Tell me about your horse with neck issues

[beau159]

Vet and I are trying to figure out why my 9-year-old trips so much over his front feet. I’ve owned him since he was 6 months old and he has always been one of those horses that stumbles over his front feet (lazy, drags his feet) but it has seemed worse this year. And he stumbled badly on the first barrel on two different barrel runs recently, and stumbled badly at the end of a pole bending run when coming to a stop, so I needed to investigate.

When he was 4, he had a minor tendon injury to the right front which never caused him any problems but we caught it early on a “routine” lameness eval. Since then, he has always flexed slightly off on that foot, even though it completely resolved. At least … that is what we have assumed. Last week, we decided to nerve block (since it’s been several years) and make sure that’s what was bothering him and causing the tripping and it WASN’T! (Much to both of our surprise.) I’m not technical but we did 3 blocks and it made no improvement whatsoever on his way of going on the right front. So it’s higher up somewhere.

Vet really didn’t think it was his knee or shoulder, so we chose not to block or x-ray the knee, and I know she did a neurological exam (she was crossing his front legs over to see what he did). She suspected his neck. He has always been a stiffer-type horse his entire life so that didn’t present any red flags for me, but she felt he was a lot less flexible to the right. We did x-rays and she could see some mild changes at C5/C6.

She’s also going to send them off for second opinions. So she did a shockwave treatment for him that day. (5 days ago) to hopefully help with mobility. I have already had him checked by a chiro this year, but I know it will be more important going forward and may need to do it more often for him. He’s also already had some PEMF treatments this year. Already on Adequan.

Neck issues are a new territory for me, so just curious to hear other’s stories of what neck problems your horse has and what you do to help them the best you can.

[Simkie]

My neck horse has changes at C6/C7 and that manifests as a hind end lameness. Looks like hocks, but it’s not. She doesn’t quite know where her hind limbs are in space and doesn’t swing evenly.

She was diagnosed…geez, maybe 10 years ago now? Via bone scan. Steroid injections got us 6 very sound months. Repeating that got us a few weeks, and I retired her at that point.

Day to day, she does not seem to be in pain and it does not seem like she has a progressive course. She is about the same now as she was then. She can do all of her “horse” things in the pasture and lays down/gets up without issues. She can be a little harder to trim behind, but the farrier has so far refused any chemical help and is just patient with her. Overall, she’s pretty normal, but just doesn’t swing evenly from behind.

Eventually, I figure she will progress, and at that point, I’ll put her down. But she’s done really pretty well for quite a long time so far.

[kwpn_01]

@Simkie

My neck horse has changes at C6/C7 and that manifests as a hind end lameness. Looks like hocks, but it’s not. She doesn’t quite know where her hind limbs are in space and doesn’t swing evenly.

She was diagnosed…geez, maybe 10 years ago now? Via bone scan. Steroid injections got us 6 very sound months. Repeating that got us a few weeks, and I retired her at that point.

Day to day, she does not seem to be in pain and it does not seem like she has a progressive course. She is about the same now as she was then. She can do all of her “horse” things in the pasture and lays down/gets up without issues. She can be a little harder to trim behind, but the farrier has so far refused any chemical help and is just patient with her. Overall, she’s pretty normal, but just doesn’t swing evenly from behind.

Eventually, I figure she will progress, and at that point, I’ll put her down. But she’s done really pretty well for quite a long time so far.

My 3-year old was also diagnosed with a bone lesion between her C6 - C7 vertebrae. Also, like Simkie’s horse mentioned above, manifested as a hind end lameness. Vet originally thought it was her stifle but a bone scan revealed otherwise.

Still not sure what our future holds. We are doing 3 rounds of shockwave, steroid injection and a dose of OSPHOS. She will also be getting the winter off again as she is so young. We will see if she stays sound and if she does, for how long (hopefully forever, but I think that is too blindly optimistic). Hopefully whatever is going on with your guy is manageable!

[beowulf]

It really depends on location, and the type of change; bone-spur, arthritis, narrowing of channels… All will get you significantly different symptoms. Some in the front, some behind like Simkie’s horse… and the thing I’ve learned about CA is no two horses present clinically identical even when there are similar findings on x-ray.

