Horse not bringing hind leg under in canter

[canteron]

Just wondering if anyone has any experience of this.
First thing to say is working with the vet and physio, which is slowly bankrupting me, to eliminate things but I just know there is so much knowledge out there. Physio comes every other week and says she is really good atm.

Horse (15hh cob) doesn’t bring his near hind leg under him properly in canter, very obvious on a left hand circle - looking at videos it seems to have got worse.

The trot work is beautiful - floaty and elegant, and she offers canter on a hack (always the same lead) but in the school she doesn’t like it on either lead.

One possibility is ulcers - but she is a chilled little thing and lives out 24/7 with buddies, maybe a little fat but not desperate.

If a strong rider asks, she will canter ok in the school, if a weaker rider asks she does anything she can to avoid.

Scratching my head and don’t know whether to go down the impossibly intrusive investigation route with possibly no answer or work on the schooling and stretching (we have horse yoga exercises) and hope that does it.

Thanks.

 

[Birker2020]

Just wondering if anyone has any experience of this.
First thing to say is working with the vet and physio, which is slowly bankrupting me, to eliminate things but I just know there is so much knowledge out there. Physio comes every other week and says she is really good atm.

Horse (15hh cob) doesn’t bring his near hind leg under him properly in canter, very obvious on a left hand circle - looking at videos it seems to have got worse.

The trot work is beautiful - floaty and elegant, and she offers canter on a hack (always the same lead) but in the school she doesn’t like it on either lead.

One possibility is ulcers - but she is a chilled little thing and lives out 24/7 with buddies, maybe a little fat but not desperate.

If a strong rider asks, she will canter ok in the school, if a weaker rider asks she does anything she can to avoid.

Scratching my head and don’t know whether to go down the impossibly intrusive investigation route with possibly no answer or work on the schooling and stretching (we have horse yoga exercises) and hope that does it.

Thanks.

The most obvious thing IMHO would be that he/she has spavin, worse in one leg than the other?

My horse used to swap his hind legs on the short side of the school, he wasn't so bad on the long side, but short side he'd always swap over. And he really hated being long reined on a circle or having any training aid that sat behind his bum to get him to use it more, he was very resentful of that. That's when he got diagnosed with spavin.

Are you riding him/her through from behind? Does he/she move the same way with a more experienced rider?

 

[TheMule]

My next step would be to try blocking a few things in that hind leg, possibly hock x-ray if indicated and steroid into the SI

 

[Jenko109]

Do you think it could be a result of your horse being confused about how they identify and what their pronouns are?

 

[canteron]

Oh Spavin …. Never heard of it, every day is a school day with horses!
She is only 7 and in pretty good Nick, but I guess it could well be?? I will read up and discuss with vet. Thank you.

 

[canteron]

Do you think it could be a result of your horse being confused about how they identify and what their pronouns are?

Interesting point.

 

[canteron]

My next step would be to try blocking a few things in that hind leg, possibly hock x-ray if indicated and steroid into the SI

Yes - while I don’t mind doing this …. and SI definitely a possible … I just wonder whether there needs to be a stronger indication before putting the horse through medical intervention.
The vet came out originally as she was very out of sorts (very grumpy and defensive) even though she seems happy and pain free now (as far as I can tell) this issue remains.

But thank you for your thoughts.

 

[TheMule]

Yes - while I don’t mind doing this …. and SI definitely a possible … I just wonder whether there needs to be a stronger indication before putting the horse through medical intervention.
The vet came out originally as she was very out of sorts (very grumpy and defensive) even though she seems happy and pain free now (as far as I can tell) this issue remains.

But thank you for your thoughts.

You've said it's very obvious on a left circle…. Block the right part, you should get true canter.

 

[Pinkvboots]

I would say si joint when Arabi was struggling in canter we medicated the si joint and he looked so much better immediately.

It's not an awful procedure they are sedated and it's literally a few needles into the joint using a scanning machine, it took about half an hour at most.

 

[ycbm]

Very likely to be a hind end issue with the obvious culprits being hocks and proximal suspensory issues, with SI in there but often secondary to one or both of the other two. If s/he is a typical straight legged cob then PSD goes to the top of the list for me and will need an ultrasound scan to rule out. It should be possible to narrow down the site with some nerve blocks, which is where I would be going.

 

[MiJodsR2BlinkinTite]

Does your vets offer Equinosis?

Had this for mine; its something my vets (Tor Equine, Devon) have started doing for lameness diagnosis, they had a client evening when it was on special offer for £100 so as mine struggles with getting a correct right canter lead I thought it was worth going for it.

Just offering this as a suggestion. You may need to ask for a referral as not every vets may be able to offer it.

 

[eggs]

What diagnostics has your vet done?

It could be many things but I would start with a proper lameness workup.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Just wondering if anyone has any experience of this.
First thing to say is working with the vet and physio, which is slowly bankrupting me, to eliminate things but I just know there is so much knowledge out there. Physio comes every other week and says she is really good atm.

Horse (15hh cob) doesn’t bring his near hind leg under him properly in canter, very obvious on a left hand circle - looking at videos it seems to have got worse.

The trot work is beautiful - floaty and elegant, and she offers canter on a hack (always the same lead) but in the school she doesn’t like it on either lead.

One possibility is ulcers - but she is a chilled little thing and lives out 24/7 with buddies, maybe a little fat but not desperate.

If a strong rider asks, she will canter ok in the school, if a weaker rider asks she does anything she can to avoid.

Scratching my head and don’t know whether to go down the impossibly intrusive investigation route with possibly no answer or work on the schooling and stretching (we have horse yoga exercises) and hope that does it.

Thanks.

