Hind End lameness

[Cathy_D]

I have one that locks up intermittantly depending on where his weight is. He has a very straight hind leg, and is a bit long and weak in the pastern, so he tends to develop a too long toe behind. (He is barefoot behind).

Oddly enough, keeping those back toes short and putting extra weight on him seems to fix the problem. Apparently there is a fat pad under the stifle that plumps up with the extra weight. He doesn’t need to be obese, but nicely rounded. Sounds bizarre but it works for this horse.

[wilsonaj21]

So the vet said it was definitely delayed patellar release and Here what this guys is getting for grain because we have been trying to get weight on him for awhile. she did mention to try to get a little extra on him to help with it. he gets triple crown senior 5lbs a day triple crown training 5 lbs per day triple crown 30% protein supplement 1lb per day ALL the hay we can eat plus 6 lbs Alfalfa a day. AND 10oz of cocosoya oil.

I think Ive met the fat and protein limit this guy can take in Ive slowly introduced all of this since january because he was under weight when I got him. about 2 weeks ago I added the protein supplement, so hopefully this helps!

the vet wants to blister but I am going to wait I think…it makes me nervous to do that seeing how it doesnt help with some horses.

[Claudius]

Internal blister

This has helped on every horse I have done it on.

[Cathy_D]

It sounds like your vet has a pretty good handle on it:) My horse didn’t need the blister, but I would think it might help by tightening the muscles/ligaments.

When this was a problem for my guy, I had trouble getting and keeping weight on him. I feed Triple Crown, too, and he was getting 2 pounds of Senior and 4 pounds of TC - 14 twice a day, free chice hay (timothy) plus about 12 hours on pasture, and we still couldn’t put the weight on him. I added Strongid C, and then within a few months he had gained enough weight that I could cut him back. He had been on a normal worming schedule, but apparently he still had a parasite load.

How much hay is yours eating? If mine gets alfalfa, he won’t eat timothy. Champagne, anyone?

[wilsonaj21]

ya i got a fecal done on him and it was negative but he gets wormed every 8 weeks (rotating) he gets about 4 flakes grass hay AM and PM and he gets 6lbs of the triple crown alfalfa forage per day.

maybe ill blister!

[Infinite]

[QUOTE=wilsonaj21;5811628]
So the vet said it was definitely delayed patellar release and Here what this guys is getting for grain because we have been trying to get weight on him for awhile. she did mention to try to get a little extra on him to help with it. he gets triple crown senior 5lbs a day triple crown training 5 lbs per day triple crown 30% protein supplement 1lb per day ALL the hay we can eat plus 6 lbs Alfalfa a day. AND 10oz of cocosoya oil.

I think Ive met the fat and protein limit this guy can take in Ive slowly introduced all of this since january because he was under weight when I got him. about 2 weeks ago I added the protein supplement, so hopefully this helps!

the vet wants to blister but I am going to wait I think…it makes me nervous to do that seeing how it doesnt help with some horses.[/QUOTE]

I wouldn’t be that nervous on this, it’s helped each one I’ve done and any effects such as stiffness, etc are short lived. It’s a sub-cue injection.

[HollBear]

Claudius, your description is MY horse! Same Tb/WB cross, very very quiet and lazy but young.
I’ve had everything xrayed on my horse and they are all clean. There was something very slight on one stifle joint so we injected the joints only and there was huge difference. He wasnt too horrible to begin with - definately not as bad as the OP’s video. But this horse will NOT put on a topline for anything. I’m now trying the Esterone as he is large. Curious if everyone else’s horse is large too?
Next week he is getting his SI injected.
He’s not lame but not even behind and the canter to one direction throws you right to left.
He also steps on himself a lot behind!!! I put bell boots on his hinds when he is turned out.
We’ve never done his hocks because he’s never indicated that this was caused from a lower joint.
He gets chiro done and the first session they said his pelvis was “out of wack” but then the 2 following sessions they said he “felt great”!
We work him a lot. This year however I am in a new place and I just dont have access to the hills.
I need to set up more trot poles/cavaletti’s. I forgot about the backing up thing.
Please keep this discussion going.
Thanks!

