Help! Runnignout of ideas!

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Kmmilner

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Hi We have a horse that you would traditionally describe as "cold backed". She is an 11 year old ex-racehorse and is a mare. We have had her since she was 3 and has always been difficult to get on. It started off with just fidgeting moved on to shooting off at trot or canter as soon as you get in the saddle and has progressed to rearing and in the last couple of weeks has thrown me or my sister off 3 times. She is a very senstive and tense horse, over the past 2 to 3 years he has had a lot of physio therapy to try and sort out the tension in her back, this works for a short time but then flairs up again, she has been through about 5 saddles trying to find a perfect fit and currently has a wintec changable gullet with cair so we can adjust it regularly as she changes shape between summer and winter. To cut a long story short, I am beginning to think the physio is curing the symptoms but we need to get tot he cause of the problem. She has saw the vet 2 weeks ago who check her for lameness including flextion test and she is not lame. He then X-rayed her back for kissing spines, non-found but a couple of vertebre are close together so gave her a steroid injection in her back and sent us away with 10 days bute and asked us to ride her once the swelling from the injection had gone down. The bute and the injection has made no difference and the vet thinks it is phycological. She is booked in next week to check for stomach ulcers, blood test and check ovaries (not marish at all though) all of which the vet thinks are a long shot but is willing to rule out. Sorry for the long description but basically has anyone got anyother ideas of what could be wrong with her that I can get checked. I want to make sure there is nothing causing her pain to create the tension before I go down the route of trying to tackle it phycologically!!

Also assuming that it turns out to be phycological, any suggestions of where to go next would also be great.
 
Sorry you are having a tough time of it. It does sound phycological as you have pretty much looked at all physical options.
If she were mine, I would consider retiring her, as at 11 years old, I would be wondering if its all too much to start again, and retraining her brain, but you know her more than me!

I would wait til all tests are back to rule every physical out, and then see what your vet suggests. Good luck!
 
Have you tried a different physio? I was using one that was recommended to me, had 2 treatments on my horse and 2 months rest. Turned out horse still had exactly the same problem as I started with. Used a different physio and the problem is now well on the way to being sorted.
Always worth a second opinion. The first one I used was a McTimoney practioner and as I said, came highly recommended. Turns out, just not right for me with this particular horse and problem.
Good luck :)
 
Hi Thanks for all the messages, we have considered retiring her but if we do I was considering breeding from her as except for the getting on problem, she is a great allround, really well put together and great to handle but obviously dont want to pass any of this on to a foal so would still like to get to the bottom of it!

She has seen a physio, a mctimoney chiropracter, and an exquine touch practitioner, I was thinking of trying bowen but dont really think it will make much difference.

We tried an equissage on her and that made her worse, she wears a magnetic back pad all night and before and after exercise. We usually lunge her before we ride her and some days this works others it does but she does seem to be better the warmer she is.

One thing that is a bit strange is that once she is warmed up and you have managed to get on you can get on and off her no problem, ie for opening gates out hacking or for putting jumps up etc. its just the first time you try to get on thats the difficult bit.
 
Try the old fashioned way, they use to tack up and leave for 20-30mins for horse to relax and saddle to warm up:) I think that's why they use to call them cold or roached backed horses:):)
 
if you have the 5k to breed a foal then you have the money to find out what the prob is. personally i would get another physio/back person to look, get your saddle/teeth checked again, and then go back to basics. lunge on a pessoa. 2 people one to hold and leg on, one to lay over. get on off from a block 20 times. make the horse stand and reward. also look at the type of girth you have on her. what guage are the magnets she has on overnight? are they bipolar? sounds like a typical cold backed syndrome. Do insist on good manners at all times. please do not breed from her unless you have 5 k to get foal on floor and another 5k to raise foal to 4 years old! sorry you probably already know the costs involved.
 
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My horse had a mystery back issue - he wouldn't let you touch his back or shoulders at all and would get violent if you tried to touch him (he was the most placid horse ever) had all the tests under the sun (x rays, scans, gamma scintigraphy, MRI, nerve blocks etc) and all came back fine. He was due to be PTS.

