Front leg locking and falling on knees

Aztec1

Aztec1

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Just wondering if anyone has or have had the same experience.. My 19 yr old gelding occasionally over the last couple of yrs whilst hacking has had his front leg kinda lock as if he is missing a stride... Never seemed to pose much a problem as we have only been hacking the past 12 months, but decided to have a dressage lesson on him last week after me having a break last season due to having a baby. As we were trotting around the school practising a test his leg locked he tripped and went right down on his knees ( I fell right over his head), we then got back up and he was fine. On Tuesday whilst hacking the same thing happened his leg locked and then he slipped and went down sideways again.. Have had vet look at him but at a glance cant find anything so has put him on Danillon for 2 wks and said if he is no better he will come back and nerve block him.. He suggested keeping him on Danillon for the rest of his life but he is never lame or stiff his front leg just seems to lock and now he is falling with it and I am getting nervous riding him now as its not a nice thing for me or him .. Any suggestions would b really appreciated...

Many Thanks
 
I would get a really good physio to give him a once over to see if there's anything muscular going on higher up.
Danilon for the rest of his life does not sound like a particularly great solution- is there any associated lameness?
 
That sounds like stay mechanism issues, I have a horse near me with this, and she puts fetlock wraps on him to ride in case he stumbles, but generally speaking he does OK. Your vet should be able to diagnose this though.
 
Are you sure his feet haven't got out of shape. They should be pretty much the same wall angle all the way down from the coronet to the ground. You see quite a lot of horses whose feet are not being maintained correctly, and/or are being trimmed too infrequently, with "ski slopes" for hoof walls. In other words, the wall flares out massively towards the ground, especially at the front of the wall, ie the toe.

There's a horse round here who I saw once, who tripped when he saw us approaching. His feet were just horrendous - the toes were massively too long, and it was a surprise that he could walk at all. Owner looked as though she doted on him, he looked well looked after in every other way, but she couldn't see why he was tripping, and just said he did it a lot.

If it is that, it should be easy to sort........ especially if you change to a better farrier if need be.

Sarah:):)
 
Many thanks for your replies, have spoken to my farrier who says he already shoes him for an older horse that trips and he has rolled toes. A highly recommended physiotherapist is coming out tomorrow morning to check him all over.. Im not going to write him off yet until I have eliminated everything it could possibly be as he has been such a good horse to me over the past years.. Will keep you all informed after tomorrow morning.....

Many Thanks again
 
Quick update had the chiropractor last night and his back and neck were both completly out took about an hour to put right.. Not aloud to ride for 3 weeks only lunge incase the problems she corrected were because of the fall not what is causing his tripping ..... She is going to return in 3 weeks to check on him again .....

Thankyou everyone
x
 
My vet reckons it could b navicular as he has started standing with one foot in front the other now and the foot that he us tripping on us smaller than the other one ... He is still stiff whilst lunging so having him x rayed this wk ... Does anyone have any experience of navicular ???
 
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