Any idea why horse would suddenly become lame?

Birker2020

Birker2020

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Anyone want to hazard a guess as to why my horse is lame? Before I go on, I have the vet coming out this evening and have rung the physio last Friday although still await her reply.

I took part in a dressage competition at my local riding club last Thursday. I did a Novice test for which I scored 4th place. It was a very windy day and the horse was very spooky as the banners fixed to the side of the fence were blowing and it wasn't a good test but never the less he still got 4th out of about nine competitors. After the test I walked him past the banners outside the dressage boards and the one banner blew right out and he spooked and ended up spinning into the dressage arena quite violently in a clockwise direction. I then took my horse back to the trailer and left him tied up eating a net as is normal with a rug on.

About 3/4 hour later I started warming up for my second test. As soon as I went into trot he felt unlevel but he is often like this when I first start trotting as he is stiff with arthritis which takes about half a lap of a menage to dissappear. I continued in trot but he did not feel right so I asked my partner what he thought but he seemed to think he was sound and nobody pointed out anything to me. Some people I used to know who I've not seen for years were stood in the collecting ring and started chatting to me and watching me warm up and said how well my horse was looking so I thought maybe he was just a little stiff after 3/4 stood still and if they couldn't tell then he must have been okay.

After warming up I was called in for my test. I trotted around the outside of the arena and he was fine, felt sound, but as soon as we went down the centre line he felt unlevel again and on the first circle of the test the judge pulled us up. He said the horse wasn't level (or words to that affect) and that I could carry on, as it wasn't a welfare issue, but he would not score me very high marks. He did not say he was lame. I decided to retire as he still didn't feel right. I trotted my horse up in hand on the car park but he appeared sound on a straight line. Two days later I lunged him for a couple of laps at home in the school and he is not sound in trot, in walk riding on a circle and on the lunge he is sound. I have lightly hacked him in walk for 20 mins on Sunday as he is sound in walk.

One week and six days before the dressage test my horse lost his off fore shoe in the menage on the lunge. When I got him back to the stable we had to prise a nail out of his off fore foot that had come through the wall and up through the sole by the white line (about 3mm away from it). Just in case I poulticed his foot that day.

As luck would have it the vet rang me up later that evening to chat about the video I'd sent him of my horse the day before and said I could start jumping him again as he was very pleased with his progress with his hock problem. I then mentioned about the lost shoe and he said to poultice it another day and assess. I did this and the horse remained sound with no sign on any infection on the two poultices so the farrier came out four days after he lost it to nail it back on. He has been sound ever since.

This has left me wondering if the horse is lame because:

a) the nail prick has become infected (but after two weeks this looks unlikely)
b) the horse is lame because he has tweaked something after his first test when he spun in the wind.
c) I put on a new saddle cloth which was quite thick sheepskin with his prolite pad on top and this could have hurt his shoulder by pressing on it (although he was saddleless on the lunge and still unlevel)
d) He did something whilst tied to the trailer and tweaked his leg (no evidence of this at all)
e) he has stood on a stone between the end of his first test and the warm up for his second test and bruised his sole (no evidence of a bruise).

People on my yard have watched the video of both tests and we are all in agreement that the horse was sound during the first test, and then in the second test is sound in walk, about two tenths lame in trot on a circle, we believe it is his off fore and have speculated it is coming from his shoulder. But the weird thing is that although he is visibly nodding his head when his off fore comes into contact with the ground his stride is not unequal in length which makes us think it is not his foot. All suspensory branches are normal, all feet feel equal in temperature, no joints feel warm, his hock joints have no heat in either, his tendons are all fine, there is no swelling, heat or soreness on palpatation. I still think its too much of a coincidence with the nail bind and believe that it is this (this is what I am hoping it is) I have asked a vet whose wife is on our yard and he says that although it can in some cases take many weeks for lameness to show in hind feet after nail bind, it is more usual to show within 3-5 days in front feet although horses with infection can be sound and then lame quite suddenly in the way I have described.

