|
|
Veteran
Posts: 217
| I recently purchased a gelding that is having a bit of a gate issue. He will stop turn to the left, and I can get him to go in if I make him finish turning to the left, but he will pop up and refuse if I try to turn him to the right. He's not being aggressive but more hesitant to go in. He is very sensitive to getting his feelings hurt, acts like a colt almost when being corrected but he's 10. He's got Sunfrost on top and Peppy on the bottom.
I would like to get him scoped and a thorough look over once I free up that much cash, we aren't running too much for the rest of the year, but where do I start? Should I just bite the bullet to do it?
He doesn't seem to be in pain, I know they hide it well though. He seems almost like he was tuned to hard on because it takes lots of reassurance to get him to relax and start working. He would blow out the backside of second, start leaping, gaping, whites of his eyes showing, running towards the gate. I switched him to running to the left at the last show, and he lunged out of the new first barrel the first time through, leaping in to the air, not running towards the timer like before. After two more times that way he settled right in and his new second he cranks around now.
Thoughts on his gate issue that's brewing?
Edited by mgander 2017-06-28 11:04 AM
| |
| | |
 Expert
Posts: 5293
 
| If you think about it, what will happen if you take him to the vet and they find he is bleeding? Your just going to treat it anyway the next time you run. Its like Ulcers, why pay for a scope when you can just treat for them. SO, what I would do is give the horse a dose of ulcerguard the day before the race and the day of the race See if his behavior is improved. Or you can start a few days out. If that fixes the problem then you know ulcers. Second, you can talk to your vet and see if they will give you a bottle of lasix to try. Its cheap, like 25.00 or less for a huge 100cc bottle. THat should last you a long time. I have a good relationship with my vet so she wouldnt have a problem but talk to the vet. It might take a few runs on lasix to fix the problem until the horse learns they won't bleed. Hope that helps! | |
| | |
Extreme Veteran
Posts: 534
Location: Ohio girl moved to PA | My first instinct is pain. Every horse i've ran has always had something hurting once gate issued came up. Fix it and theyre fine again. Figuring out what's wrong, that's the hard part. Kinda sounds like he was a tad blown up too. But, thats just going off of your post. Do you have any videos? I ran a horse for a while that was peppy on top and Jackie Bee on the bottom and he was the same way, you couldnt hurt his feelings or he forever remembered it. I'd start with the cheapest things first. Chiro, massage, and go from there. | |
| | |
 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| The fact that he will turn one way without hesitation but the other way makes him pop up makes me lean towards a lameness issue. I would get him into the vet and I would not run him at all until you figure it out or you could end up with a very sour horse who learns to hatehis job | |
| | |
 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | rodeomom3 - 2017-06-23 9:08 AM The fact that he will turn one way without hesitation but the other way makes him pop up makes me lean towards a lameness issue. I would get him into the vet and I would not run him at all until you figure it out or you could end up with a very sour horse who learns to hatehis job
All this ^^^^ Give this horse a break and try to find out the problem befor it gets worst.. | |
| | |
Veteran
Posts: 217
| FLITASTIC - 2017-06-23 10:01 AM
If you think about it, what will happen if you take him to the vet and they find he is bleeding? Your just going to treat it anyway the next time you run. Its like Ulcers, why pay for a scope when you can just treat for them. SO, what I would do is give the horse a dose of ulcerguard the day before the race and the day of the race See if his behavior is improved. Or you can start a few days out. If that fixes the problem then you know ulcers. Second, you can talk to your vet and see if they will give you a bottle of lasix to try. Its cheap, like 25.00 or less for a huge 100cc bottle. THat should last you a long time. I have a good relationship with my vet so she wouldnt have a problem but talk to the vet. It might take a few runs on lasix to fix the problem until the horse learns they won't bleed. Hope that helps!
Thank you! Will try both, the vet has to come out for the cows anyhow. No one local to us can scope, so it would be an hour drive to have that happen. I'll definitely talk to him about that. Thanks :) | |
| | |
Veteran
Posts: 217
| Ohiobarrelracer - 2017-06-23 10:06 AM
My first instinct is pain. Every horse i've ran has always had something hurting once gate issued came up. Fix it and theyre fine again. Figuring out what's wrong, that's the hard part. Kinda sounds like he was a tad blown up too. But, thats just going off of your post. Do you have any videos? I ran a horse for a while that was peppy on top and Jackie Bee on the bottom and he was the same way, you couldnt hurt his feelings or he forever remembered it. I'd start with the cheapest things first. Chiro, massage, and go from there.
