Two possibilities come to mind. One, you mentioned that he's a
little thinner than usual. Could it be that the saddle is now not
fitting as well - perhaps impinging on his withers? I'm assuming he's
stubbling with his front feet, from your description. However, you
mentioned that on the 10 mile ride, the day after he went to his knees, he
didn't stumble...so that doesn't sound like saddle fit.
My second thought, especially given the suddenness of him going to his
knees, is some sort of chiropractic issue...something getting pinched and
causing him to stumble. You might try getting him adjusted by an eqine
chiro and see if that helps.
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.
Thank you for any advice.
Carla Richardson
Colorado
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