need help, please read!!

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ridinghorsez

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First off ,if possible, please watch this link! It might help you understand the issue : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePjJzq49kiQ&feature=youtube_gdata

Okay so first of all Romeo is a 14.1hh, 8 year old, Welsh D gelding. He has been in the same home for 5 years and has never been lame or had previous injuries.

Around 2 months ago Romeo came up lame in canter. He was very stiff on his hind legs and just didn't seem right. He struggled on bends in particular? A decision was made to give him a few weeks off and see how he went. However after a few weeks no improvement had been made. About a month or so in, the Back man was called out and he could only find that his back was slightly out of line. He fixed this and left us with instructions to walk Romeo out about 4 times then see if he was any better. All this time Romeo has been totally fine in himself and sound at walk. When I came to ride him after him being walked out (See video) he was reluctant to track up in trot and still very stiff and short on his hinds in canter. He wasn't at all a problem to get into canter and he didn't fall out of canter either. He was fairly light to the leg and didn't protest against cantering. However he didn't feel fluent or smooth and felt "Awkward".
The back man came out again today and reviewed him. He couldn't find anything wrong and has left us to walk him out again for a few days. We are running out of options and feel we are going to have to turn to the vet soon as this doesn't seem a problem that will fix itself.

Does anyone have any idea what the problem is and how we can go about fixing our little guy? :( Thankyou
 
Call. The. Vet. It could be anything from his croup to his toe, and all the parts in between. And Back Men/Ladies are extremely variable in their usefulness/competance. It is not possible to move a horses spine, despite what you may have been told.
 
Cortez said:
Call. The. Vet. It could be anything from his croup to his toe, and all the parts in between. And Back Men/Ladies are extremely variable in their usefulness/competance. It is not possible to move a horses spine, despite what you may have been told.
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SAME
 
thankyou both! That is definitely what we will be doing next! We felt a bit scammed when the back man turned up today for about 5 minutes and didn't seem to do anything that would help him :/
 
Where are you? I thought that back people had to have your vet's consent to treat your horse anyway.
Good luck with the vet.
 
We are running out of options and feel we are going to have to turn to the vet soon as this doesn't seem a problem that will fix itself.
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You have many, many options - one of them being the vet.
 
I don't think you are running out of options. I would think the vet is the first and most obvious option. Is there a reason you don't want the vet? I would have had the vet before the back guy tbh, and way before 2 months. Have I missed something? :)
 
I would suggest a registered osteopath. They will look at the horse and its routine, diet etc. I will get shot down however unless a specialist equine vet with years of experience in my opinion they miss too much as are not trained specifically with horses!
Depending where you are I can recommend if you were interested
 
I take it you have ruled out the saddle pinching him? That can lead to all sorts of stiffnesses - is he the same if you ride him bareback? Some so called saddle fitters may not spot a problem and a second opinion could be worth while, especially if the vet doesn't find any obvious cause.
 
Vet, you need to get a vet your back man should not be treating this horse without reference to a vet it's unlawful.
 
Ditto Goldenstar. 'Back men' need permission to treat a horse from a vet. The fact that your 'back man' has not mentioned this would suggest to me that he's not to be trusted.
 
thanks for all the replies :)

I worded It slightly wrong that's all. We are going to the vet next we waited because we had a friend out who works at a vets clinic and she suggested the Back man first because she thought it looked to be his back :)
If he had been in obvious pain then the vet would have been called out straight away x

I will be sure to update here once we have a vets opinion :)
 
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And forgot to mention that we had to wait for the back man to return from a holiday which is why he was seen so late into being lame! treatment from the back man took up roughly 2 weeks. I didn't realise that the Back man needed permission from the Vet? I thought it would be okay since he had the necessary qualifications ect but most certainly will not be calling him out again! thanks again x
 
With respect..your friend who works at a vet clinic said 'she thought'...?????

If she is not a vet...she could be a reception dragon...or a cleaner...or even a tea maker! I am sure her employers would hit the roof if they felt she had been advising or opinion giving..its simply not worth taking the risk.Get an EQUINE VET please.
 
with respect she's a vets assistant. Not cleaner. And if you read above I have said we are getting an Equine vet. I posted this mostly to see if anyone knew what could be causing his lameness i.e. previous experiences, thank you anyway :)
 
ridinghorsez said:
with respect she's a vets assistant. Not cleaner. And if you read above I have said we are getting an Equine vet. I posted this mostly to see if anyone knew what could be causing his lameness i.e. previous experiences, thank you anyway :)
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I have read your thread, prior to posting.. a vets assistant is still not a vet and shouldn't be diagnosing...so I was just surprised thats all.

By the way..do you live near a bridge?
 
SaharaS said:
I have read your thread, prior to posting.. a vets assistant is still not a vet and shouldn't be diagnosing...so I was just surprised thats all.

By the way..do you live near a bridge?
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Erm yes I live near a bridge..why?:) and I know she's not a vet, she wasn't diagnosing anything. She had a look at him move whilst he was being ridden and suggested we asked for the back man. Anyways the vet will be seeing him soon so hopefully he will be better soon enough :D x
 
UPDATE-

Vet has seen Romeo and diagnosed him with Arthritis in his hind legs. We are to ride him at least 3 times every week to stop him getting stiff and give him a supplement in his feed to help. :) Thanks to everyone who replied to this thread! :)
 
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