Weird hind end lameness?

[Dressage_Diva333]

Okay, I'll try and get all the important details in. This is a horse I'm currently training, not mine. He previously hasn't had any lameness issues to the owner's knowledge.

Back in January, another person had tried to ride him, and said he was 'stiff', he hadn't been worked in two months at that time. About a week later, I worked him for the first time. He was slightly off on the left hind, but worked out of it by the end of the ride. He has always (since current owner has had him) done something a little odd with his hind legs: when you pick them up to pick out his feet, etc.., it's like a nerve gets pinched or something, and he pulls his leg away from you and it quivers. It doesn't seem like he's in pain, he just does it. Once he's done it, you can take his leg back, and continue on. He's been off and on 'stiff' in the hind end, but not really lameness. I've been riding him for about a month now, on an every other day schedule for the most part.

Anyways, today I turned him out in the arena. He rolled, then got up and took off playing. He wouldn't put any weight on the right hind when he got up, and continued running without putting weight on the RH. I was sitting in the arena watching him, so I went up and tried to snatch him to keep him still. He trotted away from me, and was lame, but maybe a 2+/5 lameness on the RH. Then he broke into a canter and once again would not put weight on the RH. After that I was able to capture him and keep him still. I examined him a little closer, and could find no evidence of any obvious injury. He walked out sound, so I got him down to the wash rack. I continued to look him over, then trotted him out, and he was only about a 1/5 lame on the right hind. I gave him one gram of bute, and put him in a stall, will get him out again tomorrow. I also noticed that before he rolled, his hind legs were shaking kind of oddly. I had never seen him go down before, so I don't know if this is normal or not. I'm meeting with the owners tomorrow.

I do have a video on my phone that I'm going to try to get online to show you what he does with the hind legs. I've never seen it before.

Has anyone got any ideas? The vet should probably see him, but he's not always lame. I need to figure out how to 'make' him lame enough for the vet to be able to evaluate him. I thought I would try here in the meantime to see if anyone has ever seen something like this.

[Fantastic]

Hi

My first thought on reading your post is that this is hock related. I am thinking hock arthritis. How old is the horse and what level/what does he do for a living?

My second thought is neurologic/spinal related. Ask me why? Because I have had separate horses with both types of issues present in a similar fashion.

Hopefully it is just hocks and they can be injected. Keep working this horse, in order to make his issue most presentable for the vet. Good luck and please keep us posted!

[NoExcuses]

Sounds like shivering a neuromuscular disorder, or stringhalt
not completely known cause. It may involve the extensor tendon in the hock, but there may also be some nerve involvement. In stringhalt you will often see uneven muscle balance when you view the horses hindquarters. But there are also a whole host of neorological or other conditions that can cause some of the symptoms you are seeing. EPM, Lyme disease, wobblers syndrome, even spinal/disc involvement. I would have a vet do a complete lameness exam.
Good Luck

[3 is the limit]

My first thought is shivers if this horse is 'heavy' like a draft or drafty WB.

[Dressage_Diva333]

Thanks for the responses! To answer the questions, he is a Thoroughbred, 10 or 11 years old. Retired 'sound' from the track, and has been lightly ridden since then.

I tend to think more that it is higher up than the hocks? It literally looks like a nerve is being pinched (or something) in the hindquarters, as he pulls the leg up, and slightly out, and it quivers. I have noticed some heat in the hocks now and then, now that I think about it though.. hmm.

I will talk with the owners about a more complete history of the horse tomorrow, and hopefully come up with a game plan.

[Beentheredonethat]

I have seen the pulling up the leg thing and holding it out before, basically as a mild case of stringhalt. Both horses I had that had it were Hannovarian, if that helps. Never had an issue with anything except they would do as you described.

AS for the other thing, not sure. My first instinct is that he knocked something out, like chiropractically, by rolling. It sounds like he may have some chiropractic and muscle development issues that, as you say, maybe pinch a nerve when he does certain things.

I have a horse I rescued that I have now who just has issues with the girth until he gets his body moving. He's not being bad or trying to, but it's like he has some nerve or super sensitivity issues where you need to just slowly tighten it and move him until he gets all the neurons going. Then he's fine and you can take the girth of and crank it up again and he's fine. But, if you just tighten it to much and ask him to move, he can't, and I think was abused about it in the past, so will pull back if you try to make him move forward, which becomes a huge issue if tied. (This was a long, painful process to discover he did this and how to handle it. As long as you give him a chance, he's fine.)

I say this because it reminds me of your horse. It's like it takes mine awhile to sort of connect his brain to his body and be OK with it. You can feel it when you first get on him.

So, I think it sounds like to separate things. The stringhalt doesn't ever present as a problem except they get stuck sometimes. The other thing, possibly chiropractic.

[thatmoody]

Shivers is also present in TB's and WB's, surprisingly, not just drafts. When we were going through the diagnosis workup for my TB who ended up having Equine Degenerative Myelopathy (a degenerative spinal condition) that was one of the early suspicions based on similar symptoms, although his were much more pronounced, and of course they progressed as well. I'd have a good vet workup to rule out other issues, and if it IS shivers or stringhalt, it can be dealt with.

[Thomas_1]

Shivers maybe.

Stifle pain also likely.

[Flipper]

Don't worry about the vet not being able to 'see' the symptoms. If it's a hock thing, a flexxion test will show him what's going on, even if the horse seems 'better' to you at the time. If symptoms aren't obvious when the vet comes, show him/her your video. At any rate, you should allow him his regular turnout - don't just keep him in a stall. Movement is good.

[Dressage_Diva333]

Don't worry about the vet not being able to 'see' the symptoms. If it's a hock thing, a flexxion test will show him what's going on, even if the horse seems 'better' to you at the time. If symptoms aren't obvious when the vet comes, show him/her your video. At any rate, you should allow him his regular turnout - don't just keep him in a stall. Movement is good.

I'll try and get some more video today to show you guys... it's so odd.

Also, he is normally out 24/7, but after the incident yesterday, I buted him and kept him up in case something additional had happened. It's pretty muddy right now, and I just didn't want to risk him slipping and sliding around too much. Depending on how he is today, I'll likely put him back out.

[Fharoah]

Video it and show your vet that can help allot.