--- In [email protected], "Judy Ryder" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > How old? How long being ridden?
------------He's still young - 6 years old this year. He was started under saddle last summer and mainly trail ridden. I don't know the whole history of how long he was ridden each time, etc... But I do know that he was ridden by the previous trainer in a western saddle with lots of padding. I also know that he had started bolting on the previous trainer. I also know that the previous trainer was very into "one rein stops" and very likely used that frequently. That's almost all I know. > If you take a video, and watch it in slo-mo, is the flight of his legs straight? wing in or out? how does the foot land? (If you can get a video, take it with the horse walking, trotting, straight to you; focus on the legs with closeup.) If you want, you can send it to me to do slo-mo and grab stills.) --------------------That's a good idea. I will do that on Saturday. If he does wing in or out, how would that cause injury to the wither area? I will definitely do the slow mo and look very closely. Thank you for the offer to do slo mo and get some stills. I may take you up on that. I'll email you privately if so. > It's a shot in the dark, but if he has a chronic problem, maybe it starts lower in the leg. --------------------I'm starting to wonder about an injury in the top area of the scapula. He has a history of crashing through gates, which could also have led to a previous injury. But perhaps it could be a leg injury - any ideas on what or how that could cause a swelling in the wither area? > On another note, two things, I think sometimes that once there is an injury, it can come back more easily; and sometimes it requires a long lay-off (sometimes a year or two). -------------------And that's a great point too. I just want so badly to figure out what is going on with this little guy. If he needs a year or two off, then we can and will do that. No problem. But we just really need to know what is causing this before we can make any decision on where to go from here. That's why we are very seriously thinking about just getting him down to MSU to get some answers. We are hearing a lot of "he's just got behavior problems" from non- Icelandic Horse owners. And to be fair, he is still somewhat young in mind and he doesn't fully trust humans. But I just know that he is very clearly telling us that his withers and back hurt. I KNOW that there is something painful going on with his withers and back. I just don't know what is causing it!!! Dawn B.S. - northern Michigan
