Lameness

young horse-needs time off and proper fittening work. be honest with how much ittening he has had and how much work is he doing? how much time has he had off to recover?
 
Nightmare before Christmas said:
Horse has been in fitness work since july last year. Yes he is competing now but has had a carefully managed program to get it to where it is now
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According to your posts, horse came back into ridden work in dec, only started jumping under saddle in Jan of this year, and you have subsequently had him out competing on a weekly basis jumping BN and Disco.

To go from nothing to jumping up to 1.10 tracks at shows in around two months is not taking it slowly in anyone's books.
 
xspiralx said:
According to your posts, horse came back into ridden work in dec, only started jumping under saddle in Jan of this year, and you have subsequently had him out competing on a weekly basis jumping BN and Disco.

To go from nothing to jumping up to 1.10 tracks at shows in around two months is not taking it slowly in anyone's books.
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Yes thats what I posted on here. After my trip to newmarket he had a strict lunging program (kind of make or break fittening work). He did some work under saddle through the summer along with lunging and an attempt at hacking. He was also lose jumped ect. He started real work under saddle in Nov when the menage was built and built up to now all under the supervision of my vet/physio. The first time a problem was presented he had been sat on about 5 times and done very light work.
 
If we're talking hind leg lameness, I'd try a month or so off completely then loads of hacking. All paces, hills, roads, tracks, wherever. Really build up his/her strength. Then see what happens when you try some schooling after about three more months (if you don't have any more set backs).

ETA and don't jump for like, six months.
 
I think it would be unfair to the animal to just PTS because he is no longer financially viable to you. I know so many people who would love to give him a chance, or any horse like him.

He sounds like a great horse and has already given so much to you, consider that maybe you owe him a little happiness too.

I really hope the vet goes well tomorrow, for his sake. :)
 
Flame_ said:
If we're talking hind leg lameness, I'd try a month or so off completely then loads of hacking. All paces, hills, roads, tracks, wherever. Really build up his/her strength. Then see what happens when you try some schooling after about three more months (if you don't have any more set backs).
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This is forelimb. Its very very very slight lameness. Some people have found it hard to spot but I know its there and I know its an issue.
 
Switcheroo said:
I think it would be unfair to the animal to just PTS because he is no longer financially viable to you. I know so many people who would love to give him a chance, or any horse like him.

He sounds like a great horse and has already given so much to you, consider that maybe you owe him a little happiness too.

I really hope the vet goes well tomorrow, for his sake. :)
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I know this. I have been through all options already with various people we are just waiting on scans ect. I have a few ideas depending on what comes up its just gutting that this isnt a one off incident
 
Flame_ said:
If we're talking hind leg lameness, I'd try a month or so off completely then loads of hacking. All paces, hills, roads, tracks, wherever. Really build up his/her strength. Then see what happens when you try some schooling after about three more months (if you don't have any more set backs).

ETA and don't jump for like, six months.
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Jumping doesnt set it off. First time he had jumped once over a x pole but lameness presented much after that. This time its presented after a period of rest
 
Honestly I'm just staggered that you would even contemplate putting a four year old to sleep when all you have to go off is some vague lameness.

Being fit to lunge on the flat and do some loose schooling is totally different to jumping two full up classes at a show once or even twice a week - that's a lot of physical strain you will have been putting him under with a very short time frame to build up the strength for that. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he was sore.
 
xspiralx said:
Honestly I'm just staggered that you would even contemplate putting a four year old to sleep when all you have to go off is some vague lameness.

Being fit to lunge on the flat and do some loose schooling is totally different to jumping two full up classes at a show once or even twice a week - that's a lot of physical strain you will have been putting him under with a very short time frame to build up the strength for that. I wouldn't be at all surprised if he was sore.
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I would only pts if there was an under lying weakness that would prevent a horse from doing a job, not because its a bit lame at the moment. I dont mind your opinion but I trust the opinion of my vets/physio/coaches and lecturers who have all helped through the development of this horse
 
Insurance won't pay a penny if PTS for that, might be able to claim LOU but they hard to get out of, if of no use to you why not see if someone you know might want him and take a shot at getting him sound, very young still, done alot in short time maybe if someone takes him and brings him on slow over next 2 years or so he might come sound , I'd say worth a shot. I think you would find someone to take him, he seems a nice horse and only slight lameness.

