please help, i am stumped

hi, my name is jena and i am 16 years old. i just bought my first horse, and i am in love with her. she is a 15 hand, 8 year old paint. she is drop dead gorgeous and so incredibly sweet. the problem is when she canters, she does this weird spinning thing. she does it on both leads. she ****s her head to the inside and spins really fast. she gets this panick-stricken look in her eyes and her ears shake afterwards. if i give her a minute to calm down, then she is perfect. i can ask her to canter again, and she will sometimes spin again, sometimes she wont. she doesnt always spin either. she does bolt in the beginning of cantering. dr. mark andersen has seen her do this and he suggested chiropractic work. we got that done today and i wont know if this was the reason until tomorrow, but i was wondering if anyone has heard of this before. or if anyone has any suggestions on what to do. a massage therapist is coming this week as well. i am nervous because i know i am hurting her, i just dont know why or how to fix it. i have been just doing walk trot with her, but i need to figure this out. thank you, and please respond!!

jena

Jena, I am sorry I have never had this happen or known of it happening to anyone. It sounds like something may be causing her pain though. Has she always done this since you got her? Also, what about saddle fit? Have you had a saddle fitter check out the fit of your saddle on her? I am sorry I couldn't be of more help and hope you find out what is causing her to do this! Good Luck!

Also, welcome to E-Equestrian! Glad to have you here and I can't wait to see some photos of you and your beautiful horse!

Welcome to the forums Jena!! :\\//

Does she do the same thing with a saddle on or off while lunging?

YES!! VERY GOOD QUESTION!!!

Does she do this while Free Lunging? Lunging with a lunge line???

she doesnt do this while free lunging, or on the lung line

she was going perfect for the second week i had her. i couldnt ask for a better ride..the day before i went to the jersey shore she spun. i had a good rider ride her twice while i was gone for the week. she spun both times for that rider, and now she does it constantly....i am in the process of finding my first saddle. she is a wide and i need 17". price is a huge factor so i have not yet had a saddle fitter come and check her out...

One other question, does she do this cantering in either direction? Or is she doing it specifically on one side?

Saddle fit seems to be the one to me. Maybe she needs a push up pad in the front cause the shoulder can't move freely when the horse throws a lead so she spins away from the pressure or pinch. Or maybe your fork is too narrow. . .are you riding western or english? If the tree narrows at the front, it restricts shoulder movement and either pinches or gives an uncomfortable pressure. Or check the tree for cracks or loose nails. She might be getting conflicting motion if they tree isn't solid. The shift from a crack or loose nail can cause the plates in the saddle to move in opposite directions like tectonic plates in the earth. When that happens, it grinds or distends the muscles of the back and will make he try to run away from the stress point. Does she drop and spin, rear up and double back? Also SIT BACK!!! I can never stress this enough. If you are heavy to the forehand, she tries to canter, you get thrown forward into the pocket, saddle shift/pinch/resticts movement, and she is going to panic and try and get away. Escpecially if she is a young horse.

WOW! I am totally flabbergasted! That was amazing!! I never would have thought of any of that to tell you the truth! AMAZING!!! That is why you break and train horses for a living!

GOOD ON YA GIRL!! Like I said, if I ever get a youngin', it's going to you!

I highly recommend you look into that hun! It may be a HUGE HELP!!

she does spin on both leads, but always to the inside.

always broke paints - i havent found the right saddle for the two of us yet...i am in the process and am looking at a union hill saddle. (jv, masters by union hill) i dont know if this is a good saddle or not? also, thank you very much for the advice. i do sit back and centered when i ride. when she does spin, i do squeeze and release on the outside rein to get her attention and it seems to stop her from spinning longer... is this a good idea? she is 8 years old, and has always been tough at the canter. she needs a lot of collection. when she spins, she sometimes will do a little rear right before she spins. her head tilts to the side and is raised more than what she would do normally. thank you everyone for responding! i will find out in a few days if the chiropractic work has worked. also keep sending the ideas! they are really helping. (i cant canter her for a few days because the chiropractic wants me to gradually work up to a full worik out.)

thanks, jena

Do you have steady hands? Maybe you jerk, or someone has, jerked the bit on her take off that scared her or her teeth need work so quite possibly they jerked her mouth, hurt her and she immediately thinks "canter, mouth, hurt, move head" and that is why she does it. Just another thing to think about.

i have steady soft hands so i dont think that that is why she spins. also, i did have her teeth floated last monday...but i do think that it might be the saddle...i hadnt thought of that. i was thinking that it was more dealing with something on her pole. thank you again!

When you lunge her, without the saddle on, does she do the same thing?

Good question EventGirl! ::wiggle::

no she doesnt. i rode her a few hours ago and cantered her, and she did it again. but for less time. the thing is, is after she spun, she refused to trot or even go forward. i got her to take a few steps at the trot and then got off. i was walking her and saw that she was the slightest bit lame. enough to notice, but nothing serious. i dont know what to do. i love this horse! i was thinking of possibly getting a horse psychic but i dont know how much they are and i dont have a ton of money...i am paying for this, not my parents...i appreciate the comments!

thanks, jena

Where was she lame? How was she walking? When she darted and spun, where did the movement come from? Did she shoulder move first or rear end first? When she wouldn't move, how did she bulk? Sink in her back or shy one way or another? Was she scared when she refused to move or just uncomfortable? :riding:

How Do You Ask Her To Lope? And Do You Know What She Was Used For Ar Trained In In The Past?!

One other thing I wanted to add is even when you lunge with a saddle, the horse could move just fine like she is a seasoned pro cause the saddle is just sitting on her. Once you add the weight, you add the pressure, you change the way the saddle fits. Just a thought.