Horse striking into his own legs causing them to collapse

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Flinte

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Has any one ever had/known of a horse being so close in front that it strikes into its own leg making it give way? He does it LF into RF and RF into LF! My horse is 20 years old and has started doing it over the last 6 months and we're still unsure of the reason. He is sound and been nerve blocked in the feet and there's no change. Just wondering if anyone has heard of it before as myself, the vet and the farrier are baffled!
 
If he's only started doing this over the last 6 months, then something is clearly wrong. Have his hooves been X-rayed to check they are correctly balanced? Perhaps he's compensating for a problem that's developed further up?
 
Scatterbrain said:
If he's only started doing this over the last 6 months, then something is clearly wrong. Have his hooves been X-rayed to check they are correctly balanced? Perhaps he's compensating for a problem that's developed further up?
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Yep everything's just as it should be on X Rays and Scans, nerve blocks show nothing etc and he is sound. His feet are well balanced too.
I was just wondering if any one had ever had this problem with their own horse as I've been around/worked with horses all my life and have never come across it and neither has anyone I know
 
Have you had a chiro check if he is out of alignment? wondering about shoulder pain or some sort of tension elsewhere causing him to evade using himself correctly??.... Is he putting all of his weight in the front end and the legs are close to try to support himself??
 
Yeah he's been checked and he was Higher one one side but she thought it was due to him having a suspensory injury (minor wear and tear at 20 years old).
He's doing it less and less so I think with the physio and the farriery we're on the right lines no one seems to have heard of a horse taking out its own leg... He can't be the only one to ever do it!!
 
Is there any muscle wastage to give you any clues, mine stood very close together in front when he was very sore behind with a spavin brewing - he was also one side higher than the other because he found it hard to flex one hock as much as the other, if you stood behind him you could see one side of his bum was slightly less muscled than the other from incorrect use - probably not that but just a thought that it might be pain from behind transferring forward, it can affect the straightness of the front end movement.....
 
Yeah I understand what you mean Beth but I don't think it's the case for mine as the physio said that his back end felt amazing! It was from his atlas all the way down his neck that was higher one side.
He's been out of ridden work for 5 months now and is only in hand walking so it's hard to tell about muscle wastage.
The only reason we know that he's striking himself is because I've spent hours filming him and caught it on camera a few times (he's never done it in front of the vet) There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason for it so far but there must be one.
 
Maybe if you could pop a video on the forum someone with a bit more knowledge than me might spot something. Could it be neurological??? That's isn't meant to panic you just a pondering on my part?
 
No we've been down the neurological route and it's not that either. It's definately improving but think it's going to take a long time.
I imagine other horses do it but it goes unnoticed as when you're on board it just feels like them stumbled/stood on a stone etc. it's only for the reason that he's SO sure footed normally that it started to worry me. Am sure we'll get him fixed :)
 
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