Please give your horse the benefit of the doubt - Muffin update

ycbm said:
The pad is a VIP, MSBMO, they come with strong recommendations at the moment. Just horribly expensive,!
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Is that the pad they advertise with a car driving over chocolate eggs? I’ve read lots of very good reviews on it. So sorry to hear about your boy - at least you now know and can adapt accordingly. He’s very lucky you persevered with your gut feel and got to the bottom of it.
 
splashgirl45 said:
good job he has a home with you ycbm, not everyone listens to their horses, good luck
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Physically, he could hardly be in a better place. He's rarely stood for longer than half an hour in a stable, he has a barn to shelter from wind and rain that's big enough to canter in, and he has ten+ acres of steep hill to keep his chest and back muscles strong even if he isn't ridden.

I'm worried about next winter, but I just need to take it one day at a time.

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Thanks for your support everyone.

I've woken up pretty shell shocked. I expected a problem at C6/7, but hell, it's the whole bottom half of his neck. I'm going to have to force myself to ride him for a while to try and reassure myself that he's not hurting all the time. It's not optional, he will fall apart if he loses his muscles now.

I worked so hard to stabilise his weak loins last year, then we had soya intolerance that blew him apart, and since that he's going better than ever. He was galloping flat out up and down the hill last week, and he looks great, you'd never know what's going on in there.

Now I'm already worrying about next winter and whether his winter weight loss is pain related. Horses, who'd have them, eh?

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Oh Heavens. How devastating for you and how disappointing after all the hard work you have put into him. Arthritis is just a bummer - one day you can be happily beavering away and next day there is such a flare up that you feel crippled. I hope he has inactive areas which means that there won't be so much pain during steady exercise - even if they do look horrendous on the x-ray.
Huge respect to you for listening to him - funnily enough I have just been reading the most recent post on Tom Beech's FB page (the Osteopathic Vet) where he is treating one of Lissa Green's horses for twisted ovaries. Such a story and a lesson to us all to listen to the horse and keep on looking.
 
ycbm said:
Thanks for your support everyone.

I've woken up pretty shell shocked. I expected a problem at C6/7, but hell, it's the whole bottom half of his neck. I'm going to have to force myself to ride him for a while to try and reassure myself that he's not hurting all the time. It's not optional, he will fall apart if he loses his muscles now.

I worked so hard to stabilise his weak loins last year, then we had soya intolerance that blew him apart, and since that he's going better than ever. He was galloping flat out up and down the hill last week, and he looks great, you'd never know what's going on in there.

Now I'm already worrying about next winter and whether his winter weight loss is pain related. Horses, who'd have them, eh?

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So sorry to read this. A friend had an elderly horse with arthritis somewhere around the nuchal ligament so different place we found feeding her at wither height helped her .. she found if painful to eat from a bucket on the floor. from what you are saying about head position when riding this might help Muffin too..
 
I'm going through this at the moment with mine and he's going in for X rays next week, finally. He does what yours was doing; completely locking on the right, occasional bunny hopping, and bucking that's got progressively more explosive over the course of a few months. He is a sweet horse who was always willing to work, so I empathise how frustrating when people say it's a behaviour issue.
 
Not the cheapest nowadays, but Amigo rugs are warm without being heavy to wear and I assume you don't want constant weight on his neck. Also would a Snuggy hoods or similar add extra warmth if worn under a neck cover?
 
IrishMilo said:
I'm going through this at the moment with mine and he's going in for X rays next week, finally. He does what yours was doing; completely locking on the right, occasional bunny hopping, and bucking that's got progressively more explosive over the course of a few months. He is a sweet horse who was always willing to work, so I empathise how frustrating when people say it's a behaviour issue.
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Good luck next week IM.


