reluctance to go forward in trot

squiz22

squiz22

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hey up al.. if anyone can shed any light on this i'd much appreciate it..

My 5yr old warmblood has suddenly got this weird issue where he will not go forward in trot on a circle on the left rein. He'll happily trot on a straight line and i've seen him charging around in the field loads recently. On a circle he'll go into trot reluctantly and then if you ask to move more forward he flattens his ears and won't go. If you chase it up with the lunge whip he still won't go forward but will kick out at me. He seems ok on the right rein.


I rested him thinking it was a tweek but there was no change. I have then had two chiro sessions and i thought i saw an improvement. I've been away for two weeks and let him do nothing and just have loads of turn out thinking that he would be ok but i've come back and the issue is still there. I'll call the vet first thing tomorrow but its got me stumped. Its not an obvious issue. Nowhere is sore, there is no limp he just looks uncomfortable across his bum/maybe stifle..

He's been in pretty heavy work recently but this happened the day after the yard owner forgot to give him his night hay. When i came down in the morning he had completely turned himself inside out about it, trashed his stable and was running at the door. I thought it was a tweek after that but its been 3 weeks now and no change.. ??

Any/all thoughts welcome.. can't wait to get vet now for some answers.
 
Friend's horse got identical symptoms recently and has mild OCD of the stifle joint on the side to which he will not turn. They are hoping turning him away for the winter will resolve it, as he is not insured. I hope yours is a more simple thing than that.
 
cptrayes said:
Friend's horse got identical symptoms recently and has mild OCD of the stifle joint on the side to which he will not turn. They are hoping turning him away for the winter will resolve it, as he is not insured. I hope yours is a more simple thing than that.
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Hi. Thanks for this. The symptoms are very similar which is worrying. His stifle very very occasionally looks like it locks a bit when he podrs sideways. He is insured thankfully. I've been up all night worrying!
 
Could be so many things. My horse has had KS op in November, this was one of the first things I noticed with him, ears back and didnt want to go forward, but it may have been totally unrelated as he was also taking the p*ss out of me at the time and went on to go really well for a bit!!
My old NF could also do this, usually now resolved by a swift smack. He has no problems other than having been there and done that and got away with it!!!
 
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My boy is doing just this at the mo (I've posted Back, Teeth or Tack?). The dentist has looked at his teeth, back lady booked and saddler also due soon. I've also noticed what I think is stifle locking occasionally so will look into this too. Do let us know what you find.
 
Thank you everyone for your responses. I had the vet up yesterday and its still a little inconclusive but at least I have a plan of action now. We have established that the beast is 1/10 lame on his back left when trotting on a straight line and 2/10 on both reins on a circle.

He checked for OCD in the stifle, locking and flexion tested him - all of which showed up no problems. He checked for heat/swelling/sore bits and absolutely nothing. I had waited to see if he got better with time out etc but he hadn't and the vet said he'd do the same. I also found out that he wasn't getting much turnout and so he's actually been stood in for two weeks (mostly). Before I went away I had started walking him and had the chiro and I saw quite a bit of improvement. The vet said do that again but also give him bute for 10 days. If, once the bute has worked its way out of his system the problem is still there then we will have to nerve block to find out the cause. It may be a case of simple 'walking it off'.

The vet does not think that that its anything to do with him being a tiny bit wonky behind (he also holds his tail slightly to the left) and I agree because I had him 5 stage vetted and have had this checked before. He also said few horses are completely symmetrical, something else I have found over the years. He said thinking along those lines could be a red herring. He believes thats he's strained something, experienced trauma which would seem inline due to his panic in his stable. So I walked him in hand this morning for 20 minutes and will do so again later and will hope so see an improvement. He thinks maybe more of a suspensory strain..?? Anyone have any further info on a suspensory strain causing this reaction?

Fingers crossed its just sore and the fact he's been cooped up as made it worse/certainly not helped. He's a 17hh warmblood so a big boy to be in his stable all the time. He also box walks when bored and so this may have exasperated the problem if he was already sore whizzing round and round that night (and running into his door. idiot) he may be repeating the action that caused the strain in the first place.. does that make sense?

