UPDATE: Horse lame when ridden

[quirky]

Well, I was right, it's proving tricky to diagnose!

Lame on near hind intermittently (sp) but fine up front. Did all the normal, lunge on tight circle on concrete (fine in front).
Lunged on soft surface and vet could see lameness behind. Flexsion test passed no problem. Agree with vet that there is no point going down the nerve block/x-ray route as he's not every stride lame.

So, plan of action. High dose of bute (4 a day) until friday, then ride him. If no different, take off bute and carry on riding in med level work with continuous assessment. If better, obviously a seat of pain somewhere and a trip to Leahurst for scintigraphy will be necessary.
So, none the wiser but a bit happier as we have a plan.

 

[AmyMay]

Did he check his back for lumber pain??

 

[AandK]

i am not a vet but wonder why your vet has advised not go down the x-ray/nerve block route just beacause he is not lame every stride.? he is still lame and i would want to go down every avenue to find out why if it was my horse..
fingers crossed he is okay.

 

[Bounty]

This is IDENTICAL to what is happening to one of ours - he is intermittently lame like this in his RH for a couple of weeks every few months. The vet can't pin point it to anything and invaribly tells us to go away and 'break him properly' so that there is more lameness to go on

He has just come lame again (last lame in september), and we are having a vet with a thermographic camera in so that we can pinpoint the pain. My gut feeling is that it is deep within his hip extensors/flexors.

 

[Marchtime]

Sounds exactly like my boy was when he was diagnosed with PSD in hind suspensory. It wasn't until the vet nerve blocked him it became apparent how odd his way of going had been. He never really went lame, simply had a wierd action. If you feel it isn't right for your horse I'd be pushing for nerve blocks etc (obviously providing you're insured). One of the key symptoms of PSD is that they are very rarely lame as such, just minimally uncomfortable. Worth further investigation I'd suggest.