dollymix
Well-Known Member
This is a veeeeeerrrrrrryyyyyy long story, so apologies in advance!
My ID mare is kept in internal stables, where the bottom half is marine board and very solid, and the top half is metal bars. All was well until a new horse moved into the adjoining box and they decided they did not like each other. They ended up going doolally at each other through the wall, double barrelling at each other and my mare managed to kick hard enough that her leg went through the marine board and created a hole.
She trotted up sound after (perhaps a touch stiff, but not enough to worry unduly) and I cleaned up the minor scrapes she had. The vet came a few days later and was generally happy there was nothing seriously wrong, although he commented she was a little sore through her back and hamstring (both off side) and recommended the physio.
I then contacted the physio who came and said agreed with vet and massaged her accordingly. A couple of days later, she was turned out in the field and I went in to poo-pick. She often follows me around whilst doing this, trying to help! She was stood by me, when she suddenly realised that another horse was being caught and she spun and set off hell for leather down the field, performing a rather impressive sliding stop at the gate!
Cue another visit from the physio!!!
Anyway, she had a week or so off work and then on vets recommendation I was able to get on board again. Well .rodeo is the closest word I have!! I lunged her for a little while first and she was like a dobbin. So I took her to the mounting block and my husband stood by her whilst I got on (because she likes to play turn the bum away from the mounting block! She stood like a stone and so I told my husband he could let her go. I nudged her forward and turned her to the right and she took off like a bucking broncho! Up the school, with a spin in the middle, bronco back up the school, knocking over the mounting block, by which time, gravity overtook me and I hit the deck!! Ouchy!
Now, my mare is only 6 and fairly green after we have had a stop/start year (I had an operation in December so was back on board late January, and then after a fall cross country after she refused and span, where I badly hurt my coccyx then back on board, and another fall after a refusal SJ - so it has all been a bit disjointed.) I would say shes been in very light work. I have been having lessons on her once or twice a week, and my RI has ridden her once a week this was before she kicked the wall of course! Due to being in light work, she piled on weight (she is a draught so only needs to sniff haylage) cue a change to hay, which brought her weight down again. By nature, she is a real worrier, she is spooky and tends to think the world is out to get her, but when she is in full work, her confidence is much better. She is also quite quick for a draught and can spin on a six pence, but until the bronking episode, hadnt bucked with me once (Ive had her for about 14 months).
My confidence at this point was quite low (my fourth fall since April), So, cue my riding instructor coming up and starting riding her a bit for me, where she was generally well behaved, although heavy in the left hand. I got back on a week or two later and had a couple of lessons only in walk and trot though. However, we still felt all wasnt well so had the physio back again, who thought she was improved, but suggested a saddle fit.
Now, we (my instructor and I) had been putting this off due to her recent weight fluxuation and because due to all the above, we hadnt been riding her enough. But in for a penny, in for a pound, her saddle was checked and found to be a bit tight on the sides of her wither (it was last checked 12 months ago and yes, slapped wrist for me for not getting it checked sooner .but in my defence my RI and I had decided to leave it for a while to get her back in work as her workload had been stop start (mainly to my insistence on falling off her) silly me and lesson learnt!!)
My riding instructor rode her for the fitting, and at one point, coming out of a corner, the mare offered canter, was brought back to trot, where she tried to pick up canter again (this is an old trick with her, and she can get quite stress when she isnt allowed to canter when she wants to be doing!) RI told her no, so she then proceeded to bronk until she had my riding instructor off! RI checked girth and found it wasnt tight enough (she blows out and RI forgot to check before starting working her). She says the saddle will have slipped and triggered the bronking. She did remount to try another saddle, but the mare was incredibly tense (she is a worrier anyway if you fall off, regardless of if the saddle was causing her issues) and my instructor thought she was dragging her off hind toe.
Obviously, the saddle fit wont have helped matters in terms of her behaviour, as she is a sensitive soul and when I spoke to physio again, she was of opinion that the hamstring wont help her back, and the sore back wont help the hamstring etc.
It is also worth mentioning that in the past months since kicked the wall, she has become increasingly grouchy whilst being tacked up, or her rugs are changed. She was always the sort you could climb around and she wouldnt care, but recently, I have been putting a head collar on her to change her rugs so I can have hold of her as her ears are back, she twists round to nip and yesterday, when I was pulling the rug down over her bottom, she was swinging her quarters towards me.
When I discussed this with my RI, she said she had never done this on the times she has had her (she does her on full livery when I am away or working late etc).
Also (sorry , I said this was long and complicated) I usually put her on the pessoa once or twice a week. Usually she is fine with this, and works nicely in walk, trot and canter (she started pessoaing in order to help with her canter, as her transitions have always been a bit rushed and she finds it difficult to balance as she is so flippin huge - 17hh+) but she is now refusing point blank to canter with it on and bronks continuously to a halt! She will do walk and trot 100% fine, just no canter. If I take the pessoa off, she will canter on the lunge, but she can be very unbalanced.
