Lame horse - only on one rein??

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MagicMelon

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I've been given (rescued from being PTS) a WB. He's a very tall, rangy horse with extremely long legs so he seems quite clumsy anyway. He is also over at the knee on both fronts. A tiny bit of background is that the horse came to me after being kept on box rest after coming back from a sellers yard lame on both front feet. They felt it was due to the fact his shoeing was 5 weeks late and they'd let him gallop about in a field the whole time so probably very jarred. He came to me as 98% sound, and I gave him a bit more time and he seemed to look sound on the lunge so I hired a school and got on. He's got a very active walk and was walking out perfectly normally. In trot, on the right rein and in a straight line he seems fine but as soon as Im on the left rein he's very clearly lame on his front left. I have given him some days off and lunged him a minute ago - again on the left rein he looks lame but when he works in a decent outline, he looks sound again. So I'm wondering if its a balance issue, he doesn't have much muscle and is very unfit (obviously after the box rest). He doesn't seem sore on the leg in that he will merrily canter about.

The horse is 13yrs old, and I'm paranoid it might be navicular. But does this sound like navicular? If it was though I would assume he'd be lame on that leg the same no matter what rein he was on?

I'm unsure if I should continue working him lightly to improve his muscle and balance, or put him back onto box rest again (he's currently turned out most of the day). I'd just like to know if anyone else has experienced this odd lameness? I know calling the vet is the obvious answer but I know they'll cost me a fortune doing nerve blocks and x-rays, when perhaps these might not be required.
 
Not hugely helpful but pretty much every session for the first 5 mins on the right rein Louie is extremely lame. There is nothign wrong with him he's just a lazy sod so obviously in the past he's gone look I'm lame there is no way you should ride me. The first time he did it I thought he broke his leg.

I kick him on into canter and keep his mind occupied and then he's fine.

I suppose with your lad you could give him a bute and if he's still lame it could just be psychological rather than physical.
 
It could be a million and one things, but yes, it sounds like "navicular". The pain in the heels often causes them to stand over at the knee. This pain is almost always due to soft tissue damage and that can be fixed.

Watch him walk. If necessary video him and watch it in slow motion. Does his foot land with the heel first, flat or with the toe first?

A toe first landing would really support a "navicular spectrum" diagnosis, since it has been shown to cause damage to the deep digital flexor tendon inside the foot.

Box rest will not help, it will make it stiffen up and then he might get adhesions. Is he shod now, because the easiest way to fix this is to remove his shoes with the help of an expert in this problem. People don't usually give away a horse for nothing if there is nothing wrong with it, so I think you should assume that the horse was given to you because of this problem recurring (the 98% sound being possibly true after rest, and then going lame again when put back into work.). I did not pay for my current rehab, who has a similar problem and is making enormous progress barefoot.
 
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Lameness that reduces/goes once warmed up could be due to arthritis.

MM - is the horse lamer or sounder on hid bad rein on a soft or a hard surface? Or does it make no difference?

ETA
If it was though I would assume he'd be lame on that leg the same no matter what rein he was on?
Click to expand...

When my mare developed an abscess she was only lame in one rein to begin with. The abscess was still there of course, it just hurt more on one rein in the early stages.

CPT - very interesting RE navicular.
 
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Mine was lame only on the right and wouldn't go on the right lead, turns out his hock has slight but significant arthritic changes. He doesn't become sound or work through it. I would ask for nerve blocks maybe or x rays.
 
If you haven't already it might be worth getting his feet checked and maybe his back. I don't know if there is one in your area but I have had success with a similar problem from a qualified equine massage therapist. Good luck
 
My little lad had this - we box rested for 12 weeks, put on egg bars, and then gave him almost 6 months of restricted turn out - i.e. space not grass - we just moved the fence every day.
He then had about 6 months of proper turn out and he has been sound ever since - touching wood !

He is back in normal shoes, and i had extensive tests done and all they could say was he had "soft tissue" damage in the hoof and an MRI scan would possibly identify what was going on.

The full lameness work up and MRI was going to cost around 5k - so we just spent that money on giving him the rest and got a REALLY REALLY GOOD Farrier in to see him.

Maybe we were lucky - but i honestly think good shoeing - rest and time are the only things sometimes that help.
 
Kokopelli - Interesting your horse does that, Ive known of a friends one who used to "fake" being lame as well apparently.

cptrayes - I'll video him tomorrow and watch his walk. Although I'll try to see it tonight when I take him in - he's got a very active walk though so quite hard to see. I did some research last night on navicular and going barefoot does indeed seem to be the preferred method. I have a barefoot trimmer do 2 of my ponies so I'll speak to her and see what she thinks. I dont want to upset my farrier so will have to chat to him too!

Faracat - TBH Ive not really bothered keeping going, as soon as I feel he's lame I get off or stop what we're going. Tomorrow I think I'll ride him and walk about for quite a while to see if he comes sound after he warms up properly. It doesnt seem to make much difference how lame he is on a soft or hard surface, as the lameness seems to differ daily anyway.

amymay - He was due to be put down for other reasons, to cut a long story short basically a teenager had her rich family buy him for her a few years ago but then she lost interest and stopped bothering with him, they sent him to a selling yard who apparently kept him very badly and simply chucked him out in a field for a month, he's not used to turnout and therefore galloped about the whole time, which is why they think he went lame. They then decided rather than wait for him to become sound or bother with looking into it further, they would just put him down for an easy life. Very sad as he's such a lovely horse, I mean really really lovely!

YLM - Agree, I do plan to get his back checked just to rule that out. His feet have been done by my farrier last week who felt they had been shod in a very unbalanced way previously.

Gingerwitch - Thanks, it would be good if my horse had what yours had rather than navicular certainly.

I think I'll get x-rays done immediately and see where we are. Although I got on him this morning for a walk about to see how he was and actually he seems sound again!!
 
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