Horse dropping hindquarter

Penny Less

Penny Less

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Can anyone give me any advice on above. Horse dropping nearside hindquarter. Vet thinks could be hock arthritis on that leg, but I thought horses "lifted on the lame side, sinks on the sound side" which would mean the offside hind ? Anyway horse been on two weeks bute which hasnt made any difference, so possibly going to have to go to horsepital for
nerve blocks etc. Im wondering if it could be sacroiliac problems ? Anyone got any ideas.
 
The hindquarters do sink on the side that the horse is lame behind unlike a fore limb lameness. The horse would sink on the lame side regardless of where in the limb they are lame, so sounds like nerve blocks are the way to go to pinpoint the area that is causing the lameness.
 
No probs, a horse that is lame behind is reluctant to push forward and up with the lame leg so that is why it drops. In front more weight is put on the sound leg and less on the lame one so the horse drops on the sound side. If the horse is very lame behind he can also look lame in front as he puts more weight on the diagonal front to compensate for the lack of push from behind. hope that makes sense !
 
Sounds like scaroiliac - I hope not for your sake. Is the horse better lunged than ridden? Does it find canter difficult and small circles?

Ours has intermittent lameness ridden, very intermittent on lunge, a reluctance to go over trot poles or to turn tight circles. He plaits with the hind on the affected side. He will drop the hind quarter sometimes and at other times be stiff in the hind leg with a short choppy gait - unwillingness to use his back and lack of impulsion from behind.
He has been nerve blocked and diagnosed with scaroiliac dysfunction/problem at Sue Dyson's clinic at AHT. Likely chronic changes.
 
Hi, my lad exactly the same symptoms and I also thought it was sacroiliac issues almost convinced myself he had, his right hind had dropped and had very poor muscle development across the hind on that side. He was referred to a lameness specialist and she picked up he was lame on that side ( it was that subtle you had to really look hard). So to cut it short he had bone scan and xrays revealing mild oseteoarthritis in his right hock, unfortunately they also picked up ks as well however he only has the one impinging vertebra and are treating his hock as the ks has fused.

He is now on tildren and had cortisone injection in that hock, 4 weeks rest and am now just able to light hack, he has his next tildren in 3 weeks time. I have put him on Cortaflex and am going to be trying him with boswella as I have heard this is very good natural anti- inflam .

Karen x
 
Hiya, tagging on here as you have all had hind limb problems and my mare is still undiagnosed but you may be able to help:-)

My horse started to canter like this about 3 months ago...anyone ever seen this before?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jlMYm8pRg8U

She saw numerous different specialists - vet, neurologist, orthapaedic, physio, chiro etc...all stumped as to what it could be, very very slightly lame on the right hind, less than 1/10th, no change after nerve blocking the hock.

Anyway after a couple of months on box rest, controlled work plus anti inflam steroids it is the same...she's been out in the field since & I have gradually brought her back into work to find it is exactly the same - argh!

It is better on the lunge than with me on board but she still does it when cantering round the field.

Was feeling quite defeated by it all until the saddle fitter harmlessly said "you know how you said your saddle shifts to the right, well her right hind quarter drops much lower than her left in trot".

Finally a minor break through...anyway after further examination she is definitely lame in that hind with no improvement when the hock is block so were off to RVC for a bone scan in the next couple of weeks.

Would really appreciate it if anyone has witnessed this before?

Thanks.
 
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How old is your mare and are there any other mystery habits she has? How is she with the farrier? Did you have any problems with coming to a square halt when schooling her?
My gelding has had mystery "issues" as yet undiagnosed but I have my suspitions about what it is. My vet doesn't agree but I have learnt how to manage my horses problems.
He used to knuckle over on his hind fetlocks when I was schooling him and was quite difficult with his hind legs when asked to pick them up.
Does this ring any bells for you?
 
No Muff747 nothing like that. She is on loan, after being rested for 6 months ,not for lameness issues, and have only got on her 4 weeks ago and found she was lame so not been ridden since,only trotted up for vet etc,
 
Muff747 I recognise the stuff you are saying...she always picks her back feet up but the right hind she let's you "carry" for her, we never get a square halt behind, typically right hind out behind, we bend to the right on permanent basis and find it hard to get a contact in the right rein, I slide to the right on her and even if I put all my weight to the left we still go round to the right, we struggle with right canter lead...these ring any bells for you?
 
Sizz, just read an article where it says in hindlimb lameness the horse sinks on the sound side so bit confuzzled now as to which leg is the problem !
 
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