How do I make my horse stop faking a limp??

Question

I have a QH/ Standard bred. He always pretends to limp at the trot looking like he is in the canter and the trot. How do I make him just stay in the trot. I know he isn't lame because he always does it and when I'm jumping and cantering he isn't limping then. WHAT DO I DO?!?!

Answer 1

Short Angel has the answer.  Horses do what they are rewarded to do.  My mare learned that lessons would end if she was lame, so she would just start limping when we went into the lesson arena when the trainer was there.   Any other time, any other place, sound as a dollar (used to be)

Answer 2

i used to own a horse that did the same thing!

i would just work him through it.

work him, work him, work him.

now....i dont mean hard like mean hard.

i mean progressivley, assertivley, and in a nice manner.

it should help.

he needs to learn nothings going to stop him from working.

do things, different things in his time out so that he doesnt get tired of one thing. make him think. soon he wont worry about limping, if hes doing alot at once he wont have time to think of an excuse.

Answer 3

Lol, you ride him through it. He will get the idea that it's not going to work.

My horse did this for a while - odd days, we figured out he was only doing it when my friend was riding him.

Answer 4

Get him check out to be sure. How do you know it is a fake? are you a vet? and did you take a x-ray of the affect leg and foot,.I will bet not. In 55 years with horses, I have never heard of one faking a limp. expressly one who is being jumped.

Answer 5

Sounds like the way he trots to me... I have a horse that'll do that.... It might be the way he learned to trot, some trainers train them to do that.  Its not really a limp.  I hope I helped a little.   Try to pull back on the reins when he does that,  and if he just slows down to the walk speed him up again, if that don't help I'm sorry lol....

Answer 6

Muscles and joints are stressed in different ways in different gaits. It's impossible for me to tell, but it would be a good idea for a veterinarian to take a good look at him. Horses, like most animals, don't fake injury. As domesticated as they may be, they have a lot of prey instinct in them. Sick or injured animals are the first to get hit by predators. Masking injury is ingrained. To animals, even domestic ones, looking hurt is asking for trouble. He's obviously in good condition, as he's accepting work, but I would get him checked out to be sure. A horse is too valuable to take chances with.

Answer 7

Something is causing his limp.  He isn't faking it.  At the canter, he does not limp because it may not be a severe pain, and it is difficult to limp at the canter.  But a trot is a sure way to tell if you've got a lame horse....you've got one.

Answer 8

My boy does the same thing!  I just work him normal and he stops.  I even had the vet out and he did a ton of stress tests ect.  He was just faking.  And a bad fake too, he would forget and be fine a time or two around then he would remember.  HA< HA!

EDIT: Seroiusly my vet, who is the BEST vet in the valley, I won't use anyone else even in an emergency, said he was faking.  It does happen.  I have bee involved with horses for over 24 years.  What my vet told me to do was keep working him regular.  If he has a limp we need to make it more prominate.  So I was to work his butt off for 5 days in a row before the vet came out.  He said if something was wrong it would have got worse.  And all honestly it got better.  I think my boy realized if he was limpng and faking he was gonna be worked harder.

Maybe have the vet out to check for splints and other serious problems first.  I did that.  But I say if your horse is not getting worse with continued riding he is fine.  Think about it.  If you have a sprain and you keep using it, it will swell and get worse, right?

EDIT:  a horse is not super smart to just fake a limp.  BUT if they do have a slight limp from whatever one day, so you put them away early and baby them they might go 'Hey look what that did for me.'  Just like the person who lets their horse get away with being lazy or something and the horse learns tht they can do that.

Answer 9

Horses do not fake limps.  If your horse is lame at the trot or any other gait it's because something is causing him pain and he's reacting to it.  I'd get busy and learn what the cause is and find a way to correct it and cure it.

Answer 10

I have 2 Standardbreds, and I would guess you're probably just not used to the gait.  Since he is mixed with QH (Sorry, but they don't always have the smoothest trot, either), his gait could be "mixed", too.  Does he do it when you lunge him and are not on his back?  How about putting different tack on him/riding him bareback?  Maybe it is the tack?  Also, try putting someone lighter than you on (no, I'm NOT saying your fat!!), maybe his back is stressed?  But first thing....get him checked by your vet - and I would even go so far as to have him checked out by the chiropractor....

Good luck!

Answer 11

oh gosh, chrome just stopped doing that, thank God! well, you just have to keep continuing working him, and he'll start to realize that you aren't buying that. get your farrier out and ask him to use his hoof testers on your horse. sometimes it can be real. your farrier can put either hoof packing or this gel stuff and put a rubber plate over it on his hoof/s to help keep them comfortable and sound. use your farrier, not your vet because first of all farriers are jsut as good if not better than vets when it comes to feet and second it is MUCH cheaper!!!!!!

Answer 12

Sounds like he is rather unbalanced and too fast in trot.  You need to steady your seat in rising trot so he will have to come back to your pace and keep the pace even.

Could you post his action on you tube or something and perhaps I can advise better.  Try using trotting poles scattered around the school and quietly use them and by pass them so he does not anticipate.  Eventually you want him going over them without breaking stride.

Hope this helps a bit.  It would be better to see him in action though.