Occam’s Razor, as always – how are the feet? Sometimes, consistent stumbling is plain long toes/poor angles. Is it only in one ring, or in one type of substrate?

That’s not to cheapen the legitimacy of suspecting the neck - the neck is always a pretty good area to suspect when you have a difficult to pin down issue decreasing performance.

One of my geldings has some ugly C6/C7 changes, managed with injections and 24/7 turnout. I discovered it when he was 9 - he had a catastrophic wipeout in the paddock and fractured his pelvis in 3 places, and his ribs. I wanted to know while we had the x-ray machine out, if the wipeout was possibly neurological (my vet does not believe so).

He is 12 now and this has been our best year performance wise. He has done more hunter paces and long distance rides this year than in his last four summers combined (we’ve logged a summer high of 800 miles so far, and more hunter paces to come this fall…)

Maintenance wise, it’s been over a year and a half since his last neck injection and I have yet to feel he needs another. He is on MSM + 4000 IU of Vit E, but no other supplements.

It really depends on what kind of changes and the clinical symptoms of the horse. For my guy, he had osteoarthritis and a bone spur, but no clinical symptoms associated with neurological issues.

I would hold off and see what the second opinion vet thinks. Have you noticed any difference via shockwave?

[beau159]

@beowulf

It really depends on location, and the type of change; bone-spur, arthritis, narrowing of channels… All will get you significantly different symptoms. Some in the front, some behind like Simkie’s horse… and the thing I’ve learned about CA is no two horses present clinically identical even when there are similar findings on x-ray.

Occam’s Razor, as always – how are the feet? Sometimes, consistent stumbling is plain long toes/poor angles. Is it only in one ring, or in one type of substrate?

That’s not to cheapen the legitimacy of suspecting the neck - the neck is always a pretty good area to suspect when you have a difficult to pin down issue decreasing performance.

One of my geldings has some ugly C6/C7 changes, managed with injections and 24/7 turnout. I discovered it when he was 9 - he had a catastrophic wipeout in the paddock and fractured his pelvis in 3 places, and his ribs. I wanted to know while we had the x-ray machine out, if the wipeout was possibly neurological (my vet does not believe so).

He is 12 now and this has been our best year performance wise. He has done more hunter paces and long distance rides this year than in his last four summers combined (we’ve logged a summer high of 800 miles so far, and more hunter paces to come this fall…)

Maintenance wise, it’s been over a year and a half since his last neck injection and I have yet to feel he needs another. He is on MSM + 4000 IU of Vit E, but no other supplements.

It really depends on what kind of changes and the clinical symptoms of the horse. For my guy, he had osteoarthritis and a bone spur, but no clinical symptoms associated with neurological issues.

I would hold off and see what the second opinion vet thinks. Have you noticed any difference via shockwave?

Sure, I should clarify more. It seems to be narrowing of the channels she said. She didn’t see any bone spurs or anything like that.

Feet are great. I have a very, very good farrier and horse is done every 5 weeks on the nose. One of my other horses requires special shoeing and a 5 week schedule, so this one gets that schedule too. Horse has fabulous BIG feet for a quarter horse. (wears a size 2 shoe) I only shoe his front feet just because we often have to warm up and/or barrel race on not so good gravel-type ground at rodeos. He’s a little tender on that type of ground. If I didn’t have to be on that type of ground, he wouldn’t have shoes. Doesn’t need them otherwise.

Vet did offer to do injections but she’s very honest and says she doesn’t do a lot of them (not that many horses that needs them, around here) and would probably do it microscope (??) assisted.

She did offer Osphos as well. We decided to try one thing at a time, to see how he responds, so did the Shockwave first. She told me to watch for improvement in 3-7 days. I normally ride most days but just didn’t get to the last few days after the shockwave. So yesterdays ride out on the trail was the first one and I think he stumbled less? He did it 3 times (all small), although one of them could have been uneven ground since we rode out on the trails and our ditches are pretty rough. Hopefully will ride tomorrow night and do some arena work so we will see how he feels.

