Monday 22 February 2010

Kingsley's Rehab Week 15: Up Up and NOT Away

Week 14 left me feeling very optimistic and happy that we were finally having a bit of consistency. On Thursday I had him shortening and lengthening his walk stride with soft mouth and no resistance. It might not be much per normal but considering that a month ago he would rather twist his neck in a knot if you applied pressure on the reins it felt pretty good.
It was probably the best week so far.

Now today, first day of the week 15 and I can very much file it into the worse of all weeks so far.
Went to catch him and he was quite bolshy and pushy and if amount of mud on him and rugs was anything to go by he must have had a productive racing day.
I basically had to bath 3/4 of him, then wait until he dried enough to tack him up. Gave him a super groom (he is starting to moult), tacked up and the one thing I noticed was that he seemed really tired and didn't pay much attention to his hay. He was literally having a nap standing there all tacked up.
Off we went and straight away he felt totally behind my leg. Not really like him at all as he normally power walks with me even if it's a crooked power!
One lap around and I changed my timer to 25 min instead of planned 34 just in case he didn't feel well. Turned gently across the long diagonal to change the rein and just as we were going over X he spotted a deer in the field next to the arena. I felt him wanting to stop and look so gave him a little tap with my legs and he immediately hopped up. Not high but enough for me to have to fold to stay in balance. Cheeky I thought and then he landed, the moment his feet touched the ground he pushed off properly and stood up. This time for long enough for me to wonder when he was going to come down again. Not good.
Gave him a smack and he landed, then proceeded to walk on. He did try again after about 5 minutes but I was ready then and turned him on a very tight circle with his nose to my boot. In theory we should be on straight lines and gentle curves but decided there was no such option. He got bored with trying and again proceeded to walk, quite sweetly for the rest of the time.
He felt weak and there was no push behind at all. He's either in pain or had a proper run around in the field.
Either way, rearing in this horse is just not on. I wouldn't say I have much experience with many serious behavioural problems...apart from with rearers. My youth was basically spent with them. It may have been good fun to play Zorro at 16 when I worked with plenty of stallions, lots of them notorious rearers, but it certainly isn't the case with a horse on a walking rehab and a buggered back end.

What really worries me is that it didn't feel like a shy rear. He knew exactly what he was doing and had pretty good balance in the air. Although it happened for the first time since with us I would hazard a guess it happened before we got him too.

All now depends on how he feels on Wednesday and Thursday - if still backwards we may need to get the vet to come and see him again a little earlier. For now I have cut his feed to chaff only although even his "full" ratio was a resting amount so I doubt the feeding has anything to do with it.

Considering the stopping he did for a few days 2 weeks ago and today's backwards attitude seem to suggest it's not the exuberance/over excitement rearing but rather evasion technique. It can of course be caused by discomfort he feels when ridden but then again it might be a learned behaviour.

Whatever it is, I am not happy about it all. It's a different thing to tolerate rearing in a fit, competition horse and the one that might never make it as a ridden one...
Down day.
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9 comments

Anonymous said...

Rearing is a bigger balk - it means, to me, that the horse really, really, doesn't want to go forward for some reason - either something hurts generally, or we're asking for something - say too much flexion or contact, that the horse can't cope with at that point. Perhaps he tweaked something running? Who knows, and I'm sure you know much better than I do.

Jeni Ball said...

Hey, I hope is ok. Shame you are not nearer or I could come over and check him out for you. Do you have a friendly physio nearby?

Unknown said...

Kate - yes, he definitely wasn't up for walking yesterday. The ONLY reason why I made him continue was that if it was an old learned behaviour I didn't want him to think he can go back to his stable for his food straight after going upright with me.
My guess would be he tweaked something. Those 2 weeks ago when he first stopped with me it was also after a day of galloping around the fields for ages.
I can't blame contact for it, I was actually walking on a long rein as it was just minutes from entering the arena.
If he feels behind the leg on Wed I will suspend his walking until next physio's visit.

Jeni - that would be super but you're rather far indeed :) The yard we will be moving to has weekly physio visits as well as visits from our regular physio so hopefully that will help us stay more on top of any potential tighteness and pain.
For now he has monthly checks which might not be frequent enough.
We'll see how he is this week.

Anonymous said...

Wiola, not sure if my opinion is valid but I think he is trying it on. Whats started as a little stop when he feels he has done enough has sneaked into a nap and rear. Litle signs tell you that its brewing.
If he is galloping about that much in the field then I would be asking the vet if you can up the wrok, give him more to think about and get him in front of the leg and forward.
If I rememeber rightly he did half do this when you first got him when you had a saddle fitting so he has got this type of thought in his head.

Unknown said...

Hi, yes very possible it was brewing for a while :(
I will definitely be discussing the work load with the vet and physio, maybe we can start lungeing too.

Yes he did refuse to go forwards with one of the saddles on, not a problem with others though?

What stops me from just saying that he is trying it on is the pain factor.
:(

Anonymous said...

Hmm, I just think its a combination of lack of work and the spring coming--trying his luck.
He was in more pain before and not doing it.
Cheeky!!

HorseOfCourse said...

Not fun.
Did not like your hunch about him doing it earlier either.

Still, running around in the fields enough to get tired would suggest that he is happy with his body though.
Which is a good thing!

Anonymous said...

Hi Wiola

Its Sharon again! So sorry that Kingsley seems to be going backwards. I would be like you unsure if pain response or just messing. He may have pulled something in the field. Hope it was just a one off. Obviously his backend not hurting that much if he could rear that high and stay there the naughty boy!!

The craniosacral treatment is by a lady called Julie Houghton from the West Mids way. There is a post on HHO recommending her. She does craniosacral treatments, reiki and zero balancing for both horse and rider. I can email you her details through facebook if I can work out how to get a copy of her flyer onto facebook!! I am willing to try anything and after speaking to her I feel it could be quite promising. Will let you know how we get on.

Hope all goes ok when you ride Kingsley again tomorrow.

Sharon :-)

Unknown said...

Hi guys, I will let you know how it goes tomorrow.
As to him doing it before...He was relatively easy to move on from the stopping and although I was concerned he did not attempt to rear.

I would hope we can look into all possibilities as the "trying it on" option is probably the easiest one to go for. I am not bothered about sitting to a rear and riding him through it and I will but 1) I'm not happy about his owner having to do it 2) there is very little chance of this horse being of much ridden value in the future.
I guess what I am thinking is that if bringing him to work over another year of rehab (most likely) means battling with him 'trying it on' this way, wondering if it's pain or behavioural issue every day is out of question.
If it was a different injury with better prognosis then maybe.

We're wondering whether his initial SI injury wasn't from some rearing/napping incident. We will never know.

Sharon - I will look forward to hearing about the results of the treatment! Let me know please.x

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