Your horse has had severe back soreness for years even when just standing in a stall for months, because he injured his deep flexor tendon/check ligament, and he’s got a club foot? I would be making some serious calls about a new farrier right about yesterday.
If this were my horse, I’d be focusing on KS - all of the issues you’ve stated relate to KS.
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Um. Not quite. Read again. My horse came off the track back sore. He has not shown symptoms of continually being back sore. Not until he was on stall rest, which hasn’t been since JUNE. If you knew much about horses, you’d understand that many horses get body sore being on stall rest, not moving around, and so myself AND MY VET thought that he was body sore due to being cooped up. His tendon and ligament were injured due to playing hard out in the pasture, rearing and jumping around and taking a mis-step. The MILD club foot is a pretty typical thing in an OTTB. Do some research. Stop making assumptions. My farrier cannot FIX a club foot. To do so would NOT be the proper way to address one.
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Thank you–that’s my fear as well. All too common with the symptoms, AND his breed/past career. The vet will be coming January 3rd. I’m happy to report his back is not hurting like it was, he’s not dipping down and getting angry when I touch him. Still having the vet out, because there are just too many coincidences with his past and I’d rather him be completely checked over than to just assume whatever issue he has has “passed” since it seems to re-occur regardless of rest/work/turnout situation.
agree with TBMaggie,
when I had some performance issues with one of my mares, I thought maybe hocks, etc. I took her to a really good specialist --because chasing possible issues w/flexions, blocks, treatment, wait, re-evaluate, etc with my regular vet would have taken forever and cost more in the long run.
The sports medicine/lameness specialist did a full workup, including flexions and palpation, and did find some back soreness. When I mentioned it had been a couple of weeks since I’d ridden her last, he said that much backpain with time off from riding was a huge red flag. We immediately went in and got rads of whole back and he found few areas with minor remodeling and KS. Careful fitness work keeps her perfectly sound/comfortable for dressage/flat work, but the vet did recommend injections for more serious work (jumping, heavy show schedule, etc).
That’s cool. You mentioned feet before, but if you don’t think that’s the problem, no sweat. I don’t think club feet are any more common in thoroughbreds who are off the track than other types of horses. Unbalanced feet can cause back soreness, which your horse has (hence your post) and had when you got him, and a club foot can really wreak some havoc. I agree vets are good sources for advice, but you asked a bunch of strangers on the internet instead what they thought, but, like I said, just my 2 cents.
I think I would have a full workup including back films to check for KS. It doesn’t have to be a kiss of death diagnosis but it definitely requires a specific plan.
My OTTB was also on stall rest for 8 months for DDFT. He handled that and the rehab like a champ. Bringing him back to work, he was very “angry”…just not the same horse…mostly back pain. Long story short…he lost all the muscling on stall rest that kept his back together and was diagnosed with Kissing Spines via xrays. Did the lig snip surgery and he was a much happier horse afterwards. Post rehab of that he was a little off behind and he was diagnosed with PSD.
Chicken and the egg? PSD caused KS? KS caused PSD? DDFT/heel pain caused both? Long story short is that is he is now retired at only 8 years old. A long and painful journey and I hope yours has a better ending than mine.
My belief is that it all started with his feet…terrible long toe, low heel that he raced on…plus it was very hard to correct and we never could get his heel right with a lot of work.
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My OTTB has a mildly clubby right front foot. His is excerbated by how he grazes with one foot way in front of the other. My farrier has mentioned he finds it common with TBs and almost always it is the right front. I don’t know if it is more or less common in TBs or OTTB than other breeds. My farrier made it seem more common in OTTBs than other breeds in his clientel. I have known 2 other horses with mildly clubby feet. Both were TBs and I know one of those raced. I don’t know if the other one did.
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A MRI would tell you everything you need to know. I would do the full body scan at the hospital. It is expensive, but you would know if this horse even has a career as a riding horse or can ever live a pain free life.
If it makes you feel any better, while KS sucks mightily-- it is not a death sentence or the end of ridden work necessarily.
I’ve had Frankie since he was 3. He never, never had any of the classic signs of KS. Last winter he started stopping at deep distances. Which was 100% unlike him. That was the only sign. No bucking, no issues saddling him, no cold-backed behavior, no acting like he was in pain at all-- just didn’t want to jump out of a deep distance.
