Dont know what to do with my horse

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brownie57

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Can anyone offer some advice ???????????

1 year ago, I put an advert online for a horse wanted. All I wanted to do was hack out, but I will willing to pay upto £2000. Anyway, I was emailed by a lady who told me about her lovely horse she wanted to rehome, she had had him for 10 years, done everything with him, but he was 16, so she wanted to find him a home where he could have a slower pace of life.

I went down to see him, rode him etc, he was absolutely beautiful, so I said I would have him, and she said I could have him for free... I was surprised by this because I was willing to pay £2000, but she sold him to me for £1 (to make things legal)

When I got him home I had a saddle fitted professionally, after 3 weeks the saddle was not sitting right, so the saddler changed it, and again this one wasnt right, so I got a refund. Then the horses back was sore, so I had to rest him and get the back lady out, he was then ok, so got another saddle fitted by someone else, the same problem happened. The horse got sore in the back so I had to rest him again.......Fast forward 1 year... I am now on my 6th saddle, the horse has a very sore back again and is not in work. I think its obvious now this horse has a back problem.... he is never in work more than 3 months and he gets a sore back... I have never known a horse ever in my life to keep getting so sore in its back and having to change the saddle all the time.

All I do is hack out, only a few times a week, this horse is more like a pet, he is never over worked, just goes for gentle hacks, and does a little work on the lunge to keep him semi fit.

When I bought him the lady said he must not be used for competitions, which was fine, but I asked her was there anything wrong with him and had he ever had any problems that I need to be aware of, she said no, she just didnt want him being hammered around.

I think now its very clear why this horse was free, he has some sort of problem with his back, maybe arthritis, maybe something else..... I am absolutely gutted, I love this horse so much, he is totally 100% in every single way to handle and ride (when he is ok), he is a total saint, which makes this even harder to deal with. I pay a huge amount to keep him each month (he is on full livery because I work), and all I want to do is go for gentle hacks, but this is just not going to work. I feel so bad for the horse, his owner of 10 years just passed him onto me and now I have to deal with this problem. I am not rich and cannot afford to keep another horse on full livery, so what do I do now ???
 
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God, I really feel for you :(

Did you have him vetted when you bought him?

You need to get the physio and vet out to give him a full work up and work out what is wrong, it may be treatable.
 
No, i didnt get him vetted because he was only £1. The problem is, he is 17 years old now, he is not insured, i think the vet will want to xray him which will cost loads, the back lady is coming again tomorrow, she has seen him about 6-7 times over the last year !!
 
reddie said:
It sounds as though you are spending a lot of money getting nowhere, and are preempting what the vet might say.
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Agree. You really need to get the vet out to get a comprehensive report and then you'll know where to go from there, be it treatment, grass retirement or pts. Let's face it, the money you've spent on having the back lady out would of amounted to the cost of a vet call out and it could all go on and on and on.

Good luck with him though:)
 
You're spending more on back people and saddles than it would cost to have him investigated by a vet. You aren't going get anywhere with him unless you know what the problem is, so my advice would be to bite the bullet and find out what the problem is. If you want him in work, you need to do this - it's pointless trying to solve a problem when you don't know what the problem is.

I did a very similar thing - bought a horse with what they suspected was hock and stifle arthritis, but he had never been xrayed, so there was no real diagnosis. I had him x rayed and scanned (both stifles, hocks and suspensories) and nerve blocked to pin point what the problem was (cost £700 for all this - back x ray would be far less) and it turned out to be suspensories. If I hadn't had the investigation, I'd have treated him as arthritic, and he would never have improved.
 
His feet are fine, he has lovely strong feet and apart from the back issue, he is in fantastic condition

When the back lady comes out, she does get him right and after a few weeks he is fine, but then it all goes down hill after 2 or 3 months.
 
The back lady should have told you to get the vet out. This makes me suspicious of her suitability for the job.

When you get a horse, whatever it costs, you have a responsibility of care to that animal regardless of cost. This is why vetting is recommended before purchase.

Please get the vet out to do a full checkup.

Paula
 
ok, the back lady is coming tomorrow, shall i cancel her and just call out the vet ?

I did contact the previous owner and she said he never had a problem, although she did have trouble trying to get a saddle to fit him
 
I am not rich and cannot afford to keep another horse on full livery, so what do I do now ???

You use the £2,000 you saved on purchase to get the vet out and have a good old look at him. Or you use your insurance to do it.

A bad back can be the result of many things - and I'd be asking the vet to do a full lameness workup as well.

ok, the back lady is coming tomorrow, shall i cancel her and just call out the vet ?
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Yes. She should have advised the vet herself to you a long time ago.

Interesting what you say about your horses feet. My horses feet too were in fabulous condition. However, when he was investigated for a mild lameness episode (and incidently a bad back) he was found to have pedal bone rotation. And was put down around 18 months later.........
 
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brownie57 said:
His feet are fine, he has lovely strong feet and apart from the back issue, he is in fantastic condition

When the back lady comes out, she does get him right and after a few weeks he is fine, but then it all goes down hill after 2 or 3 months.
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You don't know whats going on inside his lovely strong feet though, without having them xrayed so that the vet can see if there's an angle/balance problem that is putting everything else out of alignment.

She is basically putting a plaster on a problem. She's doing a great job of sorting out his pain, but the underlying issue means that her work only has a temporary effect.
 
brownie57 said:
No, i didnt get him vetted because he was only £1. The problem is, he is 17 years old now, he is not insured, i think the vet will want to xray him which will cost loads, the back lady is coming again tomorrow, she has seen him about 6-7 times over the last year !!
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i havent read further than this but what are the back ladys qualifications? did you have to get the vets permission before she could treat the horse?

