in need of help

W

Walker91

New User
Joined
21 August 2013
Messages
1
Visit site
Wondering if anyone has any advice or tips that they could give me...

I've owned my 16.3hh TBX now for a bout 9 years and he has always loved being worked, or going for a hack or jumping, but now suddenly all that has changed. We've always known that he has a sensitive back and in the past he has not been happy about you touching it or playing around with it and it often caused him to bite people or threaten to kick them. He has never exactly been the most friendly of horses anyway but when it came to his back it got a lot worse. Over the years we've had various back people out to look at him and no one could see a problem, except one who suggested the muscles may have gone into spazzam, but he had treatment for that and his mood got better. However...

About four months ago he started to become difficult when riding. He would swish his tail about a lot, not move forwards properly and would often throw out the odd buck. He wouldn't even walk up the road on a hack without stopping four or five times and throwing a strop. I started to put it down to behaviour but as it progressed it got worse until it came to a stage when we had no forward movement at all just a lot of walking, a lot of bucking, head throwing and kicking out. No matter how much you either talked or pushed him into it, he just wasn't going forwards. I eventually called the vet out who told me that his back was in a lot of pain, due to a loss of muscle and that the saddle was making it worse. I was told by her to remove the saddle and only focus on groundwork for a couple of months and see how we got on. For the last four months I have been only doing work over poles, either flat or or raised, and also light lunging. I really focused on putting the poles out anywhere they landed and not set spaced apart so that he had to think about where he was putting each leg and not just rush over them. I also did a lot of massage work on his back and lots of stretching of the neck and legs and tail. He took to the exercises really well and now the change in his back is amazing. There is so much more muscle than there was before and he is completely happy to let you touch his back. He has stopped all the biting and the kicking and even his general mood in himself has changed and his is now a much happier horse!

My sister and I borrowed a reactor saddle off of a friend and we decided to give it a go and see how he was. The saddle fitted him perfectly and he didn't mind about it going on or coming off again. We decided to have a sit on his back, which again he stood perfectly still for. (before he would have shook his head or moved etc) we took him into the school and walked him round a few times and he was perfect and we got a nice few laps of trot and it was almost like having my old horse back. Although suddenly from out of no where he started to play up again and he wouldn't move forwards into trot and wasn't happy when you asked him to do so. (ears went right back, kicking out and threatening to rear or buck)

We know that there is a good chance that it his not his back any more and the saddle fits perfectly. He had his teeth checked a few months ago and they were fine so I am literally at a complete loss as to what it could be that is causing it. My sister suggested it may be napping and behavioural and we are taking him to a different yard soon to try and ride him there and see how he goes and if he's no better then I will call the vet out again but I just wondered if anyone had any advice or knowledge or ideas as to what is wrong with him and what I should/can do to help bring him back!

Thank you :)
 
Do you know for certain the borrowed saddle fitted perfectly? I would suggest from his behaviour that perhaps it didn't. It may have felt more comfortable initially than his old saddle but then the behaviour started again.

I have no experience with Reactor saddles but I would definitely be getting a proper saddle fitter out and resigning myself to spending some cash on a new saddle. I would also highly recommend using a Suber pad, they are fantastic. Also consider treeless. They are not everyone's cup of tea but I have had two problem horses go extremely well in them. Treeless plus a Suber pad has made a world of difference to my Cleveland Bay.
 
exactly what nudibranch said, could you perhaps try a treeless saddle first or get one fitted as an interim measure until his back problems are fully resolved if you would rather stick to a treed saddle in the long term? Also although he has improved I would see if you could find a good physio to continue working with.
 
Sounds very symptomatic of a back problem to me, possible something like kissing spines which I believe can only be detected by x ray.

I would be going down the vet route again, then follow up with a decent , qualified Master saddler.
 
Last edited:
Well for starters only put a saddle on tha you know absolutely fits him. Out of interest have you tried riding him bare back.

I had a horse with a bad back - spent a lot of money on a Mctimothy practitioner etc. Turned out it was actually his feet that were the problem - which resulted in a bad back through him compensating.

So, once you've had the back checked again - I'd say it's probably worth looking at the feet. X rays discovered coffin joint disease in mine.
 
Last edited:
The horse is clearly in pain. Can't you see that?

It sounds like he has re-injured himself whilst you were riding.

Whether the cause of the injury is the saddle fit, a too tight girth, your riding style, your weight (I'm not calling you fat, I've never met you, but its possible the back was only ok without any weight on it), a reoccurrance of an old problem, a new problem, a minor temporary problem eg a bruise and solved by dismounting and untacking, or a serious problem that won't resolve itself - its anyone's guess.

So stop guessing and get it investigated by the vet.

I can't believe you've been riding this horse in so much pain for so long. The poor animal sounds like its had problems for years. :mad3:
 
I am so sorry you are having so many problems. it sounds to me very much pain related (take it from me I have a horse that had terrible issues with his back) have you every considered it could be kissing spine?! Obvioulsy I am not a vet and the only want to diagnose it is with x-rays. Have you done a bute trial to see if his attitude changes???
To be honest I think you have invested so much time I would stop trying to work it out and take him to the vets and let them xray him from his withers down (that is what I did) and they will soon find the issue. Any questions let me know
xx
 
Or the muscle wastge is caused by a back issue.....chicken and egg!!

