Front intermittent lameness

[Alohapony]

Hello!
I have a 16 yr old QH, that I’ve owned for a few years now. He has a pretty simple work load and had about 3+ months pretty much off with a few scattered light (walk, trot) rides due to the weather being crummy. We started getting him back into work about 2 months ago and since then has had two instances where he came out lame on the front right. We had the vet come out to look at him and he saw the lameness, he performed a flextion test to which he flexed negative in the front and a little in the hind. The vet suggested we do his yearly hock injections a little earlier this year. After getting his hocks done he felt amazing! Today (about 1 month after his hock injections) he came out lame at the trot on the same front leg.

I’m hoping to get some advice on what I can look into and ask my vet about.
I’m waiting on my farrier to come and hoof test him and see if he sees anything. (He was just shod 1.5 weeks ago) I’m also thinking of running bloodwork for lymes and vitamin E.

Anything you guys have to offer will be very appreciated! Thank you!

[kaya842]

A lameness eval should include nerve blocks and hoof testers (unless the source of the lameness is obviously not in the hoof). That is pretty basic order of operations for a lameness exam.

[Bluey]

X-rays?

We had one horse intermittently lame in one front and it was a chip off a wing of his coffin bone.

What kind of saddle are you using?
A four year old started being ocassionally lame on LF and, took us a while, we found a screw holding the front of the left housing had worked out thru the bottom sheepskin and at times was poking on his shoulder thru the wool blanket or just making an uncomfortable bump there.

Good luck finding what is going on there.

[Syrynx]

Echoing the x-ray as one of the options. My gelding was intermittently lame in his right hind, we thought it was an abscess but it persisted. Vet was out for a barn call so I asked her to do some X-rays , turns out he had a keratoma in that hoof. It has since been removed and he’s all good now.

[DiamondJubilee]

A young reiner (coming 5 year old) that was started slowly (and late) was showing on and off lameness in one front foot for the past year - sound for a bit, then unsound - vet out and did hocks, did front ankle - on stall rest, then sound for a bit and then unsound etc, etc. Xrays were done before purchase as a 3 year old and had 2 different vets look at the horse with nothing notable.

Now after a year of the on and off soundness, vet coming out and trying so many different things, went back to xrays and see minor navicular changes in that front. Nothing notable, but obviously the horse doesn’t think it minor. Was injected and re shod for a navicular horse and fingers crossed, has been sound w/j/l for a month. No spins or stops yet as the vet wants to come out and clear before more stress first.

So xrays might be a good idea, could always compare from old ones if you have any (that would be the best so vet can see any possible changes). Perhaps navicular as well? Just a thought.

[Amberley]

In my experience true* intermittent front end lameness = neck until proven otherwise. After that I am looking for a chip somewhere, probably a knee to start with.

*the horse is actually sound in-between episodes, not just so obviously uneven on a given day that the ongoing bilateral lameness, stiffness, “funny steps” or short-strided movement is less apparent than normal.

[GoodTimes]

I’ll also jump on the x-ray bandwagon, with the caveat that if it’s something subtle it may still get missed. What is your horse wearing for shoes? Have you tried pads?

This is the thread that I started last year when my mare was having issues. It ended up being a fairly simple fix, but the bone bruising that wasn’t evident on x-ray meant that she needed time off to heal first.

Intermittent significant front end lameness during/after exercise - Update post 50

Looking for some ideas from the Coth crowd. I’ve got a 7yo warmblood mare who every few months comes up dead lame while I’m riding or just as we finish. W-T-C both ways, sometimes jump, and then when we come back to a walk to cool out or take a break she’ll shorten right up and by the time I hop off and get her back to the barn she can barely walk. She’s weight bearing, no sweating or cramping. No heat or swelling. Just very short steps. Usually the left front steps shorter, but on one occasion…

An update for my mare. She’s stayed sound in shoes/pads/pour-ins. Back to jumping around 2’9’, taking things easy, but if she stays sound and relaxed we’ll move her up to the 3’ AAs this summer.

[Alohapony]

Do you think soreness in the SI would be the same problem?

Last year around march we called out our vet to look at his hocks and the vet that came that day said she thinks the horse would be better off with SI injections than the hocks at that time. In june we called the vet out again to do the hocks. This year the vet that came out felt his back was fine and he just needed the hocks done.

His back isn’t reactive to touch right now but he’s def not 100% himself in the saddle, even when he looks sound.

[Amberley]

I don’t see why a sore SI would cause intermittent front end lameness at all. Sore SI typically causes hind end problems, problems cantering and is not intermittent.