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Toe Dragging Getting Worse with Work

Ultrasound the hind suspensories.

If you’ve got a good mobile lameness vet I’d go big and ask the owners to swallow $700-1000 and just do it all at once: full lameness exam with flexions, x rays of all four feet and anything that flexes more than a 1/5, neuro exam, ultrasound rear suspensories, and pull blood for EPM and Lyme.

If he’s schooling 3rd then relative to his asking price, it’s a small price to pay for clarity. If everything’s clean and it’s truly weakness, you’ve got a lot of clarity going into marketing him. If anything pops up, so much better than nickeling and diming appointments for weeks only to find out it’s something that’s not going to align with your competition goals or their marketing timeline.

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I have one lusitano and a 1/2 lusi who is new to me. The older one has a history of “restricted” or tight muscling in his hind end and has always had a weaker right hind. Accupuncture helped him quite a bit and the person who does him knows the breed - said it is not uncommon. The newbie also is also weaker on right hind and soreness exhibits high up in the hind quarters. I dont have toe dragging in either case, but agree with Pezanos above. Also note that the newbie, though not visibly off, exhibited more “spooky”, reactive behavior for a couple weeks before showing visible (short in right hind) gaits. Shock wave, in this case, has made him a different horse.

They do care about him but not dressage people at all. Tend to follow a ‘if it’s not broke don’t fix it’ mentality which I respect and also follow but also if there’s a problem I want to fix it and ASAP. They’ve had him since he was a yearling, just not the right fit for their family.

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I’ve thought about this but the tests only tell you about exposure, and after analysing titers and doxy/mono, all you can do is management. He’s basically managed like a Lyme case anyways-- supplemented with mag, selenium, and Vit E, regular body work, attitude and comfort levels assessed day to day.

I’m not familiar with anyone in the area but unless he improves drastically with a couple of days of rest I’m thinking that is what I’m looking at.

I think it’s fair to say that regardless of the outcome of a lameness exam, he is not worth what they want for him. An arthritic/toe dragging/weak stifles/whatever/etc is not worth what a sound horse is, even if it’s manageable.

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Actually, no. The Cornell test is much better than previous tests for Lyme disease.

Also, you don’t “manage” lyme disease, you treat it with antibiotics. Really, it’s worthwhile talking to the vet about the possibility of the horse having lyme and doing the test.

Cornell test for Lyme disease

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I second this. Back palpation and chiro examination is not an accurate tool to rule out kissing spines, only X-rays are. My horse toe drags and has kissing spines. Did not and has never palpated sore in the back.

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It’s still an assay. I had a Lyme horse (since euth’d for other reasons). You can treat but if symptoms are chronic/intermittent, it’s a management issue. Not all Lyme cases respond to Mono/Doxy dosing. I will discuss when the vet when they come out if I don’t see an improvement with a couple days off.

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Thanks for the input. I’m sure that bodywork is helpful and he gets regular chiro (she does some massage as well) but it’s still a decision of whether it’s a responsibility I want if he needs extra accupuncture/shockwave/holistic care.

Yes i get what you are saying. Owner needs to step up if he/she wants to sell the horse - or even keep you leasing? Its too bad.

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I hope you find out what it is and report back.

My experience with toe dragging was an SI issue after dramatics in turnout which recovered 100% with no maintenance, but there were multiple other possibilities mentioned here, and I’m sure plenty which weren’t as well.

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My pony drags his RH toe and has a LF club foot, which is more upright. Hmmm…

Thanks. Owner is sending vids to her vet for their opinion. Two days off has not made things significantly better. I will definitely report back regardless of what happens.

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Interesting that yours is diagonal pairs while mine is lateral. Has your vet/farrier/chiro ever mentioned it affecting their movement? My farrier implied at one point that he interferes a little and drags on that side to compensate, like he can’t get that heel off the ground fast enough in front, but now he is just off. ):

The horse I had also had a club foot. I think it was also LF…and dragged the RH. Interesting. He also had Wobblers and I read somewhere that a club foot isn’t unusual to see those together. I will try to find where I read that. Interesting anyways.

Hind end lameness, you will need a vet workup to be more specific than that. Very unlikely to have anything to do with the mismatched front feet, plenty of sound horses have that. Another vote for NOT trying to make the front feet match.

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Ok. Owner showed her vet the videos. Everyone on agreement that it’s right hind (though I could see SI too). I’m not complaining that the owner wants to take the ball on talking to her vet and using her vet, I’d rather that be the case even if they are 2+ hrs away.
Vet recommended Adequan and I have two issues with this. I’ve talked to multiple vets that have said Adequan is kind of shoddy, as in is it a placebo, just because it’s FDA approved doesn’t mean it works, it’s $. Second, this is a relatively low mileage horse that was only doing low level stuff with a week or two or training with a professional/ year before I got him.
How do I politely point out to owner that this might be him showing that he’s not going to do the upper levels without significant maintenance, and if this is true, we both need to reasses the cost of lease and consider that he might not be for me as someone with goals to continue riding the upper levels? And that this is something they need to consider and disclose if they want to sell him? Ugh.

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As far as feet— my farrier is comfortable not trying to fix or make even the front feet but she does think the heel needs to open up a little or it is just encouraging bacteria and bone rotation.

You have a lot of good replies here. My guy (schooling all of second and some of third) does the hind end toe dragging when it’s time for his stifles to be injected again. He gets injected and feels great again (for a while of course).

When he gets really bad (before I knew what to look for and feel) it would sometimes feel like his hind end fishtails he’s swinging it out so much.

Hopefully you have a relatively easy fix like I do. :slight_smile: