Intermittent odd lameness, vets stumped.

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keepitugly

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Anyone seen anything like this before, unfortunately don't have a video.

Brought horse in from field, looked a bit quiet but walked over to me sound, as I was walking in went absolutely hopping in front, I thought he'd stood on something, immediately picked feet out, nothing, walked a few steps sound then hopping again. Then back end went funny, he almost looked drunk but definitely very very lame near fore and back end just not right. Immediately thought tying up as he has before but it didn't look anything like this.

Long story short vet came, walked out sound a few steps then absolutely hopping, the near side shoulder looked a bit swollen, not noticeably, and he reacted to the muscles being poked on his near side, but he's a bit of a grump anyway so not out of character. Very slight raised pulse in that leg, others fine. The longer he walked, we're talking about 20 seconds before he'd grind to a halt and really not want to move anymore, turning was nearly impossible. At this point vet was a bit baffled but said most likely tying up, small possibility early onset of lami but really unlikely given the horse and his management. Ran bloods and he was on a drip of fluids for 2 hours.

Muscle enzymes came back completely normal, definitely hadn't tied up. Next morning horse walked out a tiny bit stiff then sound, been a bit quiet but otherwise fine, he's back to normal 2 days later. Went into vets again yesterday ran more bloods and enzymes still normal. We're all absolutely baffled, he seems fine now but it's a bit worrying as we have no idea what it was.

Any ideas?
 
Looking drunk, having problems turning - my thoughts would be a possible neuro problem. The stiffness and lameness may be as a result of him having a fall or getting cast, and this could result in a nerve in the neck or spinal column becoming trapped hence the drunkeness.

Maybe a few neuro tests would give you a clearer answer. http://www.equinewobblers.com/diagnostics/neurological_examination.html

The sway tail test and the tight circles would be my choice of tests to do (on a soft surface). You could do these yourself and then you would have a better idea. If you do the sway tail test first on another horse and then do it on yours you will soon see if there is any difference and you will know what a unaffected horse feels like.

Of course it could be any number of different things, I'm not a vet, but going with past experience this was my first thought and from what I gather a relatively common thing with horses that damage their neck/spine during falls or getting cast.
 
Years ago I was stabled next to a horse with wobblers, the staggering and trying to stand up sounds similar, it appeared very suddenly too, the mare concerned was a bit shut down and had quite a novice owner who only lightly hacked, but the horse came out of it's stable very drunk one day having nearly squashed her owner against the wall, she was understandably quite shaken up, there may have been underlying signs before that point that were not noticed. Might be inclined just to be aware of your personal space around him for a bit just in case, as I agree, it's very odd for him to then come sound! I did immediately reach the same conclusion as applecart, might be worth checking his heart rhythm to...... Must have been quite scary, hope both you and the horse are ok, agree maybe he had a fall/got cast that disorientated him?? Fingers crossed for you it's all ok & it doesn't happen again.
 
Thanks for your thoughts.

I can't think he's fallen or been cast as he's in a paddock right next the house so we pretty much see him all day and I think we'd notice if there was a struggle or a mad moment. He's only in a small paddock on his own at the moment.

Hopefully it won't but if it happens again I'll video him.

Thanks again.
 
keepitugly said:
Thanks for your thoughts.

I can't think he's fallen or been cast as he's in a paddock right next the house so we pretty much see him all day and I think we'd notice if there was a struggle or a mad moment. He's only in a small paddock on his own at the moment.

Hopefully it won't but if it happens again I'll video him.


Thanks again.
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Mine reared and went over backwards landing awkwardly on his neck. He was on a chifney and I believe the YO may have lost her temper with him (she was that sort) and yanked him hard in the mouth, as I can't see any other reason for him rearing and going over backwards unless he had pulled back on the chifney as she wouldn't listen to me begging her not to tie him up directly with it.

Your horse could have rolled in the field and hurt his neck or slipped and fallen on his neck awkwardly.

Depending on the state of your horses drunkeness once you have seen a wobblers horse it will be ingrained into your memory forever, there is no mistaking. here is a video showing a wobblers horse at walk http://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...&mid=FFAD9CBE5624D3062765FFAD9CBE5624D3062765

Note further along the video how the horse swings the outside leg on a tight circle outwards whereas normal horses will move their legs in a totally different manner.
Breaks my heart at the end of the film where they show the limb placement test, (I am teary now writing this) as it reminds me of my horse who quite happily stood with one front foot on top of the other during his evaluation at Liverpool minutes before xray diagnosis and PTS. No unaffected horse would ever do this.
 
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A raised digital pulse would make me suspect laminitis, it's not unheard of for only one foot to be affected and it often causes stiff sore muscles elsewhere with them holding themselves differently. Did the vet do an ACTH test?
 
No they didn't test for that, we really don't think laminitis he's on such a small paddock there's no grass in there and he's not the type to be prone, and the pulse was only very, very slight.

He's not actually my horse so I'm not going to mention anything about wobblers etc unless it happens again as I don't want to worry her. The lameness in front was very dramatic though, I'm not sure if that fits in with wobblers?

Vets have basically said treat him as normal and see what happens.
 
Similar to me, but mine was not quite as bad. Had vets out for intermittent lameness and a little "clumsy" almost. First 2 vets were looking at the limbs and were stumped, couldn't work it out and the answer was to carry on as normal. I wasn't happy after a month of this as she didn't feel right and so went to another vet. Extensive examination identified inflammation (most likely arthritis related) in her neck, which was probably pushing on the spinal cord. She had some cortisone injections placed with ultrasound and she'll need some physio. They suspect they have to repeat this once, but this should be ok. Don't want to scare you! But if you're not completely satisfied with the vets answer, see if you can get a different one to have a look. My horse also has a couple of other issues, which were not picked up, but are now being treated too :)
 
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