Competing a horse with hock spavin, am I doing too much?

[Pidge]

Ok so as some of you may be aware Pidge has hock spavin in his off hind which "touch wood" has been successfully treated. I've competed most weekends over the summer and his fitness has improved tremendously

We romped round Eland Lodge 2'-2'4" XC course 29 seconds under the time

at their unaffiliated ODE so there seems no problems with how he feels or goes

So I'm now looking at doing the dressage and SJ throughout the winter at Rodbaston as its on site, and am looking at doing the 2'6" and possibly the 2'9" SJ, will this be too much for Pidge to cope with? All SJ is on a surface and we've been practicising at 3' and above.
Thoughts and advice as always much appreciated

 

[carthorse]

Only you and your vet can make the decision but I am glad things are going so well.

 

[clockwork]

The boy was diagnosed with a spavin in Jan 2006 and between then and his (heartbreaking) sale in August 2008 we did MK3DE 3 times, intro BE, regular hunting, SJ & unaff ODE, XC etc up to 3.3ft and he was ridden (and worked) pretty much everyday. His hock never gave him a moments trouble since the steriod jab and the vet was always pleased with his levelness/soundness.

Saying that, I was always "listening" to him and if I asked for anything that required to much for his hock I'd take it down a level (certainly this happened in our flat work when we moved up a notch on lateral work).

Good luck with everything you have planned over the winter.

 

[Pidge]

thanks, vet has pronounced him 100% sound and is happy with his progress to date. Just wondered how much extra strain is put on his hock by jumping bigger?

 

[Pidge]

Oh sorry you had to sell him

but thanks ever so much for posting this as I am always paying very close attention to how he is feeling and am so careful with the ground conditions now.
Thanks I think I will try the SJ and see how we go