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  Discussion on Short-striding at the trot
Author Message
New Member:
jaycee

Posted on Saturday, Jan 22, 2011 - 1:04 am:

Hello,

I'm at my wits end with a frustrating hind-end lameness and figure someone here can at least point me to a path forward.

I have a ten year old arab who was lightly worked early on, had a few years off due to family circumstances, and over the last six months has been slowly brought up to work again.

One day while trotting him I had the sensation of being thrown on one diagonal. From the ground he appeared to be taking a very short step with the right hind and left fore at the trot. No heat, no swelling, no sign of injury anywhere. To throw a curve ball in, the horse has a mild club on the left fore, and has been known to short step on it occasionally, but never accompanied by a feeling of being tossed on the diagonal while riding.

The first vet I had out performed flexion tests and decided it was a sprain to the right hock, but didn't rule out the stifle. He suggested 2 weeks of bute and rest, which I followed to a tee. No improvement. Several weeks of rest later I had a second vet out who felt convinced it was the stifle due to the nature of the stride (stabbing stride but with good hock flexion), plus he says stifle problems are common in arabs. Hind flexion tests produced 1/5 on both legs, but trotting on a circle still showed the short step. Ultrasound of the right stifle (and thermography) revealed nothing. He blocked the lower right limb and ruled out a suspensory issue. He decided to inject a steriod into the stifle as a diagnostic (if it got better, he knew where the problem was). It got marginally better in two weeks, but arguably it could have been the rest. In fact, on examining the horse two weeks after the injection, this vet thought the left hind looked more sore. I couldn't see it - I still saw the right hind short stepping. He then mentioned the possibility of arthritis in both stifles, which seems odd to me since the problem arose suddenly, and the clearly uneven gait.

Eight weeks of rest after first noticing it, my horse still displays the short step when trotting slowly on a circle with no engagement. Asking for more energy causes the problem to disappear. That had my vet scratching his head.

The vet feels he's exhausted his bag of tricks, and suggested I turn the horse out to pasture for a few months (not a trivial thing to do in my situation). He thinks it may be tendonitis in the stifle, but admits he has nothing to back this up.

My question is: what else should I be looking into? How does one distinguish between the club foot short stride and actual lameness? Why would this lameness come and go with the engagement of the horse? When would one expect to see improvement with tendonitis? Should the horse be allowed turn out at all? These are all questions the vet hasn't been able to answer...maybe someone here will have insight. Should I get a second opinion?

Thanks,

Jill
Member:
silver

Posted on Saturday, Jan 22, 2011 - 6:46 am:

Has the pelvis, back and other three legs been looked at?

Any changes in behaviour such as resistant to picking feet up / finding ground yields difficult etc.

If one of the opposite paired legs hurts, he may short stride because of that too.... :-)
Member:
scooter

Posted on Saturday, Jan 22, 2011 - 9:56 am:

Was he tested for hoof soreness with hoof testers?
New Member:
jaycee

Posted on Saturday, Jan 22, 2011 - 10:08 am:

He was tested for hoof soreness with hoof testers...nothing there. As for the hip/pelvis, my vet said that problems there are very difficult to diagnose and you have to rule everything else out first (which I don't feel we've done). And finally, as for the other three legs, I asked the vet several times how he knew it wasn't say, the left fore instead of the right hind, and he said, "well that's possible, but you still have to rule out the right hind". He never tested the front legs with hoof testers (or any sort of flexion tests).

Also in terms of nerve blocking: the only one my vet did ruled out issues below the hock. He said blocking the hock and stifle are difficult and not conclusive. I'm thinking I'd like to pursue more blocks. Is it worth it? I just really want to isolate where the problem is.

Edited to add: forgot to answer all your questions! From a behavioral standpoint, no resistance to picking up feet, loves to go sideways and backwards. When turned out will run and play and trot beautifully. It's just that slow lazy shuffle trot that brings this out. Haven't ridden him in 2 months. Maybe I should hop on and see if his trot still throws me on one diagonal...
New Member:
jaycee

Posted on Saturday, Jan 22, 2011 - 10:12 am:

Forgot to add: the original vet is also an equine chiropractor. He did a full adjustment shortly after the problem was first discovered, because my boy had responded to stall rest with developing a locking right stifle (would lock when he'd been standing in one place for awhile and would struggle for about 30 sec to unlock it). He said my horse had a tight hip and some back pain, but felt it was compensation for the lameness. He felt my horse responded well to loosening his hips. To note, stifle did not lock again after this chiro adjustment (not sure if that's coincidence though).
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Saturday, Jan 22, 2011 - 11:55 am:

Feet and saddle fit are the first things that I would look hard at.

