New-ish owner

[Dixiedoo]

Hi, so we've had our horse for a year in February. She's our first horse, she's 8 years old but we haven't had a good start at all. A week after getting her, I broke my wrist skating, so I was unable to ride her. My novice daughters took her out for short hacks with me walking alongside. My oldest daughter decided to go into trot, our horse bolted and she fell off, breaking her arm, a month after getting her. I enlisted the help of a semi professional rider to keep her ticking over and again, our horse bolted and she fell off. She had been ridden inbetween times with no issues. I got the vet to check her over, she identified pain in her back, and advised physio sessions, without success. The vet came back and advised our horse is admitted for investigations. It turns out she has arthritis in her back. She had steroid injections and is now on a sachet of Bute daily. The vet came again to reasses her under saddle, in walk, trot and canter back in October, and said she is fine to ride as normal. However, myself and my girls are pretty novice and our confidence has been severely damaged. We have a natural horsemanship instructor, who is brilliant, but it is always in the back of my mind she has arthritis in her back and things could go wrong at anytime. We have only been riding her in walk, once a week, if that because of the weather and dark evenings. I just don't know how we can increase our confidence and move on from this. On the ground she's a lovely horse and means no harm. I'm struggling a bit financially with the extra expense we have incurred by vets, physio etc.
She lives out 24/7 and is on some supplements I've read can help with pain and inflammation.
I'm just asking for any advice or suggestions to help us.
Thanks for reading.

 

[PurBee]

Sorry to hear about your horse.
Omega 3 is a wonderful anti-inflammatory for arthritis, which is in decent long grass, but is not in hay.
Many supplement for this via linseed. I expect you possibly already have her on this but thought id mention it anyway, just in case.
Shes a bit young at 8 to be suffering with arthritis. Have you had your grass tested for calcium/phos/minerals? If she’s on this 24/7 then maybe there’s a imbalanced ratio of a mineral really swinging her dietary balance out, causing bone strength issues and inflammation? Calcium and phosphorus is needed in a ratio to build good strong bones. Many soils/grasses/hay are high in calcium, low phosphorus. If this fundamental ratio is out of balance from foal it can cause growth issues.
Grain feeds are high phosphorus, low calcium. Sugar beet pulp is very high calcium.

Maybe looking at this ratio and getting a balanced ratio into her, while she is still fairly young, can help with lessening the arthritis and inflammation.
At the same time, Ground work and lunging re-training would be a good start so the trainer can assess if she has a funny gait through the paces due to arthritis, and if this improves with dietary/grass testing changes.

You said shes a sweet pony on the ground so it doesnt sound like shes badly trained, and her behaviour of bolting at anything other than walk is due to her back pain. Maybe trot is most uncomfortable for her with a rider bopping up and down on her back so she moves from walk into canter as thats less painful to endure with a rider on.
If her back was very severe with pain she wouldnt allow a person to mount, so evidently walk isnt painful for her with a rider on.

Many folk on here know of physio type therapies worth trying so you could start a thread for physio recommendations.

Id certainly try acupuncture from a qualified equine therapist. That on humans is remarkable with results.
Here’s one in the uk who is properly qualified:
http://www.equineacupuncture.co.uk/

Your confidence will naturally rebuild once you know your pony is not in pain. Its understandable its shaken a bit.
After treatment, when she’s pain free, it would be best when shes next ridden to ride her in an enclosed area/menage, build up your confidence.
Re-training sessions would be advised if previous owner thought pony was just being naughty and forced her to ride through the pain...if you know her history?

 

[Dixiedoo]

Thank you so much for taking the time to reply. There are some things to think about and look into there! I've never had the soil tested, I will look into that for sure.
I've got her on glucosamine with msm and boswellia. I did buy some turmeric too but she didn't seem to like that. Feedwise, she's on a small feed of fast fibre and a handful of chaff, mainly so she'll take the Bute! I'll look into linseed supplement too.
Thanks again, it just gets to me, I had high hopes of myself and my daughters riding out on our pony but we are constantly worried something is going to go wrong! Having our instructor twice a month has been really beneficial, we ride in a small menage in our field but a few days ago we ventured out which was nice.?

 

[AmyMay]

I would actually pursue the dealer for costs associated with veterinary treatment, and the cost of the horse, with a view to retirement for the mare. I’d then look to buy something else.

 

[Dixiedoo]

I got in touch with the dealer prior to the diagnosis, she reluctantly offered to take her back on sales livery but would have charged me a fortune for that! Unfortunately I didn't get her vetted prior to buying her, a lesson I've learned the hard way. It's hard because we've really bonded with her, but I have to be realistic long term.

 

[ycbm]

Can I ask how your vet diagnosed arthritis in the back? Arthritis would normally describe a condition relating to a joint, and I think the joints of the back are too deep to xray or scan, so was she put through a scintigraph or MRI?

If not, is it possible that your vet is describing kissing spines? If so, you may be able to correct that with the help of a really good long term physio program, unless it's secondary, as it often is, to hind leg issues. If she is a pony with straighter than average back legs, then the chances of her coming right would probably be a fair bit lower.

I know there are people who swear by acupuncture, but I looked last year and there was absolutely zero clinical evidence that it works as anything more than a placebo, I'm afraid. I'd spend your money on other things.



.

 

[AmyMay]

I got in touch with the dealer prior to the diagnosis, she reluctantly offered to take her back on sales livery but would have charged me a fortune for that! Unfortunately I didn't get her vetted prior to buying her, a lesson I've learned the hard way. It's hard because we've really bonded with her, but I have to be realistic long term.

You were miss sold a horse, either intentionally or otherwise. Vetting is irrelevant. You probably still have a good case against the dealer, and there is precedent for not having to return the horse, but still getting your money returned plus costs.

Either way, I wouldn’t be riding the horse again.

 

[Dixiedoo]

It was diagnosed via a bone scan, after doing x rays, ultrasound etc.. Luckily she is insured but the insurance has reached it's limit.

 

[ycbm]

I'm afraid that if she has arthritis in the joints of the spine, I would retire her. I couldn't imagine sitting on the spine of a horse with arthritis. I'm sorry you're in this position. I would, assuming you can prove behaviour problems from very soon after purchase, and your vet agrees to be a witness to it being a long standing issue, consider taking a small claim case against the dealer. It's a very easy process which you can do online.

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[Starzaan]

I’m another who would be retiring her and taking the dealer to small claims.

 

[splashgirl45]

I’m another who would be retiring her and taking the dealer to small claims.

me too, i wouldnt want to ride a horse with back problems. sounds like this was a known problem and the dealer may have given her pain relief before you tried her and would have done the same again to someone else. such a shame for the horse and for your family