No shoes in the first video. I normally only put fronts on him and my farrier came on 22 December. Se he has front shoes on in 3 week video. In the past, he still would start off very sticky and proppy on the lunge even with shoes, and even in regular work.
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Figures. I had a brief moment of hope re: cost when I posted this but I should have known those patents would get locked down. Wonder if its the same manufacturer as the gastroguard.
Just an update. 10 weeks on and my boy is going super. No longer dipping to back palpation, going super under saddle. No more shifting lameness. Still on Injectable Omeprazole - we did 4 weeks at 20ml, 6 weeks at 10ml, this week reduced to 5ml.
This is him at a clinic a couple of days ago.
https://youtu.be/s6Zq3yvhoV0
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Heās lovely!
Reviving an old thread to ask if anyone else has had any experience re: ulcers and hind end lameness. My guy has the lower back and hind end soreness OPās horse has, which has sent me down the lameness rabbit hole.
Weāre checking my guy for EPM and Lymes, but heās slowly gotten worse and worse over the past 8 months. Not overtly lame, but not quite right. Whats off is that heās pushing his right hind diagonally under his belly to his left front. His musculature behind isnāt great (especially for a horse in full work). Weak tail pulls but flexes fine. He eats VERY well (acts ravenous always) and is in good bcs condition aside from the hind muscles.
Weāve added hind shoes and did a chiro session. To me, it looks like his hind end posture improved following these two things but heās still doing undesirable behaviors under saddle and moving off. Heās not girthy and stands still to be mounted, but is reluctant to move up the gaits and is uncomfortable cantering + jumping (rushes, disunited, bucks both on the lunge and under saddle). He had a week and a half off work and did not palpitate sore when the saddle fitter was out to check the fit.
My ask: do I do the spine + neck radiographs if the EPM and Lymes tests come back negative, OR do I treat for hindgut ulcers before shelling out the money for the rads? The vet Iām working with mentioned the ulcers could be a possibility.
It looks like it Iām in something like OPās case, the ulcer treatment route might end up saving me from a longer period of diagnostics.
Has anyone else had similar experiences? This thread is a little older, so Iām just curious!
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You could try a round of the Abler sucralfate (itās relatively cheap) and see what happens - or get a script from the vet to try. Itās finicky, but itās one of the few drugs that are supposed to help hindgut ulcers.
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I have known a horse who, when impacted, showed hind end lameness. Cured by a good poop
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This isnāt a direct answer to your question (in general I think ulcer treatment any time there is a physical issue at play is beneficial) - but, have you had a vet do blocks of that right hind yet?
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I would recommend that you scope your horse. Then you will definitely know if it is front gut, hind gut, both or none at all. Then you will know what to treat and how. You could throw a lot of money away treating for the wrong thing.
I do agree that blocking the right hind would be the best first course of action.
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Just off the OPās results alone would have me treating for ulcers. It seemed to be the case for her horse because as far as I can see in reading the thread that is all she treated for at that time. Wonder how her horse is dong 4 years later? @Balmonty???
My horse had lower back soreness as a sign of ulcers. He was not lame but I do think it would have escalated if untreated. First sign of meds working was soreness disappearing.
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If it were me, Iād do the neck/spine radiographs and a complete neuro exam. I have one who had similar symptoms, he was also tripping a bit when worked out on grass. did the tests you mentioned, treated a couple times over about 6-7 months for ulcers. He ended up with moderate issues c6-c7, mild issues higher in the neck and spinal compression in the lower cervical area. We were planning his first GP - all the parts were there and confirmed. But now, at 11, he is retired. Horses suck sometimesā¦
No nerve blocking yet - I think my vet would rather do the rads, and the more I look at videos, the more I lean toward that. Heās had OCD removed in the right stifle as a yearling. He flexed perfectly fine.
Heās got some/enough neurological symptoms to raise eyebrows (mildly neuro at the tail pull was a big one), which has me wondering about his neck more than his right hind. Itās just funny that he only ārope walksā with that one leg at the trot, but is on and off uncomfortable at the canter in his hind (it was way worse in the winter when he was on a dry lot rather than pasture area).
I can only hope itās something simple with a generally positive prognosis like the hind gut ulcers, vitamin e deficiency, or EPM, but Iām preparing for neck arthritis that requires maintenance or something even worse.
Iāll be doom scrolling until it gets resolved.
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