would this concern you. horse showing odd behaviour

charlie76

charlie76

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a friend has asked me to post about her young horse as she is concerned about him. the horse is five and she has had him about six months. he was very poor and under muscled when she got him with rain scald and gammy eyes.
he has put on weight and has a good coat but has never really built any muscle despite decent and varied work. he has.good paces and showed an excellant jump.
laat week she jumped him and out of the blue his natural careful jump had gone. he knocked every fence down . usually behind.
she then hacked him on sunday and half way home he lost the rythym of his walk and almost was hopping every few steps. he was in a large exciting group so put it down to tension.
yesterday she had a lesson with me. he started the funny walk again. we worked him for a bit and he improved. moved on to.pole work and small jumps and again he. never picked his hind feet up so we stopped.
he is very slow to lead to and from the field and has always been a bit thick with hoof picking although he is.ok with the farrier.
he has had his back and teeth checked and all fine although he does sometimes put his feet down strangley.
he might just be big and weak so giving him a break might be the answer?
he does also.suffer from warts on his muzzle.
i think if i get the vet there isnt muxh to show.him!
 
Yes, this would concern me too. Does he do this under saddle only? I'd be checking that too. And I'd also be inclined to give him a break to mature, if the vet can't find anything.It does sound as if there is a physical reason for this behaviour though and I'd want to get to grips with it. Has he had all these checks since the behaviour started? because if not, then they don't really prove anything.
 
Definitely. would concern me. I haven't seen this action, obviously, but what you describe is shouting 'please have a look at the SI region' very loudly. The symptoms sound awfully familiar, sorry. Particularly the bit about not developing any muscle. Does he have biggish shoulders, despite the lack of muscle elsewhere? If it is this region, you won't see anything without an MRI, though, except possibly some subluxation at the tuber sacrale which should actually be rigid.

Vet and rest - depending upon the severity of the issue.
 
Gamebird said:
Hi Charlie76. Hate to mention this but does sound rather like a Wobbler. I'd get it looked at. Sorry.
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I've got a wobbler, and while it isn't that noticeable at the moment, I have read so much on it and spoken to vets about it that on reading the op, it was the first thing that sprung to mind.

I would suggest he isn't ridden until the vet has been to see him, just in case it is Wobblers.
 
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I was wondering about Wobbler's syndrome too.

OP, I always think that if you notice a change and think something might be wrong, there usually is. We sometimes try to rationalise away our fears but should actually listen to our gut instinct.
 
hmmm. thank you. he will have a break, see if it makes a difference and if not then the vet will be called. he is just a snail to lead. he doesnt hop.
 
Mine didn't hop either, presented with bilateral lameness in hinds when being broken in. Investigations showed a narrowing of the verabrae at C6.

If you saw her in the field you would never guess she has wobblers. She is sound, can back up, and has been known to scratch behind her ear with a hind foot.

But, she does have wobblers. If she was brought back into work it would again become obvious, but she is fine as a rather large field ornament!

Please get the vet out sooner rather than later, it would be awful if the horse went down overnight and was unable to get up.
 
Sadly it does sound like wobblers or something similar but other causes could be acorn poisoning or liver damage.

I think I would get a vet out for blood tests at least sooner rather than later just to eliminate anything like that even if the owner doesn't want to go the whole xray, scan rouute just yet.
 
charlie76 said:
hmmm. thank you. he will have a break, see if it makes a difference and if not then the vet will be called. he is just a snail to lead. he doesnt hop.
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I would get bloods done ASAP, I had one with similar but it happened suddenly and bloods indicated she had tied up. It took her 4 months to come right, she would trot but not travel and stand with her hind legs 2/3 feet behind where they should be. Physio and Osteopath visits along with Cortaflex fixed her, although we don't know what was wrong with her or why they worked. She came back into work better than ever. She was 12 though.
 
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