Hind Limbs Adducting in Trot

[SporthorseFun]

My eleven year old gelding has had a right hind suspensory, high, that has seen good results with shockwave, and more recently, a Renovo injection. However, while he was off over the summer in Florida, he developed the scratches infection from hell which got really bad on the left hind with the white sock. He has been treated for the last nine months with various antibiotics and creams under a vet’s care, but the healing may have been muted as he had also developed pyloric and hindgut ulcers. At one point starting about last November, we started having to drug him to get the hind shoes on. The nailing would cause him to pull his hoof from the farriers hand. Then he started doing this pulling my hoof away behavior on the right hind, which had the scratches, but not nearly so bad.

About three weeks ago, his old farrier tapped on his hinds with his hammer, and he seemed to be over the sensitivity. A few days earlier, the scope for the ulcers showed he had only a little ulceration on the margin at the glandular region with everything else looking good (hindgut ultrasound didn’t reveal any colon inflammation). However, when the horse was trotted for the vet, his hind legs looked like each leg adducts to centerline after the push-off phase. The flight path is not straight forward, but rather each leg travels to the centerline and then out to normal again. I don’t understand what is going on. He has a new interference injury, which is probably how the whole scratches thing got started last summer. His angles have gone npa, again, and there are no wedges at this point only a full pour-in pad with wide web shoes and a slight trailer, which is a recent shoeing set-up change due to being on the aqua tred six days a week in rehab and the need to remove the spider plates and egg bar shoes to avoid hoof thrush, etc.

To try to summarize:

1. Scratches causes hoof sensitivity nailing shoes (both hinds are pulled - surprise, reinjury to rt. hind suspensory,
   during which time horse is treated for ulcers with misoprostol and gastroguard. Simultaneously,
2. Angles go npa with long toes, but receives an injection of Renovo to aid healing for the reinjury of the rt. hind suspensory, and in the middle of all that this happens with stride:
3. Within two months of long toes while in treatment for ulcers and scratches, hind legs start adducting after push off during trot stride.

Why do horses do that? Adduct with the inside hinds during trot? He is really over-reaching too, forging. I talked with the new farrier at the rehab facility (very skilled; I’m very impressed) about the forging, but maybe this is a time thing when the hoof capsule takes a left turn and isn’t supportive. He said he hopes things will improve, and I agree, you can only do so much at each shoeing cycle. Thoughts? Suggestions? Hock injections? The vet who is overseeing his rehab wants to concentrate on getting him fit first and then seeing where we are, and I like that. It is just really bothering me that we have the drugging the horse to shoe issue and the adducting issue, which seems new.

[Xanthoria]

Can’t tell you why he’s adducting, can say I wish there was a huge, gently rolling grassy pasture you could throw him onto for 6 months, barefoot, and another horse for you to ride in the meantime. The feeling of playing a desperate game of whack-a-mole with revolving horse issues is painfully familiar to me

[SporthorseFun]

Thank you Xanthoria. It is painful, and I may do just as you suggested. Now I have that opportunity outside of Florida.

[No1]

It sounds like he needs his hocks done.

A lot of people seem to think that you should ‘wait and see’ or ‘get stronger’ with a horse in rehab. I think that’s mostly garbage. If the horse isn’t comfortable, it isn’t biomechanically correct which is potentially detrimental to any sort of recovery and certainly won’t help the horse use itself correctly while he gets strong again.

Your vet may be reluctant to do hocks with steroids, as steroids can have a detrimental effect on the healing of the high suspensory. This is a valid concern. However, there are many other things you could do with no harm/possible benefit to the soft tissue. IRAP, Prostride, or Alpha 2, for example.

[Clover5]

Swinging the hind legs inward at the trot sounds like a classic SI injury to me. From what I understand it’s because the horse wants to stabilize and support the joint as much as possible. He may have injured his SI compensating for the hind suspensory. Is it possible that the farrier issues arose from difficulty stabilizing his pelvis? i.e. the farrier holds the hoof out behind your gelding, away from his centre of support, and the nailing jostles him further, making it painful/difficult for him to behave?

