sjponyfreestyle
New User
I am a regular forum user posting under a new account about this for now until we are ready to share.
A year ago we bought a 4 year old sec b for my daughter to move on to. The pony had been lightly backed as a 3 year old, worked all last summer and taken to a few clinics etc. Pony passed a basic vetting and arrived looking a million dollars, fit and ready to go.
Not long after arriving the pony dropped weight dramatically and started looking poor, despite being on the same feed etc as the previous home. We were told he had been wormed prior to coming to us but we did a count that came back very high and after worming he passed not only redworms but the biggest tapeworm segments Ive ever seen. We also found out he had an infected mouth with big diastemas on the bottom where adult teeth hadn’t come through. (in retrospect we should have done bloods at this stage but it seemed like all the signs for the condition loss were explained by the worm burden/teeth). Over winter we continued to try and build muscle, had the physio out, made to measure saddle fitted and had a specialist dental vet come out and ridden wise this pony was always 100% willing, forward, improving and keen to please. **There was an incident when the pony slipped on the road when a bird scared him and he went down behind and skinned his hind fetlocks. He was however checked out sound after this but it’s worth noting for later on. The weight started to come on nicely and the pony was out doing dressage and instructors were all very happy, other than the canter lead was very difficult to pick up in one direction. He would pop into canter in a beautifully balanced counter canter! No bunny hopping or going disunited, just the wrong leg. I personally was never 100% sure he was actually unlevel behind but Im the first to admit I dont have a great eye for soundness unless it's bleedin obvious, although other more experienced friends thought he was definitely lame behind.. the multiple ortho vets that saw him said if anything he was just weak behind but not unsound.
Long story short , after an ortho work up we sent the pony to the vet hospital for a full body bone scan and assessment. Infuriatingly, absolutely nothing came back but they DID (almost unheard of via a bone scan) find a very enlarged liver. This resulted in biopsies and lots of other tests which found raised enzymes but no cause for it and the conclusion was that it had been a virus or caused by the worm damage, All the bloods are now clear.
The pony is now back in ridden work and the canter lead is still dodgy but we can get it. He has muscled up so well but is still very weak behind and despite the vet school not finding anything, to me and our physio, he still hasn't improved behind. The physio had a really good work up with him last week and got a massive explosive reaction when pressing into the hip area. I’m now really at a loss as Ive maxed out the insurance and nothing was found. The physio has said that sometimes issues deep in the hip join or pelvis are hard to see on scans and xrays and I certainly cant afford any more investigations. The physio suggested getting him buted and pain free and doing daily groundwork exercises such as cross overs over raised poles to try and strengthen the hip area however having previously spoken to my vet, I suspect this isn’t going to be a great idea due to the previous liver issues! (awaiting a call back!)
My gut is now starting to tell me I might have a very expensive field ornament on my hands as although he is very sweet and not objecting under saddle, he clearly isn’t fit to be ridden. He has had so many issues and been such a trooper throughout, Im wondering now if even having fixed everything else, there is a residual pelvic issue from the fall . He is such a bright, young pony, it’s just heartbreaking as he is desperate to do a job. In many ways posting this is helping me sort through my feelings but Id grateful to hear other opinions when reading the straight facts and no emotional attachment is blurring the lines so to speak. Thanks for reading.
A year ago we bought a 4 year old sec b for my daughter to move on to. The pony had been lightly backed as a 3 year old, worked all last summer and taken to a few clinics etc. Pony passed a basic vetting and arrived looking a million dollars, fit and ready to go.
Not long after arriving the pony dropped weight dramatically and started looking poor, despite being on the same feed etc as the previous home. We were told he had been wormed prior to coming to us but we did a count that came back very high and after worming he passed not only redworms but the biggest tapeworm segments Ive ever seen. We also found out he had an infected mouth with big diastemas on the bottom where adult teeth hadn’t come through. (in retrospect we should have done bloods at this stage but it seemed like all the signs for the condition loss were explained by the worm burden/teeth). Over winter we continued to try and build muscle, had the physio out, made to measure saddle fitted and had a specialist dental vet come out and ridden wise this pony was always 100% willing, forward, improving and keen to please. **There was an incident when the pony slipped on the road when a bird scared him and he went down behind and skinned his hind fetlocks. He was however checked out sound after this but it’s worth noting for later on. The weight started to come on nicely and the pony was out doing dressage and instructors were all very happy, other than the canter lead was very difficult to pick up in one direction. He would pop into canter in a beautifully balanced counter canter! No bunny hopping or going disunited, just the wrong leg. I personally was never 100% sure he was actually unlevel behind but Im the first to admit I dont have a great eye for soundness unless it's bleedin obvious, although other more experienced friends thought he was definitely lame behind.. the multiple ortho vets that saw him said if anything he was just weak behind but not unsound.
Long story short , after an ortho work up we sent the pony to the vet hospital for a full body bone scan and assessment. Infuriatingly, absolutely nothing came back but they DID (almost unheard of via a bone scan) find a very enlarged liver. This resulted in biopsies and lots of other tests which found raised enzymes but no cause for it and the conclusion was that it had been a virus or caused by the worm damage, All the bloods are now clear.
The pony is now back in ridden work and the canter lead is still dodgy but we can get it. He has muscled up so well but is still very weak behind and despite the vet school not finding anything, to me and our physio, he still hasn't improved behind. The physio had a really good work up with him last week and got a massive explosive reaction when pressing into the hip area. I’m now really at a loss as Ive maxed out the insurance and nothing was found. The physio has said that sometimes issues deep in the hip join or pelvis are hard to see on scans and xrays and I certainly cant afford any more investigations. The physio suggested getting him buted and pain free and doing daily groundwork exercises such as cross overs over raised poles to try and strengthen the hip area however having previously spoken to my vet, I suspect this isn’t going to be a great idea due to the previous liver issues! (awaiting a call back!)
My gut is now starting to tell me I might have a very expensive field ornament on my hands as although he is very sweet and not objecting under saddle, he clearly isn’t fit to be ridden. He has had so many issues and been such a trooper throughout, Im wondering now if even having fixed everything else, there is a residual pelvic issue from the fall . He is such a bright, young pony, it’s just heartbreaking as he is desperate to do a job. In many ways posting this is helping me sort through my feelings but Id grateful to hear other opinions when reading the straight facts and no emotional attachment is blurring the lines so to speak. Thanks for reading.
