Assymetric hindquarters

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jotesh

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When standing behind my 5yo mare, her left hindquarter slopes more than her right. This is not something that she has always been like but something that we have noticed recently. We have had the back man who said her pelvis was out (but not majorly) and said that she was weaker in the left muscle but not to do anything different but keep an eye on it.

However went to my trainer Saturday who was a little more concerned and said she not quite pulling that leg through as much as the other. So we came straight home and on her advice got the vet this morning. She said that there is minor muscle wastage and obviously something causing this. Did flexion tests that had no impact and said she working well through her hocks and back; the only thing she said detrimental is that she seems to be pushing into canter off both hind legs which could indicate pain somewhere.

Although she not 100% certain what it is / not, her view was to put the mare on bute for a month and work her gently but in an outline to see if some anti-inflamatories help (and also try to build up the muscle). However I still feel that we don't really know the cause and am quite worried. Just wondering if anyone has had a similar issue...
 
My current loan horse has an assymetrical pelvis from an old injury, it causes some muscle wastage but hes in no pain.

owner never noticed and i only did because he wasnt tracking up on one side so after vet/physio that was the outcome.
 
Mine has slightly - my Physio picked it up during a general check up.
She said not to worry about it as he was muscled evenly so was working equally on both sides and gave me exercises to make sure it is activated.

In fact it's his front feet that are his problem area and that's even.
 
Don't want to scare you. My four year old mare was asymetrical, with wastage on the right hip. It was due to her rear suspensory ligament issue, she couldn't use her back end properly, it got worse over the year I had her, with bouts of on/off lameness. We tried working through except when she was obviously in pain. PM me if you want.
 
Mine as some asymetry (right side slopes more), I noticed it when I went to look at him to buy, vet who vetted him said it looked to be from an old injury and was not something to worry about as he was sound and tracking up. (he was a cheap oneto play with so worth the risk)
It has improved alot in a year, but he will never lose the asymetry completely, but as he is sound and moving well I am not worried about it.
I would also be a bit concerned with yours though if you say this is a recent development - is she insured for vets fees? If you are really concerned and don't want to wait the month, you could always speak to your vet again and see what options there would be ... the problem being it is relatively difficult to look at that area of the horse... esp if it is muscle related rather than bone - for bone, then you may see something on a scintigraphy scan...

I am presuming that you are worried that as you do not know the cause you may be making something worse (that would be my thinking if she was mine) - if that is the case - I would speak to your vet again and explain your concerns and see what she says- yoiu could always get a second opinion.
 
Thanks guys. Yes I think I'm worried that we do not know the exact cause... I'm the kind of person that wants to know the exact reason not it could be this or that! Very impatient and she is my baby of course... feel a bit helpless.

But I trust my vet implictly. I have had her for 20 years and she is fantastic. She said that she did not think she required x-rays, etc at this point in time. There is no lameness and believe me seeing her flying around on the lunge this morning you would not believe there was anything wrong with her. Will give her the 3 weeks and try not to stress too much
 
I appreciate it could be any number of minor issues that are causing your problem but for what its worth this was one of the first symptons we had with our gelding's hind limb psd. The 'not coming through' also was evident. It was a more of a change of way of going than an out and out lameness. He was kept in work on the vets advice and still winning dressage tests . As the problem persisted we asked for a referral. The second opinion at Newmarket would have passed him as sound on initial examination. It was only when the vet lunged him in canter on a semi hard surface and he became disunited that he began to suspect a problem. Should you suspect psd please do not work through it. He had 2 trips through the nuclear scanner which failed to reveal any major issues.
Simple nerve blocks and scans diagnosed the problem in the end.
 
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