A 22 yr outmoded mare next to ring bone?
we rescued a 22 yr old mare with ring bone. she is on 150 pound weight restrictions. when lead on a lead rope she will walk around with a rider but as soon as i rob her off the rope and switch to reins she stops and backs up. she will not move forward. i have tried curved bits,split bits and straight harness, still impossible to tell apart. you can nudge her, or kiss her up still she only moves backwards. is she trying to tell me something or just person stubborn? any help or ideas will be greatly appreciated
Have you had xrays to see if the ringbone is affecting the reciprocated surfaces? The added weight of a rider might be more than her joints can handle. I would do that first, previously assuming this is a behavioral issue. If the vet finds changes affecting the joint surfaces, I would retire her from riding and try to keep her comfortable plenty to continue to handle her own weight free from lameness. If the vet feel she can be ridden, then the behavior can be addressed.
I contemplate she's telling you that she's earned retirement!
She's old, she hurts, and she's a rescue- any one of those would earn retirement surrounded by any of my horses.
EDIT: not all 30-year-olds are in good adequate condition to be worked. Yeah, sometimes you'll come across an oldie who's still working like a teenager again, but that's a rarity, especially among rescue cases.
When you're on the ground and principal her, she's not going to fight you leading her around, because you can dig your heels surrounded by as much as she can. But once you're on her, there's really nothing to make her listen to you if she doesn't want to. And a different bit isn't the answer, it just about ever is (except to go to a snaffle or a bitless bridle).
First of all hold you tried riding her out with another horse? Try that first.
My instinct tells me it have NOTHING to do with her ringbone, it's just old cult being "Barn Sour". If a horse has learned that they won't achieve ridden when they do a particular thing, then they verbs this action because it WORKS. That is probably the reason she was abused contained by the first place. If they couldn't ride her, why feed her? Stupid thinking but then some folks won't pay a trainer to support correct the problem.
If you don't have the skill to fix this issue then any hire a trainer or be content with having her as a pasture ornament. Think of the process of correcting this as spanking a child. You don't similar to doing it, but sometimes there's no other recourse.
Back in 1974-75 I rode an old quarter type gelding named "Sherman T. Hank", rather 14.3 hand chestnut gelding who was as wide as he be tall. It started in '74 when I got a phone telephone call from a friend of mine who was boarding at another stable. She'd allowed a little 12 yr old-fashioned girl to ride Sherm and now when she went to enter the arena and got close adequate to the gate, old Sherm just started protection up. They couldn't move him forward.
I grew up on one of the largest rental strings in California, Sea Horse Ranch, Half Moon Bay, CA. When we had a rent horse that started stuff like that, it be our job to use this horse and school it out of the game. Most of the beginner-intermediate horses be your horse's age or older and had been around the block more than once. So, next to wrangle whip in hand, we'd climb aboard and ask the horse to move forward.
When the horse refuse and started backing up, we'd use the "wrangle whip" and "over and under" (Taking the whip and spanking the horse on one side, then the other.) and verbs to do so until the horse moved forward. If the horse still refused to do so after the first "spank", someone on the ground who also had a whip would travel after the horse's rear legs and force the horse to move forward. When the horse did, then the whips be disengaged and the horse learned that backing up when NOT asked to was insufficient.
Remember a horse is a BIG animal and when little, were disciplined by their mothers and other horses either by a bite or a kick which certainally could do a LOT more disfavour that a whip when used correctly.
To finish the story about Sherm, I stepped on board, and he started aid up and I sat there waiting until he decided he'd back up enough (Close to the horse trailers) and then asked him to back up some more, get him within about a foot of the trailers then, I permit him have it! I didn't have a whip, but I did own a rommel on the end of my reins. <EG> I over and undered him in several quick movements and Sherm jump forward. Took him over to the gate of the arena and promptly opened it while onboard and entered the arena. We did this several times until he finally figure out that his backing up was NOT going to get him anywhere near me but spanked. After that, I ended up having to school Sherm afterwards go back to my own stable and ride my horses. This continued on for the subsequent few months until Sherm's owner decided to sell him off for something smaller that she could play near (She'd hurt her back and could nolonger ride, that's why she had the 12 yr old riding him contained by the first place.).
I would definately have a vet check her out...but hold you ever considered that she may not know what to do? she may have not been ridden for a extended period of time, never be trained or been trained english and not understanding western aids.
Answers: You are commendable for rescue her!
Ring bone is manageable. But i don't ponder your problem is that!
It is a training issue! Light work will do your mare good. Retiring her now is not in her best interest unless she is showing signs of discomfort. If you want to be certain have the vet advise you on what is best.
I also dont think it is a bit issue.
But a big rotund snaffle in her month and kick her on. Push your hands forward to ensure your not pulling hindmost. as soon as she moves forward reward her by not kicking. Old horses are very clever. They will only do what they are made to do. It is not cruel as whether you watch how horses behave together in the wild you would see the ladder is very clear! The alfa get what they want when they want it. Remember your the Alfa. Good Luck and keep us posted
hello, just wondering wether you actually know what ringbone is?? and what are the causes of ringbone??
22 is vastly old for a start and i suggest that you would stop riding her all together knowing from experiance after owning a intensely old horse myself would only be ridden while led and eventually she give up and reard and got the rider off and that was it done.
ringbone is a vastly serious condition depending on how long your mare has had it for?
Ringbone develops in elder horses as a bony growth surrounding the pastern of one or both forelimbs. There are various forms and severity of ringbone.Where the bony reaction does not involve the joint, it is term 'periarticular' ringbone, and if a joint is involved, it becomes a form of degenerative arthritis ('articular' ringbone).
Ringbone can develop contained by or around the upper pastern joint (high ringbone) or the coffin joint area (low ringbone). Long occupancy concussion, hard work, nutritional imbalances, and inherited poor conformation (upright pasterns or unsubstantiated collateral ligaments of the pastern joints), encourage the development of ringbone in elder horses.
In some cases, wire injuries around the pastern joint will result in a bony response and cause a ringbone-type swelling, usually without lameness, unless the collective is involved.Early Cases
In acute periarticular ringbone, cold therapy with ice pack overwrapped with elastic tape (e.g. Vetrap) twice on a daily basis for 20-30 minutes for 2-3 days, or 10 minutes of cold hosing as frequently as possible, may help reduce swelling and pain. A 2-3 week course of anti-inflammatories as precribed by your vet, combined near bed rest, will help relieve pain and limit the bony proliferation.
Where the horse is lame, and hasty articular ringbone changes are present, then treatment with a low dose of long-acting corticosteroid into the integrated, or other preparation to assist joint surface repair, may be recommended by your vet. Radiation therapy is also useful to hold back the bony change. Consult yor vet for advice in both types of precipitate ringbone, especially in a valuable sport or equestrian horse.
Long Term Cases
In chronic cases of both periarticular and articular ringbone, irreparable pain relief by cutting the brashness supply to the pastern (neurectomy) or surgical ankylosis (fusion) of the joint is now considered to be the only successful method of treatment. Horses beside severe periarticular ringbone have a better chance of returning to an active lifestyle. In elder horses with articular ringbone, 2 or 3 doses of phenylbutazone over the 24-36 hours prior to being ridden, may be necessary. Consult your vet for counsel.
Application of topical anti-inflammatories as required will help provide relief from mild lameness and see a horse to be ridden for pleasure, or make old retired horses more comfortable during the winter months.