Any ideas? Cookies and cream for reading this!

And please......no nasty comments, as the vet is coming out. Thanks.
 
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Any heat/swelling anywhere?
From past experience with my horse, I would guess it may be an abscess or a corn. They can be broken leg lame with an abscess, but they can also be off/on mild lame with them too (had both types with my boy!)
 
AandK said:
Any heat/swelling anywhere?
From past experience with my horse, I would guess it may be an abscess or a corn. They can be broken leg lame with an abscess, but they can also be off/on mild lame with them too (had both types with my boy!)
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Hi A&K Abscess/corn - would it be possible though after 1 week and six days for this in a front foot? As 99% of lameness is attributed to the hoof I am thinking this is the most likely scenario but it seems a long time has elapsed.

There is no heat or swelling anywhere as I wondered if it was his suspensory branch, but there is no heat or swelling either medially or laterally.
 
applecart14 said:
Hi A&K Abscess/corn - would it be possible though after 1 week and six days for this in a front foot? As 99% of lameness is attributed to the hoof I am thinking this is the most likely scenario but it seems a long time has elapsed.

There is no heat or swelling anywhere as I wondered if it was his suspensory branch, but there is no heat or swelling either medially or laterally.
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I would say yes, it is possible. It may or may not be related to the lost shoe/nail, but they can take a while to brew and then eventually surface.
 
Okay, thanks A&K. I will have to see what the vet says later. To me it seems the most likely explanation, even without the shortened stride not being present. I've had a half hearted bang around the nail hole and he's not reacted, but its totally different with pincers and pressure applied by the vet!
 
I really hope it is a new and unconnected foot problem, but I think the chances are that a previous problem is affecting him. It sounds like he has various problems, and the fact that when you initially started the second warm up you thought it was lameness that was normal for him speaks volumes.

With arthritis it is possible that once worked in one test, then stood still, that it would have been worse if you then wanted to do a second test. EG this is one of the diagnostic symptoms for bone spavin, an arthritic complaint.

Although only doing Trailblazers judging, a judge will generally not tell you your horse is "lame" but will use the term "unlevel." Ths is because as a dressage judge I am not considered an expert in diagnosing lameness, that is a job for the vet. I am, however, as a dressage judge, able to diagnose unlevel steps, as part of my expertise is in spotting level steps.

I think only a vet will tell, and am glad you have one booked.
 
Despite being no apparent heat or swelling, I would ask the vet to check the suspensories, just to be on the safe side. The quick spin during the spook may have just aggravated something.

You are probably aware that hind limb lameness can present as diagonally opposite front limb lameness.
 
Red-1 said:
I really hope it is a new and unconnected foot problem, but I think the chances are that a previous problem is affecting him. It sounds like he has various problems, and the fact that when you initially started the second warm up you thought it was lameness that was normal for him speaks volumes.

With arthritis it is possible that once worked in one test, then stood still, that it would have been worse if you then wanted to do a second test. EG this is one of the diagnostic symptoms for bone spavin, an arthritic complaint.

I think only a vet will tell, and am glad you have one booked.
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Hi Red 1

He's had bone spavin since 2009 when he was first diagnosed and has been treated for this and his hocks were fused 3.5 years ago. This followed the usual steroid injections and then the Tildren which is the normal pattern vets go down before performing chemical arthrodesis. And I think I can say with absolute certaintity it is nothing to do with the spavin, it is a front end issue. He has had various issues in the past and these have been treated accordingly, and like I say only two weeks ago the vet said I was okay to commence jumping him again. He has never reacted like this after a period of 3/4 hour rest. Usually he has a lot longer in between classes and is fine, so I do not think it is the spavin, as I have said there is no heat over that joint anymore.

He suffers from stiffness when he first goes from walk to trot which is eradicated after half a lap of the school. This is normal behaviour for most horses that suffer with any degree of arthritic changes, and that they are stiff going from one pace to another. This is the normal pattern for my horse too. It is NOT normal for him to be lame and I did not state that it was! This is why I have called the vet out.