Wonder if the club foot should have the heel of the clubby foot gradually reduced?

Lateral, medial balance is important.

I have had many instances where compensation in way of going was due to slight changes in a horses' condition that affected saddle fit.

I had a (not very good) farrier say such a problem as your horse is experiencing was due to bad stifle in an Arab of mine, but the veterinarian said it was not.

Ultimately it was a matter of unbalanced feet and poor farrier care.

Changing farriers fixed the problem . . .
Member:
silver

Posted on Saturday, Jan 22, 2011 - 1:19 pm:

Im not sure how it works out there - but I would want to have the other legs checked before I paid out for nerve blocks over here... would cost a fortune!!!!!!

Yes would also look at saddle fit too.

My little one has some kind of pelvis/hock issue - she doesn't track through and looks like she is wearing high heels and is a bit tottery - its very odd to ride, she feels disunited in trot - Ive put it down to some kind of muscle spasms with changes in sugar in grass as we seem to get it in time with that.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Jan 22, 2011 - 4:47 pm:

Welcome Jill,
Since both veterinarians diagnose a RR lameness it seems unlikely a mild left fore club could figure into this. A mildly clubby non-sore foot has minimal effect on gait.

I also see no clear indication of ruling in the stifle as the cause so I think you should back up and continue to look for the source, then the cause. We have a description of the logical path for localization then diagnosis of lameness at HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Lameness » Localizing Lameness in the Horse. You should note that in experienced hands blocking of the hock and stifle joints are very good ways to rule in or out these areas as where the lameness comes from but you will read more about these in the article I reference and its links.
DrO
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Saturday, Jan 22, 2011 - 4:54 pm:

A variety of toxins and ingestion of toxic weeds can cause hind-end incoordination due to neurological damage.

Consuming too much creeping Indigo supposedly causes Birdsville disease in Australia and some other countries, or grove poisoning in Florida.

A hallmark of the chronic problem from consumption is the dragging of the toes in the hind while picking up the fronts rather spryly.

Larger amounts of ingestion (acute illness) over a short period of time can cause extreme illness and death.
Member:
rtrotter

Posted on Saturday, Jan 22, 2011 - 8:20 pm:

Jill C,

Has anyone mentioned the possibility that your horse is hitting himself and is trying to compensate for it my moving differently when going slow, but when going faster he does not interfere and that's why he goes better and straightens out.

I say this from a Standardbred racehorse perspective having all sorts of interference problems dealing with the gaiting and balancing of these horses at all different speeds.

Some just whack the dickens out of themselves going slow and look like they will fall down with every step, but once they reach a certain speed they straighten right out and are smooth as glass.

There is no lameness, just interference.

Oh and just because your horse may not have any marks on his legs doesn't mean he's not hitting himself, he may have just learned that if he changes his gait a bit he won't hurt himself. you might want to try a set of polo wraps on him to see if it helps.

The fact that he has a club foot that might move differently may contribute to the interference.

My 2 cents worth.
Rachelle
New Member:
jaycee

Posted on Sunday, Jan 23, 2011 - 11:16 am:

This horse has moved this way since I've known him (a few years). He had his check lig. cut when he was 4 to minimize the club. There is a decent lump of scar tissue there. I had always been told that he short strides with the LF (club) when he's lazy because of the overtight (tendon, ligament?). When he's energetic he can stretch through it, or so I'd been told. Never once associated it with a hind end problem. But depending on which half of the horse you watch when he moves, it is easy to pick either one as being the cause.

He was clearly lame a few months ago (wouldn't shift out of his unevenness), and maybe it was a hind end problem (sprain?). But now that the vets have turned me on the the hind end I'm paranoid and second-guessing everything I knew about this horse's normal way of going. Now that he has the ability to move normally again (when he wants), how do I know he's recovered? How does one give a clean bill of health to a horse that is uneven to begin with, since all the diagnostics (flexion, blocks), look for uneveness or the lack thereof to diagnose.

Any club foot owners with uneven trot issues?

The only thing to do might be to start riding again and see if he stays the same or gets worse.
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