Disunited cantering

[fleefloodle]

My pony has started cantering disunitedly loose in the field, and I was wondering if anyone has experienced this/has any ideas as to why she might be doing it.

Just over 10 weeks ago she pulled her stifle and was off work for 6 weeks.  Due to exams I spent the first 3 weeks of working her doing mainly hacking with a little free schooling from time

Comments

[rckmeamadeus]

Is she on the wrong lead in front or behind?

I've been working with a horse who will swap her leads behind (under saddle and in her paddock). The key to maintaining her leads is to keep her haunches from getting too far out (that's when she swaps). If the problem is in the hind, try spiraling in on a circle at the trot to really get her hind legs underneath her, and then ask her to canter as you're spiraling out.

If the problem is in the front, try half halts on your outside rein to keep her shoulders straight.

[fleefloodle]

I'm not cantering her under saddle yet, but from watching her it seems more to be the back than the front.

I'll keep this in mind once I am cantering her, thanks!

[chiere]

I would still suspect stifle issues. Lead changes start at the rear, and combine that with how long it takes any tendon or ligament type injury to heal. She may look fine, but it can take a really long time to fully recover. I would refrain from doing anything that put excessive strain on her stifle, and work her slowly back into shape.

Which side does she not change? And which side was the injured stifle on? How old is she? An injured joint can develope a touch of arthritus pretty quickly. Have you tried giving her a dose of bute, then working her after it gets into her system to see how she does? Has the vet done a flexion test to see how she trots off?

If she was doing it only while being ridden, I would suspect she was trying to fool you. But as she's crossfiring at liberty, I suspect she's still got some residual pain and is favoring it.

[fleefloodle]

Our vet flexion tested her before we brought her back into work and said that she was good to go. That was about 4 weeks ago now, and since then we spent two weeks (roughly) building up her walk work before adding trot in which is where we are now. Definitely been doing everything slowly!

She's just gone 13 so arthritis is a possibility, but she doesn't seem sore on it as such, and she isn't doing it all the time. Also...had it looked a bit funny our vet would never have let me on her. At the moment it's rare enough that it's more odd than worrying (though since I don't see her cantering often I can't really say for sure how often it's happening) but I'll definitely keep the possibility of that in mind if it carries on.

Thanks!

[chiere]

As an old lady, I know that, even tho the Dr says the broken bones and torn tendons are all healed, and everything looks fine, sometimes I still have pain, =-) (it's gonna rain, I pushed myself a little more the previous day, etc,...) It may be the same with her. As an experiment, give her a good dose of bute, then let her run around the pasture and see what she does.

[bpeventer]

I agree with chiere it sounds like her stifle is bothering her. I would also suggest some hill work, just walking up and down them. This really helps strengthen stifles.

[fleefloodle]

Thanks for the suggestion! Just now we're probably 50/50 hacking which handily involves many hills and schooling so that's fairly easy to work into our routine.

[significance_0]

Once a horse has a stifle problem, she's always gonna have one. Make sure you stretch her legs before you ride and put her on a lunge line for 5 or 10 minutes to get her good and loose.

My horse had the same problem and even now [3 years later] he still gets discombobulated sometimes.

[fleefloodle]

Hopefully hers won't be a long term problem as it was a fairly mild strain. I'd probably prefer to avoid lunging her beforehand though since she can be a little funny about it.

How old was your horse when he was injured if you don't mind me asking?

[significance_0]

uh he was about 10 or 11.
that might have something to do with why he suffered so much?

And my horse has torn his suspensory. He's so accident prone!