Lameness.

Question
Mrs. Lana,
I have a 9 year old Quarter pony cross gelding. I've had this horse for 3 years now, and about 2 months ago he went lame. I had him in our roundpen, and he hit a spot of really deep sand, which made him stumble badly. He went down completely on his front end. I checked him over to make sure he didn't do any obvious damage, and sent him back out. I found that he looked a little sore. I figured he'd slightly hit himself so I left it at that and let him rest. The next day I found that the lameness issue (which we found later was in his left hip) didn't get any better. He didn't want to extend the leg out much at all. I discussed it with my trainer, who said  we should do some easy straight line walk trot work which would slowly bring him back up. We tried this routine for a couple of days, but to no avail. I then called my vet, who recommended I put him on pure stall rest for a month. The hip which healed was thought to have a fracture. As his hip healed completely, we then found that he had sustained a dual injury, and now his hip was moving freely, but the leg itself was not. I called out the vet and we did nerve blocks to find that the injury was now in the hock. I had 4 x-rays done to find the problem. The vet called back to inform me that he found nothing wrong with the x-rays. He's also had a friend of his (some lameness specialist that is here for a clinic) look at the x-rays and that vet concluded the same thing. I'm at a loss as to what to do. I need to find out what's wrong with my horse so I can be able to correct it. My vet suggested hock injections. But reading up on those, I've found that they will only make him better for a couple months, hiding the problem, not fixing it. Please give options of what I can do to help solve this problem.


Answer
Hi Agata;

It sounds to me like you need a chiropractor for your boy, and possibly a massage therapist in combination.

I see no reason to spend money and take the chance of infection, by doing hock injections on a hock that shows no changes.

My guess is that some tendons/ligaments up high in sacrum/pelvic and possible through the loin are tight because of having to compensate for the sore hip...which, I doubt was fractured, but rather sustained soft tissue damage.

Anyway, that's where I'd start...with a chiropractor et al.

Best wishes!

Sincerely,

Lana Reinhardt