Trust Your Gut Feelings When it Comes to Diagnosing Your Lame Horse
Four summers ago, three barn staff (including myself), walked out to the middle back field to bring the geldings in for the day. When we got to the gate, we realized our big draft, Squirt, was favoring one his hind legs. He kept lifting his leg and turning his nose to point at it so that we would also take notice.
I walked out to check on him and he was three-legged lame. After a quick look at his entire body, I palpated his leg and determined that nothing seemed out of the ordinary. I attributed his discomfort to slipping at some point, and perhaps pulling a muscle.
It took some time to get him inside (the walk from the back field is about 1/4 mile trek), but once he was in, we let him rest. The vets came out to do a thorough lameness exam along with some radiographs of his feet. We found nothing. He returned to normal and seemed perfectly fine afterwards.
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Every year since, Squirt has had a random bout of lameness. It does not appear to be consistent with the time of year, but it does seem to be consistent with an increased work load. And by work load, I do not mean Grand Prix jumping, by any means. I am able to gradually condition Squirt up to the point where he can maintain trot work for a half hour with breaks in between, and then begin introducing canter work. The canter is an extremely difficult gait for him to hold, although he really tries his best. Once I begin adding canter work in, he eventually plateaus, and usually will come up short.
I have also taken note of Squirt's natural way of standing in the cross ties. While he will stand evenly on all four legs, he has a MUCH more difficult time lifting his left hind then he does his right. When anyone goes to pick out his hind left hoof, he tries to hold it but will often slam it down to the ground. After some research, I understand this to be symptomatic of a dysfunctional sacroiliac joint. Additional signs are a disunited canter, which is common place for him, and a dip in the lower back (often indicative of a struggle to build proper topline in the lower back due to a compensation pattern).
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A couple weeks ago, Squirt was doing the best he ever has in schooling and lessons. And then he came up lame again.
He was immobilized to the point that he preferred to stay in his stall as opposed to walking out to his field, so we let him be. After four days, he was able to walk again and returned to his normal turnout.
In that time, we had the vet out to do a lameness exam. The vet examined the joints of his hind end and speculated that he has some arthritis, of which we have already known. She then wanted to take radiographs of his hooves and hocks to see if there was anything we were missing. The radiographs revealed nothing new, but did confirm that the soles of his hooves are very thin, which we have known. He has subtle arthritis, but again, nothing new. No abscesses were identified in the images. The appointment left us with no answers as to why Squirt was experiencing random discomfort.
When Squirt regained comfort, I noticed an opening at the top of his left hoof, that appeared to be a blown abscess. This was interesting to see after the radiographs suggested there was no such thing going on.
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Although I completely believe in the power of utilizing your vet to help determine lameness, in my personal experience, the percentage of time I actually get a clear answer from a lameness examination is quite low. It frustrates me to spend so much money and ultimately walk away from the appointment with no further answers.
Trusting in the power of my own observations, I have speculated for some time that Squirt either has a muscle disorder or is out in his pelvic region.
For these reasons, I gathered hair samples and sent them off to Animal Genetics in order to be tested. I am eager to get the results back and see if he tests positive for HYPP or PSSM. Squirt is Belgian Draft/Paint Horse. PSSM is common in Belgians and HYPP has been present in Paint Horses.
In February, just a short month away, the osteopath we bring in regularly is visiting and will do bodywork on Squirt. I am really excited to see if she finds anything dysfunctional in his hind end. More often than not, I have seen horses move completely unbalanced when they are misaligned. Once they are adjusted, they return to normal.
The two additional changes I am going to pursue are re-checking his saddle fit (I think his saddle needs to be widened), and running through treatment for ulcers again. When I did the Ulcergard protocol with him last year, he showed moderate improvement, but not as much as I was hoping for. This time, I may treat with Ulcergard as well as finding a thorough treatment for potential hind gut ulcers.
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Though there is always a lot to decode with horses, I enjoy the process of trying to help them become more comfortable and maintain. I will continue to share updates on Squirt here!
Happy riding! xo
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Little update here (6/8/22) -
Squirt ended up testing positive for PSSM Type 1! While it wasn't the answer I wanted for him, it did provide some much needed relief in terms of always wondering why he "never felt quite right" while being conditioned.
We've begun to manage him a little different, with some success. More on that to come!