If the judge thought my horse was lame he would not have said 'it is not a welfare issue if you continue' whether he was qualified or not. Nor would he have given me that option. This is a very experienced judge in our area and would not have compromised my horses welfare in order to judge a test.

I have always called a vet out immediately when I feel it is necessary and the very fact that I have already rang my physio and vet shows you that I am ensuring the very best with my horses welfare and will continue to be guided by the vet.
 
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Nappy Croc said:
Unlevel is a politically correct way of saying a bit lame.
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I am trying (and have been since Thursday) to rack my brains for the exact word used. I don't think it was unlevel, it may have been irregular stride, I suppose it may have meant the same thing, who knows.

I have received replies via a FB messages from both judges who I know quite well from previous yards and dressage competitions over the years, the one judge I know well personally and think very highly of, the other who I respect for their knowledge and experience, as I wanted to clarify the situation find out what they thought.

The one who stopped me in the second test said:

"Don't worry, like I said yesterday I was not pulling you up for a welfare issue just that he didn't look comfortable and I knew you would prefer me to mention. These things happen with horses and this is in no way a reflection on the care you have for your horse."

He is right I am glad he mentioned it, and thanked him for this, and told him I was getting the vet out and would not have continued riding him had I thought he was lame, which is why I questionned his way of going with my partner before I went into the arena.

The other judge who judged my first test said that it was "lovely to see me out and about again". She noted that Bails wasn't quite as smooth or settled as normal but she put that down to the foul weather (and the flapping banners!) She went on to say that "he definitely wasn't lame" and suggested that he may have Wstood on something or spooked more?"

I thought that was very nice of them to take the time to reply to me, they obviously understand I am worried and upset.

Hopefully I will get to the bottom of it tonight with the vet. Just wondered if anyone had any ideas.
 
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Many types of chronic lameness will show themselves this way but it a favourite way for foot pain to show up .
That's why the five stage vetting includes exercising the horse then tieing it up and then the dread lunge on the hard surface .
I hope you get some answers from the vet visit.
 
Update - the vet came out last night, started off with the pincers on the off fore but no reaction. Then he bent his off fore and started palpating his leg and he reacted around his lateral suspensory branch, off fore. The vet says he has tweaked this, only a very slight sprain as his previous suspensory injury which healed really well. He says it was undoubtedly when he spooked in the arena at the dressage after the first test as he watched the videos of the first test and could see his was sound and then the second test in which I was pulled up and could see his was lame and said it was what had happened in between that has set it off. Galloping around with half a bent shoe on the lunge the fortnight before wouldn't have helped and this and the additional work to prepare for the dressage, and the commencement of his jumping programme has just built up additional strain on a ligament already damaged by the lost shoe experience and 'voila', we are at this point, classic suspensory branch injury, which is quite a common injury.

So its a month of walking, then a month of walking with trot interspersed at short intervals building up the time again. Ice cups, the ice vibe boots which were my saviour last time around, and ultrasound treatment along with 1 x bute a day for 7-10 days and then maintenance of 1/2 sachet following. And build up of shoe on the inside branch of the shoe on that foot from the toe to the middle portion of the front of the shoe gradually tapering in at the front. He is okay to be turned out (we are still in the sandpit until the end of March) so its a good stable surface for him to walk on and no dragging his foot through the mud like the first branch injury thank goodness.

I just feel despair at the moment, but its one of those things, its happened before and you just have to keep plodding on. He's come back before and he has low level dressaged and jumped for years since, so the vet has said there is every reason he can do this, this time. In fact the photo of him jumping in my siggy was about 10-12 months on from the first injury. I could chuck him out for six months, but with his type of problems, unless he is kept in work he would just deteriorate and the vet has said its crucial he goes out every day and something is done with him, whether it be walking around the menage or hacking out. And there is no queston of PTS as the prognosis is good and I love him to bits anyway and wouldn't contemplate this unless the vet said it was necessary which it obbviously isn't.

