Working a horse on Bute

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nelliefinellie

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My friend's 7 year old is showing some low grade poor performance. He is being trained for dressage and done well at baby stuff but now she is trying to get him to take a bit more weight behind he is showing some resistance, tending to get very strong and run onto on to the forehand. He also goes a little irregular in medium trot. Her trainer thinks its just a normal young horse thing, but because I have read so many things on here about back problems and PSD starting off like this I persuaded her to get the vet take a look. However, apparently there are not enough clinical signs to investigate. Vet suggested working the horse on bute for 2 - 3 weeks, to see if any difference. My friend is happy to do this, but I am concerned that if there IS a low grade problem working it on bute could make it worse.

Has anyone else had to do this? What was the outcome?

ETA Posting with friend's permission
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It's a common thing for vets to do. It helps with the diagnostic process - if the horse is working better on bute you know it's a discomfort thing and can then try to locate the source of that. Vets also prefer to look at horses in work as they get a better picture of what's going on.

My girl has been through some investigation recently and was recommended to work hard the day before vet and physio looked at her.
 
If she's working the horse anyway, then she has nothing to lose in the diagnostic process by using bute. As long as she doesn't increase the workload on account of the performance being better, then no further harm should be done.
 
absolutely- if the horse does go better then you and your friend are right in thinking that it is a pain thing, if not then your instructor is right in that its a youngster thing.

I'm going through exactly the same issue at the moment with my 5 year old, i had the vet out and he seemed to think all was ok, instructor thinks its a baby thing and i'm not sure. i don't like the idea either of riding him if there's an issue but unfortunately there's no other way. I'm giving mine 2 weeks off and then i'll work him again, if still not sure then i'll bute and see from there.
 
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As long as she doesn't increase the workload on account of the performance being better, then no further harm should be done.

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Oh that's a good point. I guess it could be tempting to do more if the horse suddenly feels better so I will pass that on. Because I pushed her into getting the vet to take a look I now somehow feel responsible for the outcome!
 
I am in exactly the same position - except I have done the bute trial (was meant to be for 10 days but only managed to convince him to eat about 4 days worth). He did go a lot better on the bute, and I noticed a real difference once he came off it. It is hard with unlevelness in that it can build up gradually and so you dont really notice it. My instructor only noticed it in trot my last 3 lessons (I couldnt feel it), but then she thought it was the work so we stopped all lateral work etc and he was still unlevel in trot, although we had been pushing him quite a bit recently. I gave him a week off schooling with just general hacking and he was still unlevel on a circle. Two weeks off work and he was worse (unlevel in a straight line) so started hacking him out again, in walk only and then I noticed him being unlevel in walk as well.

My youngster was trained for dressage from the age of 5 and is now 7 and has just begun to show unlevelness now that more is being asked of him. I helpfully have some of my lessons recorded, so looking back at the earlier tapes I could see that he was level (last year), but then he wasnt working so well from behind and through his back. I had him filmed on the bute and no unlevelness and working well and then filmed again without the bute and you can see there is a slight unlevelness (on a circle) and I can actually feel it now when I ride him.

Now it is just figuring out what it is - back, leg, greeness etc etc The bute trial doestn sound particularly scientific but it is meant to rule out/confirm pain issues. The idea is to try and ride as normally as possible during the trial and then afterwards to see if there is a difference.
 
It is worth working the horse on bute for a couple of weeks, it can help in long term investigations but it rarely gives away anything clear-cut. Also if a horse does not improve on bute it does not necessarily mean that you can just rule out the horse being in pain. A lot of vets really cannot see subtle lameness, especially if its in more than one leg.

A bit off topic but to prove my point: My last horse had on and off foot problems (collapsed heels, recurrent corns etc...) and he often under-performed. My vets, for a long while, often insisted my horse was not lame enough to investigate because he didn't nod - duh - because he was lame in both front feet and could compensate well through his back, hence also lots of back problems. After much pestering he was referred to Leahurst. The vets at Leahurst thought he was improving with surgical shoeing when he was actually getting lamer and more unhappy.
crazy.gif
Then I pushed for a referral to the Animal Health Trust. The horse's feet were knackered on the inside, visible only on MRI. Along the road to getting there I had countless "experts" tell me he wasn't lame, he had a sore back, his saddle didn't fit, the answer to my problems was a sheepskin pad??, my farrier must be rubbish, I needed to ride him through it, it must be remembered pain, the problem was ALL IN HIS HEAD.
mad.gif
mad.gif
Subtle lameness can be just as serious as hopping lameness, sometimes more. Why are vets so reluctant to investigate until the problem has gone beyond repair???!!!
 
[ QUOTE ]


A bit off topic but to prove my point: My last horse had on and off foot problems (collapsed heels, recurrent corns etc...) and he often under-performed. My vets, for a long while, often insisted my horse was not lame enough to investigate because he didn't nod - duh - because he was lame in both front feet and could compensate well through his back, hence also lots of back problems. After much pestering he was referred to Leahurst. The vets at Leahurst thought he was improving with surgical shoeing when he was actually getting lamer and more unhappy.
crazy.gif
Then I pushed for a referral to the Animal Health Trust. The horse's feet were knackered on the inside, visible only on MRI. Along the road to getting there I had countless "experts" tell me he wasn't lame, he had a sore back, his saddle didn't fit, the answer to my problems was a sheepskin pad??, my farrier must be rubbish, I needed to ride him through it, it must be remembered pain, the problem was ALL IN HIS HEAD.
mad.gif
mad.gif
Subtle lameness can be just as serious as hopping lameness, sometimes more. Why are vets so reluctant to investigate until the problem has gone beyond repair???!!!

[/ QUOTE ]

Again a little off topic but my friend had just the same and her horse ended up being PTS once the correct diagnosis was found. She had to do bute trials as well and found it extremely difficult (as she was convinced it was pain related) but it was worthwhile to prove to the vets that there was something wrong
 
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