That is why I was wondering if it was pain or if he just had bad memories around the barrels. He is super reactive and I have a pretty good feeling that someone was too hard on him with his thin skin. I do not have any videos yet of him. I've hauled him twice to two small shows to gain his confidence back that he's not going to get yanked on going in the ring. That sounds like a plan, thank you. | |
| | |
Veteran
Posts: 217
| rodeomom3 - 2017-06-23 10:08 AM
The fact that he will turn one way without hesitation but the other way makes him pop up makes me lean towards a lameness issue. I would get him into the vet and I would not run him at all until you figure it out or you could end up with a very sour horse who learns to hatehis job
He will turn to the right doing slow work or even running with full bend and no nose popping up or shortening in stride, that's what throws me off. | |
| | |
Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| Sounds like my backup horse to a T. The gate issue and the second barrel.
This horse came to us at 11 years old, a career rope horse but bred to turn cans and at some point in his life someone had started a pattern on him.
This spring I started pushing him harder and at our 2nd or 3rd race we creamed the 2nd barrel. Before this he was started to get a little more on the muscle at the gate - and we hadn't really figured out what made him tick as a head horse either. All in all we didn't love him, but we didn't hate him, he had quirks we hadn't figured out.
After we creamed that barrel he started blowing bad off the 2nd. He also started refusing the gate harder and rearing in the head box. I couldn't school it at home - he worked beautifully.
We made for darn sure our tack fit and made adjustments.
We treated him for ulcers, but didn't see much difference.
I researched his pedigree on bridge equine and found pssm suspects. We have started feeding him low nsc feed and supplementing with MagRestore.
We have a new horse! I haven't really opened him up and pushed him again, but we've made 2 good clean runs clocking where we left off last year. He chills in the rope box and is working awesome. He went from being one we thought about pricing cheap because we didn't enjoy him to being priced now in the low 5 figures.
Just some things to consider, and the changes are affordable to try now while you save up for the big vet visit - i totally get that.
| |
| | |
 Expert
Posts: 2097
Location: Deep South | I second a good lameness vet. | |
| | |
A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | OhMax - 2017-06-23 10:38 AM Sounds like my backup horse to a T. The gate issue and the second barrel. This horse came to us at 11 years old, a career rope horse but bred to turn cans and at some point in his life someone had started a pattern on him. This spring I started pushing him harder and at our 2nd or 3rd race we creamed the 2nd barrel. Before this he was started to get a little more on the muscle at the gate - and we hadn't really figured out what made him tick as a head horse either. All in all we didn't love him, but we didn't hate him, he had quirks we hadn't figured out. After we creamed that barrel he started blowing bad off the 2nd. He also started refusing the gate harder and rearing in the head box. I couldn't school it at home - he worked beautifully. We made for darn sure our tack fit and made adjustments. We treated him for ulcers, but didn't see much difference. I researched his pedigree on bridge equine and found pssm suspects. We have started feeding him low nsc feed and supplementing with MagRestore. We have a new horse! I haven't really opened him up and pushed him again, but we've made 2 good clean runs clocking where we left off last year. He chills in the rope box and is working awesome. He went from being one we thought about pricing cheap because we didn't enjoy him to being priced now in the low 5 figures. Just some things to consider, and the changes are affordable to try now while you save up for the big vet visit - i totally get that.
Thats awesome that you did the research on this horse and made him better, I love it when someone takes their time to try to figure out the problems and make a better horse thats becames a happy horse, your awesome  | |
| | |
Veteran
Posts: 217
| OhMax - 2017-06-23 11:38 AM
Sounds like my backup horse to a T. The gate issue and the second barrel.
This horse came to us at 11 years old, a career rope horse but bred to turn cans and at some point in his life someone had started a pattern on him.
This spring I started pushing him harder and at our 2nd or 3rd race we creamed the 2nd barrel. Before this he was started to get a little more on the muscle at the gate - and we hadn't really figured out what made him tick as a head horse either. All in all we didn't love him, but we didn't hate him, he had quirks we hadn't figured out.
