My 7 yo ottb which I’ve had since October of 2019 has been having issues of being off in his hind left for a quite a while now (since February). At first it showed itself as simply being stiff in the hind area so we got the vet out and flexed him. He ended up getting hock injections and those helped him so much! But then a week later he was starting to come up lame in his hind left, so we watched him closely for joint infection alongside our vet and as time passed it became clear that was not the case, thank god. So we figured it was a heel abscess as he mainly seemed to be wanting to keep weight off the heel (walking on his toe). So he got two weeks off and has his hoof packed, the farrier came out multiple times to hoof test and he wasn’t sensitive anywhere. No abscess ever came out! We thought maybe it was a stone/bone bruise, so after the 2 and a half weeks had gone by we decided to bring him back into light work to see how he was. It started off just fine and I thought I had my horse back! But a few days ago he started to become sensitive in that hind left again! He takes off steps once in a while, and any type of lateral work or collection or anything that really requires him to load weight on that hind leg upsets him and he gets tense and resists it. Sometimes he’ll take a step where it feels like he’s stepping into a hole, and sometimes it will feel like he’s skipping with his hind legs, and other times he feels completely normal. All of this seems like stifle to me! Due to COVID-19 problems our vet is not able to come out for another week and a half, so while we wait and while my horse has some more time off, I was wondering if anyone had any other ideas as to what this could be!
Your vet should start with nerve blocks so you can pinpoint where the problem is.
I’d put my money on the hind suspensory - for what it’s worth as an internet diagnosis :yes:
Good luck, I hope you can get to the bottom of it quickly
My horse had a similar situation before only in the right right hind, but it masked itself in the left hind. I thought it was his left stifle since he was hopping and trotting short on the left hind, but turns out, it was a huge abscess brewing in his right hind and about a week later, it popped.
Also, is he off when you lunge him or jog him or only when you ride him?
MDKCongo, he is off on the lunge to! I’ve probably driven my vet crazy with the amount of trot videos I’ve sent him :). It’s very hard to see, but definitely there.
I know exactly how you feel!
The part where you said it feels like he’s stepping into a hole, do you know if your horse has locking stifles? A horse with locking stifles (can occur in one or both stifles) locks in extension and it feels as if they stepped into a hole or something because they are trying to place weight into that leg to pick it up and bring it forward. If they are able to unlock it themselves, they drag the toe forward. Horses with locking stifles usually drag their toes and can have mild hind end lameness. Another factor to this… look at your horses hind feet. Are they squared off? This could be a sign of a hock problem but it could also just be toe dragging. What helped my horse was putting hind shoes on. Unfortunately, we have found nothing to help with his locking stifles.
Skipping in the hind end can simply be weakness, but most of the times, I suspect an SI problem. Check for lower back pain also. A build up of lower back soreness can cause hind end issues.
My biggest guess is that the culprit is locking stifles. His stifles can become sore from the inflamed ligaments but also make his hocks sore overall making him not want to move forward, freely and collected placing more strain on the joint.
This was very helpful, thank you! He actually does drag his hind feet, his left a lot more than his right. He is shod on all four but when he came to us he had horrible feet and no hind shoes. They’ve improved a lot but definitely a long way to go and the dragging has been something I’ve kept an eye on, I had no idea it could be because of his stifles!
Back before we had him injected, our main problem under saddle was moving forward and staying in front of the leg, and once we got his hocks injected, it seemed to help. But recently he’s started to have that problem again which now makes sense with what you said.
I have no idea if he has locking stifles, but I will make sure to bring that up with my vet when I see him as this seems like it could be our problem! He has also always been weak in his hind end since I bought him. We’ve definitely been working on it but all these problems he’s been having has slowed down that process.
I’d block the hind suspensory and see what you get. They will be fine, not fine, then fine again and what you’ve described seems to fit that more than locking stifle IMHO. As my vet explained, If it’s a hind hind suspensory injecting the hock can give them some relief as it’ll sit down near suspensory.
Thank you, I will definitely plan on doing that with my vet. Is there normally any heat/swelling associated with a suspensory? That’s been another thing that has stumped us. No heat, swelling, or elevated pulse.
If it’s high, no. It’s behind other structures so you won’t see any heat or swelling. The ligament might be thicker if there’s more chronic inflammation. If it’s lower in the body, you might feel some heat there. Lower in the branch I don’t think you’d feel heat there either.
Yes, you need a good vet to come and nerve block. I have a horse who has high suspensory issues as well. Similarly, also has slight changes in his hocks and sticky stifles. His SI gives him a bit of grief as well. But the entire back end is connected, your stifles may be causing your high suspensory issues and it can take time to work out what is causing what.
This was super helpful, thanks! Vet is coming next week so fingers crossed we can figure this out.
I’d also bet on proximal suspensory!
The fluid from a hock injection can trickle down and help the aggravation in the proximal suspensory. It can help for a time, but most people report a month or less from what I remember in my research. Additionally it can make things worse since the horse may move “pain free”.
The suspensories may have been from compensation due to sore stifles or hocks or SI. They’re likely all connected.
An ultrasound of the suspensory you’d need for a diagnostic, and a vet that can actually ultrasound it. It it a difficult area to see
Good luck! You’re likely looking at a long lay up unfortunately but there’s hope!
Just a little update, our vet came out and actually found lameness in his front left which I thought was interesting because I didn’t even notice it or feel it when riding. Our two options for what it could be was soreness in his foot or suspensory based on the symptoms. My vet messed around with his tendon a lot and my horse didn’t have any reactions, and when we hoof tested he was sore in his heel and frog. I live in the PNW and in this environment (especially this time of year) you either have deep mud or lots of gravel, and my facility is one with LOTS of gravel to keep the mud away. He does have typical thoroughbred feet, so my vet thinks it’s mostly because of bruising. He says most of the things I see in his hind end is being caused by the front left. He suggested putting pads on all four feet to make him more comfortable, so I will do that and touch base with him after a few weeks. He said that his hind end isn’t completely sound either, so we will have to see if the problem resolves with the pads because right now he can’t tell with everything that’s going on. If he is still having issues after the pads go one we will do more testing. Just hoping for an easy fix!
