stiffness or something else? long post!!!

[breebree191]

okkk, so i have a 6 year old idxtb mare who iv owned since she was 6 months old. i backed her rising four and only hacked her until i moved to a live in job at an international dressage yard so i could do things properly. shea quite tempremental and can be a bit of moody moose at times. she was very relucent to move forward and has reared with me on several occasions and was very difficult. but with a bit of help we got there in the end and she was working quite well.
next yard was an event yard but my boss had very different ideas to what i should be doing with flat work and then my mare seemed to go backwards in her training and was difficult to get moving forwards and working properly. soo off we moved again to another dressage yard. my boss here is great an takes a geuine interest in us and got both going again even though their have been alot of things to overcome. mare has been slamming on the breaks, planting, bucking, kicking out at my leg, rearing and every so oftain she will switch behind in the canter. she is very crooked and takes a loy of riding to keep straight and she has a tendancy to move with her quarters in, mainly to the right. with regular training and a lot of warming up we can get some very nice work out of her. for the last 6 weeks or so mare has been getting regular physio and says she can see improvement each time as she is stiff and sore over her back and her right hand quarter. mare also seems to be 1 10th lame when first moving away i trot and when coming down from trot to walk as the right hind isnt coming through as much. i have been told to keep working and do carrot stretches ect. this wasnt worrying me at all as iv been told that with the right work shel come round in the end, it just takes time. the thing thats bothering me though is that for the last 10 days or so that right hind as been coming up and down a little and is puffed up a bit in the morning. she does have very very small windgalls on both hind legs also the right one now seems a little bigger? there has been no change in the level of lameness.

i am getting a bit panicky over the whole thing now. has anyone had any experience with anything like this? i wonder if its something very deep rooted which would explain why she has been such a witch in the past? or its just something which has built over time? or maybe a leg problem which is causing the stiffness? or stiffness which is causing the leg problem? anyway she has physio again in two weeks and depending on what she says i think i might get the vet out to investegate it properly...
oh and teeth saddle are done regulary

thanks for reading such a long winded post! any suggestions or past experiences you have would be great

 

[be positive]

It sounds as if she is not responding to the physio, they should improve after each treatment unless there is, as you suspect, an underlying issue, the physio should by now have referred back to the vet with a full report on the treatment that has been done so far and should not be treating a lame horse until the vet has been.

My physio expects to treat twice for a new problem occasionally coming back a month or so later for a third time but unless it is for a known injury if the horse is not significantly improved after the first visit she will consult with the vet before doing further treatments, if the horse is lame and does not come sound after the first visit she will refer to the vet.

Basically what I mean is just get the vet as it sounds as if the horse needs a proper diagnosis and that your physio is wasting your time and money by continuing to treat a lame horse that is not getting better.

 

[Queenbee]

Not much more that I can say after BP other than, how do other horses react under saddle to you? Often, either horse or rider is initially squiffy, but both end up becoming uneven in their muscular build, both need equal attention to fix an issue. it could be that if your mare has issues, you also need some physio or sports massages to loosen yourself up, otherwise you will not be assisting her.

 

[breebree191]

thanks guys. and yes queen bee i am extrememly wonky. my shoulders naturally hunch and a lean the right even when im just stood there. when riding i tend to sit slightly to the left and collapse to the right. and even when riding other horses there quarters tend to come in slighty. i feel really bad as iv been thinking that all these problems are down to my crappy riding.although when i voiced my concerns to my boss and the girl i work with i was told that i was being rediculouse as i was too light to make much of a difference. (im 5ft6 and very slight and bree is a 17hh tank :') ). but no matter how light i am surely this is going to affect her over a long period?