?Gastric ulcer or musculoskeletal problem with my horse.

[tobysg]

Some may have seen previious posts on topics regarding the odd behaviour of my mare.
A few months ago she acted in pain, ears pinned back, tail swishing when asked to move forward. When ridden, when leg was applied she'd pin ears back and tail swish. On the lunge, when asked to trot or canter she'd pin ears back at you, tail swish and threaten with legs, though not actually kick.
Had physio and vet, was sound in W/T/C on both reins on lunge, on soft and hard.
Anyway to cut a long story short, just as she was to undergo a full lameness investigation in the clinic she decided she was better. She began to stride out and move forward to decided to play it by ear.

A month on, She pins her ears back when she sees the saddle which she has been doing for a while, yes, I know what this means. She has recently started bucking in the trot-canter transition, within the last 2/3 weeks.

Today, I decided to palpate the saddle area with my hands. I began at the withers with no reaction, from there I went down toward the ground, following her shoulder. She started pinning and tail swishing. I then went where her girth goes because she has started mega reacting to this, she never used to care. She HATED it, so I stopped, then went to the other side. She was similar on the other side, a little less I'd say. Then as I felt under the girth area and reached right under she let out a eeeeek noise and jumped away from the pain.
She was all docile and sweet, so I tried to continue, as she was giving me answers. It seemed the more I did it, she started to tolerate it so didn't find much else out.
I then got my saddle and placed it on her back, I started to put weight on various parts of it and see if she reacted. I didn't get a lot of reaction, as before, however she did seem uncomfortable I suppose. I then got her girth and mimicked doing it up and she really hates it.

Yes, obviously saddle is clearly on the hot seat here, obviously.

I was more concerned about underneath, where the girth sits, in between her front legs, what could be causing so much pain?
I palpated pretty hard and could feel no exterior abnormalities that could be causing discomfort, she did not react to being touched lightly or stroked around there.

I started to think stomach ulcers, the clinical indications listed online for gastic ulcers are nothing like her general body condition however.
She has an beautiful, very shiny coat, she is not feed ANY feed whatsoever, is only on hay twice in 24 hours, is a good weight and has DEFINITELY not dropped condition!

Her back has been checked by a physio and vet with NAD, though this does not mean there isn't a problem as obviously something could be missed.

Don't say how harsh I was for poking her like that, she gave me reaction for the first time in months which gives us somewhere to look at. The vet did not know where about on her the pain but today she has showed me.

 

[glenruby]

It seems as if she is much more reactive than when you last had vet/physio out? Ring your vet and ask permission for physio to come back out. I normally wouldnt say physio first but this sounds as if musculoskeletal is the first thing to rule out.
As regards vet work-up, it might be worth blood testing and scanning the ovaries as one of the first tests.

 

[tinaduffyjames]

My horse was in perfect condition, was on no hard feed, had ad lib hay, daily turnout, not in fast work, hadnt had any upheaval or stress, no stable vices but was diagnosed with ulcers in November. On the egus website he scored low risk on their chart but yet he still has them.
I knew something was up as he was acting pretty grumpy, done a lot of tail swishing when asked to trot or canter, really objected to any touching of his stomach and started to grind his teeth when girthing up. He had a bout of mild reccurring colic and so my vet scoped him and he had loads of grade 3 ulcers. He baffled my vet as there was nothing that stood out as to why he had them ( though he is an ex racer). I spoke to a lovely chap from a racehorse rehabilitaion centre and he said in some cases its not mental stress that causes it but stomach stress. its been a difficult few months and we are still not quite there yet but we are getting there.
The point im making is, your horse may have them even though the 'obvious' signs are missing though any discomfort around the girth and stomach would lead to me thinking Ulcers and also the fact the horse is objecting to moving forward under saddle . Maybe give your vet a ring and just get the horse checked for ulcers. They are more common than we think.

 

[scally]

Could be a million and one reasons, probably best to get you vet out again to have a look. A possibility especially after what you have found could be girth bind.

Horses have a huge mass of nerves behind the shoulder where the girth goes, often these can be highly sensitive, and go into overdrive causing pain. It is a sympton known by different names girth bind, girth syntch but can be overcome.

Get your saddle checked first. Always girth up very slowly one hole at a time and walk around in between going up the next hole, to give the nerves a chance to settle down.

It may not be this but have seen it in a lot of horses, most of which are mares.

 

[opinionuk]

have you consider getting her back xrayed for kissing spine? sounds very similar to how my mare was behaving when I first had her until I took her to the equine hospital and got her xrayed.