Please all cross your fingers/toes/arms and legs for me.. its not long until the event season!!

All experiences seriously welcomed..
 
itsmyparty said:
My boy is doing just this at the mo (I've posted Back, Teeth or Tack?). The dentist has looked at his teeth, back lady booked and saddler also due soon. I've also noticed what I think is stifle locking occasionally so will look into this too. Do let us know what you find.
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how big is your boy etc? The vet checked locking stifles by pushing him backwards? Mind you mine sometimes looks a little stiff when going sideways but he didn't find a problem with this..

Could he have slipped in the field.. has he got soreness across his back/rear end?
 
hi,
I have recently had a similar problem to this with my welsh cob who was in medium work at the time.
She had competed a fair bit doing 4 weekends consecutively of SJing and an ODE, she took off with excitement around the last SJing we did and somehow managed to jump all the jumps whilst at a VERY fast speed (very scary!).

A week or so after this we noticed she was rather girthy when being tacked up, pinned her ears back when asked to move forward or using your legs and very reluctant to move into trot or canter. I lunged her to see if she was any different without a saddle and she was not the same horse I knew before, she would not move other than to walk slowly and every time I tried to push her to trot she would pin her ears at me and threaten to kick. I also tried to make her move around loose in a paddock, as she normally runs about, follows you and is rather playful but she had none of it and wouldn't break into a trot, even when i tried to lead her round!

I got the physio out, as I believed it may be her back/musculoskeletal due to the clinical indications. She said she seemed stiff on one side because she had pulled her Psoas muscle, most likely from her bolting round the show jumping course, she treated her for this and gave me instructions which I then followed.

She did not seem any better after the given time so I decided to call the vet. The vet did all the standard lameness checks- trot and walk up on concrete ,on the straight, flexion tests, she then watched her on the lunge and truly saw how in pain and unhappy my horse looked when asked to move however despite this the vet said she was sound in all three paces on the lunge in both directions. My vet also said my mare did not have the conformation or 'type' for back problems as she has a short backed, well proportioned and is built like a brick outhouse.
She then asked to lunge her on the concrete and said she looked slightly unlevel in one direction in front feet however, like your vet said, it may be a red herring and could be insignificant.
Like your vet, she gave me 10 days of Bute and told me to continue light work to see if I notice a difference once on it and when she came off it. She seemed slightly better, as in she pinned her ears back but actually trotted instead of refusing however this was not exactly the results we had hoped for.

I also called the farrier, as my mare is barefoot she doesn't need him as regularly as many horses as her feet stay well trimmed for a fair while. He had a good look and couldn't find anything either and also thought she was not the 'type' for any foot problems!

I then called the vet, explained she had not changed and arranged a visit to the clinic for X rays and nerve blocks, despite not even knowing where to start examining.

However, that week I decided to show a non horsey friend how 'in pain' my mare was, took her in the school and she went round perfectly, showing a lovely extended trot and cantering nicely! That week , I tried to exercise her as much as possible and to see how she reacted, I wanted to see if more exercise was going to cause pain however it didn't cause a reaction. I postponed the hospital as I felt taking my sound, forward going, willing horse there was not going to show anything on their nerve block tests etc.
I have 'played it by ear' since then and not had any setbacks, on Sunday we did our first SJing since it happened and she was trembling with excitement, got over three jumps then took off again, she was back to normal :)
We never found out what it was, I hope it was a pulled muscle and nothing to do with degenerative bony changes!
Hope this gives you some hope, I know how worried you must feel, I was so stressed these last few months.
Good luck!
 
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tobysg said:
hi,
I have recently had a similar problem to this with my welsh cob who was in medium work at the time.
She had competed a fair bit doing 4 weekends consecutively of SJing and an ODE, she took off with excitement around the last SJing we did and somehow managed to jump all the jumps whilst at a VERY fast speed (very scary!).