Horse is still clocking well on barrels, and actually just won a Grand Champion all-around title last weekend at our very first hunter/jumper show. As of now, it’s not affecting his performance, except for the stumbles. (which of course could be quite dangerous for the things we do!!!)

[Simkie]

@beau159

Vet did offer to do injections but she’s very honest and says she doesn’t do a lot of them (not that many horses that needs them, around here) and would probably do it microscope (??) assisted.

Injections are usually (always?) ultrasound guided

Neck stuff is one of those things where you really want someone with proficiency looking at the rads and doing those injections. Awesome that your vet is up front that it’s not her wheelhouse, but if you keep going down this path, definitely see someone who is an expert. :yes:

[beowulf]

Yup, almost all are ultrasound guided - that’s probably what she meant. Narrowing of the channels is definitely something worthy of a second opinion.

OP, do you dare post pictures of the feet? When I see a horse that stumbles, I usually think hoof before neck. Sometimes it’s legitimately the neck, though – but it really doesn’t hurt to rule out the hooves. And, blocking the feet wouldn’t change the stumbling if it was something as simple as all around long toes.

[mmeqcenter]

My late gelding started falling in the trailer, unable to balance. We eventually found arthritis in the neck, did corticosteroid injections (five total, I don’t remember which vertebrae), and he was much better. He had to haul with some extra space to spread his legs from then on, so when we moved to Florida I paid for box stalls, and he was retired at that point so didn’t do any further injections in the following years. The trailer balance issue was the only symptom he ever showed.

Yes the injections are guided by ultrasound. Definitely agree you want someone experienced to do them.

[goodhors]

Neck issues can show on the hooves. Are his front hooves symetrical, a matched pair? How does horse wear his hooves/shoes in his work?

This is beyond horse having long or short toes, too much heel, etc. A person with knowledge can “read” the hoof bottom or old shoe, know a lot about how the horse uses himself from what they are viewing.

[beau159]

”‹

@Simkie

Injections are usually (always?) ultrasound guided ”‹

Neck stuff is one of those things where you really want someone with proficiency looking at the rads and doing those injections. Awesome that your vet is up front that it’s not her wheelhouse, but if you keep going down this path, definitely see someone who is an expert. :yes:[IMG2=JSON]{“data-align”:“none”,“data-size”:“full”,“src”:"https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/core/image/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAPABAP///wAAACH5BAEKAAAALAAAAAABAAEAAAICRAEAOw==)”‹

I knew I used the wrong word, LOL. I could not remember what she said!

@beowulf

Yup, almost all are ultrasound guided - that’s probably what she meant. Narrowing of the channels is definitely something worthy of a second opinion.

OP, do you dare post pictures of the feet? When I see a horse that stumbles, I usually think hoof before neck. Sometimes it’s legitimately the neck, though – but it really doesn’t hurt to rule out the hooves. And, blocking the feet wouldn’t change the stumbling if it was something as simple as all around long toes.

I will gladly get some pictures. I have absolute confidence in my farrier. I will try to get some tonight or tomorrow.

@goodhors

Neck issues can show on the hooves. Are his front hooves symetrical, a matched pair? How does horse wear his hooves/shoes in his work?

This is beyond horse having long or short toes, too much heel, etc. A person with knowledge can “read” the hoof bottom or old shoe, know a lot about how the horse uses himself from what they are viewing.

When he’s got shoes on during the competition season, I haven’t noticed any particular wear pattern on his shoes.They are usually still in pretty good shape when we go for a reset.

When he does not have shoes … he likes to paw at the trailer and so he’ll wear off the outer corner faster but that isn’t from his riding! (Just doesn’t like to be alone at the trailer, which is just tough)

He is just a smidge “toe out” on his front feet but not bad at all.

If I would be so brave, here is one of our jumping rides from the other weekend, if you want to see how he travels. And another ride with his first refusal… I’m sure I did something wrong but he was a good sport about it. (We’ve hardly jumped this year so I can’t fault his inexperience.)
And for fun, this is what we do the rest of the time : barrel racing and also some pole bending!
(Sorry … love my “pony”! And a chance to brag on him.)

