Front suspensories present this way. Lame when on inside of circle and they can work out of it until they can’t. The changing hoof angles might stress an already sore suspensory.
It could be multiple things. You need a good lameness vet to block it to really know. The wondering will just drive you crazy, and I say that bc I have been there!
Well, he continues to improve. Yesterday I didn’t see him at all, so today I pulled him out and could tell right away he was a happy horse. The BO was dumping the water tank to clean and refill and Milton was all up in the way trying to “help” LOL.
I lunged in the field as usual and he chose to start going to the right first (good idea, Mills). Walked and did a little of his warm-up “jog-trot” thing that way then turned around to the left and did the same. He still does his lazy “barely-a-trot” thing (the western pleasure bloodlines come out in him easily) at first, but much less to hardly any head bob today. Just more even and regular overall right from the beginning. The only time he does occasionally look “ouchy” is if he steps weird (he’s clumsy in these shoes from time to time because he’s such a flat mover and they don’t slide over the grass that well). But really he hardly reacted to that even today. I was really pleased and he seemed very comfortable lunging. And the weird thing is…he’s SO much easier to get going now! I used to have to chase him and cluck and kiss and pop the whip and literally hit him with the whip just to get him to wake up and go. Now he moves off much more readily once he’s warmed up and by the end when he’s walking out, if I forget and cluck to him to keep him going (habit)…he’ll start trotting again. That NEVER used to happen! Done was done and he’d screech to a halt and not want to move another step.
So hopefully that means he’s feeling better. His breathing is a ton better too! Maybe it was allergies and those are better? Or maybe the massive amount of MSM he’s getting now is helping (not massive really…15,000 mg). Whatever it is, he’s much better. He’s more comfortable all over. Trots around nice and long with his nose literally dragging on the ground…like it feels so good.
I’m still getting the vet to go over him with a fine-toothed comb. I want to make sure any and all possible problems are addressed. And when my farrier returns, I’m going to have her put the normal glue-on shoes on his fronts instead of the boot things. I think he’s meant to have shoes on those fronts at least, and those will be better for long-term use.
I’m riding tomorrow. Fingers crossed that he’ll feel good! 
Ugh. I rode him today and he’s still not right. My mother was out and she videoed him with her phone (I don’t have those now, sorry). He didn’t look head-bobbing lame, and in fact look better than he feels overall, but he’s still not right. She could see it in him. It’s like he’s fine to walk nice and long and forward, but the trot has absolutely zero impulsion from behind. Strangely, he is stepping up from behind, but it’s a smooth sweeping motion without any thrust. His trot is so smooth that I can hardly rise out of the saddle to post. I feel like I’m riding a gaited horse.
I continued to work him despite this because he always improves during out lunge sessions, and as usual, by the end of the ride he was pretty good. More oomph from behind to help me post, could make small circles both ways with no short-striding or head bob. Cantered willingly, although still felt more sucked back than I’d like, but he never acted grumpy about it.
He is less flexible and leaning into my leg and just overall not feeling quite himself in that regard too.
The main thing is the feeling when we first trot. It’s the same feeling from back just before he got the shoe/easy boot glue-ons. He’s just…super smooth to ride at the trot. No bounce. It’s actually easier to sit than post and that has NEVER been the case. By the end of the ride he’s appropriately bouncy again.
I’m so ready for the vet!
Any chance you can just let him take a break from working until the vet comes out and a diagnosis is made?
I wouldn’t let him take a break. Keep working him to some light degree. I’ve experienced many times working for a vet where someone set up an appointment, then let the horse be off for the days leading up to the appointment, and magically with rest the horse wasn’t off that day, but two days later after being put back to work, they were lame again. Our vet always recommends some sort of light work unless they are the kind of head bobbing/three legged lame that would constitute an emergency or suggest something severe going on. You don’t have to work him hard, but keep moving him a little bit.
This is exactly what I’ve been torn about. Work him or not? I hate working a horse that seems off, but the fact that he manages to work out of it makes me think it’s hopefully not doing him much harm? But I’m not sure if that’s even true.