A week or so after this we noticed she was rather girthy when being tacked up, pinned her ears back when asked to move forward or using your legs and very reluctant to move into trot or canter. I lunged her to see if she was any different without a saddle and she was not the same horse I knew before, she would not move other than to walk slowly and every time I tried to push her to trot she would pin her ears at me and threaten to kick. I also tried to make her move around loose in a paddock, as she normally runs about, follows you and is rather playful but she had none of it and wouldn't break into a trot, even when i tried to lead her round!

I got the physio out, as I believed it may be her back/musculoskeletal due to the clinical indications. She said she seemed stiff on one side because she had pulled her Psoas muscle, most likely from her bolting round the show jumping course, she treated her for this and gave me instructions which I then followed.

She did not seem any better after the given time so I decided to call the vet. The vet did all the standard lameness checks- trot and walk up on concrete ,on the straight, flexion tests, she then watched her on the lunge and truly saw how in pain and unhappy my horse looked when asked to move however despite this the vet said she was sound in all three paces on the lunge in both directions. My vet also said my mare did not have the conformation or 'type' for back problems as she has a short backed, well proportioned and is built like a brick outhouse.
She then asked to lunge her on the concrete and said she looked slightly unlevel in one direction in front feet however, like your vet said, it may be a red herring and could be insignificant.
Like your vet, she gave me 10 days of Bute and told me to continue light work to see if I notice a difference once on it and when she came off it. She seemed slightly better, as in she pinned her ears back but actually trotted instead of refusing however this was not exactly the results we had hoped for.

I also called the farrier, as my mare is barefoot she doesn't need him as regularly as many horses as her feet stay well trimmed for a fair while. He had a good look and couldn't find anything either and also thought she was not the 'type' for any foot problems!

I then called the vet, explained she had not changed and arranged a visit to the clinic for X rays and nerve blocks, despite not even knowing where to start examining.

However, that week I decided to show a non horsey friend how 'in pain' my mare was, took her in the school and she went round perfectly, showing a lovely extended trot and cantering nicely! That week , I tried to exercise her as much as possible and to see how she reacted, I wanted to see if more exercise was going to cause pain however it didn't cause a reaction. I postponed the hospital as I felt taking my sound, forward going, willing horse there was not going to show anything on their nerve block tests etc.
I have 'played it by ear' since then and not had any setbacks, on Sunday we did our first SJing since it happened and she was trembling with excitement, got over three jumps then took off again, she was back to normal :)
We never found out what it was, I hope it was a pulled muscle and nothing to do with degenerative bony changes!
Hope this gives you some hope, I know how worried you must feel, I was so stressed these last few months.
Good luck!
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hey up..

Thanks for this! It has cheered me up actually and I am starting to hope for the same. It does sound like yours tweaked a muscle and then managed to work it off which is what I am hoping will be the case with mine.


We now have the chiro booked and physio for once the bute has worn off. I think his stable panic has just hurt an area that has been a bit vulnerable, that coupled with not being able to go out and move around has caused him the discomfort.

My friend is a research doctor at the royal vet college who is adamant that this is a deep tissue issue and that he's pulled something in his bottom. The fact that the muscle is so deep in that area means the usual tests may well not show anything up until it escalates up muscle layers which obviously I don't want. He is also 17hh and 5 so he is doing a lot of growing/developing too.

He's walking out in the mornings for 20 mines - with me in my joggers and trainers working off my xmas blubber - and then I'm riding him in the evenings just in walk pushing him forwards so he is stretching himself out.

So.. fingers crossed with the help of chiro and physio we shall be back to normal again soon. I can't praise the chiro and physio enough for talking at length on the phone to me about this, coming down promptly and being very helpful! If I could name names I would.

I am glad yours managed to sort himself out and that he has come good! Good old horses, worry the hell out of you and then go back to normal!

Thanks for your info though!!
 
my horse has a similar problem only that he is 2/10 on flexion 1/10 hard surface 2/10 in school on circle
he had 3 months rest no change really but going in for re exam re x ray hock as first full set of x rays of thet leg at begining were clear bar a blemish on hock ,syifle clear ect will possibly block hock 2 i just have fingers crossed want to ride again
 
stacie21 said:
my horse has a similar problem only that he is 2/10 on flexion 1/10 hard surface 2/10 in school on circle
he had 3 months rest no change really but going in for re exam re x ray hock as first full set of x rays of thet leg at begining were clear bar a blemish on hock ,syifle clear ect will possibly block hock 2 i just have fingers crossed want to ride again
Click to expand...