[beowulf]

The first three links are all the same video, but having watched all of them, what a fun little horse. I don’t know anything about pole bending or barrel racing but did notice he went around the barrels fast and had his hind end trail a bit to the side - is that normal with BR?’

I guess my next question would be… how did he do on the neuro tests/tail pull? How about going downhill, and on a small circle?

I did notice a few times he was toe-dragging behind. That can be a symptom of neck issues… but it can also be a symptom of other things too (soreness in suspensories, soreness in feet). I hope you can get some answers.

[IPEsq]

Horse #1 (mine) - OCD lesion left side at C3-4, mild arthritic changes C3-4, 4-5, and 5-6. Couple years later, some changes started showing up at C2-3 on right side. Also had narrowing of the first 2 discs. No apparent narrowing of the spinal canal. Mostly manifested as behavioral problems. Once figured out, he was managed well with injections. Started on a yearly basis then went a little less and a little less to being more like 6-8 months. He wasn’t a tripper/stumbler, though he was sometimes really sensitive to what he wore on his legs when being ridden (polos, boots, etc.) and the wrong thing might make him more likely to trip or take a weird step and he’d get really mad about it. For the most part, this reduced after we started injections, at least I could use polos and bell boots fine. Although just before diagnosis he had a slight front limb lameness, it mostly manifested as hind limb. Passed neuro exam. He had a variety of other problems in his body and I lost him young to colic. Turned out to have some more severe things going on in his body than the neck unfortunately.

Horse #2 (client’s) - Arthritic changes from C3-T1 including an abnormality at C6 where some of the vertebrae was transposed onto C7. Was at the track briefly. Always a stumbler kind of clumsy type. But also had flat TB feet and prone to foot soreness up front and built downhill. Sometimes had trouble holding canter lead behind. Was a low level hunter with one family since the track. Early teens starts with shifting lamenesses and more tripping. Change in personality behavior that would come and go. More of a triggered flight response. Then started showing neurological signs. Tried injections but no help. Became unsafe. Retired and then put down within a couple years later.

Horse #3 (friend’s) - History of neck fracture as a young horse. Developed over at the knee conformation afterward. Developed arthritis around the fracture area. Had intermittent NQR-ness up front. Did not pass a neuro exam but very good at compensating and performing for some time. Did jumping and dressage until the NQR-ness became more apparent and then retired from jumping. Continued with low level dressage for some time. Same owner since before the neck fracture.Tried injections very late into all of this, no help. Also has Cushings and other issues. Now too neurologic to ride. I think he’s now mid to late teens.

Horse #4 (friend’s) - History of neck fracture that was not known at the time / not disclosed. Upper level jumper. Neck issue found later when slight lameness couldn’t be diagnosed. Injections improved the lameness, done 6 months to a year. Returned to do some grand prix. Had colic surgery and some complications from that towards later teens as he was stepping down anyway and retired.

[beau159]

@beowulf

The first three links are all the same video, but having watched all of them, what a fun little horse. I don’t know anything about pole bending or barrel racing but did notice he went around the barrels fast and had his hind end trail a bit to the side - is that normal with BR?’

I guess my next question would be… how did he do on the neuro tests/tail pull? How about going downhill, and on a small circle?

I did notice a few times he was toe-dragging behind. That can be a symptom of neck issues… but it can also be a symptom of other things too (soreness in suspensories, soreness in feet). I hope you can get some answers.

Whoops. Tried to fix the first jumping link. Hopefully that worked.

You know, for running barrels, every horse develops their own style. There is no “normal”, haha. There are certain things you want to do correctly but you also have to learn to let the horse figure out what works the best for them. Because my grey has always been the stiff type, that’s works for him. He’s what you call a roll-back style. Here’s one of his very best runs I happened to catch on video, which is from last year; despite my huge rider error on the second barrel (thank heavens he took care of the both of us). I like this video because it shows how he practically slides his hind end around the barrel. Took his turns a bit tighter on that run, which is why he clocked where he did, but he’s just not bendy in his turns and you can’t force his body to do something it naturally doesn’t want to do. But as long as it is fast and efficient, the clock really doesn’t care.

