Older horse not lifting back legs over raised poles

holeymoley

holeymoley

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I’m expecting the inevitable here and he does not owe me anything. 22year old works well, if anything ever so slightly stiff first of all then walks off. Still keen to do things, walks trots and canters. He was doing low level jumping/xc lessons in the last few years for fun and then went lame last September(2023) i thought he had just over done it so gave him a lot of time off and he came right. I took his front shoes off in January of this year so he’s been on and off work, just hacking and the odd schooling session. Tonight while lunging he was most obedient and willing until i asked him to go over the smallest cross pole from a trot-he stopped. I tried to walk him over it in hand which he did step over with front legs but not keen on moving back legs, almost as if he didn’t know where to place them? He much rather stepped backwards to reverse back over with front feet.

I’m expecting arthritis and willing to treat if vet thinks it’s the correct thing to do. Could it be anything else? Back? He’s still himself and full of mischief-likes to escape out the stable at a trot if he gets the opportunity! The only other thing he does from time to time is while picking out his hooves, he’ll keep the back right one raised even when I’m finished, almost as if he can’t or doesn’t want to put it back down. He has a good range of motion in both back legs and can flex them up quite high when doing exercises.
 
It does sound like arthritis maybe get the vet out to look at him move, mine do pole work they are 19 and 20 but have hock arthritis so I wouldn't attempt any raised poles or jumps now a simple pole on the ground is enough fir them.

I always give them a warm up of at least 10 minutes walking and a bit of trotting before any poles.
 
Yes it sounds like arthritis. It would be worth feeding a good joint supplement if you don't already. That can hold it off for a while. I wouldn't do raised anything at his age. Gentle exercise helps, but not athletic exercise.
 
meleeka said:
Yes it sounds like arthritis. It would be worth feeding a good joint supplement if you don't already. That can hold it off for a while. I wouldn't do raised anything at his age. Gentle exercise helps, but not athletic exercise.
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Is there one you recommend? There's so many out there and some are sky high in price for what's actually in them.
 
I would recommend Bosmerix from experience. It made a big difference to my then 22 year old and also my friend’s horse. You can get it from your vet. My vet works with racehorses and he said he’d seen good results with them using it.
 
I’d get a vet check then a good back person out.

Far from avoiding raised poles, I still expect my retired oldies of 18yo and 23yo to be able to comfortably walk in-hand over scattered slightly raised individual poles of pole pod height. I do this two or three times a week. This actively helps to keep them loosened up.

I’ve just had a chiro vet check done on my two oldies. The 23yo, although ‘sounder than most 12yos’ in walk, trot and canter had got rather snatchy about having her hinds picked out. Chiro vet found a deep seated area of tightness in the SI area, treated it manually and bingo - horse happy to hold her hinds up again.

The 23yo.

IMG_1819.jpeg
 
Just an update, vet scheduled for work up next week with potential to do arthramid injections there and then. We done a bute trial and there was an improvement- happy to walk over normal poles and I raised one ever so slightly out of interest to see what would happen and he lifted his back legs over no problem at all. I think he thought I was nuts giving him lots of praise afterwards! So we’ll see what’s found next week.
 
Another update. We done a lameness work up, he was positive behind on the flexion test which is pretty much to be expected at his age. Wasn’t too bad on lunge, short behind but loosened up as he went. We(2 vets and myself) decided collectively that with vet knowledge and what they’d seen with the work up and with what I’d been telling them with regards to symptoms, that it seemed to point to the hocks as opposed to any other area. We proceeded to x-ray the hocks which they were pleasantly surprised with as they weren’t as bad as they thought they would be. I’m not so clued up on the bones of the hock area but there were slight ‘spikes/hooks/spurs’ on the outer sides of the bones which showed some arthritic changes. There was almost fusion too but not quite which they said would cause a bit of pain. Fusion apparently isn’t a bad thing though once it fuses properly as it’s a low motion joint. We proceeded to inject both hocks with arthramid which in itself seemed fairly quick in comparison to the lameness work up/x-rays etc. We’re on day 3 and so far so good, no heat, swelling etc. I have been told to expect the improvement by weeks 4-6 so we’ll see what happens!
 
holeymoley said:
Another update. We done a lameness work up, he was positive behind on the flexion test which is pretty much to be expected at his age. Wasn’t too bad on lunge, short behind but loosened up as he went. We(2 vets and myself) decided collectively that with vet knowledge and what they’d seen with the work up and with what I’d been telling them with regards to symptoms, that it seemed to point to the hocks as opposed to any other area. We proceeded to x-ray the hocks which they were pleasantly surprised with as they weren’t as bad as they thought they would be. I’m not so clued up on the bones of the hock area but there were slight ‘spikes/hooks/spurs’ on the outer sides of the bones which showed some arthritic changes. There was almost fusion too but not quite which they said would cause a bit of pain. Fusion apparently isn’t a bad thing though once it fuses properly as it’s a low motion joint. We proceeded to inject both hocks with arthramid which in itself seemed fairly quick in comparison to the lameness work up/x-rays etc. We’re on day 3 and so far so good, no heat, swelling etc. I have been told to expect the improvement by weeks 4-6 so we’ll see what happens!
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Arthramid is brilliant. Had my mare treated with it in 2022 and topped up again this year. I was told that it can take a while to kick in, first time within days she was bouncing around like a younger horse- this time was a week or so- but can definitely see a huge positive difference in her, and the first time it lasted near on 2 years for my horse. I should add, I don't expect a lot from her, so can't speak to how well it would enable them to carry on in heavy work, but for us, it's been great. Hope will be the same for you and your mare.
 
skint1 said:
Arthramid is brilliant. Had my mare treated with it in 2022 and topped up again this year. I was told that it can take a while to kick in, first time within days she was bouncing around like a younger horse- this time was a week or so- but can definitely see a huge positive difference in her, and the first time it lasted near on 2 years for my horse. I should add, I don't expect a lot from her, so can't speak to how well it would enable them to carry on in heavy work, but for us, it's been great. Hope will be the same for you and your mare.
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That’s brilliant. I wondered if it was just the ‘placebo effect’ but he certainly seems happier while picking out hooves. Previously he would keep a hind leg held up for a while once I’d picked them out. He’s been offering them up as I go round and then placing them back down as normal. It’s day 6 now so I’m going to take him a short 10/15minute walk today as per vet’s advice so we’ll see how he is with that.
 
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