Understand you can't keep him financially , but worth seeing if someone else wants to take a punt on him seems you won't get any money for him anyway. I've a young one, well 6 now and this is why I was wary of jumping him u till his 6 th year even now we taking it very slow, I was warned by my vet when I bought him allow him time to mature slowly, no pressure at all for first could of years.
 
if prognosis is horse will come sound and do job I will of course keep him. He can rest and ill get another to jump till this one can jump again. Its more a question of how many times do you keep trying and how long do you give a horse like this. Never had this issue before. I am interested to get some answers now
 
I had a Dutch horse was going nicely at the BS for couple years then sudden onset of u explained foreleg lameness , would land a fence and you would of thought her leg broken unable to weight bear , but within 20 mins walking on it then next day 100% sound

Called vet he had no idea where to start as was looking at a sound horse, the lameness only happened randomly and if course vet was never there, happened about 6 times and all I have my horse for is to jump, I was at a loss what to do, vet could find nothing but horse was of no use to me as the random lameness kept happening

I gave her away to someone I knew and she is of use to them, not to me as I wanted to do BS. She now has a lovely home and I still get to see her, PTS did cross my mind as she was 12 and I did not know what I could do with her as she was not a easy horse to deal with, but I could not put down a horse that although no use to me was if use to someone else, she never been lame since but then has never jumped again.
 
I think you need to put this in Competing. If you are seriously ambitious then you will need to be ruthless about getting shot of horses that just aren't sound enough. This one might be though, if you change your training and management approach, he still sounds very young.
 
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I would also be wary of doing lots of lunging with a young horse. Constant circling is very hard on their joints even when they don't have a lameness issue.
 
Ludoctro said:
I had a Dutch horse was going nicely at the BS for couple years then sudden onset of u explained foreleg lameness , would land a fence and you would of thought her leg broken unable to weight bear , but within 20 mins walking on it then next day 100% sound

Called vet he had no idea where to start as was looking at a sound horse, the lameness only happened randomly and if course vet was never there, happened about 6 times and all I have my horse for is to jump, I was at a loss what to do, vet could find nothing but horse was of no use to me as the random lameness kept happening

I gave her away to someone I knew and she is of use to them, not to me as I wanted to do BS. She now has a lovely home and I still get to see her, PTS did cross my mind as she was 12 and I did not know what I could do with her as she was not a easy horse to deal with, but I could not put down a horse that although no use to me was if use to someone else, she never been lame since but then has never jumped again.
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Glad your horse found a nice suitable home. My horse gets no worse with work its very weird. No heat and no swelling, no pain response on palpation. He has never been very lame nor shown pain after a fence ect. He is still very keen to be out and running around which obviously I am not letting him do until I have a clearer picture. All his scans were clear last year with Sue Dyson and thats where his work program came from. Julie Ellis (some of you know her) has helped with diet and work load ect. He is doing much much less than he was bought to do and much less than horses his age. I know if this horse was with anyone else it would have been pushed much much harder and this would most likely be ignored
 
Flame_ said:
I think you need to put this in Competing. If you are seriously ambitious then you will need to be ruthless about getting shut of horses that just aren't sound enough. This one might be though, if you change your training and management approach, he still sounds very young.
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I wish I had put this in competing now :D Nevermind. All my contacts are professionals and so I am used to discussing horses in a business type manner so apologies for that! I have given this particular horse a much easier time than I have been advised by some people
 
Nightmare before Christmas said:
I wish I had put this in competing now :D Nevermind. All my contacts are professionals and so I am used to discussing horses in a business type manner so apologies for that! I have given this particular horse a much easier time than I have been advised by some people
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But sometimes a bit of fluffiness, and advice from the hippies might make you see things more kindly? It is a shame for horses that are just commodities, especially if they are expected to perform when they aren't right, which it sounds like some of your advisers advocate. You listen to your conscience about what to do with the horse, and if it tells you you ought to be patient, then try to make yourself be patient.
 
Flame_ said:
But sometimes a bit of fluffiness, and advice from the hippies might make you see things more kindly? It is a shame for horses that are just commodities, especially if they are expected to perform when they aren't right, which it sounds like some of your advisers advocate. You listen to your conscience about what to do with the horse, and if it tells you you ought to be patient, then try to make yourself be patient.
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Dont worry said horse is totally spoilt rotten! I am in the middle of the two mindsets but I am very much focused on competing. Shall see what this years verdict is for this one and maybe look for another to keep me busy depending what the outcome is :)
 
Nightmare before Christmas said:
This was by recommendation of a specialist and physio
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I believe you.

I was taught how to get horses back to full fitness by an ex racehorse lass and she was adamant that the local competition yard had a lot of recurring injuries because they didn't do enough straight line work and they went through the fittening process too quickly. Comp yard always followed their Vet's advice to the letter.
 
Right...so because we are questioning why you would PTS a 4 year old with very slight lameness issues with havent been fully investigated we are fluffy bunnies.....

bonkers, utterly bonkers.

Poor horse.
 
TBH this thread reads that you want us to agree with PTS. A four year old is still very immature. He does sound like he's done too much too soon, back off a bit and try again slowly.
 
He is in his 5th year. Ill will update tomorrow. I just wanted any past experience with this kind of thing other than that of my coaches horse. If vet tells me too much too soon then fair enough but I have been in touch with my vet throughout this year so she knows exactly what ive been doing with this one
 
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