somethings definitely wrong here

[SultanaRama]

since moving to a new yard, my horses work frequency has increased as now we have the facilites to be able to ride everyday or as much as possible, anyway, a few weeks ago a tried him in a waterford lose ring -it didnt go well. he would permantly be on his hocks jumping up and down in the air trying to canter and when i would ask him to stop he woulld stand and then swing his back-end round (so he was facing the wall/fence) and begin to go backwards across the arena. he is fine and active when warming himup through walk and trot with the spring grass giving him a little extra activity and you put him in to canter and his breathing gets very heavy(he sounds like a dragon trying to blow a house down) now this isnt too much work for him in fitness wise, and then it all begins as soon as he feels a little more contact from the leg all four feet come off the floor and tries to canter off soundinglike a dragon getting especially hot headed around corners this makes it all most impossable to get him to trot

so i took the bit out and we went back to our dutch gag which he is perfect in! and we where okay then however it started and it started bad today!
the reason im posting it here is as a 5yr old he ripped all the ligaments out of left stifle he had 12months off and then i bought him brought him back into work and in the past 4 anda half years has been lame 4 times one wasnt stifle however and was an abscess anyway this behaviour is completly out of charactor and may just be him not taking a liking to having to do any work as he hacked out perfectly the morning before in the same tack but only walked and troted anywaymy horse is working him self up into an unrideable mess, ive tired to work through it andit doesnt happen so ive got a number for a dentist -normally i have my vet but thought we may need to try a fresh pair of eyes

so basically where i am at here is, im planning to get the dentist to come out and check his teeth- he is done every 12months but am i right in thinking this is a good place to start? i know it cant be his saddle as its madeto measure and still has a foam riser just in case so that definitely cant be hurting him! he isnt visably lame, he has always had restricted movement becuase of his stifle but doesnt feel or appear lame when trotted up.

so is the dentist best place to start off on what im feeling is going to be a very lenghty and expensive road?!

sorry about the essay, i just seem to have lost the horse i fell in love with all those years ago!

 

[cptrayes]

Does he make a noise breathing in, or is it just breathing out. If he makes a noise breathing in he may have laryngeal hemiplegia, which can cause them a lot of stress and may frighten him (a horse that can't breath is the horse at the back of the herd that is caught by the lion).

Just because your saddle was made to measure some time ago does not mean it now fits. The simple fact that you have to use it with a riser pad means, for me, that it certainly does NOT fit, or you would not need a riser pad. If this is a back riser pad, then the most common reason for the use of a back riser pad on a saddle that does not really fit is that it is actually too narrow, and therefore too high, on the front. Pinching at the wither can cause odd lamenesses and fractious behaviour.

Dentist is a good place to start, yes.

 

[SultanaRama]

oh no the nosie is when he breathes out, it doesnt sound unatural, just like hes having to workvery hard becuase he get quite tense when he canters he get very collected which really only makes it more difficult for him because hes very big and quite stockyi think the sound is him just making him self work harder!

i started using the riser because a while ago be started acting up so i already had the riser and just chucked it on, then realised the saddle needed reflocking and its okay nowand ive just never took the riser off! but if im being honest i dont really know much about saddles, ive never had to buy one so my knowledge of saddles is very limited!

thank you for your help though!

 

[Zuzzie]

Well, provided you have gone through all the usual checks re teeth, saddle and tack, it might be a good idea to put him on the lunge to see if the behaviour is less of a problem without a rider on board. He may have put his back out or pulled a muscle. If you can get him going forward on the lunge then you can observe from the ground how he is moving. If its just high spirits then you are best to lunge first before sitting on him and having an accident.

 

[Booboos]

I would start with the vet as it could be a variety of things. He needs to check his breathing, his teeth, his stifle and his back in particular.

Sounds like he is finding the bit too strong, but his reaction is rather severe so I wouldn't be surprised if there is pain somewhere and you vet is the best person to find it.

Unfortunately saddles need to be adjusted, usually every 6 months and sometimes even more often. Don't rely on riser pads, get a good saddle fitter out to look at adjusting the tree (if it is adjustable in your saddle) and change the flocking as necessary.