Old horse repeatedly snatches left hind leg off the ground at rest

[StevieD]

My 27 y/o gelding is continuously ‘snatching’ his hind leg up from the ground and holding it up the mid air for a second to a few, after which he slowly let’s it back down to rest gently on the ground… there is no obvious swelling, or heat. He does have a shorter stride on that side during movement and we have diagnosed his left stifle with arthritis which was injected a few months ago and helped. Just the other week we injected his si as well due to stiffness and pain in his hind end movement at a walk and that helped his suppleness tremendously.

At this point, what else could it be? I really hoped his si injection could have helped. It didn’t solve this jerking of the hid leg up and holding it business. He doesnt do it while in motion, only when standing at rest.

Any ideas?? Also, recently he was on previcox daily for a bit over a week after his si injection and he still lifted his leg in this manner. It didn’t stop it at any time during… although he was in very good spirits that week. Poor old guy!!

[Scribbler]

What does your vet say?

Shivers or stringhalt?

[Moon_River]

When my horse did that he’d got annular ligament problems

[Photolady]

Hello,
Since it happened overnight it could be an injury but, since he is 27 it could be the worsening of an old injury that has finally reached it maximum pain tolerance point for. Sounds like you’d need to vet to offer a diagnosis at that stage and age in order to best help your horse and not waste his time, or worsen things.
Jen
p.s. not necessarily advice from a horse person, just advice for an older animal.

[tipzythegreat]

I immediately thought stifles, and I see you did injections for him. We have an old gelding at my barn with bad stifles that used to do the same exact thing. 5 years later, he won’t even pick up his back legs. He has remained in hard work and continues to worsen IMO.

That stifle and surrounding/supporting areas are probably in bad shape at this point in his life. He’s an older guy and he may have already burned through the stifle injection. It makes me think about my grandma and the injections they give her for her old, torn, and receded rotator cuff. They help… but not for very long. The damage is just done and she’s too old to heal.

Maybe it’s time to step him down to lighter work. It’s going to be very expensive to try and figure out the problem. And there’s probably many things going on at this point. Already to pay for multiple injections has been a large financial commitment! It’s very good of you to invest all this time and money into your old chap :love-struck:, but I just don’t know that you can do a lot to make him very comfortable at this point. Unfortunately.

I’m not sure what kind of program he’s in at this point and has been, but 27 years as a riding horse and just needing injections at that age is pretty damn good!

[findeight]

Ask your vet but with my senior, progression of arthritis started pinching an SI nerve, we think, anyway, retired horse, no need to spend to poke and prod. Did as you describe pluswas getting unsteady the first few steps on that leg… Was 29, already retired after long career. Had stopped lying down to roll or sleep, getting too difficult to get up.

Might try try some painkillers, see if that helps. They are often suffering more pain then they show us.

[StevieD]

Thank you all for those replies. I really appreciate them!

For the past 2 years he is fully retired from riding. He spends his days meandering his pastures and taking naps. I bring him out for a hand walk wherever he chooses to go and we turn around when he let’s me know. Prior to his retirement during my ownership of him we used to trail ride just us a couple times a week.

He is an ex racehorse - a standardbred. After retiring his career at 11, he was a recreational trail riding horse for a couple of years with a family(mine), and sold again to become a beginner english riding lesson horse in an arena and then they had lent him to a trail riding company for 2 summers after the then owners had no longer operated their riding lesson business. I bought him back when I was an 21 year old adult. after those past years of other ownership I had noticed since getting him back he has always seemed to rest that leg no matter what but it wasnt much of a hitch in his gait.

Fast forward to now (8 years later) the vet has done xrays since and we know of his arthritis in the stifle and probably si/pelvic area from his racing career alone… unfortunately he gets ulcers very easily with previcox and bute so we dont give him them unless it’s only for a week or so to protect his stomach. However, the leg lifting didnt go away last time he was on previcox as I mentioned so I cant tell if it is an pain response to lift or what else it could be. And why is he only lifting while standing still? He has a good appetite and seems fairly happy but as you say horses hide their pain well I guess, and its possible maybe an injury had progressed to its maximum point and simple pain meds maybe dont work now. Or maybe it’s something fixable/manageable. There is a vet coming out next Wednesday to try acupuncture…

my vet hasnt said anything about what it could be. For now, it remains a mystery. I wondering if anybody else has had a horse that’s done this. I’ve never seen it before myself. Cant find anything online.

[StevieD]

I have an update :

Tonight his stifle is now hot. But we just injected it 2 months ago! Its never failed that fast before… is that normal ?

[tipzythegreat]

Hey @Stevie D I am glad to hear he’s living a very comfortable life of retirement! I wouldn’t say the heat is normal, but I am not sure the two are related (2 month old injection & heat). He probably has aggravated one of the muscles/ligaments/tendons that support the stifle. I would just do cold therapy to try and make him more comfortable for now. He may have tweaked something.