It was hard riding him this morning. I just hate the thought of what is going on in his neck and how it/ I might hurt him at any moment. But we did school for half an hour with a long walk warmup, walk trot and canter, changes of bend, leg yield and shoulder in without much of an issue, just a bit of head tossing. I've bought boswellia so we'll see if that changes anything. I'm satisfied the locking and any pain is in his neck and not under the saddle. If the neck is free, the back is mobile. It's so depressing though, to ride a horse when you know the only realistic path is downwards. :(
 
ycbm said:
It's so depressing though, to ride a horse when you know the only realistic path is downwards. :(
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I can't deal with this situation either. It's also impossible to ride through any resistance without an exhausting mental dilemma about whether you're being kind or cruel.

IIWY I'd try to loan him as a hack if he does that job well. Better luck next time.
 
Flame_ said:
I can't deal with this situation either. It's also impossible to ride through any resistance without an exhausting mental dilemma about whether you're being kind or cruel.

IIWY I'd try to loan him as a hack if he does that job well. Better luck next time.
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I won't loan. I have owned a horse who was sold while on loan and then rescued from the home where he had been sold as a show jumper after being loaned as a light hack only. And I once sold, for meat money, the horse in my avatar because he got arthritis and my vet said he had to be sent down off the hills. That new owner, throughly vetted and references taken, starved him to skin and bone in 16 weeks and I had to go and buy him back to save him.

When you've seen this once, you don't risk it again.

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not liking the state he is in but liking the fact that you cared enough to get him back...i have never sold any of mine, if they couldnt be ridden i kept them till their quality of life was getting to the stage where they were not comfortable to be out in the field, and then PTS .
 
ycbm said:
I won't loan. I have owned a horse who was sold while on loan and then rescued from the home where he had been sold as a show jumper after being loaned as a light hack only. And I once sold, for meat money, the horse in my avatar because he got arthritis and my vet said he had to be sent down off the hills. That new owner, throughly vetted and references taken, starved him to skin and bone in 16 weeks and I had to go and buy him back to save him.

When you've seen this once, you don't risk it again.

tetley2.jpg
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It might sound like a strange question but why did they starve him? Did they just not care or did they think it was normal to have a horse that thin?
 
She had history, I found out later. She decided he should live out in winter and refused to have hay messing up her perfect paddocks.

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Flame_ said:
I can't deal with this situation either. It's also impossible to ride through any resistance without an exhausting mental dilemma about whether you're being kind or cruel.
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Spot on. Every shake of the head I didn't know whether to hold or release and I was monitoring every second for pain. I hope that gets better over the next few weeks and I get used to knowing what's inside his neck.

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ycbm said:
I'm on the lookout now for heavyweight combo rugs, to keep his neck as warm as possible in winter. Recommendations at the budget end of the market, anyone? I've never used a combo in my life!

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What size do you need? My Westphalian wanted her neck to be warm and dry, the cob who has inherited her rugs hates having her full mane enclosed by a neck rug, so I have a couple of 'surplus to requirements'.
 
ycbm said:
Good luck next week IM.


It was hard riding him this morning. I just hate the thought of what is going on in his neck and how it/ I might hurt him at any moment. But we did school for half an hour with a long walk warmup, walk trot and canter, changes of bend, leg yield and shoulder in without much of an issue, just a bit of head tossing. I've bought boswellia so we'll see if that changes anything. I'm satisfied the locking and any pain is in his neck and not under the saddle. If the neck is free, the back is mobile. It's so depressing though, to ride a horse when you know the only realistic path is downwards. :(
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I would stop the schooling and stick to hacking, taking your cue from him as to how much collection is comfortable for him.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
I would stop the schooling and stick to hacking, taking your cue from him as to how much collection is comfortable for him.
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I have a big arena 30x40, so I'm happy to school and feel his limits as part of a mix of work. I'll get used to the new knowledge in time, I expect, but I'm very worried about what winter cold and damp is going to do to him. If he loses weight to the extent that he did last year, now that he is off the soya food that blew him apart, then I will let him go.

He takes a big 6 3 or a small 6 6 PaS.
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