Opinions/Advice needed!

[LlanidanWyatt]

We have a lovely little dartmoor pony who is absolutely fantastic - we have had him since March, and he was perfect for roughly around two months. He began being somewhat disjointed in canter, as though he was still trotting with his hind legs, and if I tried to push him forwards he bucked and changed legs as though he was trying to find what was comfortable for him, but failing. My first thought was something is wrong, he is not the type to be naughty - so he had his back checked by a Physiotherapist, who said other than being a little weak due to doing little work until he arrived with us, there was nothing to be worried about and that he needed regular work to built muscle and strengthen his back end. So we began working him in walk and trot only when ridden for a while, and hacking up and down hills and some lunging - not much changed, if anything he felt worse. After this we booked him in with a recommended chiropractor, adamant he was in some sort of pain - to be told he was the 'soundest pony he had seen in months' and that there was nothing physically wrong with him, he may have just found something he simply doesn't want to do.
We have come to know and love this little pony and I find it impossible to believe he would do this purposely... it's become very frustrating. Our next step is obviously to call the vet...

Has anyone seen this before? Or know what we could be missing?

[gillwales]

How old is he? If a youngster then he may have wobblers which is the constriction of the spinal cord in the spinal column. Does he pace? If it is then I'm sorry but there is no cure. It can manifest itself at the age of 4 or 5 if not before.

This is just one thing that popped into my head.

[sarahp]

If you had a qualified physio then you must have had the vet already as they only work on a vet referral? It could be down to all sorts of things from a minor lameness to teeth problems, soft tissue ones in various possible parts of the body, not just back, or boney ones such as wobblers, kissing spines etc. So if not already done then a full work up by an equine specialist vet would be the starting point, followed by whatever course of action he/she recommends. It could be something trivial and easily sorted like a badly fitting saddle, to a major problem.

[LlanidanWyatt]

Aug 27, 2017 18:24:10 GMT sarahp said:

If you had a qualified physio then you must have had the vet already as they only work on a vet referral? It could be down to all sorts of things from a minor lameness to teeth problems, soft tissue ones in various possible parts of the body, not just back, or boney ones such as wobblers, kissing spines etc. So if not already done then a full work up by an equine specialist vet would be the starting point, followed by whatever course of action he/she recommends. It could be something trivial and easily sorted like a badly fitting saddle, to a major problem.

He is 7 -
We had a fully qualified physio - the vet was made aware of this but we were not referred, teeth have been checked and he is ridden in a saddle pad at the moment as we too thought this could have been an issue. Thank you for your help