Issues when getting on horse!!

[devilinajar]

Sorry this may be long!!
First a little bit of back ground,
I ride my friends 16yr old cob cross mare. She told me she has had issues in the past getting on the mare from the ground, so she will only get on her from a leg up. For the past 2 and a half years i have ridden her, and always got on from the mounting block with out a problem.
Around feb the mare fell over in the field and hurt either her back or neck, which resulted in her being unridable for nearly 4 month, the first 2 months she struggled to control her rear end. Vet put her on steroids and this has done the trick.
I started ridding her again towards the end of June, and didnt has any issues getting on her untill about 3 weeks ago. At first she would run backwards at my first attemp to get on, but was then after that. Then last sunday as i got on in the drive to hack out, she ran backwards then dropped her shoulder resulting in me hitting the deck very hard. No broken bones, so tried to get on again, the poor mare looked terrified and did the same again, luckilly this time i was in the school. I eventually was given a leg up and she was fine with this. Since then i can only get on her from a leg up.
I really dont know what is wrong with her, as the owner says this is how she used to be, but my gut instinct tells me there is something wrong as she is now very slugish on our hacks.
Please can you give me some suggestions as to what might be wrong. I have spoken to the owner and she said she will get her back checked, but i get the impression she wont hurry about it.

This pic was taken 5 weeks ago.

Wine and chocs for getting this far!!

 

[Snowysadude]

Advise getting her back checked asap. My boy was the same and he showed real sudden signs of being cold backed when he moved yards (dont know what happened). Turned out he has kissing spine and the steroids he had injected have done the trick. He had had steroids before which we didnt know about (found out from the people that sent him back to the dealer - long story!) and it wasnt until they stopped working that he started being silly - it was just a response to the pain from the pressure of all the weight being hauled onto him from one side. Like your mare he was abseloutley fine from a leg up.

To mount him for a long time I had to have someone holding a carrot (hes a pig) in front of his nose to remind him getting on wasnt a bad thing. whilst i got on then walk off with it to encourage him to go fowards, not backwards or up.

But until the owner agrees to have the back checked Im not sure there is much you can do other than mabye use a friend to hold her or hold carrots

 

[devilinajar]

Thanks for that Snowysadude,
I dont really know anything about kissing spine, is this some thing that can come on quite suddenly, as iv not had an issue getting on untill just resently?? At the min im getting a leg up, but someone has to stand at her neck hugging her, so that she doesnt see me getting on. It is all really confusing me, today i got on her and me and the owner went out on a hack, and for the first time ever in canter i had to work for every step. Normally i have to hold her back.

 

[xxRachelxx]

First of all let me say that she is gorgeous! It sounds like she is cold backed, but due to the recent problem you def need to convince your friend to get her back checked ASAP as there may be a serious problem going on. Does she flinch at all if you run your hands over her back. If in pain some horses will literally sit down if you put pressure on their back where it hurts. She has possibly got an old injury which is why she had always been abit unsure with mounting and this new problem could have set it all off again. I also find it quite worrying that she had trouble controlling her back end? Did the vet have any suggestions about this? Sorry, I don't feel like i've been much help!

 

[Letslip]

Definitely get her back checked asap sounds like there could be a very real problem, I wouldn't like to hazard a guess as to what it could be, will leave that up to the experts.

Have you spoken to the vet re this, as you or the owner will have to anyway to clear having the back person come to check the horse. Vet first, back person second, but would hurry with both of them before one or both of you are hurt!

 

[devilinajar]

Thanks Rachel, even tho she isnt mine i love her so much. The owner has hed her since she was 4. WHen she had her accident earlier this year, the vet said she had selling somewhere down her spinal canal thast was pinching the verves to her back end, it was very much touch and go as to weather she would make it. For the first 2 weeks after she lived in the school just incase she fell over. Her back end if fine know, but as she will not travel we couldnt get her scanned to find out exactly were the problem was in the first place.

 

[Pearlsasinger]

IME 'cold-backed' is just an old-fashioned term to describe horses with a mounting problem.
I'd recommend a back check before any-one else rides this horse. My horse needed over 3 months off with a bad back (muscle problems) earlier this year. We don't know what caused the problem but the vet diagnosed muscle wastage and treated it with acupuncture. She is fine now. (Although I have only sat on her a few times since but that's a whole other story....)

 

[Tinypony]

Yes get her checked physically first.
However, I'm interested when you say it's OK to get on if someone makes sure she can't see you. Hmmm... Is it that clear? In other words, if she was wearing blinkers you could get on safely? (Not saying do that, but trying it once would prove that point I guess). If you can get on fine from a leg-up, 100% of the time with no problems at all, then I'm thinking the back may be a red herring.
What about her eyesight? Has that been checked?

 

[Steorra]

Suggest getting her back checked, and also her saddle. The injury and subsequent time off may well have caused her to change shape.

I hope you get to the bottom of it.