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T O P I C R E V I E W
birdof1977
Posted - 25 Apr 2012 : 07:56:09 AM Hi. I am thinking of doing some more endurance on my Arab. He has done a fair bit in the years before I bought him, then I showed him for a couple of seasons before he injured himself 18 months ago. Due to the nature of his injury (fractured pelvis), he has lost some movement in his bad leg, and now does not move well enough for me to show him. Although he is sound.
What I need to know though, is will this lack of movement hinder him on the vet checks at endurance rides?? He isn't lame at all, but does sometimes appear to be a bit stiff on his back end :( Has anyone else had or heard of similar, and what were the outcomes??
Thanks.
3 L A T E S T R E P L I E S (Newest First)
Esther
Posted - 08 May 2012 : 07:45:41 AM I think you need to talk to your vet and see what s/he thinks.
The vets at rides are usually quite pragmatic and are quite good at telling the difference between an 'action peculiarity' and a lame horse.
H dishes with a foreleg as he had a bit of bone removed, and we did up to 80km no problem. We had the odd nerve racking second trot but in general the vets made the right decisions over his 10 year competitive career.
I seem to remember a horse in the 90s with an old fractured hip due to a car accident (was it Siraabha?) which gave him a peculiar action but he competed for years and did a 100 miler.
birdof1977
Posted - 27 Apr 2012 : 9:18:59 PM Thanks for your reply callisto. It does make perfect sense what you say. His movement had improved with work, and to the untrained eye, he probably would look fine, but I can see he is, very slightly short on his bad leg, I wouldn't call him lame though. We ate going to do some training/pleasure rides first, we have been working on the distance he hacks, he quite easily does 10 miles on mixed terain at different paces without even breaking a sweat at the moment, we are getting there. I think maybe I am just going to have to chance it, and keep my fingers x'd. Thanks again for your help.
Callisto
Posted - 25 Apr 2012 : 1:23:22 PM I think you might be best to ask your vet about this, it's hard to say without seeing your horse's action. You would be fine at pleasure/training rides that don't have a trot up (usually those that are purely pleasure/training rides with no CTR's etc.). You can declare a past injury before the trot up, but it would be down to the individual vet as to whether they judged it to be a lameness or just a peculiarity of action. Perhaps something in writing from your vet explaining the injury would help?
It can be a bit of a lottery - I have been vetted out before the start because Lily was messing about due to some motorbikes travelling up and down next to the vetting area (she wasn't lame, my own vet checked her the next day), at this particular ride a number of horses were vetted out for lameness before the start, one man went back to complain, did another trot up, the vet agreed the horse was sound, but it wasn't allowed to start because the vet sheet had already been completed. So it is down to personal opinion - on the plus side I was pretty sure Lily had stiffened up after her first CTR, and yet she was passed, so it can work both ways.
It is possible that as he gets fitter and builds up his muscle then he will be able to compensate for the injury better and not show signs of stiffness.
