New horse and really upset - please tell me i'm over-reacting?!

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Muckyboots

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Hi all,

I bought a new heavy cob mare on Wednesday. She is from a reputable dealer, and when I went to view her, she was perfect. She lifted all feet fine, I hacked her around the village fine and she seemed like the perfect pony - completely bombproof. She is a little thin, and the dealer told me that she had been itching her legs that day so may need treating for feather mites, but apart from that she seemed in good health.

Anyway, when I let her out into the paddock on weds (after she had been delivered), I noticed that she didn't gallop around and she tripped up slightly. But that's just a lazy cob right? I came to pick out her feet, and she wouldn't pick them up and kicked out. But I put that down to the leg mites and / or lack of trust. I rode her out yesterday on a really short hack and she was great. Today, I tool her out for a bit longer - again she was great, but wouldn't canter and stumbled again while I was out.

I still can't lift her feet. I have contacted the dealer, who has said that she is just trying it on and not to let her get away with it. But she is so sweet that I can't help but think that it isn't behavioural. She is perfect in every other way - I can brush her legs, tap them etc, but she refuses to lift them, and when she does, she leans fully on you so that you can't physically hold her legs up.

I'm jumping to worst case scenario. Google is not my friend. Please tell me that I'm over-reacting and she's just a lazy cob? I've got the vet coming on Tuesday for her vaccs & leg mite injection (I've treated her with frontline and medicated wash in the meantime).

I know it sounds silly, but I have been in tears all night. I must admit, I haven't had the best luck - I rescued a Shetland which cost me #2000 in vets fees a few years ago (and had to be pts in the end). I then bought a gorgeous cob, who was stung by a wasp, threw me and broke my leg. Last year, I bought an overweight pony which immediately came down with laminitis (stress induced - despite being stabled and on a restricted diet re. vets advise from day 1) and have just got her right and sold her on for free pretty much (or minus a grand if you include vets fees etc to get her completely sound before I sold her). I wouldn't have sold her, but she was too flighty for my daughter once she lost all the weight, and she needed re-training because of the months she had been off work.

Because of all of this, I just can't cope if this one isn't right. I got her insured on Weds for maximum vet fees etc, but it will be within the 14 day exclusion period.

She is in absolutely no signs of discomfort, apart from the leg lifting issue. I know that illness is part and parcel of horse ownership, but seriously - I'm starting to think that I should just give up. I've spent thousands, I follow everything to the book - teeth, vaccs, saddle fitted, vet out at slightest limp or sniffle and there are people out there who don't even bother to worm and their horses are sound for years.

Sorry - any advice would be really appreciated.

TIA x
 
P.s. I know that I should have had her vetted. Hindsight is as much not my friend as google. I just looked at her being underweight with no rings on her feet, and I thought 'no laminitis - yey!' and I rode her around, and she wasn't lame, and I was completely in love.
 
Word of advice ,before you mention anything to the vet this week make sure they wont note it ! You really need to wait until the 14 days are up and ideally well after it before officially getting the vet to look.
I would be sending it back sooner rather than later if she is going to be an issue.
 
How experienced are you? It sounds like she's taking the mick with her feet tbh.

I'd be a bit concerned if she keeps tripping though. When was the last time she got her feet done and is she shod?
 
I've had horses from being 11 years old, (I'm 30 now) but I am very soft and don't like to hit etc. She's just so sweet in every other aspect, that for her to not lift her feet seems strange. I'd understand more if she was spooky or naughty, but in every other way she's perfect. I can brush her feet etc, but she plants them down, and if you do manage to get her to lift them (by unbalancing her or using a lead rope - you can pull feathers all day and she won't budge) she slams the front ones down, dances around and kicks out with the hinds. I tried being more stern but it didn't make any difference.

She is shod and was done about a month ago. She still looks like she has a couple of weeks in her shoes.
 
Strange she lifted them fine less than a week ago and now won't.

I would calm down a bit. The tripping could be her not being ridden forward enough and the not lifting her feet could be her being a pig headed cob.

I don't know of any medical conditions which make a horse not lift it's feet and trip yet can be completely hidden by dodgy dealer tactics a few days previously...

Unless of course it's not the horse you tried.
 
Yeah it's the same horse lol.. I hope I'm not that inexperienced ;)

I panicking because I've googled, and stumbling / reluctance to lift feet can be early signs of navicular apparently :(
Or, maybe a back problem? She stumbled in the paddock - although she has only done it once when turned out.