After we creamed that barrel he started blowing bad off the 2nd. He also started refusing the gate harder and rearing in the head box. I couldn't school it at home - he worked beautifully.
We made for darn sure our tack fit and made adjustments.
We treated him for ulcers, but didn't see much difference.
I researched his pedigree on bridge equine and found pssm suspects. We have started feeding him low nsc feed and supplementing with MagRestore.
We have a new horse! I haven't really opened him up and pushed him again, but we've made 2 good clean runs clocking where we left off last year. He chills in the rope box and is working awesome. He went from being one we thought about pricing cheap because we didn't enjoy him to being priced now in the low 5 figures.
Just some things to consider, and the changes are affordable to try now while you save up for the big vet visit - i totally get that.
I'm currently selling a mare that had AWFUL ulcers and she can't handle any grain or treats with sugar in her diet without going fruity. With that said, he came to us with a heavily sugared grain, he is finally fully switched over to that mare's diet. They're all on it, and they honestly have never looked better or felt softer. Ground soybean, alfalfa pellets, rice bran, and beet pulp. Everyone but her gets a grass balancer and some tribute ultra gut. I've already noticed the gelding's coat getting darker, more shine and he's filled out a lot, almost looks like a different horse. Less flight in his behavior, but I haven't owned him a month yet for it to totally give him a personality change at shows. I'll start giving him this grain before we ride every time and see if it helps at shows. Thank you for that idea :) | |
| | |
Veteran
Posts: 217
| BamaCanChaser - 2017-06-23 11:44 AM
I second a good lameness vet.
Thanks. Think I'm going to set up an appointment and make the hour+ drive next month | |
| | |
Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| mgander - 2017-06-23 9:40 AM rodeomom3 - 2017-06-23 10:08 AM The fact that he will turn one way without hesitation but the other way makes him pop up makes me lean towards a lameness issue. I would get him into the vet and I would not run him at all until you figure it out or you could end up with a very sour horse who learns to hatehis job He will turn to the right doing slow work or even running with full bend and no nose popping up or shortening in stride, that's what throws me off.
Mine would work to the right but not to the left, he had a sore suspensory. It could be so many things, hocks, stifles, etc but unless you have that special horse, running one in pain leads to other problems.
Edited by rodeomom3 2017-06-23 12:57 PM
| |
| | |
Veteran
Posts: 217
| rodeomom3 - 2017-06-23 1:13 PM
mgander - 2017-06-23 9:40 AM rodeomom3 - 2017-06-23 10:08 AM The fact that he will turn one way without hesitation but the other way makes him pop up makes me lean towards a lameness issue. I would get him into the vet and I would not run him at all until you figure it out or you could end up with a very sour horse who learns to hatehis job He will turn to the right doing slow work or even running with full bend and no nose popping up or shortening in stride, that's what throws me off.
Will do, I'm waiting on responses from two highly reviewed lameness places around me. I'll figure out to make it work with payments. | |
| | |
Veteran
Posts: 217
| Another question, what should I ask/watch for when doing a lameness exam? | |
| | |
Expert
Posts: 5293
| mgander - 2017-06-23 8:49 AM
OhMax - 2017-06-23 11:38 AM
Sounds like my backup horse to a T. The gate issue and the second barrel.
This horse came to us at 11 years old, a career rope horse but bred to turn cans and at some point in his life someone had started a pattern on him.
This spring I started pushing him harder and at our 2nd or 3rd race we creamed the 2nd barrel. Before this he was started to get a little more on the muscle at the gate - and we hadn't really figured out what made him tick as a head horse either. All in all we didn't love him, but we didn't hate him, he had quirks we hadn't figured out.
After we creamed that barrel he started blowing bad off the 2nd. He also started refusing the gate harder and rearing in the head box. I couldn't school it at home - he worked beautifully.
We made for darn sure our tack fit and made adjustments.
We treated him for ulcers, but didn't see much difference.
I researched his pedigree on bridge equine and found pssm suspects. We have started feeding him low nsc feed and supplementing with MagRestore.
