Work him Monday and Tuesday. Since this has been going on for a while, you want to make sure he’s showing the lameness for the vet. If it’s too faint, the vet might want to wait to do any in-depth diagnostics or it might be hard to pinpoint the issue.
But see if you can make some notes or track the issue back to determine the conditions under work that make him unsound - is it 2 days of work with circles and hard ground, just 2 days of easy work in good footing, 2 days of lots of cantering…? That might help the vet determine the severity of the issue - maybe it’s something minor that just hasn’t had enough time to heal.
I think a proper lameness vet will be able to see if he flexes off I would think. I wouldn’t necessarily try to work him the day before to make him off
Super helpful… I would stray from this regarding flexions being done mounted. In 1 million years you couldn’t pay me enough to be on a horse who was having flexions done. I also would not get on a horse who I was having evaluated for lameness until the vet had fully assessed.
That should be done by an experienced vet tech or owner or handler. Not mounted.Flexions can be dangerous.
My vet tends to do either or. Sometimes it’s in hand, sometimes it’s under saddle. It really depends on the reason for the vet visit. Sometimes the more subtle lamenesses are much more obvious under-saddle - added bonus being that the handler/jogger is not in the way/obscuring the limbs. All of my flexions for my horses have been done by a vet. I’d never do them myself. If that was interpreted from my post it was not intended.
Curious why you would never do flexions mounted? It’s the norm in many sport-horse barns.
I have never seen flexions done mounted, and I am in a very performance horse culture with very experienced lameness veterinarians.
I have a horse who should have “Saint” before his name. He’s older, but even when he was not older, if he had any positive flexion, he was quite unhappy about it. There was a little misbehavior, and I cannot fault him for that because it was painful. I would not want to be mounted for that, nor would I want him to fake it, for lack of better words, and not show his displeasure/discomfort Because I was on his back.
i meant that an experienced handler or experience equine vet tech should be the one doing the jogging :-).
Certainly, if the lameness cannot be detected and flexions don’t lead to an answer, riding might give more clues. But under initial exam, I would not do that.
I’ve had my vet come to do a lameness exam and have to schedule another appointment because it was too faint to diagnose after minimal response to flexions and blocking in-hand and under saddle. I think it’s better to make the horse sore for a day than to continue to cycle of pretty sound, sore, lame, time off, back to sound, etc. and adding the damage already present or creating compensation injuries.
You can always call the vet before the appointment and ask if they would like the horse worked (and by that I mean lightly to the point you can see the lameness) the day before the appointment.
Sometimes it takes working them a little bit as well as seeing the horse go with weight on its back to get a diagnosis. It really depends on the individual case.
Going to throw this out there, with the caveat that I am a veterinary student for another 2 months… Lots of people send us videos and it’s such a great tool for us to be able to help with preliminary ideas and treatments until we can assess further. The best way for me personally to assess videos for lameness is to get one with the horse jogging in hand away and one toward the camera in a straight line with a loose lead (to allow head motion as normal). Circling videos are definitely helpful as well, as well as including different footing if that changes it (some are only apparent on hard ground, etc.). If the lameness is different when ridden than when on the ground, including mounted videos are very helpful. Hope this helps you/your vets in the future to try and get everything squared away as easily as possible!
interesting! maybe it is different in different disciplines. i come from an eventing background. my vet is one of the top lameness vets in the NE.
i can agree i would not want to do flexions mounted on a horse i didn’t know - but the ones i’ve done mounted were horses i either owned or knew very well as their groom or rider.
Maybe geography as well? I found this thread so interesting that I spoke with local vet who confirmed what I thought along with what the veterinary student wrote above. Of course if nothing is seen after exam unmounted, then mounted for sure.
Including eventing horses in this as well :-). Along with big time event riders :-).
I would imagine we are all saying the same thing but just are not being clear about it. I can’t imagine a horse being lame and someone getting on the horse, riding, to show the vet that the horse is lame? Unless only lameness is seen when it is induced by riding?
I just wanted to give an update for the curious and armchair vets. The vet came out and flexed both front legs and watched him trot in hand and on the lunge (not under saddle at any point in time). From this, he felt that it was the right knee causing trouble. He had less range of motion in this knee and the horse was clearly more uncomfortable when the vet flexed that knee. So the vet took 3 x-rays of the knee and quite clearly there was arthritis going on in the knee. The vet felt that this arthritis in the right knee is why he is on and off lame. So he injected the knee with HA and a steroid. $600 later…we will wait and see if that solves the issue!
thanks for the update OP… jingles for your guy that the injections make him good as new again… he is at the right age where injections can really help a horse longer in the tooth get a spring back in their step!
I’ve done several evaluations where the vets wanted to see the horse ridden. Various reasons for this, but generally not when there is lameness obvious in any of the previous steps. For example, issues that cause primarily performance problems vs lameness. Or, in one case, it took rider weight to have the lameness be visible at all. However, at no time have I ever experienced flexion tests mounted!
I’ve done mounted flexions when the lameness was so inconsistent lunging but the vet believed me when I said it was something I could feel under saddle. He saw it a little bit in the lateral work and we flexed and trotted with me in the saddle. Ended up being a hoof balance issue that was corrected with shoeing radiographs and a new shoe set up.
