how is he looking?

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Pidge

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sorry if this should pe in PG but more people come in here.
these were taken on Wednesday night but only just managed to get them off my phone. what do you think he looks like movement wise? apologies for the quality they are off my mobile.


Playing with Sunny and nearlly demolishing me
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I can't decide if he has some slight head movement when on the right rein or not. Bit blocky. I like his action though, he moves much freer than Patches does and if there is any head movement, it is VERY VERY slight. Certainly doesn't look like anything to worry about with him Sue. He looks really well.

Love the last video. Look how playful Pidge is and Sunny had me in stitches backing away from him.
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not the best videos as they are off my phone, sorry. thanks Clare with seeing him all the time I don't tend to notice the small things and wanted some other opinions on how he was moving.
Touch wood I don't think he has lost too much muscle either, so now starting to do bits with him have upped his food slightly.
Had to include the playing pictures as Pidge is obviosuly feeling well in himself.
Just had to confess to sis the reason why Sunny's mane is such a mess
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is this any better?
It is his off hind that he has been diagnosed with hock spavin in so which rein would he be worse on?
 
yes am not sure if that is just him or because he's lame
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will have to see if I can find an old video of him moving to compare with. Going to fetch him in now as he's been out enough today and its peeing it down with rain
 
He certainly looks very well of himself, it must be heartening for you to see him enjoying himself. I love the way he is playing with the mane of his friend
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Can't see head bobbing but he does look short on his right hind. Showed OH the video & he noticed it right away (but then he has so much experience of same thing with Marco, only Marco's is left hind).
He is miles better than Marco was, though, Marco was really awkward on the downward transition from canter to trot. Hopefully you won't have such a bad time with Pidge.
 
thanks, he has always been a bit different with that leg as he has mild stringhalt in it so I guess I'm kind of used to how he moves by now. It's weird to describe but its like he sort of pauses the leg does that make sense?
Fingers crossed he hasn't put himself back too much tonight though
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I could not see the video that well but what I would say is:
Overall I am surprised how well he is moving if he has a spavin in off hind.
I think there is a tiny amount of stiffness where he seems to hold hock in the air and not push it freely through....(like a pause in movement really)
I would expect him to be worse (to take shorter/more restricted steps) on the left rein when that leg is on the outside.
Overall though I am amazed how little impairment there is to his movement. You said he has been treated??
 
tink you've described his action very well, thanks.
the vets have given him a Depo-Medrone inection into the distal inter-tarsal joint which he had Tuesday afternoon and these videos were taken Wednesday night. On a sachet of bute a day, though upped tonight as he fell over in the field
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and now on newmarket supplement 1.5 scoops per day.
 
Still I think from my experience he looks very good.....Not tight through his back, a good rhythm and fairly free. The delay in movement (stiffness through the hock) is what you would expect though it seems quite minor. I did not notice that he was any shorter in stride on than leg. Keep us posted..
 
thanks, so you don't think his spavin can be too bad then? Showing my complete inexperience on this then, there is obviously different degrees of Bone Spavin then?
 
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thanks, so you don't think his spavin can be too bad then? Showing my complete inexperience on this then, there is obviously different degrees of Bone Spavin then?

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Definitely Sue.

His action is tenfolds better than Patches and look what we're getting up to?! Those videos would have put my mind at rest if it was my horse. He looks REALLY well and we're all viewing them hyper critically as we know he has a "problem" of sorts.

Try and relax and enjoy him.
 
if it is his off-hind then the right rein should be his hardest - engaging and bringing it under when working in an outline in trot. He should though prefer the right canter lead although work better on the left. its not set in stone though - this is just what I've found with aran.
my computer can't cope with videos - its too old and slow!
 
Oh heck. Thank you for that aran.

That explains why I always say that Patches feels better on the left rein in trot, but the right rein in canter! Everyone looks at me like I'm mad when I say that as I keep being told they generally have one stiffer side through all the gaits.
 
Thanks Clare, that really means a lot to me, seeing how much fun you are having with Patches and jumping her gives me hope that I can continue doing this with Pidge. Mind you if you had seen him fly bucking round the field last night you wouldn't have thought that there was anything wrong with him at all
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OMG! he is better at trot on the left, and with new instructor we have had some lovely trots, thinking about it now all on the left rein and as for canter the left rein has always been his worse rein. Why is it different for the trot and canter then?
 
