mare refuses to trot, tries canter instead

[masse]

Looking for advice as I'm so very worried about my mare. :S She is a 15.2 ISH type. The vet is coming out tomorrow and saddler and physio coming next week, but I'm just so worried about it all and was wondering if anybody on here had any similar experiences or suggestions. Apologies for the impending essay...

Mare is usually very forward, with lots of hind action, nice floaty trot and beautiful "jump-up" canter (beautiful hind action and very uphill). However, since early March, she has been increasingly difficult about doing trot work in the school (in all schools I have ridden her in, not just one particular school). She just doesn't want to trot -- if she can't walk, she'd rather canter. If I do manage to make her trot she only does it begrudgingly, not at all as forward and floaty as she usually is. Doing walk-to-trot transitions she pulls her ears back (and she almost NEVER pulls her ears back), pulls her head up (knock-rider-unconscious-style), pushes her back down, tenses, bounces on the spot and then tries to break into canter instead. The behaviour is also very slightly worse on the left rein than the right rein, and in particular on circles (even really big circles). She is much better on straight lines in the school and she is completely fine when out hacking or when on the lunge without rider. In addition to not wanting to trot, she has also started getting annoyed (ears back, tension) when I close my leg/seat around her. So I have tried making her go into trot with voice command only, without contact and without using any seat or leg, and she is still unhappy about it.

The onset of this issue (in early March) initially coincided with a bacterial infection she had and I thought this might have part of the reason for her reluctance to trot. However, the infection has been treated and she is back in work since two weeks now but the trotting problem is only getting worse (it was very very subtle to begin with). Canter and walk is perfectly fine, and hacking out or lunging she also trots as normal with no issue.

For the time being I'm not riding her at all as I'm worried it will make the issue worse.

Some notes:
-- I can't find any soreness anywhere on her back or abdomen (or anywhere else).
-- There isn't any heat or swelling anywhere.
-- She was seen by the physio and the saddler less than a month before the issue started.
-- She is great on the ground, seems very happy and healthy in every way.
-- I've trotted her up for very experienced YO and various other people and no one can see any lameness.
-- She is fine tacking up, no pulling faces or anything, just happily stands there.
-- The day when it started the horses had been in all day due to horrific weather so I just thought she was a bit stiff from standing inside all day.
-- She hasn't come into season this year yet, so one of my ideas was she might have veeeery drawn-out PMT-type issues. Is this even possible? She is on NAF Oestress since a week back but so far no difference. She isn't mareish at all, very sweet and happy and cuddly to all and everyone at all times. I don't think I've ever (!) seen her even pull her ears back at other horses, whether in season or not.
-- I've tried pulling her tail to both sides and make her push her back up/tuck under; SI action seems symmetrical and she doesn't seem at all bothered doing these exercises.

My ideas so far:
-- attitude (she has settled in at yard by now; she has been there for two months and seems much more confident in herself now)
-- saddle fit (saddler + physio coming out next week)
-- hormonal issues (sore ovaries)
-- bilateral stifle or fetlock issues (making soft arena a lot harder for her than hard road hacking)
-- sore feet (she has always only had front shoes; this hasn't caused any issues in the past and she seems perfectly happy trotting on hard ground)
-- teeth

Anyway congrats to anyone who made it through the essay (sorry)! Any advice or any experiences others may have had with similar issues would be so much appreciated, I'm so worried about her. :'(

 

[Birker2020]

I think it might be because she is sore in a particular muscle group which comes into play in trot but doeesn't in canter. It may be because of this - it will be interesting to get the thoughts of your physio as they will probably be best placed to tell you whats wrong by watching the horse move on the lunge and/or under saddle.

 

[timbobs]

I had something similar with my boy. He start to do a half trot/canter and his transitions were awful. He was better on straight lines, but struggled on a circle. Turned out to be the saddle causing issues- hopefully it's something easy for you to fix!

 

[be positive]

Hopefully your vet will be able to give you some answers but the thing that jumps out at me from you post is that the first day it showed was when she had stood in, it is possible she tied up slightly and the muscles are still in spasm, look up PSSM and see if this could fit her symptoms, I have a livery here that started to move differently, almost hopping in trot but not lame, we have just started trying her on supplements to see if they help although she has been moving ok for some time now, mares are more prone to tying up and they only horses I have ever known do so were mares.

It doesn't sound as if it is due to attitude, it could be due to ovaries but I would expect more signs of discomfort or mareish behaviour, it may be bilateral lameness and that is the most likely first route for your vet to check, possibly a bute trial if nothing obvious shows tomorrow, please come back and update if you get a diagnosis.

 

[Pinkvboots]

sounds like a saddle issue as she okay on the lunge and straight lines.

 

[BethH]

You know I wonder about hind gut ulcers. My horse had a bacterial/viral infection (amongst everything else that went wrong with him!) last year and became quite run down and then developed a huge intolerance to alfalfa/lucerne, he is very forward going and stopped being so, to the point he couldn't even hold trot for more than a few steps and was very reluctant to work properly. Apparently there was a possibility the hind gut good bacteria was affected. I put him on a 14 day course of of Protexein Recover Aid and followed by a month of their gut balancer and it seemed to really help his energy levels & movement. Apparently most supplements don't carry enough of the good bacteria to get through to repopulate the hind gut and this is what the Recover Aid aims to do. Lack of forwardness can be down to gut discomfort so might be worth a try.

It's not horrendously expensive but I also should mention he did have some stress on his hocks from poor foot balance previous to that happening so might be worth a look at her movement too as that can cause a lack of power and forwardness.