Sunday, May 11, 2014

F*** YOU HOCKS I HATE YOU?

Yankee has been a dream lately.

...on the flat.

He's turned into a monster over fences.


Yankee...such  asshole. WHAT  HAPPENING.


He's starting to buck when I ask for the canter, chips at every fence, stops, or bunny hops. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME. Its like he is doing it on purpose and its INFURIATING. He refuses to even jump 2'6 oxers and I'm like



The last time we jumped I was so annoyed I threw my hands up in frustration and just let him walk for 10 minutes so I could cool off and then flatted him. Whats worse is every time I jump it seems like there are a hundred people watching and I'm always embarrassed my dumb horse won't even jump two feet.

The only moderately decent jump/picture all day.
 I wasn't sure last time if it was because of the heatwave or what, but he's like me, in that we melt in heat. Then I was like, well maybe he is hurting. Is it the saddle? I stopped using a half pad with the jump saddle and only use my thinline pad now. Thought maybe that was it. Or am I riding badly? Probably. BUT he always takes me over anyways-whether it be 2 ft or 4ft. Was he distracted by the amount of people hanging around? Maybe.

Then I remembered its been almost a year since he got his hocks done.




So there's that.

But it doesn't make sense to me. The vet thinks he should be good for three years. Definitely more than one. AND he's fab on the flat. Like, amazing.

HELLO FORWARD


DAT TROT DOH



And thats in a hackamore! He's engaged, through, and forward. His flying  changes are getting better too. And that requires a lot of hock action.





For now, since I can't afford to guess and get a vet out to test his hocks again when he is NOT showing lameness like last time,  I will use the half pad again with my saddle and see if that fixes things.



8 comments:

  1. Could he have gotten a fright when you were jumping that big Oder? Young horses are easy to overface

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  2. SI maybe? Same thing happening with my Penny...bunny hops that is. Tell tale sign apparently of an SI injury. Time off and chiro, acupuncture was her prescription. Maybe a few weeks off will help, or just off jumping.

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  3. Dang hock injections lasting 3 years???

    Hmmm i wonder if it's pain since he is great on the flat but not OF...

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  4. I was told that hock injections last 6 months, tops. :-/ Do again.

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  5. 3 years because he didn't really need them per se, it was just as a precautionary measure. For horses with asrthritis they only last 6 months.

    As for the overfacing, I doubt that is the issue. He can jump 4ft 6in in his sleep and jumped 5ft. easily with me. The refusals were caused by my riding.

    Also, what exactly is SI? I havent heard of this before!

    I really have no idea what is up.

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  6. sacroilliac joint. Its the joint that is the top part of their back/pelvis. Quite a few horses have issues there, actually. http://www.equisearch.com/horses_care/health/illnesses_injuries/identify-and-treat-equine-sacroiliac-problems/2/

    If the refusals are a new thing, I would definitely say its pain somewhere.

    Also, might want to possibly check out his coffins as well. I know my horse would start acting up at fences when she needed those done.

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  7. It sounds like a pelvic/ SI joint issue. Try chiro or worst worst case you CAN inject the SI but I think hes prolly just out of place or sore in the SI. That won't necessarily change their flat work unless your schooling stuff with some serious sitting (canter/ pirouettes, FEI level collection ect). But because he has to sit to power over the jump it's likely causing that bucking issue and the propping. Smokey turns all sorts of insane when he's out in his back or sore in the SI area.

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  8. I was told if a horse bucks out with both hind legs it's the SI joint and if they crow hop straight up and down it's the wither area (a.k.a. saddle fit). I have no idea if that's true or not.... but it does sound like it could be pain related. Is the bucking before or after the jump? Maybe the saddle is sliding forward after the jump and crushing his withers? I hope you can figure it out!

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