Man, she just looks SO different to me to the left than to the right. Some of it is definitely how low she gets going to the right, but she just seems more engaged going to the left. Even in these older videos. I’m well out of practice and my eye just isn’t there like it used to be, but it’s just a whole different outline and energy.
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I’ve been chasing this demon for awhile. It hasn’t been front and center because she’d go around ok, but I’ve seen it basically right from the start.
Now the freakout is liable to happen either direction. I don’t know if it’s me anticipating it, or if it’s gotten bad enough that she can feel it both ways. I don’t know.
Wouldn’t it be great if she could talk for a few minutes?
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Be careful what you wish for! 
Seriously, though, I have my own lameness issues, and it’s always shocking to me how long it can take to figure out stuff, even with the ability to communicate, very specialized physicians, and far more in depth imaging than we have available in equines.
That we figure out anything at all in horses is really pretty amazing 
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What’s annoying to me? One of the reasons I didn’t tackle the lameness right away is that I’ve wasted tens of thousands of dollars on past horses, chasing mild lameness, never to find it. This time, I said, I would wait for the lameness to get worse, so it’s easier to find.
Now, the lameness hasn’t gotten markedly worse but I’m still being forced to chase it down because of behavior.
Effing horses.
If all she needed at the end of this was a can of whoopass and a week of bootcamp, I’m not going to be a happy camper. 
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Jeez, you have been describing one of my mares EXACTLY this whole thread. She is perpetually a little short in the left hind and can get leapy and light on her front end in the canter. The ‘lameness’, if you can even call it that, has never gotten worse and the behavior has slowly improved as her training has progressed, so I’ve never chased it. Playing with bits and going bitless, for the most part, helped the behavior a lot. She’s only been truly ‘lame’ (aside from an abscess or two) once; she came back sore after a show last spring, so we injected stifles and her right front ankle where we discovered an old chip. She very quickly went back to her baseline after that maintenance and we kept on. She tweaked something in her RIGHT hind at the very end of last season, so she’s been out of work since 10/1 and I am just now bringing her back. I have not cantered her yet and won’t for a couple more weeks, but I am dying to know if the leap-y nonsense is still going to be there. I’m going to give her a couple of months and see what I have, and then likely proceed to a full lameness eval if she’s still NQR.
She’s a very tricky mare. Crazy sensitive and spicy, but also tough as nails. I have struggled to put a topline on her - her back and hind end are very well muscled and beefy, but her neck is scrawny and slightly ewe-necked. But I am also not a taskmaster - even in ‘full’ work, my horses don’t actually work all that hard, so I figured time is my friend.
Anyway, I commiserate and am following this thread with interest. It has given me some things to think about for my girl. If I hit on anything or have any light bulb moments, I will be sure to share.
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Same! My guy had shoes put back on yesterday. It’s like a roller coaster every time you lunge or get on seeing if the behavior or lameness is still there. My biggest struggle has been to not let it impact other parts of my life as my steady eddy is now gone, one is retired and one I sold. It feels so defeating at times. I thought this was supposed to a fun relaxing hobby?? 
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This is my struggle too. The Old Man can still be ridden, but he clearly does not enjoy it anymore. He doesn’t misbehave, but his face is just straight disdain when you’re tacking him up. FWIW he makes that face for his 10 minutes of trot, too… but he’s fat and a little bit of movement is good for him.
But he is so bombproof and so fun. I’ve had him since he was 3 and he is just… my guy. <3
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I’ve decided that I will never ever get a young horse again at this point. My horse x-rayed 100% clean at the PPE but it’s still been a rollercoaster since lol. And part of it’s because it’s hard to distinguish what’s young horse behavior/weakness sometimes vs pain. Or if I’m sure that it is pain nobody will listen to me because it’s young horse.
I know that an older horse might not necessarily have less soundness issues but at least you kind of know right away that that’s probably what it is if there’s a behavior!! I’m just exhausted.
I love my guy though. I do. But he will be my last young horse I think. And I do hope I have him into his twenties even if it’s hanging out in a field (hopefully not for his whole life.)
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Has she had any vascular or lymphatic weirdness in the hind end since issues with hock cellulitis? Odd filling or not filling when you expect?
I ask because I have weirdness like that in my young horse. She recently popped with a really fat jiggly hock, which made me think of your old threads about the hock cellulitis. She has some other weird filling things, too. So it’s a bit top of mind.
There are several vascular/lymphatic weirdness things in humans that can cause pain. They probably occur, to some extent, in horses. We don’t have the tools to diagnose in horses AFAIK.
Unfortunately, just because we don’t find what’s wrong doesn’t mean there isn’t anything. Yeah, someone could probably insist she not express the behavior you’re seeing in the canter. But shutting down communication doesn’t mean the problem is solved.
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She has some mild filling around the fetlocks that resolves during the ride. I’m hoping living out 24/7 when I’m able to move her home will fix it entirely.
While I know it won’t fix the “problem”, I do expect my horses to tolerate some amount of discomfort without being stink heads. I apologize to them that they’re owned by an amateur, but that it is what it is. 
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Right?! I have notoriously reexamined the past few months trying to figure out what the heck changes other than the shoes. I’m going to FL next week and fear I’m going to sit on the beach, fry and worry. Perhaps I will become so deliriously sunburned that I won’t care for a few days 
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And tonight she was perfect, with a small jump and trot poles. Gahhhh.
Shoes tomorrow.
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Maybe the chiropractor helped even though no big issues were apparent?! Or she is trying to make you feel crazy ?? (Just kidding of course.)
Fingers crossed that the shoes really help though.
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I’ve been trying to remember where I read about low head carriage as a symptom of a neuro neck issue.
It was here:
Canter issues were also present.
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It’s definitely within the realm of possibility. Should we end up at Purdue, it will be a focus.
That said, she’s done that exact thing since she was 3. It’s nothing new. Doesn’t mean it’s not significant, but it is not a change.
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I hope it’s not that. That OP and one other who had that surgery said the cost was $20k or so and a lot of rehab. Yikes.
I’m hoping for shoes to help!
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I wouldn’t even consider it. I’d retire her for a year or two and then likely euthanize. That amount of money is not, and will never be, in the cards for a horse.
That’s just me though.
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As I’ve said before. I’ve seen this issue left hind for a long time. If you look back at the Hanoverian inspection prep thread, watch her free jump videos. She kicks out that left hind about 50% of the time over the final fence.
That did not go unnoticed by me. I just don’t want to spend a gazillion dollars chasing ghosts. Been there, got the t shirt. Yet… here we are.
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I don’t want to derail OP’s thread, but how to distinguish between low head carriage on calm, relaxed horse free-stretching vs neck issues?
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I didn’t read the whole thread, but that LH definitely does not look right in the longing videos. It doesn’t track up but she also lands interestingly on that foot. Did you do fetlock or hoof rads on it? Of course now I have to go back and read the thread…mea culpa if you already did.
Truly sorry I have nothing more useful - but I can imagine that could cause all kinds of discomfort with the whole hindquarter if she is moving that unevenly.
Ok, correction now that I’ve read the whole thread and watched ALL the videos. The left hind is getting progressively worse. On the free longed video it appears to be stifle but on the saddled video it’s a bit less clear where it is at but she is moving worse. In the original, older videos it is definitely not as bad. I’d be checking out that LH pretty thoroughly Purdue is worth a trip.
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