I contacted my physio friend and she has kindly said I can rent her ultrasound machine so I can treat him every day. That and the ice vibe boots and ice cupping will hopefully go along way to helping the situation. The vet has said its not nearly as bad as the first suspensory branch injury and feels the prognosis is good as before.
 
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Is it the same leg and the same branch as previously injured? Has vet scanned to check amount of damage?/coming back later to scan once settled?
 
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Also IME of suspensory injury it often shows up more after work so it might not have been during the first test that the damage was done, just that aggravated it sufficiently for it to show up. We could only make our mare lame by schooling one day and she would be v. slightly lame the next and the 4 hours might have been long enough for this to show up.
 
ester said:
Is it the same leg and the same branch as previously injured? Has vet scanned to check amount of damage?/coming back later to scan once settled?
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No this is a new leg this time. Vet convinced it was due to the spin, obviously been weak previously to this, which I am guessing was at the time he was galloping around on this leg with a shoe half sprung off on the lunge as this would account for it being on this leg.

Just one of those things, he is obviously weak in this area.
 
Ah well that is probably a good thing!
And scanned/scanning next week when the edges have cleared? I would be a bit odd to give the treatment/rehab advice until that point as the edges need that time to properly form so you can view the extent of the damage.
 
The vet and I discussed it after the last one, and decided not to bother as I wasn't covered on my insurance and I won't be having this one scanned either as I am no longer insured. I can't really see the point, we know that the injury is slight, we know how well he responded the to the first injury and we know how well he responded to the second injury. We know by experience what worked and what didn't and there seems little point. We have enough experience now to know and ultrasounding is not going to tell us anymore than we already know. Sadly this is the third branch injury to three seperate legs. Experience also tells us that the horse is an incredibly fast healer, even though he is always given additional time more to recover than the vet has suggested.

It would appear from the history that I have with the horse that backing and constant riding of a fast growing 3-4 year old warmblood as they do so often on the continent does not help in the long run and only predisposes them to problems much further down the line. :( I make this solemn declaration now, that if ever I buy a young WB horse I will never ride it until its at least six! :eek:

Fortunately as I was convinced on the day of the injury that he had done something to one of his front legs as a precaution I ice vibed each one twice that day so I have already unknowingly given him the best start to the treatment he is going to require.

The L/W ultrasound, the ice vibe boots and the ice cupping will help the problem, as will the limited turnout and exercise plan. I don't mind spending twenty to thirty minutes once a day icing as I know the huge difference it makes, its only a shame I am unable to do this before work as well as after work but its impossible for me due to the time I start and the distance I travel. At the weekends I can ice his legs three times a day as I am only a couple of miles from the yard at the weekends.
 
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Your comments about backing age are very interesting. I was talking to an old ex jockey that I know recently and he was telling me about what he called 'the good old nags men' from when he was young. He reminded me that these old nags men were from a time when cars were not so common. They had in turn been trained by people that had worked with horses before cars were invented. He said that it always stuck in his mind that they never broke their own, personal horses until they were five or even six years old.
 
Faracat said:
Your comments about backing age are very interesting. I was talking to an old ex jockey that I know recently and he was telling me about what he called 'the good old nags men' from when he was young. He reminded me that these old nags men were from a time when cars were not so common. They had in turn been trained by people that had worked with horses before cars were invented. He said that it always stuck in his mind that they never broke their own, personal horses until they were five or even six years old.
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Yes this is so right! Backing horses too young causes innumerable problems to their joints and bones in later life, most horses bodies aren't capable of carrying people until they are at least six. My horse was four when he was backed and ridden away in Holland. He's had reasonably high mileage since I have owned him too as a 7 year old, as I used to compete every weekend, albeit low level jumping and dressage.
 
Sorry to hear your news. Oldies can be trying and I do respect your perseverance. If you let them down totally they can disintegrate in front of your eyes - been there and done it, got the T-shirt etc etc. If you can get your hands on a Zamar short-term that may help - generally even more effective than Ice-vibe.

