Growing pains in a 5yo?

j1ffy

j1ffy

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A bit of background:
I have a 5yo PRE who I brought over from Spain in May. I'm not sure exactly when he was backed, but he had done little until bought by our Spanish trainer last autumn. Since then, he was brought on in typical Spanish style with short flatwork or in-hand sessions 4-5 times a week (working towards collection, lateral work, building up to piaffe in-hand) and hacking 1-2 times a week.

He was gelded in April and lost some topline and muscle on his back-end following that and his 5 day journey. He's adjusted well to his English life, built up slowly to being turned out approx. 6 hours a day on good grass and fed on hay, handful each of alfa-a oil, nuts and speedibeet twice a day. However he has been having a few niggles. In June, he had a swollen stiff off-hind stifle. X-rays didn't show any sign of OCD so the vet recommended a steroid injection and light work, which seem to have resolved that.

Three weeks ago we noticed that he was uneven on the right diagonal. The vet looked and thought he was stronger than in June but that he has "growing pains". Since then, he is now ok behind but slightly lame on his off-fore with no heat, lumps or swelling. He also had a massage yesterday and is tighter than he's been before, particularly on his shoulders and neck. He's been in light work, very little canter and lots of slow hacks.

My question is, are growing pains likely to be an issue in a 5yo? If so, what is the best approach given that he's been in steady work for over a year? He's a horse that gets quite bored if not kept mentally active.

Sorry for the ramble, any experiences or advice welcome!
 
I've had lots of youngsters and never had any with 'growing pains.'

if he was mine and showing intermittent signs of discomfort i would get him checked by a chiropractor, get tack and teeth checked and chuck him out in the field for a few weeks.

there will be a reason for him being uncomfortable somewhere and 'growing pains' doesn't come into it imo- if your vet/chiro is sure it is just muscle tension a few weeks holiday should sort him out and when he comes back into work i would look at making sure he is working correctly, doing stretching in every session and ensure he is building up the correct muscles.
 
Hi Millitiger
Thanks, that was my worry too. He's had his teeth done, saddle checked and physio. We're trying to find a chiropractor that covers our area (South Oxfordshire / Reading area) but it seems there aren't any?! Will try to get a fairly local one to come down and get a few people to share the travel fee.

All our work since bringing him over has been about encouraging him to stretch - he has a tendency to curl up but has been improving hugely. Hopefully we'll get this sorted, I'm in no hurry to get out doing anything this winter so would prefer to take the time to get him right.
 
I have had lots of five year olds and lots of friends with lots of five year olds and I've never in my life heard of growing pains. I think you need a new vet I'm afraid.

Is he shod? I ask because the Portuguese way of shoeing, so I'm told, is wide with a very short toe, so the foot appears wider than it is long. This isn't how English farriers shoe and the timing might be significant if the Spanish do the same. Is it possible that they are giving him a longer toe which is not suiting his action? If so, the result could be random body stiffnesses and unlevelness if he is uncomfortable in his feet.
 
My five year old Arab was diagnosed as having growing pains by the Osteopath. She was very tense in her major muscle groups. A good massage, a week off and plenty of walk only hacks seem to have done the trick.
 
My mare definitely had growing niggles between 4 & 6 yo - she was never lame, but when she grew/changed shape she would sometimes become unbalanced & things that she had been able to do suddenly got harder. She has got a lot less 'niggley' and more consistent in her work since she hit 6 and has more or less stayed the same shape :)
 
growing 'niggles' are very different to growing pains imo- most young horse go downhill and unbalanced as they grow but i wouldn't expect them to be in pain from growing and would worry about a vet who diagnosed growing pains.

as cptrayes says, have you looked at his feet, breakover point, angles etc?

can you ask your vet/farrier/YO if they can recommend a chiro?

then perhaps give him a month or 2 in the field or just light hacking- i always give mine a good winter break until they are 6 or 7 and without exception they come back a long stronger (and usually a bit taller!).
 
If he is tight in his shoulders and neck i would suggest that this is because he is holding himself due to a foot imbalance (i only suggest this as this is what my mare had when she was out on loan and subsequently badly shod). Do you have pictures of his feet for us to look at? - side on and inside.

Who do you use to shoe as I am sort of in your area (Southampton). I can also recommend a very good bowen therapist who is the only person who has ever made any difference to my horses. Who do you currently use for physio?
 
Hi all, thanks for the replies. I agree that "pain" is different to "niggles" hence my query, something doesn't seem quite right! He looks almost sound as of last night, just slightly shorter on the off-fore than the near-fore so the massage seems to have helped.

cptrayes - the Spanish tend to shoe longer and more upright, but quite narrow. Almost the opposite of your description of Portuguese shoeing interestingly. Our farrier has left them a little longer than English style so he can adjust gradually. His feet are longer than usual at the moment having grown quicker than usual with the autumn grass / change in weather (most the horses at the yard have been similar) and he's being shod tomorrow, I am hoping that this will make a difference. His feet are like concrete so planning to take off the back shoes and may go barefoot if he manages ok.

Tempi - I prefer not to name names on a forum, but happy to do so on a PM. Farrier does all the horses in the yard inc. the YM's 4* eventer and generally has a good rep. Physio similar, but I would like to try a chiro. Bowen has always sounded a little too alternative but I'm happy to be convinced!! YM only knows of chiros who would also have to travel out of their usual area.

I'm planning to do a foot photo-shoot this eve and will do another with new shoes. I'm helping a friend take a horse to Rockley Farm in a couple of weeks so will take the photos with me to see if they'll take a look!
 
Definately agree with Millitiger - a chiropractor, being gelded and dropped and getting up half drugged can cause back problems. Mine all see the chiro following gelding to ensure that anything put out of alignment is fixed before the muscle development becomes uneven.

Any reason why he can't go out 24/7? Its good for them to be able to move around - exercise strengthens bones and keeps muscles fit.
 
Does he loosen off with exercise and light schooling or does he get worse?
If he gets worse I would worry that there is something more going on. If he gets better then it could be weak muscles and him growing.

My osteo said my horse had 'growing pains'. He has changed a lot physically in the space of 9 months, has filled out and grown loads. Parts of their bodies are developing at different rates and they almost cant contain their new strength and it can make them tight and sore in places.
When my horse gets a bit bum high and unbalanced, he can become a bit stiff as he constantly tries to adjust to his to his changing body shape but he always loosens off after a few mins and when he learms to rebalance himself.

I dont know what age you are but I can remember as a teenager having growing pains. I would get shooting pains up my wrists and ankles. I used to suffer from back ache and sore neck muscles and my doctor said it was growing pains. So why shouldn't horses get growing pains?
 
Quick update - he was 100% sound last night but his feet don't look great (odd how taking photos shows up more than you notice when just looking at the feet), and I don't think it's just because they're overgrown. I'm having a look at going barefoot as I'm sure the shoeing is part of the problem. He should have a fairly easy winter anyway. 24hr turnout isn't an option unfortunately.

Firewell - I'm waay too old to have growing pains but young enough to remember them ;-) However, as a 5yo I'd expect it's the equivalent to 16/17, i.e. still growing a little but probably not enough to have growing pains. They say human males keep growing into the 20s but I doubt many get growing pains!
 
I have a gelding who has had "growing pains" ... or rather imbalances caused by growth spurts and being asked to work at the same time. Usually backing off for a few weeks was enough for him to level and balance. He was about 5 when this last happened.
 
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