to help her. Tacking up 30 minutes before work and always only having sheepskin on has helped immensely. She has her saddle checked quarterly as I'm lucky enough to have a saddle fitter on my yard. We swapped her out of a synthetic saddle into a leather saddle and that has helped. I really think something went wrong at the backing stage which has caused her sensitivity. When she is in full work she is perfect but with any time off the first few times back on she is hyper sensitive. She has a low sugar low calorie diet too

Nobody is saying you're wrong meaning you're necessarily ignoring something, just that we are still so far from understanding horses in all ways, or ourselves for that matter, that there is likely to still be something very subtle that remains that is causing the issue. You are doing a TON of stuff to help her, it's just that one day, in her lifetime, or even beyond your lifetime, there'll be something found that would be the cause of her issues.

 

[sbloom]

I will also say that saddle fitting, being more an art than a science, though based in scientific principles, that any box ticking exercise saying it's definitely not saddle, is nonsense. I can only ever say to my customers I can't see anything in the saddle fit that is causing the problem, but ultimately until you try other options you can't be sure. If the problem doesn't show in another saddle, even if that saddle doesn't fit, then it's at least in part saddle.

 

[laura_nash]

She sees a physio monthly and a craniosacral therapist every other month as she did have an injury that now healed but non related to her cold backed Ness, the physio is a vetinary physio, my vet has seen her multiple times for other things and she has been scanned/x-rayed for kissing spines. I do everything I can to help her. Tacking up 30 minutes before work and always only having sheepskin on has helped immensely. She has her saddle checked quarterly as I'm lucky enough to have a saddle fitter on my yard. We swapped her out of a synthetic saddle into a leather saddle and that has helped. I really think something went wrong at the backing stage which has caused her sensitivity. When she is in full work she is perfect but with any time off the first few times back on she is hyper sensitive. She has a low sugar low calorie diet too

I have known one "cold backed" horse that seemed to be a form of equine PTSD from a brutal (and nearly fatal) backing attempt. I wouldn't describe that as no cause or sensitive, mental health is health too. She needed a very gradual tacking up and thick pad similar to your description.

 

[Fluffypiglet]

Mine passed a 5 stage vetting and then when I got him home he was 'cold backed' according to my YO at the time and she advised I could probably send him back to sales livery I got him from. However, he was young and very lean with little muscle and he only raised his back for several strides when I first got on so I stuck with him. 5 years on in a well fitted saddle and a decent amount of covering (muscle but also some extra spring grass padding at the moment!) he's absolutely fine and raises his back very very rarely. The last time he did it was when I put a new saddle cloth under that didn't have the soft Bamboo lining he's used to. Apparently plain cotton lining is very uncomfortable ?. Prior to my recent purchase I can't remember the last time he did his camel impression.

It is a gamble to buy a cold backed horse (or any horse for that matter!) and depends on how big a reaction you are getting and whether there are likely reasons for it. It could be something major, it might not be ?

 

[Sossigpoker]

I have known one "cold backed" horse that seemed to be a form of equine PTSD from a brutal (and nearly fatal) backing attempt. I wouldn't describe that as no cause or sensitive, mental health is health too. She needed a very gradual tacking up and thick pad similar to your description.

My cob was a bit like that , acted a bit cold backed but this seemed to be anxiety based rather than pain. I think he was suspected to some pretty ignorant "breaking " in Ireland.
He is fine now but I still treat him as if he had a problem- tack up slowly , good padding , walk him around and do the girth slowly etc. He no longer reacts like he used to.

 

[SEL]

Looking at a horse but before committing to a 3hr drive I want some opinions. Can be slightly cold backed on occasion. Passed 5 stage vetting.

what do you think?- seller said this can be fixed after regular/ consistent work and routine?

I would say depends on what you want the horse for and the price - weigh up the risk.

Any known accidents or injuries? One of the worst I ever rode was an ex eventer who had a rotational fall. He'd retired from jumping but had a 9 stone weight limit and if you didn't mount like a feather would bronc. My PSSM mare needs to walk off the minute you get on - no faffing with girth or stirrups for a minute or so until she relaxes. Both horses are manageable from that perspective, but both with underlying conditions that I certainly wouldn't be paying a lot of money for.

 

[sportsmansB]

mine is a bit cold backed. He has kissing spines.
He has a fully shepskin lined saddle cloth and is always lunged or walked in tack for 5 mins or so before mounting and shows no signs then.
If you put another saddle & saddle cloth combo on him and just jumped on he would be a bit cold backed

 

[MagicMelon]

Hard to know really. Can you see a video of it happening first? I bought a cold backed horse, he exploded and chucked me off as soon as I got on about 8 times in the first 3 months but eventually he got better (I learnt to put saddle on early, use wool saddlecloths, lunge first etc.) and one year after a winter off, he came back no longer cold backed, really strange. That horse was the best competition horse Ive ever had so Im glad I bought him of course.

 

[onemoretime]

Perhaps I didn't word it carefully enough, I meant there doesn't have to be the weight of the rider added to the saddle for the horse to start objecting.

Yes I agree with this. The drugged up horse I bought in Scotland started to move away when approached with the saddle once the drugged up feed that I had been given was finished. I only fed 4 bags of the 6, had the other 2 tested!!

 

[MissMay]

Or even just having the saddle put on/girthed up

This.

my mare was described as moody as she hated being girthed up.
Eventually (years of being called moody and never being picked up in any vettingor farrier) it was connected to ligament damage in her front leg that she was compensating through her back.

 

[Tiddlypom]

And to think that people still persist in believing that cold backed is a "thing" horrfying ?

I do think that whilst in many cases there is an underlying physical issue, in some cases it really is a thing.

It's finding out which is which that is the problem.

The late chestnut git was cold backed. As long as I sat very quietly for the first few minutes, he would then settle down fine. A vet described him as 'the soundest horse I've seen in a year'. Admittedly he'd fire me into orbit once annually, but that was at least partly down to his warped sense of humour. The other 364 days he didn't dump me . Stoical he wasn't.

I owned him for 24 of his 25 years, and he was still sound as a pound to the end.

 

[Sareylou1990]

Looking at a horse but before committing to a 3hr drive I want some opinions. Can be slightly cold backed on occasion. Passed 5 stage vetting.

what do you think?- seller said this can be fixed after regular/ consistent work and routine?

Looking at a horse but before committing to a 3hr drive I want some opinions. Can be slightly cold backed on occasion. Passed 5 stage vetting.

what do you think?- seller said this can be fixed after regular/ consistent work and routine?

Do you have the option of a trial?

I have 2 horses - both would have been described as "cold backed". Both are prone to ulcers.

Mine no longer show any "cold backed" BUT, both have been vetted, continuously treated for ulcers and do stretching exercises which has also made a difference. They are both big horses and stiff so require a good warm up.

They are both sensitive to the girth being done up too quickly so doing this gradually has helped.they so get a little bit of feed before work to settle any stomach acid.

Atleast I think this all works! Maybe I am overly cautious but have not had any "cold backnessness" in months

I got the 2nd knowing she was "cold backed" and don't regret it. My advice though would be they don't this just because they want to. There will be an underlying reason, just got to figure it out!