odd lameness?

[horsegirl]

I rode my friends horse last night and he was very obviously lame in trot in the school (wood surface - violent nodding) but not lame when trotted in hand or riding on the tarmac except when trotting a tight turn. I can't see find any heat, swellings or wounds that could explain it. Any ideas?

 

[Bossanova]

bridle lame? They can seem very lame if theyre pushing the boundaries. Does he do it with his owner?

 

[Sal_E]

Could be something in the mouth, i.e. only when you take a contact. Could be a saddle problem. Could be muscular - i(back/neck/shoulder), i.e. more sore on a soft surface (think of walking through a ploughed field if you had pulled a muscle in your leg, as opposed to walking down the road - far more effort on the muscles).

Has the vet been called yet?

 

[AmyMay]

Does your friend always ride on the same diaganol?

 

[horsegirl]

No vet yet, we are going to look at him tonight and see what he is like and then she can get the vet out. He has a brand new saddle fitted by a saddler, has recently had his teeth done and was fine on Sunday. Perhaps a pulled muscle then.

 

[horsegirl]

I ride him most and I don't ride on the same diagonal. I don't think anyone has ridden him for a couple of weeks except me & my husband.

 

[Box_Of_Frogs]

Is he bi-laterally lame?

 

[ISHmad]

Could be that his digital cushions aren't strong enough to cope with the sand surface. I had this when I first took the front shoes off of my horse, we were only doing gentle walk work in the school and on grass tracks, plus I was taking him out in hand along the roads with pads on. But when it came to our first trot in the school he was hopping lame. Our trimmer was there, and asked me to trot him up the road. I said no way, because he was lame but she told me to trust her and give it a go. Sure enough he was sound on the hard ground...

She got me to compare the difference in the digital cushions between his hind feet, where his shoes had been off for over a year and his front feet where the shoes had only been off for about six weeks. The difference was incredible! Not saying this is the case here, but worth investigating IMHO.

 

[horsegirl]

It appears to be thrush, I thought he had a touch of it but it seems to be that making him lame. The middle of the frog seems to be quite painful.

 

[ISHmad]

Or possibly he has bruised his frog? If you think it is thrush, Net Tex Frog Health disinfectant if brilliant - gets rid of it in about 3 days.