Hocks and driving?

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Pollysmum

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My mare is prone to joint problems, especially her hocks. She has a past history of bone spavin, bursitus and a torn ligament sheath and a previous knee injury. On vet advice I get on her when she is moving well and we plod round the grass, she moves about quite well in the field and at the moment appears sound!
Can anyone tell me if driving puts more strain on the hocks, would she cope better or worse driving than riding? We dont plan to do anything at speed but wonder if its an option to consider and if having no weight of rider would be better for her. She is only 12 yrs old.
Obviously I would take it very steadily getting her going.
I shall speak to my vet too but wondered if anyone had similar experiences.

Thanks Julie.
 
i wouldnt like to say for certain wheter she would be happier driving
but a driving horse has to push into the collar to get the vehicle moving and that effort comes from the hind legs
they also have to sit on the breeching to stop the vehicle so need to brace against it really
 
I have both riding and driving horses/ponies and have experience of spavin.

It might appear better becuase of the absence of the rider weight, and also becuase you tend to not do many circles when driving. :) But on the other hand driving horses need to "step - under" to really be effective and give a smooth ground covering travel.

All the push comes from the hindquarters - but with spavin that should not be such a problem if you are eliminating the torsional stresses. But spavined horses tend not to be so flexin=ble in the hocks and can't step under quite so werll - so you wouldn;t get that lovely forward smooth driving trot - but yes, worthwhile giving it a go and seeing how you get on.
 
Thanks folks.
I may begin starting the process of longreining and see how far we get, Im not after being able to compete or anything spectacular but just thought she may be able to cope with the driving better than ridden. If we end up just being able to go out for walks it would be great although knowing Polly she would enjoy a good trot!!

I see brucea you are in ne scotland? Me too!

Thanks again
 
Think it you need to consider your area, ie hilly or not. I never had my cob shod until he was driving and hes hinds wore right down, his fronts were fine. You have got to remember that although a horse pushes on it shoulders they power from behind.
 
My horses are all barefoot - initially the pony wore his hinds down and squared the toes - but as he grew better feet he wore much less and if he did, it grew back within the week.
 
Fortunatly she has really good feet, shame about the legs but never mind!! She is barefoot and will never have shoes on. It will be a slow process so by the time she is spending lengths of time on the road (if she manages to cope) she will be fine, she used to do lots of hacking barefoot in her pre leg problem days. Its not her feet I worry about its her legs. But thanks for the info.
 
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