LS1993
Member
So, where do I start? I have a 5yo warmblood who, due to rider (me) not being allowed to ride (concussed and not allowed for three weeks) has been put on full livery. He'd had a couple or weeks or so of limited work beforehand due to a few unfortunate situations (seriously feeling like one thing after another atm!)
He's quite the cheeky character so we thought it was a good chance for him to get some serious bootcamp off an actual professional rider (As hard as I try, I'm never going to be as good as the YO-she seriously has a way with horses!).We started on Sunday, and he's been worked very hard every day, as he should be!!
Today I got a call from YO who said he didn't feel right when she was hacking him out. She said he felt sort of bunched up under the saddle and stiff. He wasn't working from behind very much and seemed kind of uncomfortable. Apparently when she had lunged him before he had been fine though. I came up and hopped on and instantly I could tell he wasn't very comfortable. YO then trotted on him to show me further and my horse who usually has a very very floaty trot seemed to have lost those movements. He wasn't lame and he wasn't uneven but just didn't feel or look right. Before I got there they had done all sorts of tests to see if they could pull up the source of the problem but there was nothing. Because he had been fine before he was ridden they suspected it was his back, but again there was nothing obvious.
Now there's a few things we thought it was; it could be a musucular problem but there really wasn't anything you could see without x-raying. It's only because YO and I know the horse well that we knew something was up. Others watching thought they couldn't see anything.
Secondly the saddle he has on is not his. It's my other horse's but fitted him well enough so when we bought him we thought it'd be ok until he filled out a bit. It's never been a problem before but it might be an issue.
Thirdly he could just be a little stiff after having had a few really hard days of work that he's not used to, and just felt a little fatigued.
We thought we'd leave it til Saturday until we exercise again and we'll go from there. However, when I was grooming him later on I noticed he had a fifty pence sized, weeping sore where his girth goes. He's had these before and we put on a sheepskin girth sleeve to let it heal. Since September though he's been back on a very very soft leather girth which was fine until now-perhaps the increased work and increased sweating has induced it. Anyway I wondered whether or not it being painful on his side would make him unwilling to move properly and uncomfortable. Can this happen? He is a bit of a wuss. It seemed possible as when being lunged without tack today he was ok.
Thanks for reading this far, I'd love to know your thoughts about the mystery-ailment!
He's quite the cheeky character so we thought it was a good chance for him to get some serious bootcamp off an actual professional rider (As hard as I try, I'm never going to be as good as the YO-she seriously has a way with horses!).We started on Sunday, and he's been worked very hard every day, as he should be!!
Today I got a call from YO who said he didn't feel right when she was hacking him out. She said he felt sort of bunched up under the saddle and stiff. He wasn't working from behind very much and seemed kind of uncomfortable. Apparently when she had lunged him before he had been fine though. I came up and hopped on and instantly I could tell he wasn't very comfortable. YO then trotted on him to show me further and my horse who usually has a very very floaty trot seemed to have lost those movements. He wasn't lame and he wasn't uneven but just didn't feel or look right. Before I got there they had done all sorts of tests to see if they could pull up the source of the problem but there was nothing. Because he had been fine before he was ridden they suspected it was his back, but again there was nothing obvious.
Now there's a few things we thought it was; it could be a musucular problem but there really wasn't anything you could see without x-raying. It's only because YO and I know the horse well that we knew something was up. Others watching thought they couldn't see anything.
Secondly the saddle he has on is not his. It's my other horse's but fitted him well enough so when we bought him we thought it'd be ok until he filled out a bit. It's never been a problem before but it might be an issue.
Thirdly he could just be a little stiff after having had a few really hard days of work that he's not used to, and just felt a little fatigued.
We thought we'd leave it til Saturday until we exercise again and we'll go from there. However, when I was grooming him later on I noticed he had a fifty pence sized, weeping sore where his girth goes. He's had these before and we put on a sheepskin girth sleeve to let it heal. Since September though he's been back on a very very soft leather girth which was fine until now-perhaps the increased work and increased sweating has induced it. Anyway I wondered whether or not it being painful on his side would make him unwilling to move properly and uncomfortable. Can this happen? He is a bit of a wuss. It seemed possible as when being lunged without tack today he was ok.
Thanks for reading this far, I'd love to know your thoughts about the mystery-ailment!
ie he's very green