So, what would people do if you were me? Ask for a refund (which I might not get) , or wait until the 14 days is up on the insurance?
 
Get an experienced horse person to pick her feet up ,to see if she is as difficult with them .Let them ride her in the arena , then let them see you ride ,and compare notes to come to a decision on keeping or returning.
 
I don't know anyone that experienced and we don't have an arena :(

If anyone is from Yorkshire and fancies a day trip tomorrow I'd supply tea and biscuits...
 
I do feel for you and you're not alone in buying horses with problems! I Seem to have a knack for it too. I agree with the previous post, I think you should give her time to settle and not worry too much. I think you should just ask your vet for their advice and if they have concerns and recommend it, try to get your money back then. It would be a shame to send her back without giving her a chance. With regard to picking her feet up, lean your shoulder right into her and squeeze her tendon. Lots of praise when she does the right thing! Stumbling could be laziness, bad shoeing, long feet and any number of other things. Good luck with her.
 
I do an MOT. Back/teeth/saddle etc, I always do that for new horses, esp if the background is relatively unknown. And I would be insiting that the feet come up and stay up. I have a young cob and he can be a git for other people. Hes not a bad pony, he just chances his arm. I have no doubt if I sold him to someone and he thought he could get away with it, he would be demonic :lol: He was out on loan and when he came back he was vile as he'd been allowed to get away with murder. It took him about a fortnight to realise it was business as usual and he was expected to behave!

I've never met a cob who wont try it on. Theres usually nothing wrong, they just have that sort of mind set. Mine didnt load when I picked him up, it took an hour to get him on. I hired a wagon last weekend to work through it, took 5 mins and he was on and within half an hour he was loading and unloading like a pro. But thats because fundamentally hes a nice pony and has had a lot of ground work in the past, and because I EXPECT him to behave, and he generally does!

Get the MOT done ASAP and then get a decent instructor out for some tips if shes still not picking her feet up :)
 
Thanks so much for all of your replies. I'm going to get the vet to check her back on Tuesday and get them to give me some advice off the record. Bloody hell, they've had enough money out of me in the past that they should surely do me this little favour!
The dentist is coming out next week too, and I might ask the farrier to have a look before I make a decision. I think I'm freaking because of my past experiences - if I hadn't had things go so terribly wrong in the past, I wouldn't even be thinking twice about this.
I might lunge tomorrow and see if she trips then with no rider and a roller rather than a saddle
 
This is a favourite cob trick, they will usually transfer all their weight onto the one you want to lift. She is probably trying you out, no matter how sweet she seems and she probably doesn't quite trust you yet. It's very upsetting, one of ours was just the same when we got him and it was driving us round the bend, the farrier even refused to trim him. By the next farrier visit he was perfect, in fact he would lift his feet even when you didn't want him to!
Just bond with your mare and quietly persevere and praise her if she lifts her foot even a little. We started with the front feet because it was easier to dodge a forward strike, be ready to jump aside at all times.
 
Is she difficult on any particular leg, or are they all the same? Have a look at the skin around the backs of her knees, back of the leg above the fetlocks and the front of her hocks.

She might just be trying it on, but our cob has mallenders and the only time he's been really determined not to pick his feet up, is when his skin was really sore and it hurt to flex his joints.
 
That makes sense - she has scabs on her hocks from the mites under the skin. Could it be the mites making her skin sore which is stopping her from picking up her feet?
 
To give you her feet takes trust, it put them in a very vulnerable position and you in control. She could be just rolling her eye at you and you could be panicking over nothing. Give her time to settle, a good farrier and a dentist before you start screaming vet.
 
If she's sore, she might be reluctant to pick up. Mine occasionally stumbles, he can be lazy, but never when ridden, only when led. He used to cow kick and is still a sod for picking up his feet, but only for me because he takes the mick out of his mum. Get a farrier out to assess what she's really like with her feet.
 
Gosh, you want to send a horse back because you can't get it to lift it's feet? I'm glad you're not buying horses from me! Just MAKE her pick up; it's easy - squeeze the chestnut on the leg with the other hand as you're asking and she'll lift them for you.
 
Nope - I was thinking of sending her back because I was worried that she was walking toe first and doesn't want to pick up her feet, which to me suggests pain somewhere in the foot. OK, so I was jumping to woust case scenario because of my past experiences, but I don't want to make a horse lift it's leg if it hurts for it to balance on the other three feet.