We have a new horse! I haven't really opened him up and pushed him again, but we've made 2 good clean runs clocking where we left off last year. He chills in the rope box and is working awesome. He went from being one we thought about pricing cheap because we didn't enjoy him to being priced now in the low 5 figures.
Just some things to consider, and the changes are affordable to try now while you save up for the big vet visit - i totally get that.
I'm currently selling a mare that had AWFUL ulcers and she can't handle any grain or treats with sugar in her diet without going fruity. With that said, he came to us with a heavily sugared grain, he is finally fully switched over to that mare's diet. They're all on it, and they honestly have never looked better or felt softer. Ground soybean, alfalfa pellets, rice bran, and beet pulp. Everyone but her gets a grass balancer and some tribute ultra gut. I've already noticed the gelding's coat getting darker, more shine and he's filled out a lot, almost looks like a different horse. Less flight in his behavior, but I haven't owned him a month yet for it to totally give him a personality change at shows. I'll start giving him this grain before we ride every time and see if it helps at shows. Thank you for that idea : )
I can't remember the name, but there is an all natural " Treat" type cookie you give for ulcers just before you ride! Its alfalfa and magnesium based and it basically expands in the stomach and prevents acid splash. THat might be easier for day to day riding and at races than carrying a full grain ration. | |
| | |
Veteran
Posts: 217
| Took him to the vet, two hours away and spent a pretty penny but I have answers. Doc thought it was only the right hock causing his problems. He deemed his joints as different because he couldn't get a radiograph straight through his joints but he was just an odd duck. Joints needed some extra cushion and he was trying to fuse in the lowest part. I explained to him our problem with the gate and our second (now first) barrel so we spent some more money on radiographs and he was as shocked as I was! Poor guy has a chip in his hock joint.
So he got both lower hocks and the left upper hock injected, plus he got shockwaved at the chip and the fusing bone. Stall rest and hand walking for five days then he can get back to work :) Thanks everyone for pushing me that way | |
| | |
Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| mgander - 2017-06-28 11:03 AM
Took him to the vet, two hours away and spent a pretty penny but I have answers. Doc thought it was only the right hock causing his problems. He deemed his joints as different because he couldn't get a radiograph straight through his joints but he was just an odd duck. Joints needed some extra cushion and he was trying to fuse in the lowest part. I explained to him our problem with the gate and our second (now first) barrel so we spent some more money on radiographs and he was as shocked as I was! Poor guy has a chip in his hock joint.
So he got both lower hocks and the left upper hock injected, plus he got shockwaved at the chip and the fusing bone. Stall rest and hand walking for five days then he can get back to work :) Thanks everyone for pushing me that way
Yay for answers!!! | |
| | |
Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| Southtxponygirl - 2017-06-23 10:49 AM
OhMax - 2017-06-23 10:38 AM Sounds like my backup horse to a T. The gate issue and the second barrel. This horse came to us at 11 years old, a career rope horse but bred to turn cans and at some point in his life someone had started a pattern on him. This spring I started pushing him harder and at our 2nd or 3rd race we creamed the 2nd barrel. Before this he was started to get a little more on the muscle at the gate - and we hadn't really figured out what made him tick as a head horse either. All in all we didn't love him, but we didn't hate him, he had quirks we hadn't figured out. After we creamed that barrel he started blowing bad off the 2nd. He also started refusing the gate harder and rearing in the head box. I couldn't school it at home - he worked beautifully. We made for darn sure our tack fit and made adjustments. We treated him for ulcers, but didn't see much difference. I researched his pedigree on bridge equine and found pssm suspects. We have started feeding him low nsc feed and supplementing with MagRestore. We have a new horse! I haven't really opened him up and pushed him again, but we've made 2 good clean runs clocking where we left off last year. He chills in the rope box and is working awesome. He went from being one we thought about pricing cheap because we didn't enjoy him to being priced now in the low 5 figures. Just some things to consider, and the changes are affordable to try now while you save up for the big vet visit - i totally get that.
Thats awesome that you did the research on this horse and made him better, I love it when someone takes their time to try to figure out the problems and make a better horse thats becames a happy horse, your awesome
Thank you! He's too sweet a boy to give up on. His entire demeaner is very wanting to please and he tries hard.
The coolest part has been my old school cowboy FIL noticing and being impressed, haha! | |
| |
| |
Folks on-line