Horse lost his spark, advice please

Kokopelli

Kokopelli

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So my 5 yo Appaloosa gelding has just recently lost his spark, when we first got him he was always trying to wizz around and he would take me into the fences (he didn't rush he just took me in).

In the last couple of weeks he's just been normal and I kind of miss the old Koko, he doesn't take me into the fences as much and I feel as if he is going to stop.

I'm beggining to wonder of he is going to be able to event when he has matured as most eventers are hot blooded and now I would think he'd get tired after the dressage.

Here is a video of him jumping, I had him two days in this video and I know he rushed his fences occasionally.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=utS8ncCd4MI
 
is he just a bit stale? have you tried giving him a week or two off?

is he too hot? ron goes really sleepy and lazy when he;s too hot.

have you changed his feed to a lower energy one? or increased his exercise? it could just be that he hasn't got enough energy for what you're asking him to do.
 
What feed is he on?

Could he be deficient in Vit E? I had my old boy on basically the same feed for 3 yrs and then one summer he went really flat. A couple of horses up my yard had been blood tested as being definicient in Vit, so I popped him on a supplemend Selenevite and he picked up immediately.
 
Navicular can very often put a horse of and make them feel unhappy especially about jumping without actually being lame. It can come and go but if at the moment if he has sore paws he may not be wanting to do anything. I knew a horse once who stopped eating when his feet hurt but then a week later was back eventing as normal.

Trial and error till you find the coarse and he lets you know whats upsetting him....good luck I know how worrying it can be
 
We don't feed him anything, we were planning on feeding him up about september time ready for the Autumn/ winter, however we might start him on some Blue Chip Pro as its what I will give in the winter along with some chaff and sugar beet.

He isn't stale he still loves his work ears pricked he's just a little less eager. We just got a new jump saddle and his GP and dressage flocked and re fitted so he isn't in pain.

If anything because of the heat we have lowered his exercise. Perhaps it is just the heat which is making him lerthagic.
 
I think that you need to run through everything in your routine, make sure nothings changed that could cause it. Then, think about when he is less sparky, is it all the time, just when you ride, or just jumping etc?
The cheaper option is of course to give him a holiday and see if he gets better, then if not, think about having the vet in.

If it were my horses, I would holiday them first, then when I started doing stuff again I would leave the jumping, or schooling or whatever seemed to be the thing that makes him 'down' and do completely different stuff for a few weeks. ie, hacking, going in the sea, massages, groundwork, I also occasionally make an 'obstacle' course and play on that, I even try practising gymkhana games!!! Just to make their life interesting.

Obviously if it gets no better, you need to have him checked out. But remember, it is very hot. And also, he is only a baby.
 
Thankyou, I might give him a week off see how he is and just hack him instead of school. We jump once a week always doing a diff exercise such as grids, mini courses, loose jumping etc.

The problem is he hates the vet (previous thread was about him trying to kill the vet) so a bit relluctent to get the vet out but if he does not improve I will.

We have got the back person coming out in a few weeks so I might just hack him between now and then. I also have a tonne of mounted games stuff from when I did it on my 12.2 so might dig that out and give him a spin on the bending poles :)
 
I would do eaxactly that hunni!
My beastie used to be a little terror and then when i taught him how to jump he loved it - he would take me into the jumps but then he backed off....
I took him off work and round farm rides - kept off his mouth unless i had to...pick what you and him enjoy the most and do it for fun...go for a mad crazy gallop or summat!
He will pick up :)
 
Maybe just maturing?

Have you tried blood liquid? A lot of the horses on my yard are looking a bit flat at the minute and my nutritionsit mate has advised this stuff to 'reanimate them'!
 
I think I will get a nutritionist out aswell as I want him to have a balanced diet whilst he's maturing. It just dawned on me that because of all the dry weather we've been having he may not have been getting as much grass as he had before the heat, so I think Iw ill also start feeding now so I know he's definatly got enough to eat :)

Thanks for the advice everyone, suprised I got no crit for my bad riding hahah :p
 
Crackajack said:
What on earth is that??? :confused::eek::D
Click to expand...

It's just a tonic apparently it "contains necessary vitamins and minerals required for red blood cell production and performance". If the horse is slightly anemic (sp) it makes them feel a bit lethargic and this stuff peps them up and sorts out the bloods. Procell Plus and Redcell are the same sort of stuff.
 
blood liquid or enerG (both by naf, think blood liquid is being phased out) is a blood tonic with b vits and iron. it's fab stuff i highly recommend it. most decent feed shops will sell it!

you'll need to give him a 4 week course ideally, but i normally find that you can see a difference in about 2 weeks if you're going to get one!
 
I would probably suggest taking a blood sample to test for virus/bacterial infection. its not uncommon for horses to become a little less enthusiastic (if not show more dramatic signs) when they have an infection.
 
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