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 Texas Taco
Posts: 7499
   
Location: Bandera, TX | My mare is 10 years old and I had her all her life. She is very consistent in her barrel times and fairly automatic. She had some health issues a couple of years ago: EPM and a grade 1 hind suspensory tear. The suspensory injury was found by accident during a bone scan. She was never lame. With all of this she was off for one year, but has been running barrels again for exactly one year. All was well.
Recently when riding I noticed that she would cross fire a lot. Usually it takes two tries to get all her feet organized. I took her for a lameness exam to an equine vet 2 weeks ago. He gave the all clear and could not find anything wrong with her.
Took her to two races since, while still consistent in her normal D, I noticed that she is cross-firing in all straights. Gets correct leads for turns. I compared her last video with some older ones and this is a new behavior. I’ve made another vet appointment, but I’m wondering what could cause this? It’s been a while since we had the chiro out, so this could be an issue…. Stifles may be? Her hocks were last done in January.
Thank you for any suggestions.
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 999
Location: Sunny So Cal | Chiro, massage and stifles. That is what I would do. My mare does that when she is sore and usually the chiro and massage will fix it but ultimately I have to get her stifles done. Or do you think it could be a strength issue. This is her first year back so maybe she is still working out some kinks. |
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| GoMistyGo - 2016-10-24 10:50 AM
My mare is 10 years old and I had her all her life. She is very consistent in her barrel times and fairly automatic. She had some health issues a couple of years ago: EPM and a grade 1 hind suspensory tear. The suspensory injury was found by accident during a bone scan. She was never lame. With all of this she was off for one year, but has been running barrels again for exactly one year. All was well.
Recently when riding I noticed that she would cross fire a lot. Usually it takes two tries to get all her feet organized. I took her for a lameness exam to an equine vet 2 weeks ago. He gave the all clear and could not find anything wrong with her.
Took her to two races since, while still consistent in her normal D, I noticed that she is cross-firing in all straights. Gets correct leads for turns. I compared her last video with some older ones and this is a new behavior. I’ve made another vet appointment, but I’m wondering what could cause this? It’s been a while since we had the chiro out, so this could be an issue…. Stifles may be? Her hocks were last done in January.
Thank you for any suggestions.
I think you answered your own questions ..
EPM , SUSPENSORY TEAR, HOCK INJECTIONS ..
All three of these have lifetime lingering affects and more degradation
over time ... and if used hard will be more obvious as she grows older.
I would be looking for a barrel horse replacement and turn
her into a trail riding horse.
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 Straight Shooter
Posts: 5725
Location: SW North Dakota | If you really watch a lot of videos (all ages, all levels), there are lots of horses that cross fire for a stride or two. Some of them even swap leads completely between barrels, and they are still clocking. I know it's not desirable, but it doesn't seem to be that uncommon.  |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | ND3canAddict - 2016-10-24 4:35 PM If you really watch a lot of videos (all ages, all levels), there are lots of horses that cross fire for a stride or two. Some of them even swap leads completely between barrels, and they are still clocking. I know it's not desirable, but it doesn't seem to be that uncommon.
Yes I think you should do a full workup for a horse that is cross-firing, and make sure they are fully conditioned. Make sure there aren't any reasons for the cross-firing. But if the vet doesn't find anything wrong and your horse is in good shape, and they are not doing it during the turn, then personally I would not be overally concerned.
Edited by r_beau 2016-10-24 5:29 PM
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Texas Taco
Posts: 7499
Location: Bandera, TX | r_beau - 2016-10-24 5:28 PM ND3canAddict - 2016-10-24 4:35 PM If you really watch a lot of videos (all ages, all levels), there are lots of horses that cross fire for a stride or two. Some of them even swap leads completely between barrels, and they are still clocking. I know it's not desirable, but it doesn't seem to be that uncommon.
Yes I think you should do a full workup for a horse that is cross-firing, and make sure they are fully conditioned. Make sure there aren't any reasons for the cross-firing. But if the vet doesn't find anything wrong and your horse is in good shape, and they are not doing it during the turn, then personally I would not be overally concerned.
Thank you. I rode her pretty hard today and did lots of figure eights with lead changes. She got everything correct. Chiro is coming on Thursday, and made vet appt as well. Will do yet another EPM test, but after all we have been through I will not, can not accept her being done again. The year she was out sick I left no stone unturned to get her well again. And with a lot of tears and money I got my girl back. She loves to run barrels. When she got sick she made it very clear to me that something was wrong. She seems very happy and content these days.
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 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| You know what I think! <3
The most I can say here is that I know you're always going to do the very best thing for your horses, no matter what. You're a great horse mom!!! |
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 Lady Di
Posts: 21556
Location: Oklahoma | EPM can flare up again if the horse is stressed (ie barrel races). I would probably treat her again for that first and see if it fixes her. Or have her tested and see if she's positive. |
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Texas Taco
Posts: 7499
Location: Bandera, TX | dianeguinn - 2016-10-25 12:28 PM EPM can flare up again if the horse is stressed (ie barrel races). I would probably treat her again for that first and see if it fixes her. Or have her tested and see if she's positive.
Absolutely agree. Thank you. It was a massive battle to get her over it the first time... EPM test is on to do list. |
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Location: U.S. | My gelding has had two spouts with EPM and after treating him he was still weird in his hind end. (He would cross fire going fast or have a hard time getting him self collected after stretching out) It turned out his whorlbones were causing the problem. I tooking him to a good vet who KNOWS how to inject THE JOINT (not the muscle around it. I have not had an issue since. I did some research on this and it appears to be a fairly common after effect of EPM. |
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Texas Taco
Posts: 7499
Location: Bandera, TX | rockstarinboots - 2016-10-25 7:24 PM
My gelding has had two spouts with EPM and after treating him he was still weird in his hind end. (He would cross fire going fast or have a hard time getting him self collected after stretching out) It turned out his whorlbones were causing the problem. I tooking him to a good vet who KNOWS how to inject THE JOINT (not the muscle around it. I have not had an issue since. I did some research on this and it appears to be a fairly common after effect of EPM.
Very interesting! Thank you for sharing. I will bring that up with my vet. |
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 Brains Behind the Operation...
Posts: 4543
Location: Arizona | I agree with checking some physical things out first just in case, but I also agree that many horses just do this naturally. We had a similar discussion on this thread as well, if you'd like to check it out: http://forums.barrelhorseworld.com/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid... |
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Texas Taco
Posts: 7499
Location: Bandera, TX |
Thank you Whinny. Your post about the rotary gallop was very interesting. My boy-friend said something about that too the other day, but I didn't know there is a name for it. Learned something today - thank you. 
If my mare were a 1D/Open horse and setting the world on fire with her blazing speed, then I woud they "yes, just look at her atheltic ability", but not so sure if we can honestly use that excuse.... |
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