Thoughts? :(

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Cedars

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Trying to keep this brief otherwise il cry.

OHs horse Frank is rising 13. He's just got off as Frank is lame. Again. Always his back legs. Not hopping lame, just very very stompy and short.

My OHs ambition in franks life is to take him round a couple of BE80/90 courses. He's with us for life so he's not going anywhere ever-but at the moment he's going to be a field ornament as he's a pretty dangerous hack for anyone but my OH.

Have we got any chance of him getting anywhere? His back legs are just really ****ed. Never fully lame but often really stiff. It's not really more one than the other they are both as bad as each other. He has joint supplement which we thought helped but now not sure. He had all winter off wrk, like six months, so i just don't know what to do. I think he's gonna be a field ornament for a v long time :(

X
 
He sees Gillian Higgins as his back lady and she is just superb but she's never said anything about his legs. What's a Bowen therapist? Il look
It up when I get home :) xx
 
or maybe some equine touch?? its not a treatment as sorts but it really relaxes the muscles and is great for lymph drainage.. helps our old mare stay supple and keeps her happy and comfy IMO anyway! :D
 
Personally if you haven't already I would get the vet out. Sounds like it could be arthritis or similar which can be treated in some circumstances with injections. Definately get your vet out before writing him off and take it from there.
 
^^ agree with this. although...

jerry was similarly "stiff" through his back end and the vet thought it could have been a spavin. luckily, it turned out that he had pulled his sacroiliac muscle. could this be the case?

hope you figure it out soon
 
agree with Ella19 and blood_magik. If you've not had the vet out already, get them out to do a full lameness work up.

Even if it is spavin, they can treat it sufficiently that Frank will still be able to compete.

B has just had his first course of steroid injections and has gone from shuffling along with a very short stride and refusing jumps to tanking round 1m courses with a massive grin from ear to ear and overtracking in walk and trot in the space of 4 weeks.

Have faith! You just need to work out exactly what's wrong with him before you lose all hope :)
 
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He's not seen the vet yet. Vet out on Thursday to see his problem teeth, so il persuade him to have a look. My OH is of the opinion that anything it could be in xray is unfixable so what's the point type thing. So your stories are very comforting.

Struggling to see the point in these damn animals any more.
 
My mare was like this. Bad to hack, very short and "choppy" behind. It took years for the vets to find out what was wrong with her.
She had a slipped disk. If I were you you would get a full lameness workup, get the vet out when he is stiff so they can see what hes like.
 
The thing is he always walks funny it's just sometimes he's much worse than others.

The hacking thing is only because he's a complete moose about anything new and prances about like a knob!!
 
Well, Your OH putting his head in the sand about this is NOT going to make it go away.

If the horse is lame he is likely in pain.
Get a vet to look at him - you may find he has something fixable. It could be arthritis/spavin - if so it is treatable. If not then at least you can manage his pain.

Many horses (mine included) have competed upto & beyond discovery after having hocks treated for spavin.

But you will get nowhere ignoring it I'm afraid. Get him x-rayed.
 
Could he be uneven?
Mine's uneven particularly around his left hind - the coronet band comes up higher on the inside of the hoof. if you get him to stand so that one leg is stretched out behind him you'll be able to have a good look at his feet.
Remedial shoeing could help with stiffness.

i would speak to the vet about a full lameness work-up to be on the safe side
 
I had the same problem with my Anglo... she was on/off lame for almost a year during which time she had countless trips to the vet for xrays, flexion tests, spinal massages, etc etc and £2,500 later still no change... then the suggestion was natural balance shoes... again... no change - so finally after further research my vet suggested to inject steriods into her coronet band - and hey presto - one sound horse - 5 years later she is still sound! Good luck. :) x
 
How can you ask advice on lameness from people who haven't even seen him??
How can you write him off as a field ornament when you haven't even had a vet just look at him?!?

If he is lame then he is in pain, surely worth getting him looked at?
 
I highly doubt he is uneven as our farrier is absolutely fabulous-he would definitely know. I will be asking the vet.

I think itll either be something unfixable, or something expensive!!! Damn animals!

