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It never stops with horses. Lynx is now doing this weird thing with his right hind leg, where he's really toeing out and placing it really under or almost crossed in front of his other hind. And on top of that I think it's been looking a little funky behind...

Any thoughts? I'm assuming something's uncomfortable and is doing it to relieve some pain. Now the question is, is it stifle, hock, SI, feet, suspensory or even some kind of muscle strain? The list was always endless. Right now he is on previcox and I've been putting some surpass on his stifles. Farrier comes in Tuesday. After that I think I will call the vet.


Ugh, horses!

Forgot to add, of course Neurological It's on the list but it's always the same hind leg and it seems really deliberate on his part, not so much that he doesn't know where his leg is.

if you want to PM me a video I'd take a look. I am a professional massage therapist.

Is this at rest or when moving? Is he bringing the leg under--like dropping the hip and stepping it up and in front? Or is it more like he's just pivoting the foot? Just trying to get a clearer picture of what you mean.

At rest. But definitely a distinct way he's chosing to stand. I will try to post a photo.

We will see if this works. Photos are giving me a hard time.

Hopefully this works

This one is fuzzy but maybe you can see.

If the only symptom was him standing that way, I wouldn't worry too much--I know some horses who really like to bring their leg under for rest--they are ones that typically will do either leg. But since you mentioned he's looking NQR behind and sounds like this is new, I would wonder if maybe there is something going on--my first thought would be SI, could be useful to have a chiroractor or vet perhaps take a look. Is this the same leg that has had some stifle concerns?

Blob, my trainer wondered SI too. Of course the chiropractor was just here two weeks and gave him a glowing report. But wondering if he did something in turn out. And yes same side as previous stifle issues.

I emailed the vet- we will see what they think.

Both of my young ones always stand with one hind foot resting. I have been obsessing about it, but I think it's just a habit, like we cross out legs one way. It might be a little discomfort. So, I just try to work on evening them out by asking them to stand straight, some leg stretches and pulls, and some massage to see if they are reactive in different areas.

oops

How does he move? Does he swing the leg in an arc rather than stepping straight through. I had a horse that pulled/tore the round ligament in the hip.
I don't remember how he stood but as he moved he swung that leg out in an arc. He healed up fine but sure moved strangely for a while.

Susan

Annabelle was doing that last fall. I asked the bodyworker and vet and they both just kind of shrugged. She stopped after a couple months, and no other issues seemed to go along with it.

Kyras_Mom wrote:How does he move? Does he swing the leg in an arc rather than stepping straight through. I had a horse that pulled/tore the round ligament in the hip.
I don't remember how he stood but as he moved he swung that leg out in an arc. He healed up fine but sure moved strangely for a while.

Susan

Well seems to be moving as straight as ever but I do think he looks sticky in his stifles. I don't know if I would call him lame exactly though.

Straightforward, yeah I had a horse that actually used to cross his hind legs and rest one leg on the other. No vets ever seemed excited by it but later on he did fuse in his hocks. I always wondered if that was related but he was kind of a goofy horse too.

Lynx is just doing it so regularly with the right hind. That with him moving kind of funky or sticky behind and the head tossing into the canter transitions is enough to make me want at least to talk to the vet. I'm not sure if I could get the chiropractor back out but I could probably get the body worker. Although I want to see what the vet thinks first.

Would it ease your mind to get a complete lameness workup done by a vet who specializes in this stuff? I know I love my regular vet, who I have used for years, but was fortunate enough to luck into meeting a really top-notch sporthorse specialist who gave Potters a really thorough examination and had the tools to solve any problems and give me some peace of mind.

How far are you from CSU? At the end of the day, it would probably cost you less to go over there and have them pull out all the stops than to keep having a vet come out piecemeal to look at individual concerns. And if they found nothing of any significance, you could proceed on with the training without concern.

But, do bear in mind that we all, humans and horses, get the odd ouchie now and again, especially when we are ramping up the exercise and physically changing (ask me how I know...) that we just have to work through.

Moutaineer wrote:Would it ease your mind to get a complete lameness workup done by a vet who specializes in this stuff? I know I love my regular vet, who I have used for years, but was fortunate enough to luck into meeting a really top-notch sporthorse specialist who gave Potters a really thorough examination and had the tools to solve any problems and give me some peace of mind.

How far are you from CSU? At the end of the day, it would probably cost you less to go over there and have them pull out all the stops than to keep having a vet come out piecemeal to look at individual concerns. And if they found nothing of any significance, you could proceed on with the training without concern.

But, do bear in mind that we all, humans and horses, get the odd ouchie now and again, especially when we are ramping up the exercise and physically changing (ask me how I know...) that we just have to work through.

We are about an hour from CSU and an hour from Littleton Large. Both are excellent, I've used CSU more, it's more fairly priced. They actually saw Lynx over the summer but thought that sore feet (he was barefoot and it was rock hard and dry) was the culprit more than anything.

So definitely could involve CSU. I am hoping to have at least basic diagnostics done with a local vet but depending on how that goes, CSU probably would be my next stop.

We put hind shoes back on today. So hopefully that helps (He seemed to do well in the fall with him.) The only reason we took them off is because of the snow. If he seems to go better with them then I might as well just keep them on.