Was I being conned?

[FanyDuChamp]

Right today took Captain my 17 and half yo KWPN Gelderlander into the indoor school for some exercise and free schooling. He was reluctant to say the least, he is getting used to this retirement thing! Anyway checked he was okay, stretched him and off we went. Not usually a clumsy horse but he trips, comes up looking lame. Take him back to his stable and he is sponged with cold water very little heat and no swelling. But he is pointing and is not putting too much weight on it. He was lame in the winter just gone with an abscess in his hoof, did much the same thing. Anyway all checked and no heat, still limping and looking sorry for himself.

Rug him up and leave. Elizabeth goes up to do up and feed and he is fine, no limp or lameness. Calls YO (who is very knowledgeable and used to my panic attacks over him) she walks him round, still not lame. Elizabeth says he is sound as a pound.

So has he conned me so he doesn't have to work?

FDC

 

[MrsMozart]

Yup

 

[Slinkyunicorn]

Sounds like you got well and truly had

He hasn't got to that age without learning a few tricks....

 

[Dobiegirl]

You forgot to take his wellies off.

 

[FanyDuChamp]

I bl**dy knew it! He was sound when Elizabeth checked him and limping like a one legged pirate when I was with him! Little *****! He does make me laugh, he learns so fast then applies what he has learnt to other situations. Well he is doing some work tomorrow!

Dobiegirl- that is Fany with the wellies, Captain doesn't go out in the rain or any temps below 60 degrees.
FDC

 

[Tonty Tont]

Aw

Maybe he wanted a lazy day

 

[FanyDuChamp]

Well because he has been a pro-comp CDE horse he has always been very willing to work and had a good work ethic. Little g*t has just decided retirement suits him I think! Too bl**dy bright for his own, or my, good.
FDC

 

[Headpiece]

my friend had a pony just like that. Used to be hacking out, pony went lame so we would come back leading him, really carefully, fuss over him etc etc. Then he would forget and walk normally. You would say to him "Larry are you LAME?" then he would remember and walk with a limp. He was 25!

 

[FanyDuChamp]

Oh god, he'll never stop if he gets away with it!
FDC

 

[Shantara]

Ned had me the other day, I'm sure of it! He was showing all the signs of a very bad back, so I gave up and turned him out.
His owner had him thoroughly checked and he didn't have a single thing wrong with him! Little minx. I've ridden him since and he was fine.

At my friends RS there was a pony who faked limps! Naughty thing must have cost hundreds getting the vet out!

 

[muddymate]

I don't buy the 'old soldier act' that people like to think horses are capable of performing. For every behaviour that appears to show that, there will be a rational explanation, mostly informed by the human need for projection. Horses don't have 'malice of fore-thought'. So I think either: yes, you were having a bit of a panic and thought he was lame after the trip, but he wasn't (I get paranoid about lameness in horses too). Or, he genuinely 'felt' something, perhaps a twinge from his previous lameness/other, and after a bit of a rest felt ok. I mean, who hasn't just had a short time when you have felt 'ow, ow, ow' about a twinge in the joints (ok, it's my age) and then felt fine?

 

[muffinmunsh]

I am with mussymate on this

 

[katherine1975]

I agree with muddymate, horses don't fake lameness. They go lame because something hurts. Our mare who has arthritis was displaying the symptoms you describe. Would be really lame in walk and pointing and then the next day she was fine. She was very lame on a saturday, spoke to vets and arranged for her to have a lameness work up, took her to the vets on the following wednesday and they said she was sound trotting up. They only found she was lame on a tight circle and it was difficult to see as it was bilateral.

 

[Luci07]

I don't agree - a friend had a cob who had the summer off after going lame. He had been used formerly in a riding school so had worked pretty hard before she bought him to give him a quieter life.

He came back into work and then kept going lame - till they worked out the lameness would set on if he went past the field where he had spent the summer. Cue changing the route and he was sound. And this was after a lot of extra vets visits to try to find out why!. He is, however, the first and only horse I have ever known who did that (his other party trick, having been hunted, would be to tank off if anyone made hunting horse noises - nothing else had that impact!)

 

[skydancer]

i had an ex race horse that used to do this as we walked away from the yard he would suddenly go very, very lame but as soon as we turned back to go home - u guessed it he would march cheeky little bleeder! They are too intelligent for us

 

[FMM]

I believe that horses and ponies do NOT suddenly go lame to get out of work - there is invariably a reason and just because we cannot see anything obvious, does not mean there is not a problem. If they always go lame on the same place on a hack, is it because it is on stones/down a steep incline etc? There is generally a reason for lameness - and it is rarely because the horse wants to get out of work. If they didn't want to do something, they would simply chuck you off!!

As an earlier poster said, it may well have been because you were worried that you saw a lameness that was not there perhaps? Otherwise, he MAY have hurt himself, was lame, then the pain wore off. How many times do you trip or knock a joint and limp for a few strides before the pain wears off?

 

[littlescallywag]

My boy did it to me just before a yard competition. Was hopping lame, everyone noticed it so it wasn't just me.
Scrapped the classes and got ym to check him out and not a thing wrong with him. Sod
And we so could have won tack and turnout lol

 

[Chellebean]

Oh it does sound like it! He sounds like he has scivalitest (sp) down to a T lol

 

[starryeyed]

i had an ex race horse that used to do this as we walked away from the yard he would suddenly go very, very lame but as soon as we turned back to go home - u guessed it he would march cheeky little bleeder! They are too intelligent for us

We had one that did the exact same! He had us so worried as we were convinced there was something wrong - he'd turn out of the yard, suddenly go "lame" (very bad acting as well, looking back!), we'd worry over him, check him over, turn him to go home and he'd run back to the yard absolutely fine! He did it on several occassions, and always had the cheek to bolt round the field kicking his heels in the air. In the end we started to just push him on and once he'd got past the next driveway he accepted he was going for a ride and suddenly the 'lameness' had gone. He's far too clever for his own good.