He doesn’t get worked hard. I lunge during the week because I don’t have time for much else after work. And there is usually at least a day or two that I don’t even lunge…I just go visit. Weekends are when I tend to ride, and yesterday was his first ride since last Sunday. He was basically the same yesterday as he was last Sunday (despite the fact that he’s steadily improved on the lunge over the week…still feels funky to ride).
I hate to ride him if he’s got something going on that I’m exacerbating. But I hate to not work him if it’s actually going to help him in the long run.
I guess I’ll just play it by ear. I’m going to try to ride today again since he hasn’t been ridden two days in a row since getting the shoes last week. I might try him on different footings (packed round pen, deeper covered arena, grass field) to see if there are differences.
I’d keep riding. Working out of it to me usually means not an injury but something more chronic like arthritis or sometimes an old soft tissue injury that likes to start out tight.
And as mentioned previously, you want to vet to see him as he is usually, and not baby him right before the appointment.
Well, I rode. We mostly just walked. I tried several times to get the trot going, but I purposely left my spurs off today and it just wasn’t worth it to keep trying to get him to a decent trot.
My mother said yesterday when we started “trotting”…“He looks like a gaited horse.” That’s exactly what he feels like. There is no clear 2-beat rhythm to his trot now when riding. It’s like every foot is hitting the ground at a different time. It’s like he has four flat tires at the trot.
His normal walk is fine. He’ll walk nice and forward, back feels fine and swingy (which is actually an improvement for him. He used to crawl at the western pleasure walk of death).
I tried to get him to trot with me leading him and he did it, but when I look back it’s like all four feet are barely at the trot. And he’s just sliding them across the ground, not picking up and putting down.
He’s happy as a clam in all other ways. Loves to walk around the fields and see the sights. Loves being groomed. Doesn’t mind being tacked up. Side-passes to the mounting block and stands like a statue to be mounted. Ears up for the most part, even when he’s struggling along at his awful “trot”. We went into the covered arena and he walked great in there, but the shuffling was even worse at the trot, so out we came. That arena has sand was always a bit deep for him (other horses seem fine if they have bigger movement). I HAD been riding him in there a lot more frequently before all of his tires went flat. I’m wondering if that could be the culprit.
Or…I’m still worried about front feet. He took an ouchy step when he walked through a little dip in his pasture when I was bringing him in. But he walks fine on concrete and on the gravel in front of the barn now (not so when he was barefoot!). We even walked down the driveway where there are some sizable rocks and while I didn’t walk him long on the rocky part, just crossing over it I expected him to give a little but he didn’t.
He’ll have it pretty easy from now until Friday. I will try to at least get on and walk (and see how trot is) and do a little lunging. I’m worried that lunging might not be the best if it’s soft tissue or hocks. I do lunge “large” in a big open field and walk a lot so that he’s not on a small circle.
Poor buddy. He’s so incredibly sweet about it all.
I’m just hoping the vet will discover something obvious and manageable.
If he gives you a good walk, why not just walk him?
There are times with my MS that I am limited to the walk and my riding teacher is pleased with the training I put on the horses at the walk, I refer what I practice at the walk as the ABCs. In fact I brought back one mare, 99% walk as right then she could do no more.
This way you can keep his muscling up, practice yielding the fore hand and hind quarters, practice straightness at the most challenging gait, transitions of speeds of the walk–slow, regular, and as much extension as you can get. Riding a NQR horse at the walk is physical therapy for the horse if done right.
I also don’t think it would be a bad idea to stick to the walk until your vet appointment if he’s walking forward.
I would be really careful working him if there is any chance it might be laminitis. It could cause more damage in the hoof. I’m just throwing this out there because BTDT and I really wish I hadn’t exercised the pony thinking it was his usual age related stiffness that he works out of. It wasn’t and I may have made things worse.
Yeah, this is my main worry with working him. I think I’ll just walk (whether in-hand or ridden) for the rest of the week. He’s out in the pasture at least 12 hours and lately almost 24 hours a day (weather permitting), but he’s quiet out there, so at least he’s moving around even if I’m not exercising him. He and his buddy are very quiet outside, so hopefully no shenanigans that could cause him further issues.
I was reading a post on another forum that sounded a lot like my guy’s issue. A lot of people there were saying to test for Lyme Disease. I’m thinking I might add that to the list of things I’d like his blood tested for. Would there be other symptoms?