Neuro tests were all normal.

Most of my riding is out on the trails, and we actually have lots of hills. Has always done fine on them.

Small circle? You mean with riding, or at the vet?

This horse has toe-dragged on his hind feet his entire life, LOL. That doesn’t concern me at all for him.

I’ve owned him since he was 6 months old and he has had no major injuries / falls / accidents that would account for something traumatic to cause the neck issues. I injected his hocks and stifles for the first time this year, which is a pretty common thing to go sore on a barrel horse. No bony changes or anything serious found. I like to think that I take care of my horses, but I’ve never had a barrel horse that didn’t need some sort of maintenance once they really started running hard.

Okay, I tried to take some pictures of his feet tonight. At our new place, I have no barn, no concrete, no nothing! I thought about taking him up to the driveway for the house, but that’s not flat either (sloped). I know the pictures are not ideal but at least they are something. Ground is not perfectly level where I park my trailer, but close. I just focused on the right front foot as that is the location in question (and about all I had time for with 2 horses, and my 4-year-old and 2 1/2 - year - old children running around). He was re-shod about 2 1/2 weeks ago. So we are halfway through our cycle (go every 5 weeks).

I hope the pictures attach straight, and not turned! I don’t like how the side views turned out. I feel like they make his heels look underrun, but they really aren’t. I might try that again tomorrow.

[UrbanHennery]

I have an 11 year QH with arthritic changes at C5/6, C6/7, and C6/T1. Worst at C6/7. Mostly on the left side.

Before he was diagnosed I could have echoed what you said. Always just a bit stiffer to the left, not great flexibility, helped by Chiro. Maybe a bit short on the LF but wasn’t made worse by flexions. He was a Reiner and went to the NRHA futurity. At 6 he popped a late splint on the LF and was a bit short(er) on the LF. Was helped by injecting the coffin bone and slow return to work for the splint.

At 7 he started to be a bit more short on that LF and then had a series of mysterious sudden 3 legged incidents with that LF. X-rays and ultrasounds later and the neck changes were diagnosed. To make a long story shorter - in the process of getting there and after the vet was sure his shoeing was changed up (feet were never bad). Full lameness workups by two of the best sports med vets in the area. Blocking foot, fetlock, knee, and shoulder made no difference. Weirdly blocking the shoulder made it worse.

In the end, IRAP made the most difference. We got a good 18 months out of the first round. Got only 3 months out of the second. The conclusion is that the changes at C6/7 include bone spurs that are impinging on the main nerves to his LF. He doesn’t fully lock that knee in motion, or standing around. That failure to lock means that he has an odd stumble. It’s made worse by weight on his back - saddle or no saddle.

He fully retired at 9 because I neither felt completely safe once the stumble started to occur at gaits faster than a walk and didn’t see the point of continuing dressage (we switched disciplines when he was coming 6) with a horse that had progressive arthritis. He’s currently going strong as a subtly NQR pasture pet at 11.

[Peggy]

Horse #1 - We just thought he was kind of a klutz. Would stumble, occasionally pretty badly, but never went all the way down and it was very intermittent. Strained front suspensory when he was 9 (2008) and, when he didn’t come sound with rehab, we went looking for another cause and found collateral ligament damage in one foot via nuclear scintigraphy (not of entire horse, which became significant) and MRI. Treated and rehabbed. Returned to jumping with continued maintenance on that foot. A few years later (3?) something seemed not quite right and it turned out he’d mildly re-injured the collateral ligaments. But, this time I did a scintigraphy of the whole horse and they found the neck issue (~C6) that had likely been there all along. I think the neck issue was exacerbated when he broke his jaw a few months before he became NQR, either in the struggle to free himself from the gate chain he’d gotten his teeth hooked on or when they did the surgery to wire the jaw together. There was a particularly bad stumble 1-2 months after the jaw injury. We did a neuro exam after the second scintigraphy and he was OK, but would not wear a blindfold. Referral vet who did the MRI/scintigraphy said that he wasn’t neurological but that a packed of information would occasionally be transmitted incorrectly down the spinal column, causing him to step harder on that foot (hence collateral ligament damage), or catch a toe and stumble. Got him back to flat work, but never jumping. The stumbling went away with neck injections (IRAP) but he would stumble as they wore off. He would also get stabby in the movement of the front legs. Ultimately retired at age 14; still on my payroll at age 21. No issues living in a pasture.

