Nerve Damage?

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Stormy123456

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A young horse I ride has always struggled with her flatwork. Was broken at 4 and brought on very slowly.

Now 6/7, she still finds canter on the right rein extremely hard, and struggles to bend correctly on the right rein (though is balanced enough). She is a quirky and complex mare, and it has been put down to this previously - however the more we ask of her, the more its becoming clear that perhaps this isn't her nature, but something physical. ie. This year, we've been asking her to work more and harder, she has started striking off incorrectly on the right rein, and will consistently do this unless occasionally jumping a jump and turning right after.

Her canter work on the left rein is good, calm and much more established. She has always found trot on the right rein harder too, but is much quieter to ride in trot (very forward, sensitive, sparky type mare), and although its not as noticeable as canter, she is not willing to stretch down nor work as correctly as she does on her left rein. (left rein trot is a dream to sit on..) I understand that horses favor one rein, but the difference between left and right canter is like a riding a different horse.

We have had her back checked, her teeth, saddle, the vet gave her a full work up - and everything was fine. After the vet made a comment, and just told me to keep an eye out for her sweating in one place in particular on one side of her body as this could be signs of nerve damage.

Have since noticed, she sweats sometimes in one patch (about a hands size) in front of the withers (which is where she is blocking from working from behind in trot) under her rug on the off side (which would tie in with the difficulty with the right rein). Then I noticed after being worked and being fairly sweaty every where she was dry in the patch on that off side. Noticed it again when hacking her.
So what is nerve damage? What does it mean? and is this going to be expensive if thats what she has? :o Can it be corrected? It doesn't sound very good..

Currently waiting for the vets to call me back - but experiences of this? I've never heard of this.. She is a super sensitive mare.
 
Muscle problems like different scales of tying up (from varying causes) can sometimes show as patchy sweating.

Presumably your vet has taken bloods including muscle enzymes? If not, well worth having them done, and asking for a copy of the full report.

Sometimes vets disregard raised muscle enzymes if they are not massively increased, when in fact they can still be significant.

I don't have a clue on neurological implications, sorry.

Sarah
 
Thanks, that's interesting to know. No - vet checked limbs, back, teeth, soundness, anything visible. Sounds as if thats the next route to go down.

Got to the point where any schooling is getting worse, couldn't get the correct lead once today. Seem to be making more problems than solving :( - hacking til we hear from the vet I think. Again same patch on the off side was totally dry when she was very sweaty after a schooling session in the sun.

Thank you, much appreciated.
 
If you think it could be neurological a number of xrays if the neck would identify potential cervical vertebrae malformation (CVM) or cervical instability. A horse that may have this may show other symptoms over time. Http://www.equinewobblers.com may of be useful reading. There are other tests such as bone scan and myelogram specifically that would show nerve damage. It depends where the problem is. I think you need to speak to the vet about your concerns, I'm no expert. My horse was a wobbler which started with stiffness on right rein, sensitive to saddle fitting, very tight lumber, knucking hind fetlocks.... The symptoms were subtle at first.
Let's us know how it goes with the vet.
 
GiddyUpGirl said:
If you think it could be neurological a number of xrays if the neck would identify potential cervical vertebrae malformation (CVM) or cervical instability. A horse that may have this may show other symptoms over time. Http://www.equinewobblers.com may of be useful reading. There are other tests such as bone scan and myelogram specifically that would show nerve damage. It depends where the problem is. I think you need to speak to the vet about your concerns, I'm no expert. My horse was a wobbler which started with stiffness on right rein, sensitive to saddle fitting, very tight lumber, knucking hind fetlocks.... The symptoms were subtle at first.
Let's us know how it goes with the vet.
Click to expand...

Thanks, very useful. Trying to get hold of the vet is proving impossible. Will update when I hear off him.
 
Having told us to keep an eye on this sweaty issue and suggesting this could be causing this extreme difficulty she has, and we've done so and got back to the vet with our 'findings', they have now told us it is unlikely to be anything. Little bit fed up with the vets!

Options are for a neck x-ray or continue trying to iron the problem out through schooling - and I'm at a total loss as what to try next. The horse isn't insured, so it's up to the owners with what they want to do.

Tricky situation. No idea where we go from here. Thanks for the help and suggestions.
 
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