Tripping horse--where to start looking

[RegentLion]

Small Update:
I put him on the longe yesterday. He tripped 6 times; 5 to the left (all ‘small’) trips, and once to the right (bigger, but not a fall). The times he fell/almost fell were going right. All the trips happened in the first half of the longe session.

I used a surcingle with side reins that approximated my usual hand position and rein length, and I attempted to get him to work under himself and carry himself as I do under saddle. He did not trip with the side reins OFF, but I did not work him as hard and his frame was longer/looser, with his hind end trailing behind him. I warmed up and cooled down without side reins.

In the trot, the trips are as though he unloads the foot that is down before the stride has completed…then falls forward onto the foot that’s about to take his weight. I think this suggests a hind end soreness. I also didn’t love how he looked behind, but I’m also one of those people who sees lameness everywhere when I look for it.

He also has essentially no gaskin muscle; which could be for any number of reasons, and may or may not be related. He’s got a lot of loft/spring, but getting him to move UNDER himself instead of out behind has always been a struggle, he tries, but overcoming his natural way of going is hard.

While I mentioned he has always been a little trippy, I really noticed it starting 2 summers ago, and I wonder if he has had issues for a while now, but his increased workload and weight this year are negatively impacting him more than usual. Until the last few weeks, he’s always come out happy to work and putting in tons of effort.

At this point, I’m going to discuss doing the following tests:
EPM
Lyme
Cushings

And am going to start with a lameness exam and discuss if this could be a vertebral issue in the neck.

The vet also suggested trimming and doing an equioxx trial and see where that gets us before her visit. So I’ll do that with light longing to evaluate.

Still very open to thoughts and suggestions. I have a few more days to mull over this, gather information, and make a pre-plan before the vet comes out.

[MsM]

Tripping can also occur with Navicular syndrome.

[RegentLion]

My 27 yr old pony who has very difficult to manage metabolic issues has the exact opposite! Mane for DAYS (thick, chunky), and a coat that is unbelievably long/dense, even with Prascend. I clip him 2-3x a summer.

My gelding in this post though, has a thinning forelock, and a crazy shiny coat even without grooming.

[2tempe]

I had a horse who developed cervical arthritis. His first signs were inability to maintain canter lead. Occasional tripping. Some hind end neuro symptoms when tested. My gelding could always do the carrot stretch bendy things. I had him injected and went back to riding him for a period of time. VERY happy to go in a long/low frame, held the canter, all was well but I didn’t try to collect him up. Later he began so have is one stifle sort of drop out or feel like it got left behind. Got more frequent so I quit the riding. BUT it did not happen when I’d free lunge in the round pen. It was the weight of rider and saddle pressing on him. I’m adding one more vote for checking the neck.

[beau159]

@RegentLion

And am going to start with a lameness exam and discuss if this could be a vertebral issue in the neck.

The vet also suggested trimming and doing an equioxx trial and see where that gets us before her visit. So I’ll do that with light longing to evaluate.

Of course, make sure your horse is OFF the equioxx long enough before the lameness eval so it doesn’t mask any symptoms. My vet usually says 1 week off it before she does a performance lameness evaluation.

And of course, be prepared for the lameness eval to find multiple issues. That always seems to be the case as lameness never seems to be “simple”. If he’s sore in his hind end (for example), he could be compensating more on the front end, which is now making the front end sore.

[RegentLion]

We finished the Equioxx trial over the weekend and I was able to ride. It was… like having my own horse back. I did not canter, but he only tripped once on the longe line and twice under saddle–but minor. The biggest difference was that he came out happy and pleasant and ready to work. He was steadier in the bridle and quiet in his mind–which for him has always been my favorite thing about him-- no matter how goofy he is on the ground, under tack he’s always quiet in his mind… something that had been fading over the last few weeks (but so slowly I didn’t realize it until it was gone).

He still didn’t feel… right… behind. There wasn’t a lot of strength or push there. At this point I hadn’t had his feet trimmed because I wanted to change one variable at a time. We trimmed his feet last night and DH said he made them a little shorter than usual.

Vet came out today and my trainer took off work to be present as well, which was amazing of her. We did the normal lameness workup and the main findings from that were coffin joint effusion and right stifle effusion.

She also had me longe, and I don’t usually longe at the canter because he’s never been GREAT at it, but today he was really terrible. Couldn’t hold a lead behind, bunny hopping, the works. He looked sound at the trot (tracking up evenly) but we were starting to see that he was having some laxity/upward fixation of the patella (stifle?) on the right side; as though he was lifting his right hind higher.

I then hopped on and rode w/t and we looked again. She saw the same and I was able to feel some steps that didn’t feel great; he also didn’t feel as settled mentally as he had the day on Equioxx. He did not trip once today, jogging, or on the longe, or under tack.

We decided on the following plan to start, based on the clinical findings and we will go from there.

1. Inject stifles
2. Stifle strengthening exercises
3. Vitamin E supplementation
4. Ran a metabolic panel for cushings/etc.

She didn’t feel that it was necessary to test for EPM/Lyme at this time, as the MOST likely cause of his issues are related to his stifles. If this doesn’t resolve his issues, then we start looking at next steps, but this was the most obvious find and so we pursued it first.

[LCDR]

This is way out there but I’ll throw in narcolepsy.

A girl in my Pony Club had a horse that started occasionally tripping, and even fell a couple of times while she was riding. After an extensive workup that was the eventual diagnosis.

[FatCatFarm]

Glad you got some answers. I have a big draft cross with equally large feet and I do find that at about 5weeks out, he gets trippy. Especially in the warm months when there is good grass and his hooves grow fast, he needs to be trimmed more often and his toes rolled to give him better breakover or he starts tripping.