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  Discussion on Tailing altering and hind end lameness
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New Member:
klboso

Posted on Monday, Jan 14, 2008 - 5:03 pm:

We just purchased a mare who was shown successfully on the ApHC circuit (2X World Champion in Hunter Under Saddle). We found out that early in her career her tail was fixed/altered (whatever you want to call it). Also, early in her career they started seeing a hind end lameness with muscle deterioration in the hip. I've been reading up on tail fixing and have seen that it can cause major issues. Her tail is a mess - very sad. Has a huge kink in it and trembles when you massage and move the vertebrae around. Could the lameness be associated with the tail? What would you recommend?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 15, 2008 - 10:18 am:

Hello Karen,
When you say the tail is messed up it does not allow us to make much in the way of help: how exactly is it messed up is important. There are at least two ways I can think of to adjust a tail: was it surgically altered or was it alcohol tail blocked? Also knowing how long it has been this way will help us.

Typically the procedures I describe above are not chronically painful and therefore lameness not present.
DrO
New Member:
klboso

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 15, 2008 - 6:25 pm:

The tail has limited mobility and is always carried to the right side. It also has a huge kink in the vertebrae about half way down. We've done a lot of massage and stretching which seems to help. Whenever you manipulate the tail the muscles tremble.

We have only owned the horse for a month so I have no way of knowing how long it has been in this bad of a condition. I know the altering was done when she was a two year old and she is now 7 years old. I also don't know if it was done with alcohol or surgically done. I can ask the original owner but I would assume she would not want to talk about it since it is not "legal" in the show world. I am surprised she told me it was done in the first place.

I wish I could put it in more technical terms for you but this is the best I can do at this point.
Member:
canter

Posted on Tuesday, Jan 15, 2008 - 7:49 pm:

Karen, I don't know if this helps or not but a horse I used to know had one of the above procedures done - to the best of my knowledge, the horse was injected with the alcohol. Apparently, this resulted in major infection. When I met the horse (years after the procedure), he had major scars from suturing down the back of his butt where the infected tissue had been removed. The then owners, (who were not responsible for the mess and had purchased him after the whole problem) told me what happened. I always thought it was so very sad. Anyway, I wonder if perhaps the issues you see in your horse are related to an infection that may have been caused by whatever method was used. If so, it doesn't seem likley that there is much you could do about it now.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 16, 2008 - 8:05 am:

Your terminology is fine Karen, and knowing that this has resulted from a procedure 5 years ago helps us prognosticate a guarded to poor chance this will return to normal without a thorough exam to determine the cause and extent of the abnormality followed by some sort of major intervention to correct those causes. I wish I could be more definitive but questions remain:
1)Are there ongoing neurological or muscular deficits to the tail?
2) Have bony or connective tissue changes occurred?
I certainly would continue to try the manual manipulations to help the tail however.

To learn more about "alcohol block tail" put it in the search engine above as we have occasionally discussed these in the past.
DrO
New Member:
ynotgold

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 16, 2008 - 12:42 pm:

The January issue of Horse & Rider has a great article on tail altering, how it's done, why and consequences of doing the procedure.
Member:
mike29az

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 16, 2008 - 5:26 pm:

I have a whole different breed of horse so I don't know if this can be part of the issue you have but when my horses have a soreness issue behind they will cock their tail off to one side. You mention your horse had hind end lameness with muscle deterioration previously. Is it possible that she carries her tail off to the side because of ongoing discomfort in this area - could the tail cocking be a symptom of the problem not the problem? Sad but maybe that is why they blocked the tail in the first place???? Just thought I would throw that idea in the mix.... I'm not at all familiar with tail blocking so I could be way off base with this thought.
New Member:
klboso

Posted on Wednesday, Jan 16, 2008 - 11:37 pm:

I saw the article in Horse & Rider. That is what started me down this road. Sounds like these procedures can cause some serious side effects.

In response to trotters - the horses tail was fixed purely for the show ring. The "mild" hind end lameness started to show up about the same time as the tail fixing. Are they related???

Dr. O - are there articles I can reference to help me pinpoint the source of lameness. I have one vet thinking fractured pelvis at some point and a chiropractor that thinks it is a femur problem and fixable over time. I am leaning toward the femur and muscular issue because we have seen improvement in the month that we have had her. Are there specific diagnostics we could do to look at these two areas? Are there things in her gate to look for? She does not track up underneath herself on the right side. Right hip also DrOps lower and does not elevate as high as the other hip. Thanks!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jan 17, 2008 - 7:14 am:

Assuming the changes you describe result is a total dorso-ventral (up and down) excursion of the R hip that is greater than the L's, you describe classic signs of R rear supporting limb lameness: pain while bearing weight on the leg. Some think that the shortened stride indicates pain during the swing phase and this is not always true: the horse will also shorten the stride to minimize the amount of time spent during the stance phase. So this description could include everything from a foot bruise to OCD of the stifle. I do not see any information in your post that supports, or rules out the idea of a "pelvic fracture" or a "problem with the femur". Unless there is some more objective information these are conjectural that would need further support for a diagnosis.

Though some types of lameness do have characteristic gaits, we are not at the point that we can diagnose a lameness based on its appearance with but a few exceptions. For more on this and how to go about an accurate diagnosis in a methodical manner check out the article associated with this discussion, Localizing Lameness. You can select it off the navigation frame above.
DrO
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