I don't know whether the actual spavin is bad diagnostically or not....They should show you the images/x-rays and explain WHERE the changes are (ie which bones are affected) and how far progressed the changes are. Which bones are affected will make a good deal of difference to the likely outcome so I would definitely ask this.

From my rather rudimentary understanding: The disease begins with changes/breakdown of cartilage between hock bones and at the more advanced stages you can see bone growth growing across where the cartilage normally resides (you can see bone spurs called 'osteophytes' I think). The end stage (which may or may not occur ) is where the bones fuse due to removal of cartilage and replacement by bone. (This 'fusion' can be achieved by surgery too although a very uncomfortable recovery period is likely and it is not always successful).

There are different approaches to treatment depending on the exact nature of the changes to bone/cartilage....Some treatments work well for a spavin others do not....

I would ask the vets to explaion a bit more about the spavin he has - to explain where it is, how progressed it is, why it is likely to respond to certain treatments over others....I would ask for a likely outcome (I did).....Try to get as fully informed as you can - It will help you make the right treatment choices and provide the right sort of exercise regime.

But, from the pictures I though he looked much better than I would have expected....
 
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if it is his off-hind then the right rein should be his hardest - engaging and bringing it under when working in an outline in trot. He should though prefer the right canter lead although work better on the left. its not set in stone though - this is just what I've found with aran.
my computer can't cope with videos - its too old and slow!

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My horse has had a spavin in off hind (right leg) and I find totally the opposite. He has had a tendency to shorten that stride on off side when going around to the left. He also has historically had real problems cantering on right rein.....
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Ah thanks for that Mickey. The vet did say the reason he is on bute short term is to help take the edge of the pain whilst the bones fuse together, and that this could take a couple of months. He is coming back out to see Pidge the 1st week in June. I did quiz him in great detail the day after diagnosis after lots of helpful advice on here. The injection is the best thing for what he has (according to my vet) and the newmarket joint supplement will help him as well.
I will ask for more information re his spavin so thanks for the advice.
I had 3 trots round the indoor school tonight and not wanting to tempt fate he felt pretty much like normal to me
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friend watching said he wasn't lame
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but seemed to just be aware of his leg to start with but got better the more I did. So fingers crossed will continue walking him each day and gradually introducing trot on the surface, mind you if Pidge had had his way tonight we would have spent most of the time in canter, he is feeling far too well in himself
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From what your vet is saying it sounds like the outlook is positive...so that is good news
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Yes, you will probably see that it takes a while for horse with spavin to warm up and fully stretch/move freely. Once the warm up is over you'll probably find he moves normally.
Keep us posted....!!
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(You may want to consider some thick stable matting if Pidge is stabled quite a bit, I think this can help ease the stiffness).
 
thanks again, your help and advice is much appreciated
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He has thick rubber matting and a shavings bed pretty deep as he is actually cleaner on a very deep bed as opposed to a shallow bed. costs me a fortune in shavings but saves me loads of time mucking out. He is stabled overnight in the winter and in the day if the field is like a bog but out 24/7 in the summer. He's in today as they predicted thunder here and him and Sunny fight if its thundering so thought it wise to leave him in
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each to their own - that's why hind-limb lameness is harder to locate! Usually when the affected leg is on the inside of the bend and having to engage (esp in trot) then it will show more. You can usually show it even more by asking for shoulder in or leg-yield again with the affected leg as the inside hind. However when asking for canter its usually when the affected leg is on the outside that they have the issue. Although when in canter the do tend to struggle with the affected leg on the inside.

All horses are different though and compensate for spavin in different ways. A lot of it is down to how they muscle up. I am doing lots of work on Arans hard reins really getting him to use his back end and so encouraging the muscle to build up and support him. Sometimes now its his good rein that feels worse but a lot of that is because I ride him better on his bad rein as I am more aware of what I need to do.
 
Ah so is that the reason we have problems with shoulder in and leg yielding then
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? can do a small amount of shoulder in at a push but as for leg yielding
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