[littlerider]

I bought a 16 yr old Standardbred and was told she was a "kids horse" the old owner said her 6 yr old son and 10 yr old son rode her everyday with no problems.
Now my mare "Lacy" is very quiet and is great with my kids around her grooming and petting, etc. I went for a ride on her today around noon and she was fine, then around 2 ppm, my llama scared Lacy and her buddy Izzy and they ended up going THROUGH the electric fence TWICE.
When I caught them they appeared fine no marks, no limp, nothing. Well my kids got home from school and wanted to ride so they tacked up the 2 girls and rode in the round pen. About 15 min into the ride I was on Izzy and my 12 yr old daughter was on Lacy when I noticed Lacy was walking on the outside of her back feet bad (she looks flared on the inside of her back feet) if you understand that, lol.
I mentioned to my daughter how bad her feet looked when Lacy turned into the middle of the round pen, she put her head almost to the ground and her legs started to shake. I yelled to my daughter "get off" because I knew she was going down. Just as Lacy was laying down my daughter managed to get off, Lacy didn't try to roll or anything she just laid there. I got off my horse and tried to get her up but she wouldn't mover, so I untacked her while she was on the ground and had to smack her on the butt twice with the lead rope in order for her to get up. When she was up my daughter walked her around so I could watch her but I saw nothing, she was not limping, no shaking, no nothing, she appeared to be fine.
My ferrier is coming out tomorrow to check her feet but didn't think that would cause her to go down like that, does anyone have any ideas on why a well trained horse (suppose to be anyway) would go down like this with a rider on her back?

[Auzzie Honey]

Is she shod?
Did she get zapped from the fence?
Is she in shock?
Has she got arthritis or any other health issue?

That's just not normal .. I'd be getting on the phone to a vet and talking thru what happened and your concerns. I'd also get a vet check, just incase.

[bossmare77]

Our OTTSB did that as well. Vet figured she was just weak,as she went from the track to auction after auction to a home,then to us. She just wasnt physically fit at that point to be ridden. Is your girl underweight..? Skinny,no muscle..?

[littlerider]

No she's not shod, and yes I would think she got zapped from the fence, she went right through it, and no she was not in shock. We would not have rode her if she had shown and signs of distress.
Her old owners said she was sound with no health issues, which she appears to be.

[littlerider]

She is not what I would call underweight. She is a little thin, can slightly see her ribs but otherwise appears healthy. Maybe she was just stressed from going through the fence and chasing my llama around the pasture, plus we have lots of farm animals around that she isn't use to (pigs, goats, geese, etc) but I don't ride the horses close to them. She can see them but is still about 75-100 ft away from them.

[jumpthemoon]

She might have been 'tying up'.

http://www.horsetalk.co.nz/health/tha-tyingup.shtml

[littlerider]

I don't think it's "tying up" I just checked out the sight and she has none of the systoms. She's not stiff or limping, none of that. She appears fine today and she was fine last night after it happened. I am totally stumped on why she did it. I rode her eariler in the day for longer and she rode great. She was not ridden hard it was just a slow walk until my kids are use to her. For it to be "tying up" it said they are in the process of doing hard work which was not the case here.
Thanks for the idea though, it is always good to learn about new things.

[2horsestoride]

What's the footing in the round pen? A number of years ago I had a little mare that would lay down any time she got to a sandy spot. Nothing wrong with her, just a very bad habit that she apparently had been allowed to get away with. Any chance it was something as simple as that?

[Alouette]

She was probably just shooken up from what had happened earlier. If she see,s fine now, she probably is.

[Beeks]

I used to ride a horse when I was a teenager, that would just stop and slowly go down when he was tired or just just plain "done" with being ridden. He was just very spoiled and had not been disciplined for it. Luckily, back then I rode bareback all the time, so finally, after getting tired of finding a stump or fence to help me get back on, I just straddled him when he did it and when he came back up, I came back up with him. The first time I did this with him, he tried the trick several times with the same result, me still on him. After the ride, he rewarded my genious by kicking me in the arm and wheeling away when I took his bridle off.

Chances are, if this mare had been ridden by kids, that they either thought it was funny or were uneducated in how to stop it.

I currently have a friend, who occasionally rides her father retired WP campaigner. He will do the same thing...western saddle and all...several times during trail rides just because he has become spoiled and grumpy in his retirement.

If a vet check proves nothing to be wrong then it is time to go to work correcting this bad habit.