Lameness Stumping Everyone… 🤔

[pryme_thyme]

Curious what next route people have taken when dealing with seriously mysterious recurrent lameness.

Background; 9y/o 17h thick BWB gelding, did the young horse development series and trained upto 1.45m by GP rider. Just before Covid horse and rider had a not that crazy fall on course. Horse caught a leg in a pole, stumbled and fell but not a hard fall.

Horse returned to work after a recovery period and bodywork.

Here I come along, I purchased horse, had rads etc, some arthritic changes in the hocks and knees but nothing unmanageable with supplements and injections.

He came home in March and started within 30 days to present a slight head bob from the right front shoulder.

Vet came, did some blocking, thought it might be feet, did more rads and farrier some fancy shoes to correct a slight angle issue, gave hock injections, recommended body work and said away you go he’ll be fine.

Horse got Bowen bodywork, chiro, red light etc.
Custom saddle…

Nearly three months in it might be a BIT better, maybe, he at least begins sound w/t, he wants to canter but when he does he’ll go slight head bobbing lane again.

Only thing body worker notices his right shoulder flattens out rather than a nice bulge shape between 4 week sessions and returns to ‘normal’ after a session.

I have suggested X-ray of the shoulder or injections for the shoulder though vet sees no reason to do so.

He’s now in very light work, w/t/c for 15mins a couple days a week at the collective suggestion.

I have spoken to previous owner and rider who trains at top level and they tell me to work through it, likely just stiffness because he had a real job before he came to me and granted I don’t ride hard like some. Or they also suggest to bute and go ‘there is nothing wrong with the horse’….

Yet I can’t help but to baulk at the ‘bute and go and work through it’… something has to be up.

Gelding is never angry or tail swishy, he wants to go go go yet how can I with the head bob.

I would love any suggestions.

Note: he is currently on 1/4 pill previcox at suggestion of the vet, it isn’t helping.

Ugh

[beowulf]

Oh no, I am sorry to read your new guy is having some intermittent issues.

When your vet blocked, where did your guy block to?

It’s not uncommon for some coffin bone funkiness in the WBs as they get older, what did your vet think of the x-rays of the feet?

The shoulder could be a culprit and I am a big fan of occam’s razor, but what does “Flatten out” mean from your body worker? Have you taken photos of your boy from both sides at equidistant spots, to compare right and left side of the body? Front to back too? Our eyes can sometimes miss what’s right in front of us in the living, but in photos can be very obvious.

Do you notice a pattern on when the head bobbing is happening on your rides? IE, can you try to ride him after he’s been out all day and see if that makes a difference, then ride him first thing in the morning before he goes outside, is it worse?

Do you have a video?

Edit: Do you have lyme in your area? I came back to this after I posted because I started thinking about intermittent lameness I’ve seen in my own horses, and one of the times my guy had a funky traveling lameness was when he had Lyme. His other symptoms were he was sharp (unusual for him) and he lost a bunch of his thick forelock and tail.

[Eclectic_Horseman]

Sometimes things like this can be pinched nerves in the spine. Certain muscles can get weak when the nerves that control them are damaged. That’s where I would look next, possibly the neck vertebra.

[pryme_thyme]

Thank you, I truly appreciate any suggestions here. This has been heartbreaking.

I will request the vet report for the blocking and share here, I don’t completely understand it to be honest.

X-rays of the feet (now done twice), did not show anything ‘noteable’, slight angle issue and vet worked with the farrier to correct. He now has epoxy type shoes. All rads showed some usual wear and tear. Initial vet suggested he should probably slow down in major jumping, so under 1.20 due to some fusion in left hock.

We do have Lyme actually, quite heavily and this isn’t something vet had suggested to test for actually, very good point!

Here are some clips from yesterday. Chiro has suggested trying to keep him stretching down, long and low. She thought it could be a nerve. (She comes Saturday again).

The shoulder is quite noticeably flat almost concave on the left (side he fell), and a nice shape to the right. He also always wants to bend right and lameness tends to present first when travelling to the right with his left shoulder to the inside. Strangely he always wants to canter when tracking right as well rather than trot.

Long rein trot

Conrad 05/24/23

Long rein canter

Conrad canter 05/24/23

Absolutely, some difference in the morning versus partway through the day. However I’m not sure if that is attributed to the same time he began Dorning therapy.

[beowulf]

Do you have a video of him going to the left too?

The first thing I saw before the LF, which is definitely there, is RH too. Wonder if he is compensating or something else.

In the video, he was offering the canter himself right? Does he do all of this on the lunge?

[pryme_thyme]

Left trot - this is the very beginning of the ride. First trot.

Conrad left 05/24/23

Unfortunately, I didn’t grab canter left after he showed up head bobbing again.

