loulev1
New User
Has anyone experienced or know of such a problem?
I have a 7 year old thoroughbred mare who i have had for 5 years but have known all her life. when i got her i had a chiropractor look at her as a check up, was told at some point she has had a fractured wither but is no longer causing her any problems so i started riding her as normal, we have done geneeral riding club activities and local jumping. she has always been nervous and jumps around alot but 2 years ago started every now and then whilst being ridden would suddenly with no warning arch her back and jump around until she ended up on the floor. she did this bout 4 times in the firld then the last time on the road. i have had everything checked by 2 vets and chirporactor then when she did it on the road decided this is not right so got the chirporactor out again. she agreed with the vets, physically there is nothing wrong, it must be a mental problem. i then moved house so she went on a holiday of 9 months field rest. i have has her back now for 4 months and have been lungeing her everyday to get her fitness back and weight off ready to get a saddle fitted as she has been on best behaviour. saddle fitters came this week and spotted the bobble she has on her withers. this has aleways been there since i have has her, causes trouble with rugs rubbing but nothing else. she said she was not happy to put a saddle on her back until this has been checked out. she thinks it may be where the fracture occured (which we decided must have been done when she went away for 5 weeks to be broken in as this is the only time she was off the yard she was on)and the vertibrae have fused together. as she is now fir and has built up muscle it is quite clear this has had a knock on affect over the length of her whole back, body and movement. she has a very low head carriage which is obviously a cause of this fusion as after stretches it is obvious she is physically unable to raise her neck abouve a certain height. she also walks twisting her back foot and bringing it out and forwards rather than just lifting and bringign forward, this is also causing her tilt her pelvis to one side when walking which is obvious from standing behind her and watching her walk away. also where she has built up muscle from the lungeing it is obvious she has built up alot more on one side than the other and this causes her to be sticky on one rein on the lunge although i work her evenly.
i am getting the vet to have a look this week but have been advised that it may be the case that she can not be ridden anymore, or she can just be a light hack on a long rein and no jumping. this may be the cause of her throwing herself on the floor as althpough shes not in constant pain with the weight of a rider it may occasionally twinge and as the years have gone by it has got worse. im not sure what the vet may suggest, if physio may help although the original problem of the vertibrae is still there or if that can maybe be operated on. im sure he will want to take an xray to see exactly what we are dealing with.
if anyone has had any experience of this sort of thing then i would be interested to hear. i would like to know what the treatment would involve and the outcome of her future use?
no-one seems to admit her knowing of anyway she got the original injury, i would guess she reared in the breaking process and went over backwards but it was never mentioned when she was returned a few weeks later so no treatment was given, they just said she was lazy and not willing to move forward, which if she had a fractured wither she would be.
any suggestions, advice or similar stories would be much appreciated, im hoping for the best for my girly as would be heart broken if that was the end of her ridden career at such a young age of 7.
