Fed up Big Time -

[UKa]

Hello,

I haven't been on here for a long time, but I just need to get rid of some frustration. Had my horse checked by back person 2 months ago as she was bad and now she still needs more treatments as she was so bad. Initially I just felt bad I had not recognised it - back man thinks it was originating in a time long before I had her (I have had her for 5 years now...) but I am now just tired of all that goes wrong with my girl just when I am ready to take on new challenges (had baby a year ago and was just getting excited about doing some shows this summer. Also financially I am getting fed up as it is getting tight I just quit my job to look after child and this treatment is not coming cheap hubby not happy. Wondering if I can put up with it much more but I know I could not give horse up...

Oh well, winge over, thanks for reading

 

[pelly]

Chin up!!! Things can only get better

 

[humph]

To give you a glimmer of hope, I'll tell you a similar story I had with my horse. I bought him as a 4 yr old and was so excited by how brilliant he was. My plan was to do BYEH classes in his 5yr old year and starting him eventing at the same time. The first time I took him XC was just so exciting, his scope was limitless and I was so upbeat about how it was all going.

Things started to go downhill and I just had this gut feeling that something wasn't right. I had various back specialists look at him but noone could find exactly what was wrong but my vet agreed that he wasn't 100%. One back man in particular made me do all sorts of stretching exercises with him and it was at this point that things got really bad and he started stopping at jumps which was SO out of character. I also found out that he had ulcers from his time in training so spent a fortune fixing that. All in all it took me until he was about 7 when, in desperation, I contacted Mary Bromiley who is an old family friend but one of the best equine physiotherapists in the world (literally), although her daughter now does most of the work (I think MB's now in her 80s). Mary couldn't have been more helpful. Over the telephone (she never even came to see my horse) she asked me to prod here and do this and do that and eventually diagnosed that it was probably a problem in my horse's knees or front feet. She gave me a programme of exercise and recommended liquid cortaflex. I had his front feet xrayed and found an imbalance and had corrective shoeing.

He then went from strength to strength. I got pregnant and sent him to a friend to event last year. Sadly I lost the baby but the friend kept eventing him and did brilliantly - he won his first two events and was placed in all but two for the remainder of the year. This year, I'm pregnant again (eek due in a week and a half) so the friend is competing him for me again. He's now at novice level, has points and has been placed in 2 out of his 4 novice events. My new worry is that my horse is now too good for me but I'd never sell him as he really is a horse of a lifetime.

If you think the horse is good enough, try not to give up. Don't always believe that the expert whose advice you are currently getting is the best, it's always worth investigating alternative opinions but try not to get too tempted by new-age therapists - I found they were more sales patter than anything else but I did try everything, black box the lot!

Good luck and don't lose heart

 

[gothdolly]

Oh blimey, poor you. My horse decided to have lots of lameness and accidents after my son was born and I was despairing sometimes, wondering what I had done wrong and why this was happening. We had a bad year but Im riding him again now. Out of interest, is your back person qualified? Has your vet said whats wrong with your horse's back?

I hope that things are better soon. I do know how hard things can be, emotionally, financially and time wise when you have had a baby.

Good luck.