My horse is walking like a crab!

[Martina]

My young horse has been on a modified stall rest for about 10 weeks now. I have been walking him u/s everyday, and some trot. His injury is soft tissue in the LF.

Because he is not being turned out he is a little nuts (to say the least). The other night he had a galloping/ bucking episode. The next day he was very sluggish and when I asked for the trot he fell in, kicked out and was very lame. I believe this is in his hind somewhere, or back. I called our vet and they think he may have tweaked something during his episode and to just walk him u/s for a couple days.

So tonight I get on him and within 10 minutes he is walking completely sideways like a crab. I was getting very scared of EPM or Wobblers. That is until I got off and hand-walked him and he was fine. Further, when I untacked him and walked him with the halter, he was very playful and forward (to the point I needed to bring him in before he had another episode.

Has anyone heard anything like this at all? I am really hoping it is a saddle thing. My saddle is too narrow for him, I know, but the chiro a couple months ago said his back wasn’t sore and that it wasn’t causing the lameness, which at that time, we didn’t know what it was (the LF).

ANYWAY, any thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

[BornToRide]

Odd - were you hanging on him like a crab??:winkgrin: Try again and see what you get and make sure you are sitting evenly

What do you mean by he fell in? He fell down?

[nicbarker]

I would get your vet back out to look at him ASAP. If by “walking like a crab” you mean on four tracks, twisted, I once had a horse which came in one day like this. We never found out how she did it but it was a fairly catastrophic pelvic injury Obviously, with luck your horse has done nothing of the kind, but I certainly wouldn’t exercise the horse at all until the vet has seen it.

Nic

[Fantastic]

Walking like a crab without a rider might indicate lumbar spine has a problem. Walking like a crab with a rider on board, but normal walking without the rider might indicate the rider was sitting crooked or applied some combination of aids to signal The Crab Walk.

[Martina]

Thank you for the feedback. I am sitting fine on the horse, that’s not the issue. Its either a saddle problem, an attidude problem, or something worse (EPM comes to mind). I just hung up with my vet, and they are thinking the former two options and not the latter, thank goodness.

A minor injury is possible, but not a catastrophic pelvis injury because he is not turned out, has no marks, is very happy, etc.

I am going to ride him bareback (say a prayer) and see if he does it again. If so, they said he is probably messing with me. Are horses allowed to be that smart???

Thanks again.

[Janet]

Spy has arthritis in his hip. When it is bothering him he walks crooked/crabwise. So I would suspect something in the hip area.

[MassageLady]

The next day he was very sluggish and when I asked for the trot he fell in, kicked out and was very lame. I believe this is in his hind somewhere, or back. I called our vet and they think he may have tweaked something during his episode and to just walk him u/s for a couple days.

Why would you ride an injured horse, that you don’t know what is wrong with him? My guess is that he’s not fully recovered from this incident-get a chiro out that can help.

[Martina]

I’m riding my horse under the advisement of my vets. Believe me, my post could have been much longer, but I avoided the details to keep it short.

I have 3 of the best vets in the area looking at him and have been in close contact with all of them, including since this recent incident occurred.

Janet - thanks for sharing your experience of Spy’s hip. I will keep an eye on that.

Thank you all again.

[ImJumpin]

If he has been on stall rest long enough, his muscling is gone. He might be a bit back sore with the saddle, or sore in the hind just from lack of muscles. I’d get it checked out to be sure, but expect to see a horse returning to work after a long period off to experience some minor discomfort at first. Minor is the ley word here though.

[Percheron_X]

Sounds like he just may be very excited to be out and about.

[Vanessa]

Hi Martina, I now it was many years ago you posted about your crabbing horse. I just wondered if it was ever resolved. My mare back in July was crabbing in walk and trot. She was diagnosed with thickened annular ligaments, was operated on and is now in rehab. But last week has started crabbing again. Vet says she is not lame, so could be hormones, or back. Would be interested to hear from you. Many thanks

[Martina]

Vanessa this is an oldie! Well it did resolve. I called my vet and explained. She said did you try kicking him on? Sounds like he is evading. So that night I tried again. He started the sideways walk so I bumped him with my leg and guess what. He moved forward.

I hope your situation turns out to be as easy this was. Good luck!