As far as only lifting the leg while standing, it’s the same with the horse at my barn. I don’t know what it means or why it is done, but it’s always only while standing to be groomed. Maybe it’s stretching something or popping something… it must bring SOME relief to them.

I would say as long as he is eating well and acting normal, I wouldn’t worry too much. He’s retired and well-loved, and you’ve really gone above and beyond what most people would do for a pasture puff. I think he’s very lucky to have you.

I’m sure a massage/chiro/acupuncture won’t hurt him any… but I don’t know that you can really do a whole lot for him at this point. Multiple injections for a retired horse that is still sore… well, you must really love him. As long as he isn’t gimping around and clearly in pain, I’d just let him enjoy retirement.

[StevieD]

Hello!

So I have an update on my horse.

After his SI injection and his previous stifle injection, he did get previcox for 5 days when his leg was snatching up since there was inflammation present. That has now gone away and there is no leg snatching after that and the following procedures… I agree that he probably tweaked it getting up or doing something else.

A vet came by and did acupuncture on a few spots and also attached a micro current to a couple of the acupuncture needles to stimulate the muscle that is responsible for lifting that hind leg due to muscle atrophy there. The vet noted my horse’s patella continuously gets stuck, and also at the same time on the other end has trouble locking if he were to put weight on that side to relax on and that is why when he is to have his feet picked up he has to be stepped backwards to unlock it before he can actually bend it up for you. I always thought that he was doing that from trying to protect it from pain only!

So, it was an informative appointment and believe it or not, my horse has been in great spirits since that appointment 2 weeks ago. the electrical stimulation of the muscle was to ‘wake up’ the fibres again and get them used to contracting when used. The vet recommended, even though the horse has osteoarthritis in that stifle on the same side, that some straight up hill walking on a gentle slope 20 minutes daily would greatly benefit his secondary pains due to the improper stance of not resting on that leg and using his patella. Hopefully, this walking will strengthen the muscles responsible for locking and unlocking the patella and he may get some back pain relief from a better stance. He said if in the end that does work, sometimes the ligaments are too stretched and the only solution would be to inject iodine into that ligament to shrink it and it should lock and unlock again better… we will see if i even want to bother with that one… information none the less though right.

With having had a great response to the vets acupuncture treatment in just his mood alone, in addition to his leg not lifting anymore (strangely because he has been doing it for about 2 years now) i feel that it is a worth while treatment for future use… i have had a masseuse up a couple times in the past and he actually never likes it when they do body work and he doesnt really get any beneficial effect from it that I can see.

Money well spent i say!

For now, I am working on deciding weather or not I am going to introduce my horse to the hill walking at this stage. i may… its not much work 20 minutes daily… and i could put him on a minimal dose of previcox while we lightly work to mitigate any issues… Essentially, the vet supposed if it were something that I were to go forward with doing, he would recommend then to give him previcox daily for 30 days while doing the hills 30 days daily as well. After which time he would come back out and give another treatment and be able to assess wether any benefits have been made and wether future work is necessary not.

I just feel relieved in knowing more information about his case. Did your horse have any patella issues
@tipzythegreat ?

[Foxtrot_s]

Glad to hear - but want to tell you that you are a very good horse owner to be that kind to an older horse - wish all horses had that much care as they aged.

[StevieD]

@Foxtrot’s Thank you. I couldn’t imagine not giving the efforts back to him, as he has given me all of his efforts throughout his life. A few people through time have said the same thing to me that they hope even they get cared for the same when they are old - I had no idea that I was actually going above and beyond what most are willing to do for their horses! Interesting to me. However, we all do what we can to the best of our abilities and every situation is so different… I hope that all senior horses someday can get a higher level of care as they age if possible too. I appreciate you all saying such nice things to me in this thread

[tipzythegreat]

That is good news, @StevieD ! I am glad to hear you have some hope for your buddy!

Unfortunately the horse I mentioned is not mine, but used in a lesson program at my barn. I am certain he has patella issues, but unlike you the owner isn’t willing to really dig into the issues of the horse. Your boy is truly lucky

I have heard of patella issues a lot, though! They can blister the area or I’ve heard success with injecting estrone. I don’t think either is very expensive! Woohoo!

[Marla_100]

Great Update! Just wanted to mention- agreeing with Findeight- that my guess would be the leg lifting is an involuntary

reflex from a pinched nerve or a nerve not working properly, maybe misfiring when stimulated.

I have a younger horse that has done something similar for several years. When I lift her front leg to clean or do hoof work

she has an involuntary “jerk” that happens in her shoulder area. She doesn’t even acknowledge it’s happening.

But it happens over and over with just that leg. I think sometimes old injuries or stresses to the area can cause this.

BTW, you might want to look into ‘Buteless’ or plain Yucca for pain relief without stomach upset. Often there are effective

herbal pain medications that work with stomach problems.

I commend you on your dedication to helping your old horse. Good Luck.