3 weeks ago we had a visit from our McTimoney practitioner Rachael and I felt initially he improved following her visit and I was really pleased to feel a difference and hoped we had got him sorted but although he wasn't as bad he was still not his usual self. As Rachel had noticed he was not quite comfortable turning tightly to the right which is the leg he had a problem with earlier this year I had decided to call the vet and see if this might be the problem. Although he appears sound otherwise I felt it was worth investigating. She also checked our saddle and advised it needed some flocking as was tilting back slightly and flatter on one of the back panels.
He has been ticking over and working a little better since Rachel's visit so it obviously helped but he's not returned to what I would call his normal if I'm totally honest, he has not quite felt himself since his break in early Sept. While he is working, doing everything I ask, trying his best and is not lame he just doesn't have the energy and enthusiasm he had before. Being quite a laid back horse anyway he is now pretty much horizontal!
I am having to work very hard to get him going and it always feels like the hand break has been left on, he's just not taking me forward. It doesn't matter what we are doing either hack, jumping, schooling and lunging I get the same response from him.
We jumped a couple of weeks ago and he tried his best for me jumping down a decent 1m treble combination several times off both reins. Whilst he jumped everything well, didn't knock a pole, stop or run out he just didn't have the same desire to jump as I am used to him having, if I had not made him go he would quite happily of dribbled to a stop which is not like him.
Out hacking he again feels sound but I usually hack in a gag as he gets quite strong and at the moment I am having to kick him along.
Last week my best friend came along to film me ride some tests for www.dressage4all.com and watching the tests back he is very flat. We only did an intro and prelim test but I was really disappointed with both tests as I know he is capable of so much better but he just couldn't give me anymore.
Schooling he feels very flat
I had initially thought the problem was simply due to the lack of grass as it coincided with our summer grazing pretty much running out so we started feeding hay twice a day, I upped his feed from a light balancer to a competition mix but saw no real difference, then I added a performance balancer (which I have had to take him back off of as it seemed to give him a very upset tummy which I'm waiting so see if improves now he's back off of it) and finally I added turbo flakes! Now usually changing a horse onto this much high energy feed would turn them into a fire breathing dragon with energy to burn but sadly none of this is making any difference to poor Jack so I am confident the issue is not feed/energy related. As such I will wean him back off all the high energy feed as he doesn't usually have or need this much. Generally he is on a light balancer and alfalfa based chaff in summer and I just add fibre beet in the Winter if I feel he needs a bit more. He is also a very good doer so I am keeping a very close eye on his waistline as excess body fat wont do him any favours either! He is in pretty hard work at the moment so fortunately his weight has not suffered so far.
So this last week we have had a visit from the vet and a visit from the saddler to see if we can address his issues.
Firstly the vet came and I went through all Jack's symptoms and the problems we've been having, it was the same vet who treated him earlier in the year so he knew his history already. Having talked him through everything that's been going on we began by having a look at him walked and trotted up on the flat then on the lunge in the menage. While Jack decided not to show off his symptoms to the vet as much as he could have, typical, he could still see he wasn't moving the off fore quite right when turned tightly to the right. You can't see it on the lunge or in a straight line though and the vet was actually quite pleased with how well he was moving and how sound he was. We then performed a flexion test on both fronts and while he was a little positive to both the vet wasn't worried by this. He has had problems with both fronts in the last year anyway so a little reaction isn't unusual.
Next he checked Jack's back to see if the problem was there but found he was very comfortable, strong and flexible in his back so no sign of any issues there (phew!). I mentioned his hocks but the vet said he is moving them well so he doesn't think they are the problem.
So this left us with 2 options, try a bute trial to see if he is any better then we know if the problem is pain related or not and can investigate further or take bloods and see if the lethargy is because he is deficient in something. After going over his diet, fitness, workload and management the vet felt it would be better to do the bute trial first so left us with a load of bute. Jack is having 4 a day to start with so with such a high dose we should know for sure he is out of any pain he might be in and if his performance under saddle improves the problem is definitely pain related.
The next day we had the saddler come and check out our saddle, reflocked it so it is siting level and advised me to take out the half pad I have been using as it has become flatter at the back and was adding to the saddle tipping back.
Jack has had a couple of days on the bute with no work so allow it to take affect and I will assess how he feels over the next few days.
We moved onto our Winter grazing yesterday afternoon which looks fantastic so Jack will be busy trying to eat his body weight in grass and I will have to be very careful his weight doesn't balloon although the grass shouldn't be very nutritious at this time of year.
We wormed the day before moving them too so this will rule out any problem with worm burden, although this shouldn't be an issue as we are very strict on poo picking the paddocks and only worm when necessary to try to avoid resistance.
I'm looking forward to getting back to normal this week and seeing whether there is any difference in Jack's energy levels.
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