11/11/2025
It can be a long drawn out process to get to the bottom of the “not quite right” horse.
These horses are often thought of as lazy, or can show explosive reactions when asked to work. They aren’t overly lame, but they lack something in their performance.
I would catagorise my horse Ellin in this bracket. It took a long time to get to the bottom of her issues, and as a result she was retired from ridden work.
If you’re concerned that your horse is “not quite right”, keep looking and digging for the answers. It often is just laziness or behavioural.
🔥THE PROBLEM WHEN BOTH HIND FEET ARE SORE‼
⛔️If you are scrolling - please stop - because you need to hear this horse's story - so focus up and read this⬇️
"Not Quite Right Horses" are horses that typically have difficult behaviour that have vague symptoms of something being physically wrong with them but any investigation cannot pin point an issue.
Harvey, was one of these horses and I wrote an article questioning what is considered "clinically significant" symptoms to determine a possible diagnosis and course of treatment or management.
When I met Harvey he was reluctant to go forward and explosive on the lunge. He had a history of being difficult to get forward under saddle and had threatened to buck. His owner, Eileen had been told he was "lazy" and it was a "behaviour" issue.
When I worked with Harvey he had red flags that his behaviour was not just "behavioural" but there was something physically wrong with him.
The red flags I observed were:
🚩A lovely friendly horse standing still, but resistant and overwhelmed when asked to go forward in groundwork.
🚩His gait was choppy and was also difficult to back up.
🚩Even with application of my training skills he showed only marginal improvement in back up and remained explosive on the lunge.
This last point is an important observation for me because I am highly competent at influencing the behaviour of horses. I trust my skills and precision so when I target a simple behaviour to teach a horse and there is struggle that puts evidence on the table that there might be a physical issue that is interfering in the horses motivation to perform and learn.
I referred Harvey to the vet for his soundness to be investigated.
Eventually after many months and 5 consultations with specialist equine vets and extensive diagnostics, the mystery of what was wrong with Harvey was revealed.
🩻His diagnosis: Damage to the medial and lateral collateral ligaments in both hind feet.
The vets were shocked by the extent of the damage as this is a serious and significant issue for which Harvey underwent extensive management in an effort to help him.
However, I wish to point out why this diagnosis was so hard and why Harvey remained a "not quite right horse" for so long. And why many thought he was just "lazy" or "fresh" or were not overly concerned as he just had a bit of a "choppy gait".
⚠️ It was BILATERAL - meaning it was in BOTH his back feet. When a horse has bilateral lameness they are harder to pick as being lame because normally if one foot is sore they will adjust their weight to the other foot to feel more comfortable. When they do this you can SEE the horse stepping short. But when it is BOTH feet they cannot make themselves feel more comfortable by doing this as both feet are sore.
This creates two problems:
1️⃣Their lameness is very hard to visually observe; and,
2️⃣They are more uncomfortable as they cannot avoid the pain by shifting it and compensating with the other foot. So, they are more prone to having difficult behaviour as a symptom‼
⚠️He was suffering from ligament damage and this was only detected by MRI!! This is a very expensive💵 diagnostic method that not many people have access too. Without MRI this problem would have never been identified and Harvey would still be a "Not Quite Right Horse"!
It is testament to Eileen for trusting Harvey and her determination to persistence to solve the mystery of what was troubling him.
Eileen understands that not everyone has the opportunity to go to the extent she has been able to with Harvey, but she hopes his story can help you believe their horse when they let you know they can't do something.
Or get anxious, reactive, easily overwhelmed, can't cope and don't respond to good training. They might just have something like Harvey, not every problem can be easily observed or be x-rayed.
I will say it again and again - I have not yet met a difficult horse that has not turned out to have something wrong with them...and many of these horses I turned around to be good citizens but there issues revealed in time.
Harvey's story ended in retirement and I hope his story can help people remain open minded about difficult horses. I will be the first to tell you that MOST issues people have with horses are due to training and handling issues. However, good training and handling can provide you a wealth of evidence that you might be dealing with a horse that is struggling to perform due to pain, restriction, balance, force transfer, coordination or energy reserves.
AND that means good training and handling are key to the well-being of horses beyond how it can benefit their health as it can also help clarify their struggles.
On the 22 November 2025 in Canberra, and throughout 2026 around Australia, I will be presenting a one day workshop I have called "The Whole Horse - Raising Awareness of all the Dimension that Shape Your Horse". Where I will present what I have learned about the interplay between behaviour, soundness, management and training. Information I wish someone had told me 20 years ago. It would have saved me a lot of frustration, broken horses and wasted time and money.
Most importantly, it would have helped me better consider the horse.
Consider this if you are new to horse ownership, getting back into horse ownership, frustrated with a paddock full of broken horses; or want to help people with good guidance.❤
See below for further details⬇️