I had a man out to see him who claims to be magnetic (I'm a total sceptic and thought it was worth the £20 for a laugh, plus horse was due to be PTS so had nothing to lose). Next day he was fine. Man didn't touch him so no idea what he did, but something changed. Best £20 of my life. Sure he'd travel to Essex (I'm in Kent and he is in Surrey), might be bit more than £20 though, but he's not expensive. PM me for his number if you like - he is very interesting to talk to even if you don't use him!
 
Your story reminds me of my TBxWelshD mare, who we got as rising 4 and kept until she was pts at 24. We struggled with her from the age of about 6 until we realised what the problem was when she was aged 12. it turned out that the answer was really simple and we were really kicking ourselves for not realising sooner. She was 'allergic' to the hard feed that we were giving her. She could not digest cereals or sugar and she was very jumpy and sensitive to touch, getting progressively worse each year. Of course even if this is the answer to your problem, it could be different foods which affect your horse.
We had got to the stage of wondering if she had a brain tumour and looking at pts aged 12 as her behaviour was so bizarre.
Hope this helps!
 
I dealt with an ex polo pony just like this years ago and it turns out that having had a few 20st heffers lobbed on her back before now and she can't forget the pain that it caused which makes her tense up and she very nearly broke my nose one day as I was getting on when she chucked her head back and went up.

We used to use 2 people and one would stand in front of her with a scoop of chaff & carrots and feed it to her slowly while the other would get on. It did take a few months to break the thought process with her but once done she was fab !!

Good luck and I hope you get to the bottom of itxxxx
 
Had a problem with my daughter's horse last winter. The day after he was clipped and his first night stabled after being out all summer. Shot forwards in canter a couple of times when she got on. Nothing too serious, then an instructor who was exercising him forgot to do the girth up and the saddle slipped and he bucked her off and went mad. When my daughter tried to get on again he did the same. You could see him tense up as soon as the girth was tightened. Very worrying at the time. For the next four months or so we always lunged him for about 15 - 20 minutes before riding and as my daughter was getting on I stood at his head with a plentiful supply of mints. He was still very worried but this got less and less as time went on. Now we can mount him without lunging but always give him a mint so he associates somebody getting on with a treat. Seems to have worked for us but won't be complacent this winter after he's been stabled. Won't clip him either!

Interesting about food. He was on a different feed last winter. Now only on a top-spec balancer and chaff.
 
Some interesting ideas, some very simple which I had never thought of trying, like distracting her with treats while we try and get on!! Magnetic man sounds interesting but as I am in County Durham think that might be a bit far. Feed wise she gets no hard feed at all in the summer, in the winter she gets Alfa A, Top spec balancer and some unmollased suger beet. We have changed from haylage to hay to see if that makes a difference but no change there. Her back pad is an Aerbourne one not sure on the guage of the magnets. If we draw a blank next week at the vets I think we will try going back to basics with her. If all comes to nothing she will probably end up being a companion for our other horse she is such a sweet horse I dont think I could make the decision to have her PTS.
 
Hi I ride a arab x who does this he is also older and hasnt done it all his life. after all checks it was found to be psychological he would drop his back then rear as soon as u got on but again after 5 mins you could get on/off and he be fine. Basically what I then did was build up a fab bond with him as he was new to me (on loan from family friend).
V quickly i realised i cant tack up with him tied up as he pulls back rears up and ended up on the floor very scared!! So he is now tacked up in the stable loose which can be a nightmare! He has a sheepskin back pad with a riser at back as he has high withers also a numnah all put on gently after brushing him for a while to warm his back, then add the saddle on resting before put on fully, (i have breastgirth so can do that up while saddle on so it doesnt move back) then do girth up v slowly. To get on i get on him from a mounting wall which is level with his back so i can get on slowly, leaning forward as i do so not to put weight on his back, walk a few strides then sit properly a few more then do girth up as much as allows(sometime i have to walk up road or round a few circles in field before can get to correct tightness). He is now much better after lots of perserverance doing this and only me tacking him up he appears to have realsied its not scary. If he is wet when comes in i towel dry or leave in for 30mins with fleece on to dry and warm his back first.

Sorry that was long but thats how i managed now he never rears when getting on and apart from his usual arab strop about being tacked up he is fine with it, i do have to watch him as i put saddle on and do girth up looking for signs of him droppin his back or tightening onto his haunches tho. It is basically all about being patient with him.
 
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