I was waiting for the bitchy comment. This is exactly why I hesitated and thought a lot about posting on this forum. Don't get me wrong - there are lovely people here, but the bitchyness does put me off - i was upset enough as it was because of my past experiences. I'm a sensitive soul :) maybe I'm not cut out for the horse world :)
 
Muckyboots said:
I can brush her feet etc, but she plants them down, and if you do manage to get her to lift them (by unbalancing her or using a lead rope - you can pull feathers all day and she won't budge) she slams the front ones down, dances around and kicks out with the hinds. I tried being more stern but it didn't make any difference.

She is shod and was done about a month ago. She still looks like she has a couple of weeks in her shoes.
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If you squeeze either side of the ergot (the chestnutty type of horn) above the heel at the back of the foot the horse will soon pick up its feet. THen lots of praise when good, otherwise nothing. Otherwise I would suggest getting the vet to give the horse a good look when he comes out to do the vacs.

Sometimes slamming a foot down quickly when you do manage to lift it can mean that the opposite leg/foot is sore.
 
Are her feet hot to the touch? If you do manage to get her to lift her feet, is she sore when you press on the bulbs of the heel? Or tap with a hammer (not too hard)? It's hard to say without having seen the horse of course, but an occasional trip or stumble is not unheard of with typically lazy cobs, and landing toe first is also not unusual with shod horses. I rather sounds as if you are overreacting, but if you are worried then a word with your vet will answer your questions.

Oh, and I wasn't intending to be bithcy BTW; just flabbergasted at how quickly you were throwing in the towel!
 
Cortez said:
Gosh, you want to send a horse back because you can't get it to lift it's feet? I'm glad you're not buying horses from me! Just MAKE her pick up; it's easy - squeeze the chestnut on the leg with the other hand as you're asking and she'll lift them for you.
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Actually its not a chestnut its called an ergot and you squeeze either side of it. Its like pretending to play dead and someone squeezing your nail by the quick. You would soon revive!

There is no need to be nasty, the OP wasn't saying she wanted to send it back because it could'nt lift its feet, rather my interpretation was that she was saying she thought there must be something sinister going on which would make the horse not want to lift its feet and unless she spent a whole lot of money on diagnostics it was better to send it back whilst she was able to, within the limits of the contract she had with the buyer.

I have to agree with the OP that there can be a rather lot of bitchiness on this site at times, which rather makes the site a victim of its own success and puts people off posting/replying altogether. :(
 
No, "it" is the chestnut (on the inside of the knee), which also works in convincing a horse to pick up. See other post above ^ re being a bitch.
 
OK sorry, I'm just a bit sensitive at the moment with all the worry and it's easy to read things wrong.

I'm just really wary because I've been stung a lot in the past, and it had cost me thousands. Her feet seem warm near the coronet band, but she has very thick feathers so maybe that's why? I had a look at her feet this morning and her shoes are more worn at the toe.

We had a battle this morning and she lifted them in the end. I used a leadrope around them, and had to haul them up - she did everything she could to put them down - slamming, kicking, leaning, constantly moving around. I'm knackered!
She has thrush - i managed to get some hoof disinfectant spray on them. Hopefully that's why she's fussy - The vet is out on Tuesday so I'm going to treat for thrush until then and see what he says. I'm going to try and get some of the green frog oil on later - and a really good wash. Wish me luck! Will try pinching the chestnut / ergot later too.

Thanks for all of your advice. I'll keep this updated xxx
 
Aha! Thrush could be the problem, it can make horses very sore indeed. Good luck with her, and if I was you I'd give her a bit more time (and be a bit more assertive) before flinging the napkin.
 
The ergot is on the heel and I don't believe it will get the horse to lift it's foot. The chestnut is as Cortez describes it and a common way to get a horse to lift it's leg.

Depending on her temperament ie if she is not likely to panic, you could use a rope round the fetlock and over something solid like a fence. Don't tie it off so there's no danger but only let go if it's a dire emergency. If she is just being a pig headed cob and has thrush it still has to be treated so she just going to have to lump it. I have a welsh C I faffed about for a year with her refusing to lift her back feet and I was sure she had something terrible wrong with her. I ended up using the rope method and hanging on while she kicked like Billy oh and what do you know she just gave it and is completely fine now!
 
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