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  Discussion on Strange upper hind limb pain.
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New Member:
cathyb1

Posted on Saturday, Feb 3, 2007 - 2:15 am:

We have a 4 yo Thoroughbred, a very calm, nice little horse. He raced for a short while,and has been off the track now for 12 months. We bought him recently from a reputable trainer who has retrained him for dressage. When we bought him, I noticed that his trot was rather short striding, but figured it was just a developmental and training issue, as he has a very good, balanced canter. He also had a recent injury on the front of his off side hock joint, which he had apparently got through getting his leg through a wire fence. He had had some months off work while it healed. He was not lame anywhere, and worked well for my daughter (we bought him as a potential dressage horse).
The first hint of a problem was that he would not let us pick up the off hind leg, the one with the injury. I figured he might be a bit sick of people mucking around with it since the injury, and we persisted, so that he would allow us to pick it up. When we had him shod, he was very difficult to shoe on this leg, pulling the foot away repeatedly. The farrier tried some stretches on the leg (backwards, forwards) and the horse was obviously in some pain when he did so. Also, when being ridden, when asked to canter, he would kick out at the leg. We assumed again that it was a training issue, and rode through it, and he stopped. He also has trouble stepping sideways to the left, as in a turn on the forehand. Under saddle, he will do it, and will do leg yields, baby shoulder ins, etc, but on the ground, he almost hops across. All these things make me wonder if he sustained some high up hip or sacro- iliac damage during his injury. He appears evenly muscled and built when viewed from behind, and is working kindly. However, he is a very sweet natured horse, perfect for my daughter, and I can't help wondering if he were a grumpier sort of horse, he would be showing his discomfort a lot more.
Am I imagining this? I haven't had the vet look at him, as there is no lameness apparent, just the odd things I've mentioned above, which could each be due to something else besides discomfort. I have no experience of lower back problems in horses to know if these symptoms mean anything at all!
Thanks Dr. O - I seem to have recently picked your brains about several of my horses. I really am not a horse hypochondriac!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Feb 3, 2007 - 7:03 am:

I am afraid it is going to take an exam to help you Cathy as I cannot figure out from the post what is going on. However I don't think lower back problems are necessarily indicated. Any pain could in the leg on flexion could cause such a reaction and the fact you are still riding suggest this may be a (re)training issue.
DrO
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