[wilsonaj21]

[QUOTE=HollBear;5814457]
Claudius, your description is MY horse! Same Tb/WB cross, very very quiet and lazy but young.
I’ve had everything xrayed on my horse and they are all clean. There was something very slight on one stifle joint so we injected the joints only and there was huge difference. He wasnt too horrible to begin with - definately not as bad as the OP’s video. But this horse will NOT put on a topline for anything. I’m now trying the Esterone as he is large. Curious if everyone else’s horse is large too?
Next week he is getting his SI injected.
He’s not lame but not even behind and the canter to one direction throws you right to left.
He also steps on himself a lot behind!!! I put bell boots on his hinds when he is turned out.
We’ve never done his hocks because he’s never indicated that this was caused from a lower joint.
He gets chiro done and the first session they said his pelvis was “out of wack” but then the 2 following sessions they said he “felt great”!
We work him a lot. This year however I am in a new place and I just dont have access to the hills.
I need to set up more trot poles/cavaletti’s. I forgot about the backing up thing.
Please keep this discussion going.
Thanks![/QUOTE]

my guy has a ways for weight and muscle but hes a solid 17h

[doublesstable]

Have you had a bone scan done? One of my horses tore his tensor facalate muscle… (works the stiffle) and this same horse injured his sacro while sleeping (yeah kind of a goof-ball). Scan was great because some vets thought it was his stiffle.

One of my other horses did something very similar at the trot; not as much as your horse and hind shoes (not with a wedge) but farrier left the toe over the front of the shoe and it really worked for him… The (flat tire) moments - as my trainer would lovingly call it was gone!

From you video the flat tire moments look high up to me… coming from above the stiffle…

[wilsonaj21]

so we are on day four of getting my geldings stifles blistered with no results. He didnt act sore at all moved fine…my vet said within a week you should see a difference if its going to help…anyone else blistered and it took longer?

[FormerShowHunter]

I’m just curious for those who have dealt with this a lot…is this the same condition as when a horse’s leg locks? Like when he is in his stall and can’t walk forward to come out? Cause it doesn’t look the same to me, but it is called the same thing.

[Sansena]

Are his medial and lateral heels the same length? Uneven length behind can cause sore SIs (I too think this is coming from higher up).

What does he do without the weight of a rider? Is it a problem moreso in one direction vs the other? Does he ever get “up”… as in REALLY forward and a bit hot.

Vulnerability aside, I just want you to push this horse FORward as I watch the vid.

Done any blood work on him? Basic CBC/ Chem? Lyme probably would cross my mind, too…

[SimpleSimon]

@wilsonaj21;5822404

so we are on day four of getting my geldings stifles blistered with no results. He didnt act sore at all moved fine…my vet said within a week you should see a difference if its going to help…anyone else blistered and it took longer?

Per this site (read the last sentence) you shouldn’t expect results for 4-6 weeks.
http://www.atlantaequine.com/pages/client_lib_PostBlisteringReco.html

Don’t dispair (yet)!

[wilsonaj21]

yes his feet are level, he has one of the best farrier in the area and I certainly pay for it. he does it both directions, he can be forward if he isnt consistanly worked. The most he does is get fast but he will settle and slow down when I slow my posting maybe swing his head… but never dangerous. Im not 100% sure about the weight of the rider…what are you thinking?

he has had blood work and it was normal.

[QUOTE=Sansena;5823056]
Are his medial and lateral heels the same length? Uneven length behind can cause sore SIs (I too think this is coming from higher up).

What does he do without the weight of a rider? Is it a problem moreso in one direction vs the other? Does he ever get “up”… as in REALLY forward and a bit hot.

Vulnerability aside, I just want you to push this horse FORward as I watch the vid.

Done any blood work on him? Basic CBC/ Chem? Lyme probably would cross my mind, too…[/QUOTE]

[LeeB10]

Blistering does work. My daughter had a mare that would do this - although her leg would just get stiff, she would trip, and sometimes she would fall completely to her knees. The other thing she would do to unlock her leg was buck that leg out - especially when she would jump. Had her stifles blistered and it worked wonders. It takes about 4 weeks or so to see results but I know it works.

And when you blister you should ride your horse to keep that area warm. Unlike injections the more riding the better.

[LeeB10]

here is the mare. She would still trip here and there but no more going completely down:

http://www.youtube.com/user/LeeB110#p/u/45/H37o_smRXD0

[naters]

This is also my horse.

He has had a bone scan.

It was clean.

Asked my amazing farrier genius about squaring off the hind toes, and he said that definitely should help also.

Currently reading the other thread on Estrone…

Thanks for posting OP!

[Dressage.For.Life]

My horse (also a Thoroughbred) did exactly the same thing. He tended to “slip-out” more with just one hind leg, though, and then he also tracked “short” with both hind legs (again, more-so with the worse leg). Also, my horse only ever looked “off” at the trot; he was fine going both directions at the canter and his RH only ever “slipped-out” at the trot.

My horse has a very straight hind-end (hocks, primarily). What does your horse’s hind-end conformation look like?

And, that began his lameness ordeal (fall '09)…
(I have posted threads on his lameness saga).