So, had the vet out again and explained all the above. He said in his opinion, the sort of riding, and the low level work we have been doing, wont justify her behaviour swings, as although she is a bit sore still, she is not drastic (in his words!) and he said that in his opinion, she is sound! However, I persisted in saying I was convinced she was very sore somewhere as I klnow deep down, my girl is a lovely (if worried) person.
He said problem with these low-level lamenesses and injuries, is pin-pointing them. He therefore suggested I put her on a 10 day course of bute, 2 a day for the first 2 days and 1 every day for the remainder of the period. This is really just an exercise to see if her behaviour changes, working on the principle that she is misbehaving due to being sore. If she improves, we know pain in a factor and he suggests sending her to an equine hospital to be thoroughly investigated, as with a lameness work up (trot up, flexion test and lunge) my vet says she is sound.
We started the bute on Friday, and I am sure I have seen any improvement. Still wont canter on the pessoa and is now swinging her quarters to me when I put her rug on!! He wants me to call him on Thursday with an update on how she is doing.
Saddle fitter still hasnt managed to find another saddle yet, so she has effectively had another two weeks off ridden work. (Seems that in the last 6 months, we only get her going for 2 week periods before we come to a grinding halt, with either me coming off, or something being amiss with her)
Now, the other side to all this, is that I am slowly but surely losing all confidence in this mare. I have another mare, who I have had from a foal and broke and brought on myself, so although not the prettiest rider in the world, I would consider myself to be reasonably competent. I have also had confidence issues to some extent, but it has got to the point now that even once the saddle is sorted and we know she is not in pain, I am not sure the trust will ever come back? This worries me as she is the sort who takes her confidence from her rider.
I dont however want her to be labelled a bad horse. I am sure her behaviour is partly due to her saddle issue, and also to a certain extent, her knowing she has got the upper hand on me and playing up.
Sigh
I was therefore wondering if anyone had experienced anything like this particularly in relation to putting a leg through a wall, and consequent injuries, as my RI still thinks this is the root of all the issues we are facing. (My RI still insists she can get the horse and I back on track re confidence etc)
Sorry for such the long, and disjointed ramble trying to get it all out coherently turned out to be more difficult than I had thought it would be!!
My ID mare is kept in internal stables, where the bottom half is marine board and very solid, and the top half is metal bars. All was well until a new horse moved into the adjoining box and they decided they did not like each other. They ended up going doolally at each other through the wall, double barrelling at each other and my mare managed to kick hard enough that her leg went through the marine board and created a hole.
She trotted up sound after (perhaps a touch stiff, but not enough to worry unduly) and I cleaned up the minor scrapes she had. The vet came a few days later and was generally happy there was nothing seriously wrong, although he commented she was a little sore through her back and hamstring (both off side) and recommended the physio.
I then contacted the physio who came and said agreed with vet and massaged her accordingly. A couple of days later, she was turned out in the field and I went in to poo-pick. She often follows me around whilst doing this, trying to help! She was stood by me, when she suddenly realised that another horse was being caught and she spun and set off hell for leather down the field, performing a rather impressive sliding stop at the gate!
Cue another visit from the physio!!!
Anyway, she had a week or so off work and then on vets recommendation I was able to get on board again. Well .rodeo is the closest word I have!! I lunged her for a little while first and she was like a dobbin. So I took her to the mounting block and my husband stood by her whilst I got on (because she likes to play turn the bum away from the mounting block! She stood like a stone and so I told my husband he could let her go. I nudged her forward and turned her to the right and she took off like a bucking broncho! Up the school, with a spin in the middle, bronco back up the school, knocking over the mounting block, by which time, gravity overtook me and I hit the deck!! Ouchy!
Now, my mare is only 6 and fairly green after we have had a stop/start year (I had an operation in December so was back on board late January, and then after a fall cross country after she refused and span, where I badly hurt my coccyx then back on board, and another fall after a refusal SJ - so it has all been a bit disjointed.) I would say shes been in very light work. I have been having lessons on her once or twice a week, and my RI has ridden her once a week this was before she kicked the wall of course! Due to being in light work, she piled on weight (she is a draught so only needs to sniff haylage) cue a change to hay, which brought her weight down again. By nature, she is a real worrier, she is spooky and tends to think the world is out to get her, but when she is in full work, her confidence is much better. She is also quite quick for a draught and can spin on a six pence, but until the bronking episode, hadnt bucked with me once (Ive had her for about 14 months).
