# Mysterious Intermittent Lameness



## Debzmeister (9 March 2011)

A horse on our yard has been intermittently lame for a month or so, each time she was rested and within 24-48 hours she was fine. There has never been any heat or swelling

It presents itself after the horse has been working properly and in an outline for any length of time, sometimes 20 mins sometimes 40. and again after resting she would be 100% the next day. The RI was putting it down to an extreme case of bridle lameness - but the horse has a varied routine and sufficient days off, loves her jumping and has even done this before she was jumped etc

Most notable was at an unaffiliated dressage event, the horse warmed up well for about 30 mins, and then all of a sudden looked lame, at first it appeared to be in the back end but then it was a front leg. 
The owner has had her seen by a highly regarded osteopath who could find no major areas of soreness, she has also had her saddle checked and reflocked with a qualified saddle fitter. The horse had a previous suspensory ligament issue a couple of years ago, so the horse was also re-scanned and x-rayed on this leg and passed the flexion test on all 4 legs.

We are all fairly baffled by it, she has hacked out for the last 10 days, walk and trot and in a shape and has had no issues, but today in the school it happened again ?

Does anyone have any experience of this ? Thanks


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## vicky_sut (9 March 2011)

Just a thought , is it with the same rider each time it happens?
Could be that the rider is crooked or has a bad back that is affecting the horse.


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## Debzmeister (9 March 2011)

vicky_sut said:



			Just a thought , is it with the same rider each time it happens?
Could be that the rider is crooked or has a bad back that is affecting the horse.
		
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Its the same rider everytime, The owner is the only rider and she has also had herselfed checked over by the osteo.


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## svallis83 (9 March 2011)

Does the lameness present itself on the lunge, either on a soft surface or on the hard? If there is a problem in the foot the horse can still flex up 100% sound (also flexions are subject to the actual vet doing them aswell, two different vets doing flexions on the same horse can acheive very different results)?


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## Debzmeister (9 March 2011)

svallis83 said:



			Does the lameness present itself on the lunge, either on a soft surface or on the hard? If there is a problem in the foot the horse can still flex up 100% sound (also flexions are subject to the actual vet doing them aswell, two different vets doing flexions on the same horse can acheive very different results)?
		
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We are going to work her on the lunge her tomorrow in the arena as she went lame today, We had decided against lunging before this as the vet advised against it after the suspensory lig injury. 

The vet has looked at her on the lunge on a hard surface and could see nothing strange
The lameness has occurred on different soft arena surfaces 2 different types in the yard and 2 different types also where the competition was on, all different sand mixes.

Thats a good point re the flexion tests with the vets and she has been looked at by 2 vets, a local and one at the equine hospital - She never seems to stay lame long enough for them to see it, Im begining to think that they think were mad taking the sound horse to the equine hospital everytime.


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## dressagecrazy (9 March 2011)

Dont mean to alarm you, but my WB came down with a Mystery lameness after an accident in the field. He would be hopping lame in walk & within 30 mins of being rested totally sound again.
It took months to sort out & i was advised to keep working him by the Vets due to the fact he came sound so quickly & the fact he was sound everytime they came even under flexion.

In August i really pushed to find out cause as it was getting more & more often he went to Leahurst. We where devistated to find he had a very badly damaged Impar ligament with adhesions to the DDFT. The horse is written off now as a dressage & where hoping he will be able to be a light hack.

So my advice if insured get a propper lameness workup done at one of the Vet hospitals, if its in the foot soft tissue injurys can only be propperly seen by MRI.


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## svallis83 (9 March 2011)

dressagecrazy said:



			Dont mean to alarm you, but my WB came down with a Mystery lameness after an accident in the field. He would be hopping lame in walk & within 30 mins of being rested totally sound again.
It took months to sort out & i was advised to keep working him by the Vets due to the fact he came sound so quickly & the fact he was sound everytime they came even under flexion.

In August i really pushed to find out cause as it was getting more & more often he went to Leahurst. We where devistated to find he had a very badly damaged Impar ligament with adhesions to the DDFT. The horse is written off now as a dressage & where hoping he will be able to be a light hack.

So my advice if insured get a propper lameness workup done at one of the Vet hospitals, if its in the foot soft tissue injurys can only be propperly seen by MRI.
		
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Dressagecrazy has a very good point, and from what you are saying about the different surfaces it does sound like something in the foot to me. I have a 5yo that had similar symptoms and that is why I wanted to ask you a bit more. She has been diagnosed with Navcular bursitis and has various inflammation in different structures within the foot. It took a long while to diagnose because she too kept coming sound. She was flexing fine, good on the hard and had no worries in straight lines or out hacking - this was likely due to the fact the foot got to land evenly in those circumstances, and when in an outline and working around the scool you are quite often bending/slighlty cornering even if you think you are going straight, and therefore the extra weight from the shift in balance is enough to highlight a subtle lameness. I then requested a referral to Andy Baith (at Rossdales) who was amazing and had an anwser for me that day. The MRI was integral to getting the anwsers. I hope yours does not have an injury but it does sound like one of the structures deeper down is causing an issue, and with time off the inflammation subsides and then as you work the horse it exaserbates the problem. I would thouroughly recommend a proper lameness work up asap, insurance claims only last 1 year and with time off it actually isnt a very big window!

Good luck and keep us posted x x


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## Debzmeister (10 March 2011)

Thanks for the replies Svallis83 and dressagecrazy and for shedding another light on it.
The DDFT and impar ligament do make a lot of sense and we hadnt really considered the foot at all. I will keep you posted on the progress


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## maggiesmum (10 March 2011)

My friends horse damaged the impar ligaments and was written off but after a year in the field came back into a good level (hacking & schooling) of work.


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## Marchtime (10 March 2011)

Echo those above who said consider the foot. I've had one before present with similar symptoms that had collateral ligament damage. He was on/off lame and x-rays showed nothing. Twice when we went to shows he warmed up sound but then when I took him in the arena he went lame. It seemed that the tiny change between the warm up surface and the main arena would unsettle him. He was only ever 2/10ths lame at worst. I'd definitely be looking for a full lameness work up as continuing to ride could make a potential soft tissue injury worse. Also if a horse is low level bi-laterally lame in front sometimes this is not visible until nerve blocked.


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## dressagecrazy (10 March 2011)

maggiesmum said:



			My friends horse damaged the impar ligaments and was written off but after a year in the field came back into a good level (hacking & schooling) of work. 

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Fingers crossed i hope mine ends up like above, i would also just like to say i have taken my boy barefoot & it has helped but it isnt a cure. 
However he is considerably better barefoot & the lameness has definitely changed for the better when it happens he is no longer hopping lame just very slightly short now. 
Time & good management is all i can do.


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## Meowy Catkin (10 March 2011)

Could be an abscess brewing.

My mare was 'off' and then fine again etc... for weeks before the abscess finally caused her to be hopping lame and the farrier was then finally able to find it. I'd already had the Vet look at her, as had the farrier but she had been sound for them at that point.


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