[theresak]

@SporthorseFun

with the new farrier at the rehab facility (very skilled; I’m very impressed) about the forging, but maybe this is a time thing when the

The forging could be the front feet/front toes too long. I’d do shoeing radiographs all around if possible. If he was really sore behind (hocks do sound like a possible cause or result), his back, SI, etc. could all be sore and stiff as well.

[beowulf]

@SporthorseFun

Why do horses do that? Adduct with the inside hinds during trot? He is really over-reaching too, forging.

They do it when something up high hurts from compensating from something low, in my experience. It’s not totally uncommon to see abnormal abduction to the centerline when a horse has a suspensory injury. It’s also not totally uncommon to see this when the horse has stifle or hock soreness and they are trying to prevent total loading + flexion of those joints.

I would strongly consider some time with Doctor Green like Xanthoria suggested. It really does amazing things for horses, especially if they are past the rehab-phase of an injury and ready to be conditioned.

It sounds like you’ve been through the wringer, I really sympathize and so glad you’re on the right track with a new farrier. It’s amazing how many injuries, IMHO, are caused by farriers who do not know what they are doing – and we as owners trust them to do right by our horses when sometimes they do our horses no favors at all.

How is this horse holding his tail while he is moving? It may be you are dealing with some residual body soreness from compensating for the suspensory + NPA. My experiences with NPA is that it can really cause systemic body soreness in a horse until it is resolved, so it is not surprising to me at all that the horse is abducting abnormally since NPA typically causes strain to the structures in their limb as well as heel and sole soreness.

[Moneypitt]

Could it be hindgut trouble causing the farrier and movement changes?

Wondering.

[SporthorseFun]

Horses are so complicated sometimes. What you said about something high, soreness, even injury, causing something low, that is really true. You would think that in the wild, horses don’t have these problems, but that isn’t entirely true. An injury will cause the horse to compensate. I have to remember that my horse is not trying to cause me to go prematurely gray. Maybe we accelerate any asymmetry with our domestication, breeding, even if dedicated to improving the bloodline, and practices.

Anyway, every comment here has been so valuable. Every single one. I think to be positive, as opposed to totally discouraged, we will start at the bottom. The hoof angles need to improve and the break over must be accelerated to so the front hooves to leave the ground before the backs land. The forging is not good. Then we’ll see if the side-to- side interference from adducting gets better.

In working to honor the vet’s recommendation, I will give him two more weeks on the treadmill, and then I agree, the hocks hurt for whatever reason, and that is doing nothing for a good strong rehab going forward. The hingut comment is relevant too, as who doesn’t want to curl up and protect with the abs when in GI pain? The vet is watching and will be putting him in a surcingle for further work, and that will be telling. He is not girthy unless something is up and if you add in cow pie poos, he almost certainly will scope for ulcers. I have him on the Smartpak GI ultra as a protective measure in coming off of all the Gastrogard and Misoprostol, which he likes, and am hoping it will do the trick. He gets crazy hot on alfalfa, so that is out. He is on a low starch grain and actually will probably need something more with more work.

I will keep you guys posted. The fall-back is letting him go out to pasture, which agrees with him, although he gets a bit bored, and take a break.

[SporthorseFun]

This is a really good question. It seems he is more comfortable when the hoof, mostly the white sock scratches infected hoof, is held low. This would indicate more hock soreness than SI discomfort? We initially thought the problem was a deep scratches infection affecting the fetlock, and it was a mad scramble to get it treated and healing. That infection is almost gone now, but has been eight plus months. Luckily, we were able to get him into a dryer climate, and that may be helping too. Thoughts?

[SporthorseFun]

Interesting question about the tail. It is not high or swishing likes he’s irritated.

[SporthorseFun]

Yes! He does get SI sore with low hind hoof angles.

