Bridle Lame - one rein only?

Gingerwitch

Gingerwitch

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Friend telling me today about her mare - she is apparantly bridle lame, but would appear to be sound on one rein, but not on the other?

Never heard of this before - i just thought if a horse was bridle lame, it was lame doing almost everything.

Is bridle lameness cureable? I am worrying now in case my little chap is this (i must be one of those something by proxy mums !) as i have had some lameness issues which were down to his saddle bridging.
 
I am sorry, but lame is lame.
There could be a few factors causing the pain; incorrectly fitting saddle or bridle, tooth pain, pain when working in a tight school, pain when carrying the additional weight of a rider. All of them need to be investigated and eliminated, for the horse's welfare (or she shouldn't be worked).
'Bridle lameness' isn't a diagnosis, it's just a rather vague description of a lameness associated with ridden work.
S :D
 
Bridle lame is a bit of a vague term, I thought this about my TB, but it turned out twas my very slight lopsided riding/seat bones (I mean three quarters of an inch out only) - a few lessons with a superb BHS instructor sorted it out.
 
My mare is very bright in a cunning way and she worked out that if she dropped her shoulder while being ridden we thought she was lame and she got off work. Once we'd discovered this a good kick and a slap "cured" the lameness in two strides and she got on with it!
 
My instructor insisted one of my mares was bridle lame. She said she was fat and lazy and she would lunge the mare in a NZ to sweat it off her.

She was intermittently lame. Then she started wasting on one shoulder. I called in an Osteopath who diagnosed she has torn a muscle, caused either by stopping and sliding to a halt or in a fast breaking horse box. The lameness started when she came back from stud!!(empty)

I am pleased I did not buy 'bridle lameness'. Mare is looking good after a period of physio.
 
"Bridle lame" is a really vague term. Some people use it to mean "we don't really know why this horse is lame", others use to refer to intermittent lameness, others use it to mean a behavioural resistance to working on the bridle.

R was mildly lame on one rein and not on the other with no evidence of limb or back problems. Turned out to be a sharp tooth that was being pressed by the bridle and there was more pressure on one rein than the other, hence the difference. Luckily it was very easy to sort out but it did take 7 weeks to find it!!!
 
As others have said, bridle lame is lame, but not necessarliy a problem if it has been properly investigated.

My current horse is slightly mechanically lame behind, due to an old stifle injury. Scar tissue makes him unable to track up evenly with both back legs, its been fully checked out, at great expense and causes him no pain, its just the way he moves now. Hence when bent on a circle it shows up the problem, and causes him to look much lamer than he is, hence brile lame. As you can guess we don't compete in dressage very often!

I've also see it in stiff\young horses which don't bend around the leg properly. If you try and go through a corner like that you are going to need to do something cleaver with your legs to stop yourself from falling over.

However unless I knew what the reason was for certain, I would always get it looked at.
 
My horse has a tendancy to do this after he has been worked I let him have a stretch and he often does the head rising thing that makes you think he is lame but he is not lame as he walks if you get me. As he works in an outline through the schooling once I let go it takes him a while to reajust as he is very heavy on my hands in the outline which I am working on at the minute.
 
My boy was showing bridle lameness in our last lesson, we figured it out that actually he was swinging his quarters left (on both reins) and this was just making him look a little uneven. All the while he didn't actually 'feel' lame. :)
A couple of sessions working on the bending issue and hes much better.
And, his back, teeth, saddle and feet are done very regularly :) just to make sure there are no up-coming issues! :)
 
Shilasdair said:
I am sorry, but lame is lame.
There could be a few factors causing the pain; incorrectly fitting saddle or bridle, tooth pain, pain when working in a tight school, pain when carrying the additional weight of a rider. All of them need to be investigated and eliminated, for the horse's welfare (or she shouldn't be worked).
Click to expand...

Agree completely
 
I agree with Shils too :D

So called bridle lameness can also appear because a horse isn't working correctly or has uneven muscle development, it can also be 'nappy' behaviour.

My friends youngster appear bridle lame on the lunge in the corner of the school where he can see his friends in the school, he's had everything checked and it disappears when he's encouraged to be more forward and work correctly.
 
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