Hurt horse or not?

I have a horse that i tried out twice at my indoor arena and he ran great. I bought him after the trainer assured us he had never been hurt. We have had him 8 mths and never have had him turn the second barrel at an outdoor pen. He’ll turn it sometimes, but never consistantly to draw a check. This is a very fast 1-d horse. We found out after 6 mths that the trainer failed to tell us he had been hurt two years before and that when he started not turning the second barrel. Have you ever heard of a horse doing anything like this before? The former owner says he hurt his right stifle at the 2nd barrel. I had his hocks injected and his stifles to no avail. I have showed him 7 times in seven differant pens and he will not turn the second barrel except in our indoor arena. Is it in his mind ? if the vet did a bone scan and couldnt find anything new. He said it could be old muscle tears that didnt heal and wont or he panics of getting hurt again. We d love to fix him but dont know ,or have had any experiance with this kind of problem. Pleaseeeeeeee help if you can. We also gave him reserpatine and he still wouldnt turn it. He starts to and youll think he’s turning and at the last second he’ll jump out towards the timer,sometime cutting the clock off and being disqualified.

First of all, did you do a thorough prepurchase exam on this horse before you bought him? If not, then the whole thing can be chalked up as a good learning experience albeit a painful one for your pocketbook. It sounds to me as though this horse is certainly still hurting and drugs like reserpine aren’t going to do anything for the pain or soreness that he feels when he commits to make the turn. Why are you giving him reserpine?? Have you tried using an anti-inflammatory such as bute or banamine when you run him? By putting him on an anti-inflammatory for 2-3 days and then working or running him, you might be able to determine if it is a pain related problem or not. If he works while the anti-inflammatory is in him, then you might have a problem that can be helped if you can figure out what is worrying him. If he doesn’t work, then you are probably dealing with something that is not maintainable by way of veterinary care. I would suggest that you might try switching this horse to the other direction – if you now go to the right barrel first, switch and go the left barrel first. Sometimes, even when a horse is suffering from some kind of soreness, they will go ahead and work the other direction.
Martha Wright