Lyme is a b!tch because it can present so randomly. I have had 4 horses with it and each one presented in a totally different way. For me, at the first hint of anything out of the ordinary, I have a multiplex run.
I’m still voting on laminitis and then possibly just needing front shoes. The “moves like a gaited horse” thing screams laminitis.
I wouldn’t work him.
Can you get him off the grass? 12-24 hours/day of pasture is too much for a lot of horses, and especially in cooling, fall season. It’s when you plant grass because of the weather.
If it turns out to be laminitis I’ll have to make some sort of arrangement to get him off of the grass. He’s been on 12-24 hours of turn-out his entire life, but I realize things change. I’m not going to move him for these last few days as it’s going to be some trouble to rearrange things at the barn and I don’t imagine a few more days will hurt him.
I really don’t want it to be laminitis, but if it turns out to be, then at least that’s a definite answer that can be addressed. He’ll get a grazing muzzle and appropriate footwear and hopefully can still go out in the pasture with his buddy most of the time. We already have one IR horse in the barn who cannot be on grass at all, and she lives in the round pen as her “dry lot.” She has a run out the back of her stall as well, so maybe if Milton winds up requiring similar management we’ll be able to work something out.
I rode bareback today and we just tooled around at the walk, herding the Canadian geese in the field, LOL. He was happy as could be. I got him to jog a few times and he did so happily, but it was very slow. Sometimes it had a better rhythm than others.
Anyhoo…I’m counting down the days until the vet! I’ve never been so anxious to spend a wad of money, LOL!
Yes every second counts if it is laminitis.
If it is laminitis the hooves should be hot. You ice them, dig a hole and stand him in water, anything to cool them. Remove all grain. No adding weight to the hooves via riding. Get the vet ASAP.
If it is not laminitis. None of the above will hurt him.
I agree that laminitis sounds like a possibility here. The first sign I had of my horse’s laminitis was that she felt really sluggish at the trot.
Other thoughts - my horse does not like a lot of frog support. When we were getting over laminitis (six months out from diagnosis) and moving back to shoes from therapeutic boots, at one point we did a pour in pad with a silicone frog support pad and she acted lame. Took those off and did aluminum shoes with a leather pad and she was fine.
I also support what others have said above about the Easyboot Glove not being meant for full-time use because they don’t give the heel enough room over the life of a trim cycle. My mare is actually now using the Easyboot Flip Flop, which is designed for full-time use. I’m only on my third cycle with it, but I really like it so far. And this is the same horse who was lame with the pour in pad - she is doing just fine with all of the support in the Flip Flop. If your farrier doesn’t want to have to carry multiple types of glue ons, have her check out Pete Ramey’s article on modifying the Gloves for full-time use (he basically trims material off so they look like Flip Flops!).
Good luck tomorrow!
Thanks! I’m so ready for tomorrow and truly hope the vet can get to the bottom of it. I called the office today just to remind them that I want his front feet x-rayed. I also spoke to my farrier yesterday (who just happened to text me asking how the horse is doing), and she says she’s thinking it’s probably not laminitis. I’m not so sure, but if it does wind up being laminitis, she said not to worry because she can help him. She knows the lameness vet who is coming out and they work together often. She said to call her if we need her tomorrow. She was worried that this was all because of the shoes/boots and a possible chunk of glue that could’ve gotten down under his foot and hardened (he moved once despite our efforts to keep his silly self still during the gluing). I assured her that his issue was already there prior to the boots.
I didn’t hop on bareback today as I was a little late to the barn. It was also pretty warm today and the gnats are bad. The BO had left everybody inside, which I was glad about. Milton was happy as ever. I hand-walked him just a tiny bit. I took him into the round pen with the packed, harder footing to just see if he had any reaction. Nope. Turned him both ways tightly a few times and he was fine. Walked him across the gravel in front of the barn. No problems.
I have to help run a district-wide meeting tomorrow morning and then I’m grabbing lunch and heading to the barn to await the vet! I’ll report back!
FWIW the regular Magic Cushion can harden over time inside a shoe and make them foot sore. You have to use the Magic Cushion X, and it won’t harden. That’s per my farrier.
Yes my vet has said the same thing. Also sometimes the case as well with dental impression material used under pads.
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