you think he has a back or hindquarter problem, or no problem at all?

[beetlejuice]

I bought a 5 year old cob which i have had for a year but he does not seem to be progressing as he should. he was 5 stage vetted and all his x-rays came up clear.

He has physio once a month as he has suffered from a sore back which we put down to the saddle and changed it.
however, he struggles to pick up the left canter lead even on the lunge although does get it eventually.
when cantering he throws his whole weight onto the inside and does not seem to be able to straighten up.

i have booked him in for a lameness work up in 2 weeks (closest they could do) but does it sound like he may have a back or hindquarter problem? anyone had this before?

 

[Sparkles]

Hmmm....possibly.

If it was me, I'd be thinking it's from muscle and lack of balance/schooling more than anything....

 

[ThePony]

Depends what work has been done with him in the year tbh. Canter is generally the last pace to get sorted. My mare (a very green 8 year old) is still not fab on left, she nearly always gets the correct lead (though occasionaly goes disunited) and needs a little time after asking for canter for her to work it out, but then goes nicely into canter. She still struggles a little to maintain it on the left too. Lots of walk to canter and trot to canter on the lunge help her alot. Just takes as long as it takes tbh! She has been held back a little in her progress as she had a medial lateral imbalance in her front left which made it even harder for her to find her balance. Now that has been resolved she is back working on it. Could this be a poss for your boy? Any imbalance in the feet really messes everything up, and can lead to many other problems such as back and shoulders. Hopefully your lameness work-up would show this up - but you can check his hooves for it too. This page gives you a good intro into hoof imbalance http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/horsecare/392/47715.html

 

[beetlejuice]

he has fantastic feet! so dont think it could be that.
he has been ridden, hacked, lunged, hill work pole work etc and should have progressed slightly more than he has especially as he gets work about 6 times a week. he seems to struggle rounding his back but dont know if this is a physical problem or something else...

 

[cob1]

I bought a 5 year old cob which i have had for a year but he does not seem to be progressing as he should. he was 5 stage vetted and all his x-rays came up clear.

He has physio once a month as he has suffered from a sore back which we put down to the saddle and changed it.
however, he struggles to pick up the left canter lead even on the lunge although does get it eventually.
when cantering he throws his whole weight onto the inside and does not seem to be able to straighten up.

i have booked him in for a lameness work up in 2 weeks (closest they could do) but does it sound like he may have a back or hindquarter problem? anyone had this before?

My cob (6yrs old) last year had similar problems, he had a recurrent back problem, which initially we thought saddle and it ended up the physio was out every 6 weeks (it wasnt). He had a sprain of his supraspinous ligament (just under his saddle). A full work up was carried out and this discovered on ultrasound which i wish we had done earlier.

I was very pleased as all clinical signs were suggesting kissing spine and hes now back in full work. The problem showed itself in not being able to canter on the right rein and being disunted, although he was bucking and did start rearing. I think a lameness work up will be useful as the outcome will be either to put your mind at rest and you can continue schooling or you find out whats wrong and get it sorted.

I was not best pleased when i found out his injury as the physio should have referred us back to the vet earlier, rather than continuing the physio and not getting to the root cause.

 

[ThePony]

Didn't mean to offend, an imbalance isn't a reflection of how good his feet are. It can be something that slowly occurs over time, or can be brought on by a couple of slightly 'out' trims. Worth taking a close look as just a mm or 2 can really throw things out.
With rounding his back, could a good instuctor take a look at how you work together and make suggestions based on that? Is he a compact sort? If so then he will find it much harder to stretch over his back than a horse with a slightly longer back. When you put the saddle on are you careful to put it far enough back? Even a little too far forwards can restrict the shoulders and make it physically impossible for the horse to use its back properly. Being a cob also he will tend to be a little later to mature, he may just not have the muscle and balance development necessary to be at this stage, regardless of the work done. Does he move forwards freely? Before he can start to have the strength and understanding to fully use his back, he needs to have the power coming from behind. This can really take a while to build up, depending on the physical maturity of the horse and how he is put together.
Sounds like you are doing loads of good work with him, has he had any time off to consolidate his learning?
Prob is with something like this is lots of tiny things can make a massive difference! Assuming a clear bill of health from the vet, perhaps a lesson or two with a good instructor could help you through this bit? Every now and again hitting a slow point can really benefit from another pair of eyes taking a look.

 

[beetlejuice]

no offence taken!
i have lessons and recently had a master saddler out so know its not the saddle.
to be honest i have been reading up on kissing spine and wonder whether it could possibly be that, or similar to cob1 post.

he is reluctant to round his back struggles greatly in his canter and finds left lead difficult to pick up, he used to rear a lot although just bounces a bit now when finds things hard. he will try to throw my weight to the right when ridden and may suddenly speed up and throw his head occasionally when changing rein onto the left rein. However, is not lame!

He has physio so i will be slightly annoyed if she hasnt picked anything up..

i cant wait for the vet visit just wish it was sooner. even if they say nothing wrong at least i can crack on with sorting the problem out than always wondering whether he is in pain or not.

 

[beetlejuice]

My cob (6yrs old) last year had similar problems, he had a recurrent back problem, which initially we thought saddle and it ended up the physio was out every 6 weeks (it wasnt). He had a sprain of his supraspinous ligament (just under his saddle). A full work up was carried out and this discovered on ultrasound which i wish we had done earlier.

I was very pleased as all clinical signs were suggesting kissing spine and hes now back in full work. The problem showed itself in not being able to canter on the right rein and being disunted, although he was bucking and did start rearing. I think a lameness work up will be useful as the outcome will be either to put your mind at rest and you can continue schooling or you find out whats wrong and get it sorted.

I was not best pleased when i found out his injury as the physio should have referred us back to the vet earlier, rather than continuing the physio and not getting to the root cause.

did they come up to a conclusion as to how he did it?

 

[cob1]

The conclusion was probably a field injury - apparantly it takes a hell of alot to pull this ligament (it supports the whole spine along the top and is a continuity of the nuchal ligament in the neck)- forgot to add he also had some muscle damage and once he was diagnosed you could notice the slight atrophy to one side of his spine.

He could have fell over or something extreme..... we will never know! He is a big lad for being 16.1 (he weighs about 750kg +) so the strain on his body if he fell would be quite high.