lame going round corners?

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alfiesmum

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hi friends pony is sound in walk, sound in trot on the straight but when he is going round corners eg circles or literally walking round a corner he is lame. (not very good at explaining) no apparent heat in legs etc?
any ideas before getting the costly vet out?
i was thinking shoulder?
i know vet will start at the bottom so it will be very expensive so would appreciate any help-sorry for being so vague xx
 
That is exactly what was wrong with my horse at the beginning of May...

He went to the equine hospital for a full lameness work up as my vet couldn't pin point it and was diagnosed with arthritis in both front pasterns. :-(

I know how expensive vet visits are so maybe wait a few days and see how it goes? I waited 5 days with the lameness round corners. Fingers crossed he's fine in a few days and you can put it down to 'mysterious lameness'!
 
Saw a lecture by RVC vets. Going lame on circle/bend was demonstrated as bilateral lameness.
 
My mare was like this and turned out she had a tear in her DDFT. She had to go to the Horsepital where she underwent a full lameness work up with nerve blocks so they could be sure where the lameness was. She was properly diagnosed via an MRI scan, the tear was within the hoof so could not have been found any other way.
 
Could it be hard ground that is causing the problem? My mare had something similar and she was fitted with pads on both her fronts and this really helped.
 
Izzwizz said:
My mare was like this and turned out she had a tear in her DDFT. She had to go to the Horsepital where she underwent a full lameness work up with nerve blocks so they could be sure where the lameness was. She was properly diagnosed via an MRI scan, the tear was within the hoof so could not have been found any other way.
Click to expand...

feels stupid- whats a ddft? and the prognosis?, our vet has portable xray and ultrasound so hoping for a prognosis that day, she is so worried as its her sons pony and he is only 7 x
 
DDFT is her deep digital flexor tendon. Its a main tendon which goes deep into the hoof and this is where her tear was. I wouldnt have been found if she hadnt had the MRI scan. She had shoes with double wedges inserted for a month and complete box rest, and I mean complete - had to muck out around her. Then she dropped down to a single wedge and could be hand walked for 15 mins per day, split into 3 5min walks for a month. Then she had egg bars shoes on and more handwalking. We handwalked for 3 months and then started ridden work in Feb this year. She was confined to her stable all this time (Sept 09 to May 10) and was eventually turned out in a small paddock on 9th May. We had to get the tendon to maximum strength before turnout as she could have easily torn it again. We are up to 1 1/2 hrs hacking out now, no schooling, just roadwork to strengthen her legs. Tendons are an injury that take a long time to heal and you have to do the correct rehab. In my mares case hers was a bad tear and she also had some inflammation in her navicular bursa, shes had 2 injections into this area and fingers x shes now doing ok. I followed the vets advice to the letter and so far thank god its paying off.
 
Moving a pony on a circle is a good way of identifying if the lameness is in the lower limb or in the shoulder.

Lunge the pony or have someone lead the horse in a circle, lameness on the inside indicates that the lameness is in the lower limb, (reason for this is that more weight is placed over the inside leg so if it is sore it will make it feel worse.

If the lameness is more pronounced in the leg on the outside of the circle it will mean the pony is sore higher up (the reason being that the outside leg has to travel further so the horse will not want to stretch the leg forward)

The majority of lameness is in the lower limb - usually the foot, an abscess or bruise. I generally ask my farrier to have a look around first as he is more likely to find the sore area quickly without scraping too much foot away.
 
Also, is the lameness worst on the soft or hard.
More pronounced on soft suggests soft tissues - ligaments/tendons etc

You will really need a full lameness work up to see what's going on.
 
Tharg -she tore her tendon running round a small field like a complete nutter. It was March 09 and the muck heaps were being emptied so she was somewhere new and with a field mate. Never seen her do it before so was very much out of character. I actually think she originally damaged the tendon in August 08, we were at an event in the warm up and she went lame. We cold sponged her leg as it was all we could do til we got her home. It healed over the winter so at the time vet just thought she had effectively sprained her ankle. Shes out on her own at the moment and when she does go back with a group she will be in a smaller field than before and a flat one.
 
It could be anything and the only way of getting a diagnosis is through a lameness workup from the vet.

Easily done with the right portable equipment.
 
Someone on our yard is just going through this... Her horse has a corn, the farrier found it in his front hoof, so currently being poulticed. There are just so many things that it could be, I always favour starting from the hoof (ask the farrier) before getting the vet. Good luck.
 
My old pony (20 years old at the time) went XC one day, then had the farrier, and then had a canter the next day. As we pulled up from our canter I could feel that something wasn't right, but we hacked home and he felt fine. Once he'd stood in the yard for ten mins, he was a lot worse, so we put him in a box to see what he was like later. Came down a couple of hours later, and he was hopping lame on his off-fore. Farrier out to check his feet as shod the day before, but all fine. No heat in his legs. Put him on bute and turned him out, and we decided it was most likely to be muscular-related in his shoulder. In the end it turned out he'd damaged a ligament in his shoulder (probably due to the combonation of factors I mentioned in the beginning), and we ended up walking him out, massaging him everyday for weeks through the deepest winter. Eventually he was sound enough to be plodded out on straight line hacks, but was still lame in the school when on a circle. So we just hacked him out for months, and eventually he was pretty much sound. Some days he comes out a bit stiff, but most of the time he's fine. He hurt himself in mid October 08 and was finally back jumping by may 09! He then went on to do PC teams 70-75 and 80-85 over the winter!

It took a lot of tears, effort and stamina to get him back working again, but it was so worth it! Good luck! I would certainly recommend massage, it improves blood circulation to the area so it'll heal faster :D
 
thanks guys, vet out in morning so will let you know how they get on, just hope its something fixable (even long term boxrest is better than no pony x will update tomoro evening x
fingers crossed
 
*update*
vet was out tues morning, found digital pulse in hoof, xrays on thursday morning!
hoping its something simple but with their luck i very much doubt it x
fingers crossed x
 
We started in the hoof but this is now the culmination of a chain of problems starting with the bone spur in the lower jaw.
The front shoes were being pulled off because the tension caused by bone spur was shortening the topline and pulling the shoulders up, this has resulted in him short striding in front.
Miraculously, given where I live I have been able to organise toothman, backwoman, farrier, backwoman (second visit) and barefoot trimmer all within the space of about 6 weeks.
Here's hoping and good luck with the prognosis, but normally these things do start in the feet.
 
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