horse lameness???

[lisaaaa]

Hi
Does anybody out there know why a horse might be lame on one rein only? I know this must sound ridiculous but i bought a horse at Easter that had not been ridden for 8 months. She is absolutely great in every way and is everything the previous owner had promised except when schooloing her she is slightly lame on the left rein. I am baffled by this.

 

[AmyMay]

What does your vet say about it?

 

[Booboos]

Which rein and which leg?
What happens when you lunge on a surface without a rider?
Is she lame on hard ground or only on a surface?
What does the vet say?

One of the easiest things to check is teeth as they may be a bit sharp and this can cause lameness when asking the horse to work on the bit and this can affect only one rein (depending on where the sharp edges are).

Another possibility is that more strain is being put on the lame leg on one rein working on circles than on the other. This could be due to a large number of underlying issues so best to talk to a vet.

 

[lisaaaa]

The vet is my next port of call. She is not lame when lungeing or out on a hack, it only tends to be when working in the sand and only on the one rein. I've just read about horses being bridle lame and this sounds a possibility. She does a skippy trot when taking a contact with her but when she decides it's probably easier to work properly and trot out the lameness goes. I've had her teeth checked and they are ok. Maybe it's my riding, or she's just being awkward. I'm hoping it's a combination of a horse and rider who have had a good spell off and are getting back into the swing of things. Thanks for your comments.

 

[Booboos]

My horse did exactly the same thing and it turned out to be a tooth, although it took a long time to find as it was very far back and the vet missed it first time.

Try different bridle and bit combinations to see if there is anything that pinches or puts pressure in a specific area. Maybe see if your instructor can hop on and ride her out of it (sometimes bridlelameness is a sign of a bit of laziness to really work through), but first I would get the vet just to make sure there is no physical problem.

Good luck!