Lame 5 year old

[JTaylor]

Hello all,

what do you do for a 5 year old 17.2 hand gelding that has asymmetrical hips which causes left hind toe drag lameness? Is there any treatment for this? Will he grow out of it? He has been treated by the Physio, Chiropractor and Vet. Has anyone else experienced this? The Vet is not sounding too promising. Just a promise a fortune to be spent.
what are my options?
Thank you

 

[IrishMilo]

What did the vet do to treat him and what investigations have you done?

 

[Melody Grey]

How strong/ established is the five year old? Wondering whether the situation might improve with work and strength if you can get that far?
He might not be skeletally mature at 5 and may grow into himself?

 

[JTaylor]

@IrishMilo he is eliminating all leg possibilities first. He has done a stifle X-ray and all has come back normal. He has blocked the entire leg and he didn’t show any improvement. Before all of that we did a bite trial and also showed no signs of improvement. Today he will X-ray the entire leg. If that is normal then he will send him to a hospital and he will have a radio active dye injected and will check the bones. That’s where we are at now. He has only had about 60 days of riding and it has been only 20 minutes at a time as I was worried with the lameness to push anymore than that.

 

[JTaylor]

@Melody Grey this is what the trainers are saying. He has grown from 17.1 to 17.3 from February. But when I ride I feel bad and worried I might be causing damage. He is a very tall horse who may just need to be ridden more forward and not worry about the lameness and see if he can develop muscle and strength. I wish I knew the answer?

 

[Melody Grey]

@JTaylor I don’t know what your plans are for the horse but might 6 months off schooling and spent on hacking instead help? Might be a less strenuous way to promote strength/development?

 

[Melody Grey]

Subject to how lame the horse actually is of course!

 

[JTaylor]

@Melody Grey problem is he is just a youngster and I need hacking buddies to take him out. Unfortunately not a lot of people want to go out with one that’s scared. But I think this is what I’m going to try if the Vet comes up with nothing. It’s a shame though as he is already 5. He will be really behind if we ever get started jumping. Poor fella.

 

[Melody Grey]

@Melody Grey problem is he is just a youngster and I need hacking buddies to take him out. Unfortunately not a lot of people want to go out with one that’s scared. But I think this is what I’m going to try if the Vet comes up with nothing. It’s a shame though as he is already 5. He will be really behind if we ever get started jumping. Poor fella.

Personally, I’d rather have a strong hacker that comes late to the ‘jumping party’ than the other way round, but I understand that you want to get cracking.

 

[HobleytheTB]

Have you done done the basic neurological tests - tight circle turns, backing up etc?

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

How strong/ established is the five year old? Wondering whether the situation might improve with work and strength if you can get that far?
He might not be skeletally mature at 5 and may grow into himself?

My 4 yr old cob was very noticeably unlevel in the hips, with an unusual action at times. She couldn't have much done with her because she developed a sarcoid which the bridle caught and which had to be removed. So she was left to grow and she evened up with no problem. She made just over 16hh. I would leave your horse to grow on without too much interference. He could well be 8 yrs old before you know what you will be left with. He is not actually going to be 'behind' anything. If he comes right you will hopefully have until he is well into his 20s to do whatever you want with him. Unless of course your plan was to break him and sell on.

 

[IrishMilo]

Toe dragging usually comes from somewhere higher up.

 

[irishdraft]

A friend had a 17hh ish horse with this problem came over from Ireland so didn't know his history but I think he was 5 . Anyhow they did lots of hacking and then hunting with him and he was ok . I think it was always a question of keeping him fit and muscled when he was out of work he was noticeably not right behind .

 

[PeterNatt]

One of the best vets for lameness issues is Jane Dyson. Why not get her to make a diagnosis?

 

[ihatework]

Horses of that type of height take ages to strengthen.

You could go down an expensive wild goose chase.

If there is no clear lameness identified after work up and the horses general behaviour isn’t indicative of a big problem I’d be inclined to give the horse time and systematic, sympathetic training