Had an MRI and x-rays-- 3 areas of kissing spines and soft tissue injuries in both front feet. Likely he caused the front feet because his back hurt and he was trying to shift the weight. We did the ligament snipping surgery in April and stem cells in the feet. I did a somewhat different rehab than most-- no stall rest (just a few days until the stitches came out) and never ever lunged. All his non-ridden work was long lining-- no small turns-- and outside on “terrain” (not crazy terrain but sloping hills and up/down the long straight driveway). Lots of in-hand work in the Equicore. No small circles. Treat him like he has a soft tissue injury. Build him back up from scratch. Ridden work started in August.
He has not had a setback (knock on wood). He is now doing 100% normal flatwork. Technically he could be reevaluated and possibly return to jumping now but I’m in no rush and want to be conservative, so I am going to flat him all winter and take him for an MRI and re-evaluation in the spring before moving on. But he’s been very very SOUND and very HAPPY in work. Even though it’s early, I am feeling pretty happy/hopeful.
All of this was possible because I got a clear diagnosis. Which is to say that I know you don’t want to hear your horse has KS but at least if you get a diagnosis you will know what your options are. And they’re not all terrible, necessarily.
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Thank you everyone for your opinions, things you’ve been through, etc. MOST of you have been more than kind.
He’s got an appointment with a specialist vet on January 25th. In the mean time I’m happy to report that his sensitivity to touch has gone back to zero. He sprouted hives and rainrot literally the next day after I initially posted, and I believe that was the bulk of his major discomfort–his skin.
However, I am still having the specialist out for him, because she comes highly recommended for back pain and hoof issues, both of which are things I’d like to square away once and for all, because some of the things he’s done in the past still have me thinking there is an issue somewhere that should be addressed.
I had a second farrier out to take a look at his feet. According to the second farrier, his feet are well balanced, his shoe job is good, and the club foot IS being managed as it should be–trimmed to the horse, not to match the other feet–as I was told and as I too thought. It’s a very mild club. They ARE common in Tb’s, by his (and the other farrier)'s experience, mine, and many other professionals who have had both TB’s and other breeds come through their barn. My horse grazes with one foot far in front of the other. It’s something that likely formed when he was a foal due to his grazing stance. I’m only lucky that it’s not severe. We’re not talking detrimental deformity clubs here. We’re talking a foot with a heel that mimics that of a NORMAL horse (because mine struggles with underrun heels historically), and a coronet band that’s as healthy as the other 3 feet. My farrier lowers the heel and does a dramatic breakover on that foot. He stays on a 4-5 week trim cycle, always, except this past month where he went 6 weeks because of the holidays. My horse keeps short toes on all feet, and we do the best we can. While I am not completely ruling out the clubbiness of the foot causing some sort of issue, I also do not think this is the end all be all to everything that could be going on. His foot health has dramatically improved over the almost 4 years he’s been retired. Either way, the sports medicine specialist does feet, too, so we’ll get a medical opinion from her when she comes.
Thanks again everyone. I’m just happy to see him not being visibly irritated by physical touch at the moment now that the rain rot has resolved. The weather sucks this year. I’m glad he’s at least pasture sound/comfortable for the time being and not crawling out of his skin with back pain at the moment.
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Echoing what others have said relating to the complexity of back soreness, unfortunately. I had a horse that presented as “back sore” as his major symptom but we couldn’t identify anything in the back itself as a problem. A very clever team of people ended up figuring out that he was footsore, which changed how he was standing/using himself, which created some hock discomfort, which then compounded all the way up to the back. To resolve the back soreness, we had to fix the root issue (footsore), and then manage the body until it was no longer sore all the way up. He was on muscle relaxers & got hock injections at the same time as he got shoes behind - essentially, it was a feedback loop that once it started, needed to do a multi-pronged approach. Without the muscle relaxers, the back would be sore which while the feet had been addressed, wouldn’t encourage him to change his posture/body use so he’d stay sore even though the problem on paper had been tackled.
Hoping the skin issue was the source of the majority of his discomfort, and that if the specialist finds something it’s simple to address! Fingers crossed for you.
FWIW, IMO, Club foot is most likely caused by laterality (limb dominance). Grazing stance is just a byproduct of laterality.
I don’t know what a sports medicine specialist is, I would listen to what she says about the club foot but I’d match it up to what the other two Farriers said. The veterinary community is way behind when it comes to club foot.
Best of luck & hope you find some answers!
Re: “kissing spines” - this is more of a bucket category that a lot of things get thrown into, so don’t be too scared by the words. Something like 80% of ridden horses have arthritic changes in their backs, but just like humans, only a subset of those are symptomatic. These bony changes narrow the joint space & can often be well managed by injections & correct work under saddle-my gelding fell into this category. He had some very tight spaces, but was successful eventing once we treated. Breaking that cycle of pain & compensation can go a long way.
