Lack of impulsion all of a sudden - ideas?

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mystiandsunny

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Sooooo fed up! She used to almost boil over when I asked her to work more collected and be desperate to run, to the point where if we didn't jump or do some faster work, she'd buck. Now, she's just not interested. I tried giving her time off, tried just gentle hacking for a week or so, checked saddle, tried in a different saddle, got my RI to ride her, but no difference. She was fine at our last show (31st Aug), then had time off after that as I went back to work (school teacher), and just hacked really gently for a few days until I was back in the swing of things. The next time we jumped, we cantered up to a 2ft cross pole and she just stopped in front of it. Things have gone pretty much like that since - flatwork is ok after an initial argument, but with jumping there's just no 'oomph' any more. She'll do it, and I get more oomph with spurs, but I can't use them much as she's too sensitive skinned and they mark her, even the short rounded end ones.

She's not under-fed and def not thin (has that rather well-covered, gleaming with health look going on!). She gets ERS nuts and equilibra, plus ad-lib haylage. She's v v v lami prone so have to be v careful what she eats so no adding of oats unfortunately!

Is she bored? She seemed more interested in the larger fences in our lesson today (actually pulled into them like she used to all the time with any fence), but I'm a bit of a wimp sometimes and find it hard to find the courage to jump above 90cm.
 
Also might be worth re-checking her back. I appreciate you say it's all been checked, but I had a similar situation (regular physio, saddler and vet could not find anything) and it was still a back problem from an ill-fitting saddle.
 
virus is my first thought. i'd get bloods done, to set your mind at rest if nothing else.
have you changed saddle?
if you hack her out with others, does she get her oomph back?
tbh i've never known a horse be bored by small fences. blase and lunatic, yes, needing bigger ones to back him/her off, but never lazier into them, quite the reverse.
hope you get to the bottom of it, sounds very perplexing.
 
I know some folk dont want to hear this but when was the last time you had her back checked? My chestnut went like this, lost umph, refusing etc, but her flatwork was lovely, as usually she is like a can of hot peas sometimes but she was just chilled and did everything I asked of her. But it was when we were jumping that it was obvious there was a problem. It turned out she needed treatment again on her body. Her neck was fixed, back was tight and pelvis slightly rotated.
I have them done regularly as when her flatwork changes, I know its a sign. Also had a lot of problems with her back through crap fitting saddles that were `professionally` fitted.
It could also be a saddle issue.
I also had her bloods checked, and she was given the all clear.
Good Luck, I hope you get it sorted before it gets worse.
 
Hmm - looks too well for a virus - coat shiny, eyes bright etc. Thinking she could have tweaked something in her back at that last show though.

She usually tells me her saddle doesn't fit by biting me when I do the girth up, so I get the saddler out before he can even see a problem until he looks closely (I'm known for being paranoid!).

Will get in touch with physio - hmm, one pony in horsepital, another needing physio - great, cheap month I think NOT!
 
mine went similar recently. got some bloods done and turned out he'd been suffering from some kind of virus. is now on a vitamin/iron supplement and feeling better. he had 2wks off and also got his back and saddles checked.
 
i wouldn't take her shiny coat and bright eyes as proof that she doesn't have a virus, i've had horses with them a few times and they looked fine but went very flat.
i'd second the suggestion of getting her saddle and back checked, definitely. one of my 4 yr olds keeps putting her back out and the moment she does, she goes all sullen on the flat.
 
Virus, back, ulcers - any one of a number of things. The only sign I got/get with my horse who has ulcers is that he goes v stuffy and flat when SJing and I struggle to get a decent canter.

I think a good look from a decent performance horse vet could be useful.
 
As above re: back, virus etc, but also do you do any fast work?
Our jumpers used to get bored with just doing the serious stuff - even though they were hacked out etc, so we would try and take them up to a gallops or round cross country every few months to give them a chance to let rip and brighten them up - may be worth a go?
 
The shiny coat etc. doesnt always mean they are well - if you'd seen photos of mine doing dressage recently you'd have thought he looked in super condition - a week later he was at the vet hospital with bad colic due worms!!!
I also previously had a similar "stopping" problem with my horse, had vet, physio, saddler etc. no one could find a specific problem. Then had someone to sports massage him - well - what a difference! Turns out it was a muscle problem. He had a couple of sessions and was a different horse, so I now have regular (every couple of months) sessions for him as it makes a huge difference to him.
Other than that, echo the above wrt viruses, saddle, etc.
 
If I had to guess from your description - without seeing the horse, which is the most important part of diagnosing a problem so this is really just what it's worth - I'd be inclined to look at her hocks and/or front feet. Before the mania for "doing" backs these were the first two places to look when a horse started stopping/lost forward-ness and both will also cause back pain so finding that is no guarantee there isn't another underlying cause. I'd also look at her neck, as I see more and more horses with neck problems that cause general loss of performance without obvious symptoms, although usually through increased resistance rather than loss of enthusiasm.

TBH, the fact that your horse used to resist in more concentrated work also raises my antennae, especially the "desperate to run" comment. It's POSSIBLE (without seeing the horse yadda yadda yadda
smile.gif
) that she's now telling you the same thing in a different way.

Of course, as said, no way of knowing at all without seeing but at least asking gives you a list of things to start looking at.
 
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