Pony happy walking & cantering, unhappy trotting

Ginger Bear

Ginger Bear

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Has anyone had this problem & if so did u find out the cause? What was your horse/pony doing to display he was unhappy? What was wrong & how did u overcome it? Any experiences appreciated.
 
Arthritis in my case, does the horse look sound when lunged or trotted up? If there's an obvious lameness or stiffness I'd get the vet to have a look and prescribe an anti inflammatory or painkiller xx
 
I have this problem slightly. He is perfectly sounds but works a lot nicer in walk and canter, he seems to find trot more difficult and so rushes and isn't very soft. Not managed to cure that yet unfortunately although he is much better trotting while out and about than in the school
 
My mare was a polo pony and not great a trotting to start with as they tend not to do much - much better now, just perseverance. I found trotting out hacking on long up hill tracks helped - the best ones are quite hard - so not the kind of surface she would expect to canter on, hope this helps.
 
I have this on a 5 year old racehorse I ride. Walks great, canters like a showjumper but his trot is somewhat WEIRD! We call it his Icelandic gait, its halfway between a trot and a canter really. Some days its bad, some days he trots normally.

Anyone looking at him would think he was hopping lame but its normal for him though not ideal of course, we try to get him trotting normally but it seems to me like he doesn't really know the difference between trotting normally and what he does, putting it down to him never being schooled like a 'normal' horse.

He's better up hills and if i push him on but keep rising to the trot. But he's still a weird horse :rolleyes:
 
My horse has done this twice, once he had an over reach, the other time he had over reach boot rubs. He hardly ever limps, just insists on only walking or cantering, bless him. Hope yours is down to something that fixable!
 
I might try getting a once over by a good physio. Reluctance to trot when okay in other gaits can be a sign of discomfort high up in the body - shoulders/back/pelvis.
 
how do you know the pony is ok happy walking and cantering but not trotting?
It is because in trot soreness and lameness is more obvious to see?

Could be a number things from arthritis to a bad back.
 
Thanks for all your replies. Let me explain, walk he's completely happy, canter is very very nice.. But trot he would flick his head, mess around with it a lot, ears back, just not very chilled. He is a trotter.. High head carriage. I've had vet & osteo check him few weeks back, vet completely changed him to a low sugar high fibre diet, osteo felt he was uncomfy in his stomach, didnt find anything with his back, his pvis was slightly tilted. That said just after I posted, said pony was ridden & was an absolute star tonight. Perhaps I should have listened to vet & be patient for changes. There was a massive improvement tonight. I'm also quite certain that he was in obvious pain previously, but with the little bits of work we've done with him, he seems to have really grown in confidence this week.
 
He was always perfectly happy trotting out hacking, the issue was just in the school.. He came very unfit & had a very bloated stomach, we've have him about 8 months & he's really filling out. I'm so pleased after tonight, just hope it carries in now. Just to add there's never been any concerns over him being lame.
 
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