Horse #2 - Hind end started to feel wonky in the spring he was 4 (2013). No change with blocking. Send for scintigraphy and, having learned my lesson with horse #1, I had the whole horse scanned. Neck majorly bad; radiographs almost looked like something traumatic had happened. I think C5-C6 was the worst. Also found a front suspensory and something in the stifle that we were unable to image. Attempted to rehab over the next six months, got him going under saddle, and then went off again. Sent to rehab place for a year where he lived in paddocks of gradually increasing size and, ultimately treated his front foot (which had been somewhat problematic all along with pedal osteitis) with a regional perfusion of Tildren (not something I would do now on a horse that age, but it was pretty much a hail Mary). Horse became sound, was restarted under saddle and over fences and I had 7-8 really good months with him before he went lame again in all the same ways, except this time it was a check ligament instead of a front suspensory and the neck looked worse. This horse never stumbled. We did a neuro exam on him during the first lameness episode and he was great until asked to walk down a hill blindfolded, whereupon he exhibited hypermetria of the front legs. After spending roughly 10K trying to diagnose and fix him, we realized he was never going to be right and he was euthanized shortly after his seventh birthday. I know of two other horses from the same breeding program that have been euthanized for neuro issues. Breeding program hasn’t produced horses for at least eight years now and it was mostly non-racing TB bloodlines, so I think we’re all safe.

@mmeqcenter After reading about your horse, I wonder about a third horse who had trailering issues that got progressively worse with age. It started with him not tolerating a wall or solid divider on his left side (so you could trailer him on the right side of the trailer as long as the divider wasn’t solid) and got progressively worse. This was in the 1980’s when neck issues really weren’t on anyone’s radar.

@beau159 OP - Your horse is adorable. Our vet is currently hot on using pentosan for neck issues. Several horses have gotten neck injections with ACS, but steroid seems to work better for some.

[beowulf]

@beau159

Whoops. Tried to fix the first jumping link. Hopefully that worked.

You know, for running barrels, every horse develops their own style. There is no “normal”, haha. There are certain things you want to do correctly but you also have to learn to let the horse figure out what works the best for them. Because my grey has always been the stiff type, that’s works for him. He’s what you call a roll-back style. Here’s one of his very best runs I happened to catch on video, which is from last year; despite my huge rider error on the second barrel (thank heavens he took care of the both of us). I like this video because it shows how he practically slides his hind end around the barrel. Took his turns a bit tighter on that run, which is why he clocked where he did, but he’s just not bendy in his turns and you can’t force his body to do something it naturally doesn’t want to do. But as long as it is fast and efficient, the clock really doesn’t care.

Neuro tests were all normal.

Most of my riding is out on the trails, and we actually have lots of hills. Has always done fine on them.

Small circle? You mean with riding, or at the vet?

This horse has toe-dragged on his hind feet his entire life, LOL. That doesn’t concern me at all for him.

I’ve owned him since he was 6 months old and he has had no major injuries / falls / accidents that would account for something traumatic to cause the neck issues. I injected his hocks and stifles for the first time this year, which is a pretty common thing to go sore on a barrel horse. No bony changes or anything serious found. I like to think that I take care of my horses, but I’ve never had a barrel horse that didn’t need some sort of maintenance once they really started running hard.