Exactly definitely compensation for sure. I called the vet again yesterday, pretty sure he thinks I’m bananas.
Right hind is the worst hock, vet had a tough time with that injection, finding an opening and joint fluid was quite yellow. Apparently that’s not the greatest…

[sascha]

Can you get another opinion from another vet? Your horse is lame. and it seems like your current vet/practice is not willing to delve further to figure it out. Agree with the poster above who says there is more than the LF going on. But, LF (with its diminished muscle mass) would be my priority and right after that RH. The RH may be connected to the LF depending on what comes up on further investigation (neck/nerve) or may be something different altogether.

Good luck. He seems like a lovely creature who I bet will be absolutely fabulous if you can get the discomfort sorted out.

[pryme_thyme]

Ugh right I know! I was debating the same… we’re a bit limited for vets but I’m determined to fix this dude. He’s got the BEST brain.

[greywithchrome]

He is darn cute and looks like he’d be a ton of fun if he was feeling good. I’d be motivated to figure it out too!

I totally see what the other commenter is seeing in the right hind. As an anecdote, my mare is always slightly off on the left front/shoulder but hers is almost definitely a compensatory pattern related to a lameness/old injury in the right hind (hers is hip/pelvis area). Could definitely be something to consider especially with what you’ve mentioned about the right hock joint.

[beowulf]

I agree it may be time to push for a different vet. Your current vet may be operating under ‘servicably sound’ and/or being budget conscious of their clients, which is not a bad thing, but if you are different than their traditional clientele in what diagnostics you want to pursue, you may be out of their wheelhouse.

Knowing what blocked where, and what the rads were, would be a good jumping point for the COTH collective.

What a nice boy you have. I hope you get some easy, fixable answer.

[luvmyhackney]

Send him to a good vet school and get a good work up. Looks like left hind and right hind both hurt.

He canters cause it doesn’t hurt as much, not cause he’s wanting to be forward and moving correctly.

[fivestrideline]

Is there a vet school or “big” practice you could haul to? I’d do that, and skip trying any other local vets. It’ll save you time, energy, and ultimately money. He’s definitely lame, and it might take some digging (whether it’s caused by that fall or caused the fall itself).

[pryme_thyme]

Super encouraging posts, thank you! I think this is the kick I needed to feel like I’m not totally insane that it’s something more.

A friend did recommend a clinic in Quebec, about a six hour drive that can do a full body image. Expensive but he is worth it if it can be corrected.

I’ll keep the updates as I get them. I always find that extremely helpful when reading others.

[Live_Wire]

What’s he look like on the lunge? Any difference?

Is he shod behind?

[Paint_Party]

@beowulf

The first thing I saw before the LF, which is definitely there, is RH too.

While watching the video I had the same thought: What’s going on in the RH?

And as others have now said, often the reason a sore horse wants to hop into the canter is because it’s a more comfortable gait for them.

He is such a cute horse, and seems like an honest, sweet boy. I’d look into that hock and consider what part it’s playing in all this.

[IPEsq]

Would be interesting to see the vet report. And perhaps block both of those hocks and see if there is anything that looks like it’s in the front end after that is done. Agree that he’d rather canter right because something is uncomfortable in the trot, not that he’s particularly forward to the right.

[pryme_thyme]

Same on the lunge, if not worse on a smaller circle.

Barefoot behind now, was shod behind for the first few weeks however, he’s now in a group and hinds are not permitted. No changes noticed after those shoes taken off.

[pryme_thyme]

That is actually an interesting thought… I never quite thought it could have been the cause

[Bluey]

@pryme_thyme

Ugh right I know! I was debating the same… we’re a bit limited for vets but I’m determined to fix this dude. He’s got the BEST brain.

That is a lovely horse!
I see why you want to sort him out, if it takes a bunch of second opinions.
Your vets should be happy with an owner so interested on going where you need to go with this, not messing around and get on the ball on this.
I would convince vet to get others involved, can’t pick enough brains when a horse is not a clear, this is wrong, but a mystery to solve.

Decades ago we had a big gelding that was olympic potential horse, with similar conformation and stellar disposition, that also presented with mystery off gaits.
It ended being his SI joint, something that long ago was not well understood and it was showing as strange here and there slight lameness vets could not quite pinpoint.
I left while he was still in rehab, but it seemed that he was going to be ok after all.
Hope they find what is going on with your horse.

[pryme_thyme]

Oh my this makes my heart happy, so wonderful to hear that someone worked through something similar! I’ve just made a call to my vet asking for more help or a referral to a specialist.

This guy was meant to do big things but no way I could have afforded him then.

Im happy to do what I can, (within some financial limits), to make him comfortable for dressage of hunter hacks.

He is getting some sort of blanket therapy this week as well. Supposed to help heal deeper tissues.

I should note that Suzanne at EquiCare has absolutely helped him, taking from a ‘can’t walk’ to decently functioning albeit for short doses.

I refuse to admit he’s a fancy trail horse for life but I won’t push him beyond comfort.