I am surprised that she hasnt suggested the vet before now if she is a professional
 
brownie57 said:
I think now its very clear why this horse was free, he has some sort of problem with his back, maybe arthritis, maybe something else..... I am absolutely gutted, I love this horse so much, he is totally 100% in every single way to handle and ride (when he is ok), he is a total saint, which makes this even harder to deal with. I pay a huge amount to keep him each month (he is on full livery because I work), and all I want to do is go for gentle hacks, but this is just not going to work. I feel so bad for the horse, his owner of 10 years just passed him onto me and now I have to deal with this problem. I am not rich and cannot afford to keep another horse on full livery, so what do I do now ???
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Yes, it sounds like someone has offloaded their knackered horse onto you. :( It might be possible to get him comfortable enough to do what you want him to do though. You do want a vet's assessment, but don't be drawn into £££s investigations if they don't have a good idea in mind what the problem is and can assure you that the likely outcome is treatable.

Or, you could put the horse down and get another one, which is what the last owner ought to have done rather than giving the problem to you.
 
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get the vet. i know someone you had similar problems and i said stop everything - back/saddle/teeth etc and get the vet, it was not good news but at least she knew. They will give you a price for a lameness work up, surprised the back lady keeps coming, mine came twice and on the third visit said this is not coming right you need to get the vet and i did and he has a tear in the ddft in the rear hind so that is being treated, no horse needs to get their back checked that often unless they are competing at high level. Let us know how you get on
 
I agree with the others im afraid. If you add up the amount you are spending on the back lady and saddles you could have had the vet out and him X-rayed by now.

I really feel for you :)
 
Paulag said:
The back lady should have told you to get the vet out. This makes me suspicious of her suitability for the job.

When you get a horse, whatever it costs, you have a responsibility of care to that animal regardless of cost. This is why vetting is recommended before purchase.

Please get the vet out to do a full checkup.

Paula
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I agree with Paulag.
This back lady has not given you good advice beware of her in the future.
An equine vet is the way to go and yes it may well be expensive that is why older horses are cheap to buy and why you get a horse vetted.The only time you should skip vetting IMO is when you have so much spare cash you can write cheques to the vet without a second thought.
It's your responsibility to sort this now I hope its nothing too awful but it might be a very expensive lesson.
 
Paulag said:
The back lady should have told you to get the vet out. This makes me suspicious of her suitability for the job.
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This^ if my physio had been out 6-7 times and yet still there were reoccurring issues and she hadn't suggested or insisted on a vet visit I would be very suss!

Back lady is no good, it's like going to the dentist for foot pain! You need to get the vet and bite the bullet pay the £300 or whatever for x-rays and determine what the problem is. It may be easily treatable you just don't know but paying £50 or whatever for the back lady 6-7 times a year is pointless if she's not getting to the root of the problem.
 
What type of saddle are using?

Is it flock or flair?

Flair is really good for horses with bad backs, but I would also do as others have said, spend a little (compered to new saddles every 3 weeks, and back person) on a vet get a solid answer and then go from there.

If he can be worked I would look into a flair saddle see if a distributor will let you borrow one for a few weeks, let them know the story and go from there.

Good luck with him :)
 
Echo the others, get the vet. My boy had constant back problems which turned out to be caused by ulcers, it was his chiro who pointed out that he really shouldn't keep getting sore and she was treating a symptom if something else.
 
xrays of the back are not that expensive. My horse's were around £20 per plate. He had five plates taken so that was £100. Then you pay another amount (around £35) for setting up the machine and more for sedation. All in the cost was around £160.
 
When he has a flare up of his bad back what are his symptoms out of interest?

Echo other replies on here re; work up. Get your vet to assess. Only then you can have a clearer idea of what is going on and see the bigger picture. Your back lady should have had the vet give her the go ahead before practising on your horse. Back problems can be a referred pain if something else is going on with the horse ie issues with the feet/hocks/stifles etc.
 
When his back is ok, he is fine, just like a normal horse, but i know when he is getting sore, because when you get on him (always from a mounting block), he walks off abit crooked behind, almost like he is abit drunk on his back legs, then after a few strides he is ok............ that is the best way i can describe it.
 
picolenicole said:
What type of saddle are using?


Flair is really good for horses with bad backs,
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I totally disagree with you here Flair is like a blow up camp bed where the air is shoved from one area to the other and is far from soft. I would always opt for a flocked saddle preferably with Serge panels as these mould beautifully to the horsees back (they still need checking and adjusting) but serge is so much nicer to the horse.

OP this horse is very lucky that you care & its a shame the old owner didnt
 
I would get the vet. Get the problem diagnosed properly. If it is a long term problem which cannot be resolved and the owner has probably lied to you then explain to the owner you need to give him back or have him PTS which is what she should have done if she knew there was a problem.
 
Can only echo the 'call the vet, CALL THE VET' thing ;)

Unfortunately he's too old for the Blood Bank (max age is 15), your options are to retire him as a companion horse, or if he's in that much pain that he needs that much treatment (and you have to draw the line somewhere, for the horses sake and your bank balance's), the kindest thing for him would be to PTS.

Good luck and let us know what the vet says and be strong (hugs) xxx
 
I think you learnt the hard way to have every horse vetted (no excuse in this case as you had £1999 spare). What concerns me is that you dont have insurance or money for vets bills? Which is presumably why you keep getting the back lady out instead of the vet. Dont get me wrong I have np issues with people keeping their horse on full livery but why if you cant afford livery and vets bills/insurance? I hope that the problem is treatable so you can hack him out etc but yoi are going to need to get the vet out x
 
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