My mare is like this when her pelvis goes out. So I would say after the vet get a chiro out.

She always rotates to the right so off hind fails to come under when in the school or lunging.

 

[SEL]

What's she like on the lunge? Clue for me that the problem was a saddle / rider combo was my little cob going beautifully into the difficult canter lead on the lunge and cantering a lovely balanced quite small circle on a lead she definitely did not want to take under saddle.

 

[JGC]

Mine has just had similar and it was hind suspensory, but it really wasn't obvious where it was coming from, so had to block to get anywhere.

 

[musk]

What's she like on the lunge? Clue for me that the problem was a saddle / rider combo was my little cob going beautifully into the difficult canter lead on the lunge and cantering a lovely balanced quite small circle on a lead she definitely did not want to take under saddle.

This is a very good point -we have been having issues with one of ours finding it difficult to get into canter on one particular rein unless heavily supported by a rider, it was obvious it was because he was struggling to bring his leg forward. I tried him on the lunge and he found it easy to pick up on lunge. Went in for a full work up at vet -zero signs of lameness were found but back pain (despite physio being very happy with his muscles etc) and SI pain upon palpitation. Diagnosed with sore SI and one area of mild kissing spine but suspect the SI has been the real culprit. No behavioural issues present.
I am trying to treat SI with Indiba rather than steroids for the moment. Currently had 4 sessions and I am doing lots of in hand exercises to strengthen core etc. Haven't attempted riding again as want to finish course of 6 Indiba and do a couple more weeks of inhand work first.

 

[holeymoley]

My money's on hocks or si.

 

[SEL]

This is a very good point -we have been having issues with one of ours finding it difficult to get into canter on one particular rein unless heavily supported by a rider, it was obvious it was because he was struggling to bring his leg forward. I tried him on the lunge and he found it easy to pick up on lunge. Went in for a full work up at vet -zero signs of lameness were found but back pain (despite physio being very happy with his muscles etc) and SI pain upon palpitation. Diagnosed with sore SI and one area of mild kissing spine but suspect the SI has been the real culprit. No behavioural issues present.
I am trying to treat SI with Indiba rather than steroids for the moment. Currently had 4 sessions and I am doing lots of in hand exercises to strengthen core etc. Haven't attempted riding again as want to finish course of 6 Indiba and do a couple more weeks of inhand work first.

Be interested to know how you get on with indiba - I've been thinking about it for one of mine but we haven't got mains electric so needs some planning.

Are you planning a saddle check before riding starts again? I'm a bit blown away by how differently one of mine (who has a lot of skeletal issues) is moving after a change to a WOW saddle. I'm actually having to rein myself in from doing too much because she won't have the right muscles in place so needs to be a gentle increase in work.

OP - it is worth seeing how your horse goes without a rider. I remember watching my Appy take a sharp turn in the field on the wrong canter lead and not change. That was when I realised there was definitely something physical stopping her wanting to do right canter (navicular right fore) because any other horse would have switched leads. A short bute trial can also be useful just to see whether behaviour changes. If it does that obviously indicates pain.

 

[Sossigpoker]

I'd stop paying for physio for now and do a lameness work up with the vet. So nerve blocks and x-rays/scans. Sounds like it could be the hock but vet can confirm.

 

[Dave's Mam]

Not stepping under can also be a hindgut issue, I read an article by Tom Beech on it.

 

[sbloom]

So many possible reasons. Ulcers/gut pain a possibility, worth just checking across diet and maybe looking at things like Kerry Ridgway's way to assess for ulcers.

Does your saddle slip one way? How symmetrical is your horse (https://stephaniebloomsaddlefitter.co.uk/blog-and-resources/wonky-donkeys, look at the horse's balance and ribcage, not shoulders)? I think more often than not these issues show up a compensatory movement patterns, usually exacerbated by carrying a rider. It can sometimes look like a saddle issue even when it's not, but worth trying something else.

 

[TPO]

Not stepping under can also be a hindgut issue, I read an article by Tom Beech on it.

Does that not usually show in off hind?

OP, what canter lead does he/she always offer out hacking?

I agree that a lameness work up would be my next step and that would more than likely involve blocking.

 

[scats]

Hocks, PSD or SI… or a combination of all.

 

[Trouper]

It could be many things but what I do think is that it is the classic sort of case that Tom Beech deals with.

 

[sbloom]

It is more often off hind but I know of several horses with hind gut issues that just had general performance issues so worth never ruling out.

 

[ycbm]

It could be many things but what I do think is that it is the classic sort of case that Tom Beech deals with.

Doesn't Tom Beech normally deal with horses other vets have failed to find a solution to? This horse hasn't had the most obvious things checked by her own vet yet.
.

 

[Pinkvboots]

Thats a lot of physio every other week even when mine have been on a physio rehab they don't come that often, sounds like over kill to me and its obviously not solved it I would get the vet to investigate.

 

[hock]

You’ve had really great advice! Just to add left canter for mares especially in season/summer can be an issue. I initially ruled it out because I thought she was he .

 

[Trouper]

Doesn't Tom Beech normally deal with horses other vets have failed to find a solution to? This horse hasn't had the most obvious things checked by her own vet yet.
.

Not necessarily. As he is also an equine vet he can give an informed opinion on whether "traditional" investigations are necessary. However, I have found listening to him that so many cases he sees are soft tissue issues that he deals with regularly and with some success.

 

[millitiger]

What diagnostics has the vet already done, as you say you are working closely with them?

Physio every 2 weeks is not normal on a leisure horse- I would be concerned about your physio taking money fortnightly and you still having a horse which is lame in canter.
I would drop the physio and spend the money to get the vet (or another vet) to come and nerve block until they find the source of the lameness