Bi-lateral lameness - any vets out there

[quirky]

I'll try and make this quick.
My horse is lame on near hind and off fore, since Easter. Been referred to Leahurst, they say it's not significant enough to do tests. They recommended natural balance shoes and to carry on riding him. Had old trainer over to look at him this week (she has know him since I had him but not seen him for a year) and she agrees with me that his whole way of going is changed. He has no muscle to speak of even though he is in work, she said he should have more than he has from just wandering round the field.
I am finding it difficult to get my vet to do anymore for me and short of throwing myself on the surgery floor and crying, I don't know what else to do.
I think his problems are neurological but only because the vets cannot find any pain that may be causing this.
Now his behaviour has changed. He has always been tricky but manageable (by me). Now at the weekend I had to get off him on a hack as his behaviour was dangerous. Last night I was riding and I fell off when he went from a forward going trot, to halt with a spin very quickly. He's never behaved like this before and had no reason to last night.
If it helps, his dam was put down because of (suspected) neurological problems.
Could this be neurological, or am I clutching at straws?

 

[kildalton]

My daughter's old mare would flip just like that and was very dangerous. After being told it was a behavioural problem, she insisted furthur tests were done, and the mare had all sorts of spinal/ neuro problems. She also had muscle wastage.

 

[Twigben]

I am so sorry to hear you are having so many problems - i had some similar problems to you with my boy - to cut a v long story short after months and months of being told my boy had behavioural problems (biting, kicking etc when groomed, tacked up, mounted, dangerous to ride, nap, rear, buck etc - progressively getting worse) i stuck to my guns and forced the vets to do a bone scan and then after x-rays and and ultra sound they found arthritis in the spine and bone spavins in both hocks - turns out he was lame on both hinds and one foreleg - when the vets told me he was ok!! I knew he wasnt! His odd way of going was the subject of 3 lame legs and a v v painful spine.

I guess all i can say from my experience is if you think there is something wrong go with your instinct and really push the vets or get a 2nd opinion!

PM me if you want any more info - i really do feel for you

Big hugs x

 

[BethH]

Would definitely agree with comments above, my horse was bi-laterally lame behind, took 2 yrs to diagnose. Because of this, he was tricky but evolved into being simply dangerous in every respect, turns out he had a kissing spine poor thing must have been really uncomfortable for a really long time.

My story is luckier than the above, I know that Twigben really went through the mill, Ryan had surgery and is doing really well, we are even out doing some low level dressage and about to start jumping. I only wish I had been brave enough to have the scan earlier, was too scared and to much of a novice to believe I could deal with whatever the result was, happily for me, I learnt loads and so did Ryan and we are both moving forward together.

It may be something simple that can be easily fixed, if you can, try to persuade your insurers to pay for investigation and don't delay it, with many of these things the time limit on insurance runs out surprisingly quickly, if your vet isn't helpful ask to be referred for a 2nd opinion, there is nothing like a bad back to make a horse play up, maybe even a decent physio might be able to help you pinpoint a problem area. A vet I know once said to me if that if her owners believe something isn't quite right, 9 times out of 10 they are generally proved right in the long run, stick to your guns and sob on your vets floor!

 

[cellie]

I had major bucking and some rearing incidents.My horse had spavin and has now been operated on.His bucking and rearing seem to have stopped now he is more comfortable although we havent managed to get down to more serious work as of yet.His spavin also caused concussion on front leg and splint bi lateral lameness which is why I read your post .Maybe a coincidence but you could look into spavin.Pm me if you need any more info.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

As BethH says - you're the customer and it's your money that will be paying for any treatment/tests so insist (don't just ask) on a 2nd opinion/referral to a specialist lameness centre.