[SporthorseFun]

In thinking about this further, his hoof angles still looked really good when he started with the nailing sensitivity. I checked his back last week for soreness as much as I know how, and I got no reaction.

[SporthorseFun]

Yes. We were in exactly this place one year ago when the suspensory was being treated for the first time with shockwave. The shockwave was a huge success but the angles fell apart completely in the asymmetric suspensory shoes. We could not continue asking the horse to work properly with the SI, stifles, hocks, and now swollen fetlocks now jamming up. He popped a splint on the front, so who knows how he was trying to go. Really tough for the horse who still kept trying. Made big changes. To lose the angles again is so discouraging. SE Florida and my horse - it is just so hard on his hooves. We built a farm for him pretty much to manage turnout to try to keep them dry.

[BoyleHeightsKid]

I’m with @beowulf and @Clover5 this sounds like something up high… poor hind hoof balance can be the blame for this… it can cause all kinds of soreness up high, sore tight hamstrings etc.

[ndirish07]

Last January my horse had a high hind suspensory injury that was treated with surgery, PRP, shockwave and a Class IV laser. He’s successfully competing at First level dressage, schooling second and he’s just started back with some baby jumps. I will say the rehab was so hard on his body. He got really bad thrush in two feet that caused lameness (I was paying someone to clean his stall extra, but that wasn’t happening). Then his stifles started catching and that also caused lameness. Injected those, ended up blistering them, and injected his hocks for good measure. He was also forging a lot when he was first started back. The surgeon at Hagyard and my sport horse vet watched him go and said to keep going. You may have more feet issues at play, but I swore my horse still felt broken until he got some muscle back. Now all that’s gone and he’s amazingly sound given the state of his first u/s and he feels better than what I remember pre-injury.

I’ve been diligent about keeping up with the body work and chiropractor just to make sure everything is moving how it should. I would suggest a vet chiro to see if there’s anything out— my horse the first few times he was adjusted his pelvis was tilted from compensation.

[SporthorseFun]

The hamstrings were very tight, but they seem to be doing better. His balance is still off, and you’re right, the hamstrings get very tight the lower the angles on the hind hooves go.

[SporthorseFun]

That is really encouraging. I am so glad he is sound and in regular work. Thank you for sharing his challenges and treatments. the Class IV laser is something I have been thinking about.

[IPEsq]

Adducting, shoeing issues, and the hind foot distortion issues, hamstring tightness, all sound like SI problems. However, suspensory can act like that too, so it would be good to make sure that you have that part under control.

And, SI pain and gut pain / pooping issues seem to come together a lot of the time in my experience. And I think it’s also true for people too. I have chronic SI issues and I also have some chronic digestive issues. But I started to make somewhat of a link (after getting the stress triggers and diet more under control), and so sometimes if my digestion is weird, my first thought is now, I guess I ought to go to the chriopractor. Something about the nerves I guess? But with horses, since they can get the nervous poops, including because they are nervous about pooping, that can create a loop with a horse with SI pain. I have some threads about my last horse and his weird gut stuff. When current horse started to get weird about pooping under saddle, at first I thought, oh great, what am I doing to these horses? And then based on other symptoms and a couple of acute events, it started to add up that this horse had hurt his SI too (previous horse has chronic SI instability of the joint itself).

Anyway, in the meantime, I would keep up the treadmill and bodywork and addressing all of the feet.

[BoyleHeightsKid]

@SporthorseFun

The hamstrings were very tight, but they seem to be doing better. His balance is still off, and you’re right, the hamstrings get very tight the lower the angles on the hind hooves go.

It’s tough correcting this when the horse is not in work… Correct work and boots with pads behind is crucial to getting them to build heel behind. Hills and pole work get them to lift the feet higher and put them down instead of sort of sliding the foot before putting the foot down. Bell boots on the hind feet can also get them to do that as well. I have one that this helps him a lot as well as making sure the trim is absolutely correct, medial/lateral balance, maximizing breakover, bringing the heels back and floating the quarters. I also do a lot of hind leg stretches with him.