I have a 2011 mare that I started myself back in the Winter of 2016/2017. 2020 is year 4 on the pattern, year 1-2 consisted of light hauling/mostly trail rides/horsemanship, last year (year 3) we took the 4D title which was great, overall a good year.

This year we have hit rock bottom. Little backstory... I do not have an arena set up to work the pattern, our horses are kept at a family members about 10 miles away on pasture year round. I'm not hauling every weekend to rodeos, I stay pretty local to our series around here in the tri-state area of IA/NE/SD. This year has been a mixture between hitting a barrel every run all year, or 2/3 of the run looks great and the other 1/3 just fell through the cracks. I have worked with serveral people here locally and we have ruled out training issues. I have an appointment set up 9/25 at Dakota Large Animal Clinic in Harrisburg, SD. This is my first time taking a horse to a performance vet for a lameness exam/flexion test etc. I did get a quote before hand so I knew roughly what I was looking at. Assuming that they do reccommned the horse be injected, I have contemplated waiting until the Spring because we really don't do much hauling over the Winter as our season has come to an end and I typically give my horses a few months off in the winter and start legging them back up mid-February/March for April runs.

What can I expect after injections? (assuming that is what is reccommended). We did a trial run this past weekend at our series finals as well as in August at IA NBHA finals. We buted my horse and fo rthe runs that weekend, I instantly noticed how much more "free" she felt in her stride, she was not as choppy in the hind end it felt. Could this be related to some soreness/lameness? I am hoping to get some answers as to why this season fell through the cracks. I have videos saved to show the performance vet next week of runs on those 2 weekends and also on an other given weekend. The difference is very visible even for me.

Post injections are differences noticed right away or does the horse still feel that muscle memory of being choppy, etc?

Every horse is different. My open horse tells me exactly when she needs her hocks done, usually biannually. She will start *climbing* out of her barrels, refusing the arena, etc. I try not to let it get that far.

Younger horse with less experience not so much. If I know I am doing myjob with my training and myhorse has no reason to misbehave, usually it is best to rule out pain before really tuning on them. Younger ones typically require more searching to determine the underlying issue. If you have been hauling steadily and your horse is 10+ years old, there is a good chance she will need some maintenance. It is part of the sport. I think by using the butte and seeing a difference you answered your own question. Time off does not necessarily equal healed joints, in fact in older horses it can exacerbate. Think of your grandmother or grandfather, they need to stay active to stay active.

I give 3 days off after injections and the first day or two back is slow work. Not slamming them in the ground etc. So they get a chance to feel out their improved mobility. So basically a full week after you should be able to make a run and they will in theory be better. The longer you can wait after injecting, the longer the injection will last. In theory. Vets are there to help you, most will give you different options to what you can afford. And if you can't afford it, stop entering for a while and save your entry fees until your horse is sound and you can go again. Be honest with your vet, the more information the better.

It depends where the injection is needed etc. With my horse I noticed a difference in hock injections after a week, 2 weeks max but from what I remember it's usually a week. Stifle however I did not notice a difference hardly, but I think the stifle injections were a mistake anyways. What really needed done was his SI and that took about 2 weeks I think. Personally if you can I would still have it done then and there if they recommend it. I did not know my horse's hocks were hurting him at the time, I just thought he was being gate sour. I didn't even really run him much at that time but I think his SI/maybe stifles ended up needing injected because of him compensating from the hocks so I would just worry the pain will end up causing more areas to need injections. To make it more complicated though his feet angles were also very wrong so that obviously caused issues as well. At this point if I were you I just would rather be safe than sorry and get it done now especially since your horse isn't even that old to maybe help prevent problems in other areas. My horse I inject is 16 and I truly believe if I took him to the vet sooner than I did it would've saved me a lot of trouble.

If r_beau comments and you show her a video I am sure she can pin point pain areas! She is one of the most knowledgable/helpful people in these groups. 

Thank you for the input- yes she is coming 10 years old in the Spring, and this is the first year I have really noticed anything... last year in 2019 was the first year we really cracked down on hauling and I didn't notice this last year. Thank you!

Thank you for the input!! Very well put :) I like where you referred it to grandparents.. time off doesn't necessarily mean healing time.

We don't haul too much in the winter time around here, but our Fall series that we hit is at a nice indoor and unless it's stupid cold or we have gotten a lot of snow then we will still go. In theory, our horses end up with December - February off from the pattern, but we have a decent chunk of land in the hills they're getting ridden in.

Thank you for your feedback!