dexnem
Active Member
The vet is coming on Thursday before any one asks!
Okay, so from the start.
I loaned a pony from August 2011 - he would have been about 4 at this point. I brought him into work slowly can came into our own in the third year - very fit pony, jumping huge and galloping forever. I went to university and gave up the loan in 2014. He was then loaned to an older lady so was ridden a few times a week. I rode him a little over summer but was never fit. I then bought him in February and my very novice sister rode him until I came home.
I brought him back into work and we did about 4 weeks work before I noticed that his pasterns felt very loose in his back legs. I started having a gut feeling that something was wrong but there was nothing obvious. After a particularly long and stressful hack one day, he started shuffling home. He often does this when he's excited or tired but it started earlier than normal, and thinking about it he started to be wobbly in canter. I then rode in the school a few days later and I felt him dropping his shoulder.
He was then put on bute and given turnout but no ridden work, stabled overnight for a week and came sound. Took him off the bute - lame again. Physio found no problems at all. I started riding him in walk to try and strengthen his muscles up, assuming that he's just pulled something.
He is now 9 and is bum high again, struggles to work in an outline when he previously did, disunites/ is wobbly in canter (not that I've asked him to canter but he does tank off when spooked), was extremely lethargic when it was hot but fine in himself now, is tentative over gravel, is steady and jilted going up or down 'hill' - ie little dips in the ground as we don't have hills - looks to be stiff when turning, and my dad thought he was picking his right hind higher than his left which I agreed on. His frogs on the back legs have also seem to have grown over where the dip in the frog should be. He no longer clamps his tail down when I plait it or indeed lift it. Doesn't want to be bridled but he is always a bit funny, just more pronounced now. In trot, his stride is longer and i feel pushed up and out the saddle - he is a bouncy horse and I'm aware I haven't ridden for a while but it does feel different.
He doesn't 'look' lame to anyone else but I can feel it when he's walking beside me. It is more pronounced on flat ground.
I am suspecting something to do with the sacroiliac joint however I feel the physio would have picked that up.
If anyone has any ideas at all, please give me a clue so as to mention it to the vet. This pony has never ever been lame before so for it to come on so suddenly is a surprise. It doesn't help however that he is a total drama queen and will really play the part of the sick and injured, even with a spot of mud fever!
Saddle was checked in March, physio came a week or so ago, farrier due on 1st August and vet coming Thursday. I thought that perhaps I am too heavy for him but he's a 14.1 welsh d x cob type and I think I've been heavier in the past, but it may be worth considering.
Thanks in advance!
Okay, so from the start.
I loaned a pony from August 2011 - he would have been about 4 at this point. I brought him into work slowly can came into our own in the third year - very fit pony, jumping huge and galloping forever. I went to university and gave up the loan in 2014. He was then loaned to an older lady so was ridden a few times a week. I rode him a little over summer but was never fit. I then bought him in February and my very novice sister rode him until I came home.
I brought him back into work and we did about 4 weeks work before I noticed that his pasterns felt very loose in his back legs. I started having a gut feeling that something was wrong but there was nothing obvious. After a particularly long and stressful hack one day, he started shuffling home. He often does this when he's excited or tired but it started earlier than normal, and thinking about it he started to be wobbly in canter. I then rode in the school a few days later and I felt him dropping his shoulder.
He was then put on bute and given turnout but no ridden work, stabled overnight for a week and came sound. Took him off the bute - lame again. Physio found no problems at all. I started riding him in walk to try and strengthen his muscles up, assuming that he's just pulled something.
He is now 9 and is bum high again, struggles to work in an outline when he previously did, disunites/ is wobbly in canter (not that I've asked him to canter but he does tank off when spooked), was extremely lethargic when it was hot but fine in himself now, is tentative over gravel, is steady and jilted going up or down 'hill' - ie little dips in the ground as we don't have hills - looks to be stiff when turning, and my dad thought he was picking his right hind higher than his left which I agreed on. His frogs on the back legs have also seem to have grown over where the dip in the frog should be. He no longer clamps his tail down when I plait it or indeed lift it. Doesn't want to be bridled but he is always a bit funny, just more pronounced now. In trot, his stride is longer and i feel pushed up and out the saddle - he is a bouncy horse and I'm aware I haven't ridden for a while but it does feel different.
He doesn't 'look' lame to anyone else but I can feel it when he's walking beside me. It is more pronounced on flat ground.
I am suspecting something to do with the sacroiliac joint however I feel the physio would have picked that up.
If anyone has any ideas at all, please give me a clue so as to mention it to the vet. This pony has never ever been lame before so for it to come on so suddenly is a surprise. It doesn't help however that he is a total drama queen and will really play the part of the sick and injured, even with a spot of mud fever!
Saddle was checked in March, physio came a week or so ago, farrier due on 1st August and vet coming Thursday. I thought that perhaps I am too heavy for him but he's a 14.1 welsh d x cob type and I think I've been heavier in the past, but it may be worth considering.
Thanks in advance!