Okay, I tried to take some pictures of his feet tonight. At our new place, I have no barn, no concrete, no nothing! I thought about taking him up to the driveway for the house, but that’s not flat either (sloped). I know the pictures are not ideal but at least they are something. Ground is not perfectly level where I park my trailer, but close. I just focused on the right front foot as that is the location in question (and about all I had time for with 2 horses, and my 4-year-old and 2 1/2 - year - old children running around). He was re-shod about 2 1/2 weeks ago. So we are halfway through our cycle (go every 5 weeks).

I hope the pictures attach straight, and not turned! I don’t like how the side views turned out. I feel like they make his heels look underrun, but they really aren’t. I might try that again tomorrow.

Thanks for the information about barrel racing. I really know nothing about that discipline. I did think off of the videos he looked as if he didn’t have total control of his hindquarters. In the jumping videos my only ‘negative’ impression was that he wasn’t confident of landing and would chip in despite the fences being small. I’m totally enamored with him, though. He looks like he is a blast to ride :encouragement:

Small circles in hand and sometimes riding, are diagnostic tools for ruling out neurologic issues/ataxia. It’s part of a series of exercises vets will ask handlers/riders to do, to figure out if the horse has total coordination of their body.

Regarding the hooves, I’d try to get more level pictures of all four – including a conformation shot. It’s helpful to put together how the feet are aligned with the rest of the horse. @JB is very good at spotting hoof issues, and is great at providing why certain styles of trim might be problematic.

The current pictures are good quality but not set up in a way where I’d feel 100% confident in any assessment I made off of them – except he does have a lot of fever rings on that foot. That’s always an indication of some sort of body trauma - sometimes a fever, sometimes it’s because of low grade laminitis (as in inflammation of the laminae). One thing for sure though, all the new growth has fever rings. By the time you see them show up on a horse, the event that caused them is usually well past (3+ months) – but if you see it consistently on new growth, that’s a big indication whatever you are dealing with is chronic versus a one time incident (like a fever). You can see a fair bit of jamming of the coronary band too, look how it curves instead of being relatively straight - that’s usually an indication of an unbalanced trim.

Are you in an area with lyme?

ETA: I am going through some farriery issues myself, as much as I hate to say it because I love my current farrier. Been there, got the t-shirt, and I’m wearing it again! :no:

[beowulf]

Thanks for the information about barrel racing. I really know nothing about that discipline. I did think off of the videos he looked as if he didn’t have total control of his hindquarters. In the jumping videos my only ‘negative’ impression was that he wasn’t confident of landing and would chip in despite the fences being small. I’m totally enamored with him, though. He looks like he is a blast to ride :encouragement:

Small circles in hand and sometimes riding, are diagnostic tools for ruling out neurologic issues/ataxia. It’s part of a series of exercises vets will ask handlers/riders to do, to figure out if the horse has total coordination of their body.

Regarding the hooves, I’d try to get more level pictures of all four – including a conformation shot. It’s helpful to put together how the feet are aligned with the rest of the horse. @JB is very good at spotting hoof issues, and is great at providing why certain styles of trim might be problematic.

The current pictures are good quality but not set up in a way where I’d feel 100% confident in any assessment I made off of them – except he does have a lot of fever rings on that foot. That’s always an indication of some sort of body trauma - sometimes a fever, sometimes it’s because of low grade laminitis (as in inflammation of the laminae). One thing for sure though, all the new growth has fever rings. By the time you see them show up on a horse, the event that caused them is usually well past (3+ months) – but if you see it consistently on new growth, that’s a big indication whatever you are dealing with is chronic versus a one time incident (like a fever). You can see a fair bit of jamming of the coronary band too, look how it curves instead of being relatively straight - that’s usually an indication of an unbalanced trim.

Are you in an area with lyme?

ETA: I am going through some farriery issues myself, as much as I hate to say it because I love my current farrier. Been there, got the t-shirt, and I’m wearing it again!

[JB]

See here for taking good hoof pics.
And yes, a decent confo shot will help too

Toe dragging isn’t normal. It may be “normal” for a given horse, but there’s always an underlying cause - long toes, sore hocks, sore stifles, sore SI, sore something. I’ll really be interested in the confo shot to see what his SI area and hind legs look like.

I agree there are a lot of growth interruptions in the feet. They are so regular it is likely something chronic, and may be chronic low-grade laminitis.