Best of luck!
 
gunnergundog said:
If you let them down totally they can disintegrate in front of your eyes - been there and done it, got the T-shirt etc etc.
Best of luck!
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That's what the vet has said, he's seen it so many times, especially horses that have always been very active and ridden daily. They are suddenly turned out and their ligaments just go all stringy and weak and they literally fall apart. He said if I turned away Bailey this would undoubtedly happen to him.

I will google the Zamar now and see if my physio has one I can borrow. Thank you for your contribution, its very kind.

PS Just found a youtube link, very interesting. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NlRPHzQsu0s
 
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applecart14 said:
That's what the vet has said, he's seen it so many times, especially horses that have always been very active and ridden daily. They are suddenly turned out and their ligaments just go all stringy and weak and they literally fall apart. He said if I turned away Bailey this would undoubtedly happen to him.
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But surely you don't have to let him down completely - just perhaps adjust his workload? Light hacking and schooling, long reining, horse agility maybe - knock the jumping and more intensive dressage on the head? There's a lot of ground between in full competition work and turned away in a field . . . just a thought - suspensory injuries in three different legs seems beyond unlucky to me and (I've said it before and I'll say it again) if he were mine, I'd be seriously reconsidering his workload and adjusting accordingly.

Best of luck.

P
 
Hi Polarskye
The vet has said that its an extremely common injury particuarly with horses that jump. He's also had many many years without having a suspensory branch injury. And this is only about the eighth dressage comp we have done this year, unaffiliated so hardly intensive dressage.

Earlier in the year I did 2 ODE's and have jumped him up to 1m many times this year prior to this injury, when he was as fit as a fiddle and perfectly sound.

Unfortunately any horse can have an accident, and I believe that the galloping, bucking and generally going mad on the lunge with a half sprung shoe was what tweaked it initially. If this hadn't happened the injury he has sustained as a result of this would most certainly not have happened. That very same day the vet contacted me to say he'd seen the video and was so pleased with his progress he gave me permission to start jumping again, so it wasn't as if he wasn't fit and sound. He'd been worked three days per week light schooling for 30 mins each time, one day of 45 mins light schooling and a 5 mile hour and a half hack twice a week on top with one day off.

He may well have a weakness in his suspensory branches although his confirmation would not suggest this to be the case.

I will do as you suggest and have a think about his future and maybe just do the odd dressage and jumping competion, although this was what I was doing anyway, his workload has decreased from a jumping show every weekend, to one about every four weeks, as too the dressage. I have done more recently because I was off work and with the Xmas break and everything, and this could also be a contributing factor, but I do think that its too much of a coincidence that there is no link between galloping around on a twisted shoe and then this injury.
 
PolarExpress said:
But surely you don't have to let him down completely - just perhaps adjust his workload? Light hacking and schooling, long reining, horse agility maybe - knock the jumping and more intensive dressage on the head? There's a lot of ground between in full competition work and turned away in a field . . . just a thought - suspensory injuries in three different legs seems beyond unlucky to me and (I've said it before and I'll say it again) if he were mine, I'd be seriously reconsidering his workload and adjusting accordingly.

Best of luck.

P
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This is true and a the case for plenty of those getting a bit older. I am aware that I am a bit spoiled with Frank but am fully prepared to only hack him lightly when required (unfortunately for him the vet said no ;) ). suspensory injuries in three legs regardless of the time line over which they have occurred has got to be pretty unusual and with his other issues I think you have to be careful with any compensation he makes for lameness too.
 
Well yes, he has never had a tendon or ligament injury though, just a bit of old age stiffness/arthritis managed by physio and doing correct but only occasional schooling and in hand work.
 
The physio is going to come to me twice a week and ultrasound his leg as she is visiting other yards in the immediate area on those days. Hopefully this and the ice therapy should help quite a bit.

I walked him round the car park last night as I did not feel very well and didn't feel I could ride. I also started on the ice cupping last night for 20 mins followed by Ice Vibe for 20 mins. Luckily he is a very good patient! ANd I am very patient! :)
 
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