F4Finn
New User
Sorry this is lengthy but need advice.
I own and bred what is now a 16,3hh ISH gelding aged 5. At six months he injured his right stifle in the field, this was diagnosed as basically a stretched ligament, by the vet, and he was given a six month box rest. At the time his main symptom was a swing out of the rear hind rather than stepping under. As the years passed prior to being backed the 'swinging out' became less and he stepped under normally. The only time I saw the 'swing out' was when he was being lazy or just getting into his walk ( I never saw the action in trot or any other gait).
Whilst backing him as a late 3 year old there were no issues apart from his picking up right canter lead whilst under saddle, on the lunge it only happened occasionally so I focused on correcting myself in asking for his right bend and we now have no issues with this. I turned him away and brought him in the spring of his fourth year and everything progressed well.
To cut a long story short, he is now 5 and I'm asking him for more. He's started jumping and is being asked to collect more and work on smaller circles, I haven't rushed him as due to his injury I wanted to build up his muscles slowly and correctly by working in a long and low outline. Over the past few weeks I noticed he seemed stiff through his back so I took him to our local equine vets. On external examination they couldn't find any problems so for a while it put my mind at rest. However the stiffness returned and he started to 'swing out' slightly but only occasionally when I was leading him so I called out a physio. She said that she thought it was his Psoas muscles. She thought he hadn't been using them correctly since the injury at 6 months and gave me exercises to do involving walking him over poles raised at alternate ends in hand prior to riding him. She advised me to ride him ensuring he engages his back end at all times and not on any circles under 20m diameter. I followed her instructions, however, the following day he again seemed quite stiff. Coupled with this, over the last few weeks I notice he has become girthy and when washing him he pinned his ears back when I touched his belly in front of his sheaf. As a consequence I have continued the exercises but given him a few days off from being ridden. The physio is back on the yard tomorrow so I will have a chat with her re: the possibility of working him on the lunge but ensuring he works on large circles until the cause of the stiffness has been further investigated.
He has the most willing, laid back temperament and is an absolute star in any situation. He has his teeth checked every 6 months (last seen in August), he is shod every 5 weeks, he has his back checked regularly, my only issue could be with my saddle which was checked in June. His behaviour under saddle hasn't changed apart from he seems slightly happier with me in sitting trot rather than rising. He has no stable vices and when we travel to local competitions or for training sessions he behaves impeccably (we are competing at unaffiliated level but I was hoping to affiliate to BD and BS next year) .
I am phoning my vet this morning for an 'off the record' chat as I am starting to consider he is in more pain than he's letting on and would like further investigation. I am also concerned that he is showing signs of gastric irritation, could this be caused by the pain which is causing him stress? His diet has been mostly grass over the summer with very little additional cereal as he's a good doer (although I have noticed he's only picking at his hay at the moment).
I feel like I have muchhausen by proxy at the moment as everyone in the yard keeps telling me I'm over analysing but I feel like he's trying to tell me something and I've not been listening!
Any advice or thoughts would be much appreciated.
I own and bred what is now a 16,3hh ISH gelding aged 5. At six months he injured his right stifle in the field, this was diagnosed as basically a stretched ligament, by the vet, and he was given a six month box rest. At the time his main symptom was a swing out of the rear hind rather than stepping under. As the years passed prior to being backed the 'swinging out' became less and he stepped under normally. The only time I saw the 'swing out' was when he was being lazy or just getting into his walk ( I never saw the action in trot or any other gait).
Whilst backing him as a late 3 year old there were no issues apart from his picking up right canter lead whilst under saddle, on the lunge it only happened occasionally so I focused on correcting myself in asking for his right bend and we now have no issues with this. I turned him away and brought him in the spring of his fourth year and everything progressed well.
To cut a long story short, he is now 5 and I'm asking him for more. He's started jumping and is being asked to collect more and work on smaller circles, I haven't rushed him as due to his injury I wanted to build up his muscles slowly and correctly by working in a long and low outline. Over the past few weeks I noticed he seemed stiff through his back so I took him to our local equine vets. On external examination they couldn't find any problems so for a while it put my mind at rest. However the stiffness returned and he started to 'swing out' slightly but only occasionally when I was leading him so I called out a physio. She said that she thought it was his Psoas muscles. She thought he hadn't been using them correctly since the injury at 6 months and gave me exercises to do involving walking him over poles raised at alternate ends in hand prior to riding him. She advised me to ride him ensuring he engages his back end at all times and not on any circles under 20m diameter. I followed her instructions, however, the following day he again seemed quite stiff. Coupled with this, over the last few weeks I notice he has become girthy and when washing him he pinned his ears back when I touched his belly in front of his sheaf. As a consequence I have continued the exercises but given him a few days off from being ridden. The physio is back on the yard tomorrow so I will have a chat with her re: the possibility of working him on the lunge but ensuring he works on large circles until the cause of the stiffness has been further investigated.
He has the most willing, laid back temperament and is an absolute star in any situation. He has his teeth checked every 6 months (last seen in August), he is shod every 5 weeks, he has his back checked regularly, my only issue could be with my saddle which was checked in June. His behaviour under saddle hasn't changed apart from he seems slightly happier with me in sitting trot rather than rising. He has no stable vices and when we travel to local competitions or for training sessions he behaves impeccably (we are competing at unaffiliated level but I was hoping to affiliate to BD and BS next year) .
I am phoning my vet this morning for an 'off the record' chat as I am starting to consider he is in more pain than he's letting on and would like further investigation. I am also concerned that he is showing signs of gastric irritation, could this be caused by the pain which is causing him stress? His diet has been mostly grass over the summer with very little additional cereal as he's a good doer (although I have noticed he's only picking at his hay at the moment).
I feel like I have muchhausen by proxy at the moment as everyone in the yard keeps telling me I'm over analysing but I feel like he's trying to tell me something and I've not been listening!
Any advice or thoughts would be much appreciated.
