Possible shoulder pain

Question
My 9 year old gelding has been showing signs of soreness in his front end.  I can't determine whether it's in his shoulder or girth area.  A few weeks ago I saddled him in western gear and as I was cinching him, he seemed to "hold" his breath and lean back as if to sit down. Then he launched forward!!  After calming him down, we had a decent easy ride.  The next week, I decided to ride in english gear, thinking maybe it was a western saddle-fit issue.  We had the same results.  Farrier came yesterday to reset shoes and told me that my horse didn't want to lift one of his front legs.  Today there was no cinching issues but noticed he was favoring his front left leg.  I tried to pick up his hoof and he wouldn't let me and was acting as if he was going to lay down. Right now I'm only riding on the weekends and just for leisure. This is the third weedend that he has acted this way and is not improving.  My next step is to call our vet and stall rest.  Any suggestions as to what would be going on.

Answer
Misty:

you need a good vet to do a good complete lameness exam. THis does NOT necessarily sound like a shoulder problem to me. I would go over the entire body and all the limbs carefully. I would particularly focus on the forelimbs and the cervical and upper thoracic spine. Ive had horses with overriding dorsal spinous processes, nerve impingement and neck pain do things like this. I hope this provides some insight- but I cant diagnose this without examining the horse. Your vet needs to do that. Please feel free to contact me with any other questions.