If it was my horse I would want a full work up done plus spinal x rays before investing in the saddler.
 
Sugar_and_Spice said:
The horse is clearly in pain. Can't you see that?

It sounds like he has re-injured himself whilst you were riding.

Whether the cause of the injury is the saddle fit, a too tight girth, your riding style, your weight (I'm not calling you fat, I've never met you, but its possible the back was only ok without any weight on it), a reoccurrance of an old problem, a new problem, a minor temporary problem eg a bruise and solved by dismounting and untacking, or a serious problem that won't resolve itself - its anyone's guess.

So stop guessing and get it investigated by the vet.

I can't believe you've been riding this horse in so much pain for so long. The poor animal sounds like its had problems for years. :mad3:
Click to expand...

This.

Get the vet before you do any more damage to the poor thing. I would also look at his diet and stop feeding him anything other than grass/hay for a month.
 
A perfect example of why, IMO, it is so so dangerous of people to be calling 'back' people out prior to actually getting a vet have a look first off. My first port of call would always be a vet for these matters.
 
I could agree more only a vet can diagnose and they must be the first port of call
My horses see a physio regularily and she sends a written report after each visit to the vet so they do see the physio without the vet .
Ops horse needs a proper work up at the surgery from an equine vet.
 
I totally agree that the only way forward is to get an equine vet to do a full examination. When you next get to riding, obviously be advised by your vet, but I would avoid immediately going in a school and trotting and would opt for slow hacks. Good luck.
 
I'm prepared to be shot down here but you could try an animal communicator or a reike practitioner, lots of people have had good experiences with these. However I think you should definitely stop riding the horse until his problem has been diagnosed, treated & improved to the extent of being painless.
 
Mari said:
I'm prepared to be shot down here but you could try an animal communicator or a reike practitioner, lots of people have had good experiences with these. However I think you should definitely stop riding the horse until his problem has been diagnosed, treated & improved to the extent of being painless.
Click to expand...

Oh god please, do NOT be advising this sort of thing where an animal is suffering. Sorry, it really gets to me. I have no issues with people following their own beliefs where an animal is not suffering in the meantime, and if you are meaning after the horse is looked at and treated (if necessary) by a vet, then I apologise.
 
Another possibility is learned reaction and fear of pain. This saddle may fit but because the old one hurt horse so badly then they anticipate the pain occurring. Took me months to get my horse to accept me mounting as previous saddle with old owner had caused lots of pain.
Ps sorry if i have missed something obvious in op that rules this out- its late!
 
Mari said:
I'm prepared to be shot down here but you could try an animal communicator or a reike practitioner, lots of people have had good experiences with these. However I think you should definitely stop riding the horse until his problem has been diagnosed, treated & improved to the extent of being painless.
Click to expand...

Excellent idea as part of a holistic treatment - AFTER the animal has been seen and diagnosed by the vet.
 
Moomin1 said:
Oh god please, do NOT be advising this sort of thing where an animal is suffering. Sorry, it really gets to me. I have no issues with people following their own beliefs where an animal is not suffering in the meantime, and if you are meaning after the horse is looked at and treated (if necessary) by a vet, then I apologise.
Click to expand...
I went down the AC route as a complete sceptic when the vet and physio couldn't agree on where primary problem was.
Went to referral vet and asked after x-rays and bone scan were ambiguous to x-ray area horse indicated was painful. Bingo! Even though there had been no take up at the bone scan stage, there is a long standing injury that the vet reckons would be quite achey .... Just as horse had indicated.
I must say though I didn't tell anybody why I wanted that part x-rayed :o
 
It is not behavioural, it is quite clearly a bad back! Either he isn't ready to be ridden yet, or he has an issue which is a problem when ridden. Why would riding him somewhere different change that? Horses IME always have a reason for this type of behaviour - pain!! It sounds like your horse has been in pain since you got him, maybe before. 2 months of groundwork isn't going to undo years of pain. As others have said, get the vet again, get everything checked
 
I would be very confident to say that I bet this is kissing spine. With kissing spine it is paramount that you regularly and consistently do muscle building exercises and get them to stretch over their top, long and low, which you have been doing. This will strengthen his spine and ease the pain.

However it does sound as though that is not enough for him. I would strongly recommend either having an MRI scan/x-rays done on his back to see if they show up. These will then show the level of kissing spine and the vet wll either be able to offer steroid injections in between the dorsals or surgery. I personally wouldn't go down the surgery route as it is very very risky both during op and post op.

The steroids will need to be left to work for 2 weeks and then you can commence light work, slowly building it back up. If he works well on steroids these can be administered every 3-6 months.

Good luck and do hope it isn't kissing spine as it can be a horrible condition to deal with.
 
I'd be wanting an xray doing.

This horse is clearly in pain and telling you the only way he knows how. I know of someone whose vet told him the clearly pained horse was fine. Different vet, severe back problem.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top