Did they find anything?

Mine is still off a fair weeks later and is due to go into the clinic for a full work up! Hopefully I'll get some answers.. thinking it may be something to do with a slightly rotated pelvis.. has anyone had similar symptoms and pelvis issues?
 
well he went in last week had his hock re x rayed and nerve block slight improvement when blocked as that were we think it coming from he been off for 3 1/2 months i have to start riding again mainly hacking build him up and get him fitter as building muscle should stablize him support his back end just start gently having his hocks injected in 2 weeks so hope this fixes him
 
Go back to your chiro for more work. 2 treatments is nothing, and if you saw improvements initially something must have worked. If he got his knickers in a twist then this will have undone all the chiro work and then some, so you will need to start from scratch.

Holding the tail to one side usually means that the sacrum is out of alignment. The health of the sacrum/pelvis is fundamental to the willingness of a horse to move forward in trot. It's the equivalent of 1st gear in a car. If this mechanism doesn't work properly then it's like driving away and creating power in 2nd gear - simply isn't possible to sustain this without creating pain and compensation somewhere else in the body, hence why you have a grumpy horse...hope this helps!
 
Hello,

The change wasn't good enough with the chiro on his own. I took the beast to horspital (I couldn't resist) yesterday for a full work up.

Both of us (me and the vet) had a hunch about his stifle so we started by blocking that first and low and behold we saw a difference. He then said he was worried that he would find bony fragments on the joint because he is a big boy (17hh) and done a lot of growing in the last year. Anyway, as I quietly panicked like hell about ocd we did the x-rays and thank the lord they came back clear. We then did ultra sound to check ligaments etc and they too were fine. Both stifle joints were good! So the vet thinks that its likely the trauma of the stable flip has exacerbated the problem but due to that being his weaker side turned it into a lameness issue. Its likely that these pains are also down to his growing/developing.

The slight rotation in his pelvis was in fact a red herring. Work is still being done of him with the chrio which is def helping but it wasn't enough to solve the issue.

So, having ruled out a lot the vet is going to inject cortisone into the joint on Monday then some box rest, a week walking, a week trotting then reassess but if ok we'll bring him back into full work.

So, I am very relieved and whilst its not a firm conclusion we have ruled out some major issues and the lameness was very slight..I had to convince the less horsey/experienced ones of the issue. He should be good to event this year.. fantastic! I'll just keep everything crossed a little longer and hope he progress!

So.. lots of strengthening, physio and chiro work to help him grow into himself once the joint has settled down. He was a very good boy all day so most proud of him!
 
Thanks so much for your kind words. Keep everything crossed for us!

No I moved yards. It happened a few time to me and another girl. We paid £220 a month assisted DIY to be there which was a lot especially when we weren't getting any assistance! She charged a fortune for hay/bedding (only allowed to buy off her) and £20 for trailer parking on top each month. Moving made sense. I was really lucky as my instructor has a space on her yard come up at the same time so we moved there and its really good! I am now dying to crack on as its such a proactive yard! Most people event too which is what we do so again it just made sense.

Funnily enough on the day we left (another livery came with me - the one who also found her horse was forgotten) she wrote a 'post' on facebook saying 'God some people just don't understand that they are just a *******ing DIY'.. i didn't response and ditched her as a friend.. how professional!

A happy ending... nearly.. :)

Thanks again x
 
first thing i thought was teeth???

my mare was reluctant to go forward to trot - and then once in trot wouldnt keep going.....

turns out her teeth were giving her grief.

hth
 
Stacie - good luck with yours! Lets hope they are both successful!

Noodle, he'd behave in such a way when lunged in a head colour plus he has got a very good dentist and is regularly checked because of his slight over bite.. he gets hooks at the back.
It really has been a process of elimination..

Fingers/toes/hooves crossed please!
 
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