My confidence at this point was quite low (my fourth fall since April), So, cue my riding instructor coming up and starting riding her a bit for me, where she was generally well behaved, although heavy in the left hand. I got back on a week or two later and had a couple of lessons only in walk and trot though. However, we still felt all wasnt well so had the physio back again, who thought she was improved, but suggested a saddle fit.
Now, we (my instructor and I) had been putting this off due to her recent weight fluxuation and because due to all the above, we hadnt been riding her enough. But in for a penny, in for a pound, her saddle was checked and found to be a bit tight on the sides of her wither (it was last checked 12 months ago and yes, slapped wrist for me for not getting it checked sooner .but in my defence my RI and I had decided to leave it for a while to get her back in work as her workload had been stop start (mainly to my insistence on falling off her) silly me and lesson learnt!!)
My riding instructor rode her for the fitting, and at one point, coming out of a corner, the mare offered canter, was brought back to trot, where she tried to pick up canter again (this is an old trick with her, and she can get quite stress when she isnt allowed to canter when she wants to be doing!) RI told her no, so she then proceeded to bronk until she had my riding instructor off! RI checked girth and found it wasnt tight enough (she blows out and RI forgot to check before starting working her). She says the saddle will have slipped and triggered the bronking. She did remount to try another saddle, but the mare was incredibly tense (she is a worrier anyway if you fall off, regardless of if the saddle was causing her issues) and my instructor thought she was dragging her off hind toe.
Obviously, the saddle fit wont have helped matters in terms of her behaviour, as she is a sensitive soul and when I spoke to physio again, she was of opinion that the hamstring wont help her back, and the sore back wont help the hamstring etc.
It is also worth mentioning that in the past months since kicked the wall, she has become increasingly grouchy whilst being tacked up, or her rugs are changed. She was always the sort you could climb around and she wouldnt care, but recently, I have been putting a head collar on her to change her rugs so I can have hold of her as her ears are back, she twists round to nip and yesterday, when I was pulling the rug down over her bottom, she was swinging her quarters towards me.
When I discussed this with my RI, she said she had never done this on the times she has had her (she does her on full livery when I am away or working late etc).
Also (sorry , I said this was long and complicated) I usually put her on the pessoa once or twice a week. Usually she is fine with this, and works nicely in walk, trot and canter (she started pessoaing in order to help with her canter, as her transitions have always been a bit rushed and she finds it difficult to balance as she is so flippin huge - 17hh+) but she is now refusing point blank to canter with it on and bronks continuously to a halt! She will do walk and trot 100% fine, just no canter. If I take the pessoa off, she will canter on the lunge, but she can be very unbalanced.
So, had the vet out again and explained all the above. He said in his opinion, the sort of riding, and the low level work we have been doing, wont justify her behaviour swings, as although she is a bit sore still, she is not drastic (in his words!) and he said that in his opinion, she is sound! However, I persisted in saying I was convinced she was very sore somewhere as I klnow deep down, my girl is a lovely (if worried) person.
He said problem with these low-level lamenesses and injuries, is pin-pointing them. He therefore suggested I put her on a 10 day course of bute, 2 a day for the first 2 days and 1 every day for the remainder of the period. This is really just an exercise to see if her behaviour changes, working on the principle that she is misbehaving due to being sore. If she improves, we know pain in a factor and he suggests sending her to an equine hospital to be thoroughly investigated, as with a lameness work up (trot up, flexion test and lunge) my vet says she is sound.
We started the bute on Friday, and I am sure I have seen any improvement. Still wont canter on the pessoa and is now swinging her quarters to me when I put her rug on!! He wants me to call him on Thursday with an update on how she is doing.
Saddle fitter still hasnt managed to find another saddle yet, so she has effectively had another two weeks off ridden work. (Seems that in the last 6 months, we only get her going for 2 week periods before we come to a grinding halt, with either me coming off, or something being amiss with her)
Now, the other side to all this, is that I am slowly but surely losing all confidence in this mare. I have another mare, who I have had from a foal and broke and brought on myself, so although not the prettiest rider in the world, I would consider myself to be reasonably competent. I have also had confidence issues to some extent, but it has got to the point now that even once the saddle is sorted and we know she is not in pain, I am not sure the trust will ever come back? This worries me as she is the sort who takes her confidence from her rider.
I dont however want her to be labelled a bad horse. I am sure her behaviour is partly due to her saddle issue, and also to a certain extent, her knowing she has got the upper hand on me and playing up.
Sigh
I was therefore wondering if anyone had experienced anything like this particularly in relation to putting a leg through a wall, and consequent injuries, as my RI still thinks this is the root of all the issues we are facing. (My RI still insists she can get the horse and I back on track re confidence etc)
Sorry for such the long, and disjointed ramble trying to get it all out coherently turned out to be more difficult than I had thought it would be!!
