Does anyone compete a horse who doesn’t move straight?

[Hippoloosa]

My 9 year old has an old stifle injury which has left mild thickening in the joint and he brings his right hind leg slightly in onto a third track. Vet and physio are happy that he is happy, as am I, and he does a bit of everything at home and low level jumping and xc. But whenever we have attempted some dressage he gets comments about unlevel steps behind. Otherwise marks reasonably well and has never been pulled up about it/eliminated. Does anyone else compete an unlevel horse like this?

 

[ihatework]

Okay, an unlevel horse is different to a not straight moving horse.

There are plenty of both out competing.

It’s the former (ie unlevel) that will attract the most attention and draw comments from judges. You have to bear in mind they can only judge what they see and they don’t have the horses veterinary history. Bearing in mind the majority of unlevel horses are moving so due to pain/lameness it would not be unreasonable to plan for the occasional judge to pull the horse.

I’m going to take it at face value that this is a mechanical rather than pain unlevelness (although my jury is out on mechanical). Irrespective I don’t think I’d put an unlevel moving horse in front of a dressage judge. For me, there would be no point and it would reflect badly.

 

[SEL]

Is it on a particular movement? When mine hurt his right stifle I found he would fall on his left shoulder more which looked "stiff" on left turns. Usually he'd hollow. I found I'd have to slow that particular movement right down so he could focus on his legs. We had to avoid canter in tests for some time after the vet gave the all clear because he'd disunite

Mine was a temporary problem but if yours is otherwise sound then I'd play around with your problem areas and see if you can ride the movement to support that hind - sometimes swinging a bit wide for instance.

 

[smolmaus]

I assume by thickening in the joint, you mean the patellar ligaments? I think in your situation I would maybe still compete and whenever possible maybe say to a judge before the test that he has an old injury and is "signed off" as such (or just take the hit) but I don't think I would be happy with "he's fine, crack on" from the vet/ physio and let him just continue to move dysfunctionally as it does increase the chances of a related injury.

When my pony's stifle is playing up, she also swings it in to the midline and vet, physio, osteo have all advised, and been correct, that it will improve with focusing on building quadriceps and the smaller adductor/ abductor muscles which theoretically takes the strain off the patellar ligaments. This isn't injury related, it's conformational, and the ligaments are too loose rather than being too tight from scar tissue so not exactly the same situation, but I still think there are probably things you can do to help him out.

 

[Hippoloosa]

Sorry yes we do have a rehab plan in place also to try and help him use it more correctly, I totally agree with you that I want to encourage that and encourage proper use of it and building up of the ligaments.

Thanks for all the responses. He is my pet first and foremost so if we can’t compete I really don’t care, I’ll only ever do what he’s comfortable with, but it would be nice to have some intro and prelim tests to work towards. So I think I’ll see how our rehab goes and if he’s moving a little straighter at the end of winter and go from there.

 

[Hippoloosa]

I assume by thickening in the joint, you mean the patellar ligaments? I think in your situation I would maybe still compete and whenever possible maybe say to a judge before the test that he has an old injury and is "signed off" as such (or just take the hit) but I don't think I would be happy with "he's fine, crack on" from the vet/ physio and let him just continue to move dysfunctionally as it does increase the chances of a related injury.

When my pony's stifle is playing up, she also swings it in to the midline and vet, physio, osteo have all advised, and been correct, that it will improve with focusing on building quadriceps and the smaller adductor/ abductor muscles which theoretically takes the strain off the patellar ligaments. This isn't injury related, it's conformational, and the ligaments are too loose rather than being too tight from scar tissue so not exactly the same situation, but I still think there are probably things you can do to help him out.

Can I ask what exercises you do with yours?

 

[Hippoloosa]

Is it on a particular movement? When mine hurt his right stifle I found he would fall on his left shoulder more which looked "stiff" on left turns. Usually he'd hollow. I found I'd have to slow that particular movement right down so he could focus on his legs. We had to avoid canter in tests for some time after the vet gave the all clear because he'd disunite

Mine was a temporary problem but if yours is otherwise sound then I'd play around with your problem areas and see if you can ride the movement to support that hind - sometimes swinging a bit wide for instance.

Hmm I’m not sure if it is, the physio said it’s very intermittent. I’ll going to video us so I can try and see any patterns and also track our improvement as I try to help him use it better.

 

[SEL]

Hmm I’m not sure if it is, the physio said it’s very intermittent. I’ll going to video us so I can try and see any patterns and also track our improvement as I try to help him use it better.

If its intermittent then try building up the quad muscles. Has your physio taken you through any exercises? Tail pulls (before you ride to prime the muscles), raised poles, spiralling over poles etc but all should be done with the input of a good physio.

 

[Hippoloosa]

Yeh we are going to be doing tail pulls, carrot stretches, raised poles, spiral poles, turn on the forehand and rein backs… think that’s everything on my list, I have it written down at the yard. And working on core conditioning too, long and low work.

 

[smolmaus]

Can I ask what exercises you do with yours?

I dont do much that hasn't been mentioned by yourself and SEL already. Slow hillwork was very useful. Some gentle abductor/adductor stretches. Making sure all exercises are done slowly. Mine was throwing herself sideways to still avoid using the quad Tbh I also have medication on board (Cartrophen) which helps massively.

I would maaaaaaybe consider a second opinion physio? its a little disappointing your current one isn't looking to improve the situation (some do just be that way) and we had a lot of compensatory tightness in the hamstrings and lumbar area that needs kept on top of too.

 

[SEL]

We can still get tetchy coming downhill so I suspect the injury left some thickening of the ligament. I also find the farrier stretch on that hind is harder.

So obviously we do the farrier stretch when I remember (with carrots as a thank you) & I will do a short hack to the local village which is up an incline and make him walk back down slowly and straight

 

[Hippoloosa]

I dont do much that hasn't been mentioned by yourself and SEL already. Slow hillwork was very useful. Some gentle abductor/adductor stretches. Making sure all exercises are done slowly. Mine was throwing herself sideways to still avoid using the quad Tbh I also have medication on board (Cartrophen) which helps massively.

I would maaaaaaybe consider a second opinion physio? its a little disappointing your current one isn't looking to improve the situation (some do just be that way) and we had a lot of compensatory tightness in the hamstrings and lumbar area that needs kept on top of too.

Oh sorry if I’ve given the wrong impression but the physio and vet have been helpful and provided a rehab plan and he will also be having ongoing massage to assist as he always gets tight through the lumbar and hamstrings due to compensating.

 

[Edward28]

My 9 year old has an old stifle injury which has left mild thickening in the joint and he brings his right hind leg slightly in onto a third track. Vet and physio are happy that he is happy, as am I, and he does a bit of everything at home and low level jumping and xc. But whenever we have attempted some dressage he gets comments about unlevel steps behind. Otherwise marks reasonably well and has never been pulled up about it/eliminated. Does anyone else compete an unlevel horse like this?

It helped me to focus on building strength and straightness slowly instead of pushing for perfect lines in dressage. My gelding also tracks slightly to one side after an old hind limb injury, and judges often notice it in the lateral work before anything else. Keeping sessions short and mixing in poles and hill work made a clear difference for him. You might still stay competitive if you pick tests that suit his way of going and give him time to warm up so he can step more evenly.