I've searched the archives for this subject and
didn't come up with many posts. So hopefully I'm not repeating a topic by
asking this question.
At a ctr ride this past weekend, my horse was
stumbling - a LOT. He almost went to his knees twice. Otherwise, he
was just fine, he drank at every creek we crossed, eagerly ate, was peeing and
pooping. Acted just fine, would readily trot and canter when I asked him
to. But, stumbling. So I slowed down, I don't feel confident riding
a stumbling horse. Ended up being overtime and pulled from the ride, which
I would have done anyway with his stumbling, even if we hadn't been
OT.
He had his shoes reset about a week and a half
before the ride, by the same farrier I've used for over a year. There have
been no other changes, in feed or whatever. Same saddle, bridle, bit, etc.
I've been using. His HR, gut sounds, pulse, everything was normal for
him. One thing, though, that I've noticed recently is that he seems to be
a little thinner than I would expect. He has excellent appetite
though, and I've increased his feed. He gets senior pelleted (complete)
feed, plus rice bran, and free choice grass hay.
One thing, though, is that I have not ridden very
much this summer, due to my not having a horse trailer. Could his
stumbling be due to being less "in condition" than he should have
been?
By the way, about a week before the ride, I went
for a short ride on a gravel road, had been riding about 15 minutes, at a
walk. He fell to his knees while walking. Felt like I was on a camel
that had just "bowed" - I didn't come off but it was very uncomfortable with him
going down so suddenly. He immediately got up and kept walking. I
stopped him and checked his knees to see if he'd been cut, but he was
fine. He didn't act like it hurt him at all, and he was eager to keep
going. I didn't ride much more, about an hour. The following day I
rode him 10 days in the same trail, and road, area, and he never stumbled
at all. Then we go to the ride and he's stumbling all over the
place.
Anyone have any ideas? What is going on with
my boy? Btw, he's a 17 yr old Arabian.