[goodhors]

[QUOTE=beau159;n10729436]

When he’s got shoes on during the competition season, I haven’t noticed any particular wear pattern on his shoes.They are usually still in pretty good shape when we go for a reset.

Back to “knowledgeable” hoof person. They do not read just the shoe face that hits the dirt. They also read the inside, where shoe touches the hoof, then hoof wears on the shoe. That can show if heels are moving a little or a lot, more wear on one side than the other, or quite a few other things. They can also read the hoof bottom if not shod, to see how horse wears on his hooves to bE comfortable. Hooves are very dynamic, can change fast from very small causes, like a consistant pain twinge and then trying to avoid that twinge.

[beau159]

@Peggy

@beau159 OP - Your horse is adorable. Our vet is currently hot on using pentosan for neck issues. Several horses have gotten neck injections with ACS, but steroid seems to work better for some.

Thank you. He IS adorable. Interesting on the pentosan. I put my other horse on it this year (with issues) and I have been astonished how much it has helped him. Definately going to try it for the grey too. But I want to do one thing at a time in order to gauge how much each thing helps.

@beowulf

Thanks for the information about barrel racing. I really know nothing about that discipline. I did think off of the videos he looked as if he didn’t have total control of his hindquarters. In the jumping videos my only ‘negative’ impression was that he wasn’t confident of landing and would chip in despite the fences being small. I’m totally enamored with him, though. He looks like he is a blast to ride :encouragement:”‹

Small circles in hand and sometimes riding, are diagnostic tools for ruling out neurologic issues/ataxia. It’s part of a series of exercises vets will ask handlers/riders to do, to figure out if the horse has total coordination of their body.

Regarding the hooves, I’d try to get more level pictures of all four – including a conformation shot. It’s helpful to put together how the feet are aligned with the rest of the horse. @JB is very good at spotting hoof issues, and is great at providing why certain styles of trim might be problematic.

The current pictures are good quality but not set up in a way where I’d feel 100% confident in any assessment I made off of them – except he does have a lot of fever rings on that foot. That’s always an indication of some sort of body trauma - sometimes a fever, sometimes it’s because of low grade laminitis (as in inflammation of the laminae). One thing for sure though, all the new growth has fever rings. By the time you see them show up on a horse, the event that caused them is usually well past (3+ months) – but if you see it consistently on new growth, that’s a big indication whatever you are dealing with is chronic versus a one time incident (like a fever). You can see a fair bit of jamming of the coronary band too, look how it curves instead of being relatively straight - that’s usually an indication of an unbalanced trim.

Are you in an area with lyme?

ETA: I am going through some farriery issues myself, as much as I hate to say it because I love my current farrier. Been there, got the t-shirt, and I’m wearing it again!

He’s really had very LITTLE jumping experience. I am sure there are lots we are both doing wrong, but we take lessons once in a while, and it’s fun and he tries for me. This was the first jumping show that has ever been offered in my area so I hope they do more of them!

Yes, of course, vet evaluated him on small circles and on several different ground types.

My photobucket isn’t working so I will try to upload a decent confo picture tonight.

I would not have any reason to suspect laminitis for him. Even in the winter (when he gets time off in North Dakota), he’s not one to go put on a bunch of weight. He keeps a pretty good weight and he’s never had any foot soreness that would indicate a laminitis bout. He has been on pasture 24-7 his entire life. This particular year it has been DRY DRY DRY. No lush green grass at all. Grass that crunches under your feet. They got moved to our new house in April of this year. In my mind, he doesn’t fit the bill for laminitis.

I have asked my own farrier before about the rings and he’s not concerned about them. I don’t really recall what exactly he said for the reason but I do have very, very good trust in my farrier which is why I probably didn’t make a mental note of what he told me, LOL. If he wasn’t concerned about it, neither am I. He is “the guy” to go to around here. He actually just accomplished becoming a Certified Journeyman Farrier earlier this year, which is a pretty neat thing.

No, we don’t typically have a lot of Lyme around here. We can, but not common.