He was my OHs first horse, got him through his parents divorce etc, so he loves the bones of him. Xxx
 
He's not lame, he's just overly stiff. If he were lame every time we would be having the vet out every time. He'll be absolutely fine tomorrow!! Just back to his usual totally bizarre walk. Xxxx
 
flamehead said:
He's not lame, he's just overly stiff. If he were lame every time we would be having the vet out every time. He'll be absolutely fine tomorrow!! Just back to his usual totally bizarre walk. Xxxx
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My mare was exactily like that. Really stiff all of the time and she was only 7. At first I put it down to the fact she was an ex racer and had been hammered as a baby.
She used to stand funny, like arch her back andtuck her pelvis under.. I will dig out a pic if you want? I have a video of her trot too when she was short and stiff.

Vet is the best way to go :)
 
You stated in your OP that the horse is lame again and that you want to cry. If I felt like that about my horse I'd have the vet up asap as I'd want to get to the bottom of it and try and get it sorted.

No disrespect to your farrier, but unless he is shoeing from xrays or has xray vision, there is no way he can be 100% sure that your horses feet are 100% in perfect balance.
 
That's what insurance is for.
As far as i was concerned, my horse was getting every test he needed until we got the problem sorted.
It was the same with my first horse - we spent £1500 on treatment before making the horrible decision to pts but i would'nt have had it any other way. it was the least i could have done for him
 
flamehead said:
He's not lame, he's just overly stiff. If he were lame every time we would be having the vet out every time. He'll be absolutely fine tomorrow!! Just back to his usual totally bizarre walk. Xxxx
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'overly stiff?' Oh, you mean lame. Like you said in your first post.

If he'll be absolutely fine tomorrow then why are you worried about this & why did you say he was lame in your first post.

Honestly, not trying to pick a fight here but I think the horse might be in pain & you should just get the vet to confirm it. It might be good news! He might need some physio. His back might be out. But at least you'll know what it is.
Good luck!
 
flamehead said:
My OH is of the opinion that anything it could be in xray is unfixable so what's the point type thing. So your stories are very comforting.
Click to expand...

Not necessarily. It may be PSD for example.

http://www.behindthebitblog.com/2008/03/proximal-suspensory-desmitis-common.html

Which can be quite successfully treated.

Certain types of arthritic changes would also explain such stiffness, and can also be very treatable.

Equally, even if it isn't good news (Like it was for my poor girl) you are best to know what it is so that you can do whatever makes him as comfortable as possible and know where you stand in terms of working him.

Best of luck, and let us know how it goes. :)

ETS - is he stabled and is it related to when he is stiff? Nothing makes my older girl worse than being stood in.
 
The reason we've not got the vet before is because it always goes away and he's never obviously in pain-he just walks funny. And quite often he work through it and come 'sound'. He will be fine tomorrow because that's the way it always goes-but seeing him today I just thought why are we wasting time?

He has seen the back lady. I think he just needs the vet.

He is insured but that doesn't matter-we'd sell the house to keep our horses happy. It's just so frustrating and upsetting. Particularly with the teeth fiasco.
 
Well he doesn't sound quite right, would be interesting to see how he looks after flexions.

Hope you get it sorted and it's nothing serious.
 
flamehead said:
Thank you Puppy bless you. Sorry about your old girl xx
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Thanks.

Sadly it's not my old girl who is a write off. It's my younger one, who had successful treatment for PSD (she was hardly lame, still working v forward and keen but 'backy' and a bit uneven). However she subsequently went lame in a manner that turned out to be completely LOU worthy. She was 8 (now rising 10) and it was due to arthritic changes. We have done what has helped to make her significantly more comfortable, and she is kicking her heels up in the field daily :rolleyes:, so I'm glad that we found out, even though (as my vet has said) there are many horses at your average RC event that are more uneven.

It's my 25 year old who gets stiff from standing in, but she is more than capable of hacking work (although currently roughed off and being treated for sarcoids). However I completely avoid bringing her in as I know it troubles her and how she moves, and have done since she was in her teens.
 
You really need to investigate this intermittent lameness as even if it cannot be completely cured it may be managed. My old gelding was a bit like how you describe and it turned out to be an arthritic problem in his hocks. He lived a useful life into
his early twenties.

The key to this is getting a diagnosis from your vet, long range guesses on the forum won't help really.

Good luck with this.
 
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