Stumbling horse

[Olliepoppy]

Hi my boy is a 6 year old cob. When I ride him on the road he is fine (not on roads often as he is very green still). When I ride him in the field or down a farm track he stumbles. My instructor has said he is unbalanced (due to his young age) and to do lots of transitions to help him. I have been doing this with him regularly. When I took him along the completely flat farm track yesterday he trotted all the way along it really nicely. When we turned round and I asked him for trot he took 2 steps and fell to his knees! I stayed on but am worried about him hurting himself. After that when we trotted up the tarmac part of the track (uphill) he was all over the place, trying to canter, going left and right etc. Does it take a long time for the transition work to start helping his balance? He looks great running about in the field without a rider, no stumbling that I have noticed. Is there anything more I can do to help him? Any advice appreciated

 

[oldie48]

Sorry I'm not going to be much help but there's lots of reasons why a horse might stumble besides being unbalanced. How long has he been "broken in" and ridden? We've had several rising 6's but they've all been able to trot in a straight line without stumbling. Could you in any way be making him more unbalanced with your own balance? Green horses can feel very wobbly. Are his feet OK,not long in the toe? does his tack fit him? If your instructor is experienced and properly trained and you trust her/him, then I'd get some more help. It's horrible to have a horse stumble like that and if they hurt their knees, it can take a long while for them to heal. Good luck, i hope you start to see some improvement soon.

 

[WestCoast]

Poor fella - you could invest in some shires westropp knee boots to protect him in case he stumbles again. They come up quite large - the full is big on my Friesian with 9" of bone at the front.

My horse tripped all the time as a four year old - but she hardly does it at all now. It was worse when she was being idle and dragging her feet, so I always made sure that she was putting a bit of effort in. I think your instructor's advice of lots of transitions is good. It will take time, but is completely worth it.

 

[Olliepoppy]

He was broken in at the age of 4 by 'the owners friend". I'm not sure he was ridden much then. He was bought at the age of 5.5 by the person previous to me and was ridden by a 12 year old girl at the livery he was stabled at. They had him for 6 months then I got him in April this year. They said he didn't know much and they 'brought him on as much as they could". I contacted the previous owner to ask if he stumbled and they said no, just the odd occasion, but they also said he never spooked!! I hope it's not MY balance as I have had some lovely trots out of him so don't think I can go from riding ok to riding awful??
I'm wondering if he has got too long in the toe as the farrier is booked to come on Thursday and his stumbling does seem to have been much worse over the last couple of weeks. I think a pair of knee boots is a great idea though! I haven't known my instructor long, have only met her 3 times so far but she is BHSAI and seems to know her stuff. Do you think it's worth getting a second opinion? It will be interesting to see if he improves after the farrier has been..

 

[LovesCobs]

My lad stumbles, used to do it often. He was very on the forehand and leaned on me.(gypsie cob) I'd be inclined to work with your instructor and lots of schooling. When my lad fell on his knees (only once, though he tripped more frequently) I went straight over the top!

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

I'd be doing the following:-

(1) get an experienced friend to watch while you trot him up to see what's happening

(2) get your farrier to have a look at his feet; perhaps change your farrier if needs be

(3) get an equine physio/chiropractor to take a look at him

(4) check the fit of your saddle as this is a common cause of pain/discomfort, which could be making him stumble

(5) have some lessons and work at riding in an outline and getting him to go forward willingly off your leg, i.e. the movement needs to come from behind the saddle. Cobs are very good at shuffling along all unbalanced and literally tripping over themselves.

(6) if this continues, get the vet out to take a look without delay as there could be a clinical reason for it.

 

[Olliepoppy]

He was vet checked in April. The farrier is coming on Thursday. He got a new saddle just 3 weeks ago. Am continuing with lessons, instructor has seen him stumble and says he's just heavy on the forehand due to his age. He forges a lot when he danders about his field so is maybe just lazy? Am thinking about getting trotting poles to teach him to pick up his legs.

 

[edgedem]

Hiya,
trotting poles helped my girl to be aware of where she was putting her feet, I was worried for ages about it, I had a friend watch us hack, and it turns out she was just so young & excited to hack she was looking around too much and not where her feet were going! if you eliminate all possible pain/tack etc problems, I would look at schooling to focus his attention on his feet & whilst hacking!

 

[applecart14]

H When we turned round and I asked him for trot he took 2 steps and fell to his knees! I stayed on but am worried about him hurting himself.

Buy some of these they are brilliant: http://media.robinsonsequestrian.co...b33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/5/4/54501-Blk_1.jpg

They are what I have used on my boy every time we have hacked out for nearly ten years now. You can use them for jumping in as well (say if you go for a hack and wish to jump some xc jumps also). They are brilliant for fun rides that involve roads and fields with jumps. Or just for hacking on road full stop.

They never slip as conventional knee boots often can.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Is he bum high, if so I think I would turn him away for the summer to mature, I would not do a lot of trotting, and only slowly uphill.

 

[Olliepoppy]

Buy some of these they are brilliant: http://media.robinsonsequestrian.co...b33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/5/4/54501-Blk_1.jpg

They are what I have used on my boy every time we have hacked out for nearly ten years now. You can use them for jumping in as well (say if you go for a hack and wish to jump some xc jumps also). They are brilliant for fun rides that involve roads and fields with jumps. Or just for hacking on road full stop.

They never slip as conventional knee boots often can.

I ordered some first thing this morning!! After reading reviews on best knee boots they seemed to be the ones to go for

 

[Olliepoppy]

Hiya,
trotting poles helped my girl to be aware of where she was putting her feet, I was worried for ages about it, I had a friend watch us hack, and it turns out she was just so young & excited to hack she was looking around too much and not where her feet were going! if you eliminate all possible pain/tack etc problems, I would look at schooling to focus his attention on his feet & whilst hacking!

Thanks, I'm 90% sure he just can't be bothered picking up his feet half the time, trotting poles should wake him up a bit!