Advice please!

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RoseAmy123

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Hello,

Looking for some advice please as I just don’t know what to do or where to turn.

I have a 15 year old 15.2 Connie X who 5 months ago tripped and fell down with me in the school, at the time- as horrible as it was I didn’t think to much of it and just put it down to clumsiness. All was fine and we carried on as normal.

On Sunday we were out hacking, just on a flat track, I put him into trot and he tripped, fell to his knees and then fell, this time on his right side trapping my leg (how I didn’t break it I will never know!!) This has really shaken me, we were both so lucky to walk away from this with just a few aches and cuts!!

Looking back over the last 5 months I have noticed he has become a little trippy and clumsy, I previously have just been putting this down to laziness but am now starting to worry this is something else!!

I had the vet out yesterday and he can not find anything obviously wrong with him, he did all neurological tests, trotted him up, lunged him, checked his eyes and feet, everything coming up fine. The one thing that he said wasn’t great was that when he asked him to turn in a tight circle on the left rein he wouldn’t cross over his back legs. The vet said he will have a chat with his colleague and get back to me.

I have no idea what to do now, i have a young daughter and was so lucky to come away from his last fall un harmed.. ☹️

Teeth, Saddle, back etc have all been checked!

I need some advice please!
Thank you x
 
Can your vet recommend a good physio, not stepping under could be a sign of tightness on the back/ hamstrings?
 
How long have you owned this horse, what is his vet history and which neurological tests precisely did the vet perform?
 
Years ago I had a connie X who had navicular. One of the symptoms was stumbling. However, it something I never hear of nowadays so have no idea if it's now called something else.
 
I have owned him for 11 years.
Had physio out a year ago but will book him in again.
He just told me he did a range or neurological tests (I don’t know any of the technical terms!) I had to cover one eye whilst he was putting each foot down, walking backwards, lifting his head up, tested all his vision reactions, tail sway, tight circles etc I don’t know any of the correct terms for these!
 
asmp said:
Years ago I had a connie X who had navicular. One of the symptoms was stumbling. However, it something I never hear of nowadays so have no idea if it's now called something else.
Click to expand...

My old Arab had navicular and was told it caused stumbling. The vet at the time said tripping could be a sign of foot pain.

That said my new horse is a bit clumsy and trips (including falling over with me on her back once). I asked the physio and as it was occasional she didn’t think it was anything to be concerned about.
 
Not crossing his back legs on a circle can be symptoms of quite a few things, don't google the symptoms because it'll probably scare the hell out of you. It's the same as "I have a head ache", can it be treated with an aspirin or "Have I got a Brain Tumour". Wait for the vet to get back to you but it wouldn't hurt to get a good physio to him, however let the vet know that that is what you are going to do. Good Luck.
 
Heel pain, sometimes called navicular syndrome as a general term, can cause tripping, pain in front can cause issues further back or higher up as they become tense trying to get weight off the feet but it may not show in a normal trot up if it is bilateral, not crossing behind could be an issue but may well be a symptom of something else.
I would want the feet investigated more thoroughly as they are the cause of more issues than anywhere else, would be the logical place to start with the history he has and they are possibly the easiest part to rule in or out with nerve blocks before doing further tests.
 
One thing I was told to look for with navicular is if the horse is landing toe first. I used to film the horse and then look in slow mo... others may have a better eye for this than me! (And obviously the vet is best placed for advice and diagnosis). It showed up when nerve blocking and then the horse had an MRI.

Hope it turns out to be something minor and easily sorted.
 
As silly as it sounds, if you can’t find anything else, check the liver. My old boy got very clumsy and absent minded as his liver started to go - in fact, it was the tripping that made me call the vet in the first place, as no other symptoms were apparent at that stage.
 
Mine started tripping a lot at 13, turned out to be osteoarthritis in the fronts after we x-rayed.
 
Worth checking the neck.

My gelding was tripping, he was sound BUT couldn't cross his hind legs over especially one way. X-rayed his neck to find chronic arthritis in it. He also passed neurological tests but the leg cross he could not do.
 
Some are just clumsy. In the 18 years I've known my share horse (since my friend bought him) nobody has ever fallen off him. Several people have fallen over WITH him though! Luckily never with any damage to horse or rider. He's had everythnig checked and it turns out he's just clumsy, lazy and a bit of a daydreamer given half a chance. Making sure he's walking out and focussed is the best way to avoid it with him. Dawdling on the buckle is the worst thing we can allow him to do.

I'd say that twice in 5 months could still be a coincidence. Are you sure he really is more clumsy (or rather wasn't as clumsy before) and not just that you're looking out for it now? Is it possible he'd have the odd stumble before and you never gave it a second thought until the school incident? Having said that, if this really is out of the ordinary for him you've done the right thing checking it out.
 
Are you completely happy with his shoeing, specifically are his toes getting too long??

My connie went through a stage of this, but once the farrier set his shoes back a little bit further, we touch wood haven't had the problem since.

Fiona
 
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My horse went through a phase of stumbling quite a bit and ended up on his knees at one point (I managed to stay on somehow). I mentioned it to my farrier and he shod him using quarter clips on the fronts rather than the standard toe clips and this solved the problem. He said it was due to something to do with the change in break-over when you take away the toe clip (can't remember exactly what he said, it was quite a few years ago). Might be worth chatting to your farrier if your vet can't find a problem.
 
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