2 in one Question, Lame horse and Opinion!?

Question

First Question.

A horse we recently bought about a month and a half ago that we bought for barrels is 13. she was really fast! i only rode her in one show and about a month later we think she might be lame in her two front feet! The old owners never mentioned it. And i dont think she really ran barrels alot. wat could cause this?? she was in perfect shape when we got her....

2nd Question.

Do u believe ANY horse can be a barrel horse>>>?

Answer 1

Call your vet asap. She could of foundered. I just had this happen myself. My Vet said that he ate too much spring grass. Isn't that crazy! More than likely you did nothing wrong. He can reverse it If you get him there asap.

Horses are super smart and can be taught anything including barrels. It's just that certain horses are better equipped than others.

Answer 2

To answer your first question: get a veterinary opinion.  Horses go lame alllllll the time.  If you didn't prepurchase her before you bought you very well could have bought a lame horse and not know it.  She could have been on medication at the time to keep her sound enough.  Of course the old owners would never mention it ~~ sorry, but they want to sell the horse BECAUSE it's lame and they can't use it. It's how people are in the horse world.

Second question:  yes, any horse can be a barrel horse - but it depends on how far you want to go.  My old 10 yr old warmblood dressage mare could certainly trot around a cloverleaf, or maybe even canter it, but she's not going to enter any barrel shows and do well.  If you want to be serious into barrels, run fast, turn hard, and win against competition, then you need a horse bred for barrels- this means short backed, strong crouped, quick, compact, and maybe even just a tad downhill - quarter horses, paints, appys, and arabians will be where you want to look.  If you want to go slap around at a fun show and enjoy it, then go ahead and have fun running a lanky TB around the pattern.  It will be fun, fast, but probably not very pretty.

Answer 3

I don't know an answer to your first question, but for the second one, I don't see why not. If you put time, training, and lots of effort, any horse can be a barrel horse. But if a horse isn't healthy, you may want to check with your vet.

Answer 4

First question:  Without pictures or movies of watching your horse move and seeing the feet and legs it's impossible to give you an opinion as to what is making your mare lame.  Could be any number of things from navicular (Horse with time off could travel sound enough to get sold.) or founder, from over feeding, putting horse away hot and sweaty or other causes.

Second Question:  If the horse has the drive to be a barrel horse, then YES but not all horses are so inclined.

Answer 5

lamanitis. how is she standing? rocked back at all?  check her front hooves for heat. she might need shoes. call your vet also...

no

some horses dont like doing that kind of stuff. i know horses that dont like to jump, even thou they can. it depends on the horse

Answer 6

Have your farrier do a hoof test on her and if the that doesn't show any signs do radio graphs and check for any internal hoof problems there might be laminitis or navicular or she just needs a good trimming and some shoes hard to say with  information given as for the second part yes I think any horse can be taught to run a pattern I used  a Belgian for fun running in a gymkhana and right now I use a thoroughbred horse I picked up as a rescue she is great horse not the fastest yet but she does ok and likes it