My local lameness vet thought hocks, possibly a bad bone spavin. That particular vet thought he saw a severe bone spavin in the radiographs, so we injected his hocks. No change. We tried a few chiropractic appointments, etc. We also sent his radiographs to a vet at R&R and also Dr. Page at CEC (she did a lot of work w/ a certain procedure that made sense with my guy). They didn’t find much, either.

We gave him some time and then when we located a vet with more advanced imaging (digital x-ray, ultrasound, etc.) that wasn’t 4+ hours away, we had another work-up done. This vet, too, was stumped. We did, however, finally, find some severe suspensory lesions in both of his hind legs. Daily sweating of the leg for 1-2 months, additional stall rest, hand walking, supplements, eggbar shoes, etc. and much to the vet’s surprise, the lesions healed. Horse was still “off” at the trot but the vet felt that getting him at least walking under saddle and re-building muscle would help (summer '10).

We gradually added in trotting short distances of straight lines (late summer '10) and my horse neither declined anymore or got much better. This spring ('11) I got him checked out again by the vet who diagnosed him with the suspensory problems.

In the case of my horse, he said to keep building him up (since he was happy to be in work and the vet thought that more muscling would help) and to not worry about those occasional little slips. He also didn’t see it as being upward fixation of the patella. He said that he had this muscle builder (weekly IM injection) that he felt could really help my horse…and it has. We never found out what else was going on with my horse because knocking on wood the muscle builder has helped him immensely. He doesn’t really slip out anymore and he’s holding up to work at this point.

Sorry for any grammar mistakes–It’s late, I’m exhausted, but I saw your post and wanted to reply. Hope you find something helpful out of my jumbled mess of a post! :lol:

[wilsonaj21]

what muscle builder did you use??

[QUOTE=Dressage.For.Life.;5828562]
My horse (also a Thoroughbred) did exactly the same thing. He tended to “slip-out” more with just one hind leg, though, and then he also tracked “short” with both hind legs (again, more-so with the worse leg). Also, my horse only ever looked “off” at the trot; he was fine going both directions at the canter and his RH only ever “slipped-out” at the trot.

My horse has a very straight hind-end (hocks, primarily). What does your horse’s hind-end conformation look like?

And, that began his lameness ordeal (fall '09)…
(I have posted threads on his lameness saga).

My local lameness vet thought hocks, possibly a bad bone spavin. That particular vet thought he saw a severe bone spavin in the radiographs, so we injected his hocks. No change. We tried a few chiropractic appointments, etc. We also sent his radiographs to a vet at R&R and also Dr. Page at CEC (she did a lot of work w/ a certain procedure that made sense with my guy). They didn’t find much, either.

We gave him some time and then when we located a vet with more advanced imaging (digital x-ray, ultrasound, etc.) that wasn’t 4+ hours away, we had another work-up done. This vet, too, was stumped. We did, however, finally, find some severe suspensory lesions in both of his hind legs. Daily sweating of the leg for 1-2 months, additional stall rest, hand walking, supplements, eggbar shoes, etc. and much to the vet’s surprise, the lesions healed. Horse was still “off” at the trot but the vet felt that getting him at least walking under saddle and re-building muscle would help (summer '10).

We gradually added in trotting short distances of straight lines (late summer '10) and my horse neither declined anymore or got much better. This spring ('11) I got him checked out again by the vet who diagnosed him with the suspensory problems.

In the case of my horse, he said to keep building him up (since he was happy to be in work and the vet thought that more muscling would help) and to not worry about those occasional little slips. He also didn’t see it as being upward fixation of the patella. He said that he had this muscle builder (weekly IM injection) that he felt could really help my horse…and it has. We never found out what else was going on with my horse because knocking on wood the muscle builder has helped him immensely. He doesn’t really slip out anymore and he’s holding up to work at this point.

Sorry for any grammar mistakes–It’s late, I’m exhausted, but I saw your post and wanted to reply. Hope you find something helpful out of my jumbled mess of a post! :lol:[/QUOTE]

[Dressage.For.Life]

It was actually something that that particular vet and some people he knows in the industry produced, and they’ve had a lot of success with it. I can PM you my vet’s name and the clinic’s contact info, if you’re interested in the specifics (sorry, I just can’t remember all the details clearly). But, it was a series of I think 10 weekly IM injections, and the entire thing was just a tad over $300 (so, it’s much cheaper and comes w/out the risks involved with injecting stifles, and doesn’t help such a limited area like joint injections do).

I swear that trying it was probably one of the best things I ever did for my horse during his lameness ordeal–he has most muscle that I’ve ever seen him have (especially in his hindquarters; he’s built very lightly, and has never had a much muscle tone so to speak of, was always “sunken in” in his hindquarters, etc.). It’s what finally helped with his “slipping-out” at the trot–in fact, it’s almost completely eliminated it.