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  Discussion on Shoulder lameness, trot only, one direction
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New Member:
chloemom

Posted on Friday, Jul 7, 2017 - 12:56 pm:

We have a young (7 yr old) sport horse mare, schooling Third/Fourth level dressage.

In late April (2017), we had noticed a tendency to be sticky in flying changes, breaking to canter in medium trot, and our vet felt that changes to the footing (had become firm in the spring, due to rain) had exasperated laxity in her stifles, and she was blistered in early May. Felt great, less wiggly.

We were still focused on the hind end, so I am embarrassed to admit that it took me a couple of weeks to finally realize that I was feeling a different issue, which seemed to stem from the front right, but only in trot, on a circle, on the opposite rein.

Our vet came out for a lameness exam on June 15, and the issue was quite obvious on the lunge (less so under saddle), when trotted to the left, esp when her head/neck was flexed more to the inside. She was bobbing lame, at the trot only, graded as 3/5.

Our vet tested her hoof (no sensitivity), followed by a block to the fetlock, mid cannon bone, then knee. None of the blocks reduced the lameness. Flexion tests (prior to the blocks) to the knee down were negative. Our mare seemed to resent her right leg being drawn forward, but she was slightly suspicious of all handling at that point.

She was started on stall rest, dex and bute for 10 days, and re-evaluated 12 days later. She showed no reduction in the lameness (only to the left, at trot only) at that time, and was referred to an equine hospital for further investigation.

Prior to the exam at the equine hospital, I had noticed that the lameness had decreased considerably (I was trying to videotape the issue), though it was as though momentum was being used to advance the right fore - there is a hesitation, rather than head bobbing lameness noted twice before.

At the equine hospital, another lameness exam was preformed. No lameness noted on a straight line. On the lunge, to the left (affected leg to the outside), the lameness was rated as 1/5 in trot only. Flexion test with the leg bent so that the hoof touches the elbow did not produce any increase in lameness, though the flexion test where the affected leg was pulled backwards seemed to increase it slightly.

Both shoulders were xrayed, as well as the cervical spine, followed by an ultrasound of the bicipital tendons and the two bursas in each shoulder.

The xrays looked clean, nice, smooth, young joints, and the tendons looked really good. No inflammation of the bursas either.

The recommendation was to continue stall rest for an additional 3 weeks, combined with handwalking/grazing, up to one hour a day, then starting tack walking, with a follow up evaluation with our vet at the 8 week mark.
Body work (massage) was not recommended given that we don't know what is wrong.

If she worsens or continues to be lame, the recommendation is to send her for a bone scan. However, that is a pricey diagnostic, and requires overnight stay at the out of town equine hospital.

We were so relieved by the lack of findings and to be back at our home barn, that it took a couple of days to realize that we have narrowed down what it is NOT, we still aren't sure what it IS.

I was wondering if: 1) anyone had any suggestions as to what it might be; 2) whether something like stretching the suprascapular nerve would be characterized by head bobbing lameness; 3) whether there was a way to check for muscle strain/pain or to narrow it down further; and 4) whether things like cold hosing, dmso was a waste of time/energy or potentially beneficial?

Again, no signs of injury to the skin was found at the time (or since), nor swelling. She was tender/irritable at having the shoulder muscles prodded and brushed, but no heat noted.

Many thanks in advance!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Jul 8, 2017 - 9:35 am:

Welcome Ros,
Sorry to hear about your horse. Taking your questions one at a time:
1) There continues to be a lack of firm localization though everyone feels this looks like a shoulder issue.
2) Injury to the nerve alone usually results in lack of extension and not head bobbing lame. For a complete discussion of this see HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Nervous System » Neurological Conditions Not Covered Above » Shoulder Sweeny .
3) When acute muscle injury usually results in a rise of muscle enzymes in the blood but if there is not ongoing damage they will return to normal.
4) At this stage (unlocalized, chronic, and hopefully healing) it is hard to see how it would be helpful.
DrO
New Member:
chloemom

Posted on Sunday, Jul 9, 2017 - 10:05 pm:

Thank you! I guess that I feel a bit lost, definitely confused, and emotional about the situation, wondering if it is career ending/limiting for our mare.

I am struggling to understand the issue and want to avoid driving myself bananas by chasing down the wrong path ("I had a friend whose gelding also appeared lame but it turns it out was his [saddle/teeth/new farrier/paddock footing/lunar cycle....]") or waste time and energy on ineffective therapy.

Are there any further investigations that might be helpful in narrowing down the issue's exact location or is the exact location not as important as knowing what to do to let it heal? ie. that muscle pain? injury? usually takes x days/weeks/months to heal irrespective of where in the shoulder that muscle is located?

I received the report from the equine hospital last night, and unfortunately, the cervical spine xrays were not as clean as I had hoped, rather, osteoarthritis of the facet joints (I'm assuming that the radiologist is referring to both left and right joints?) was noted as moderate between C5-C6, moderate to marked for C6-C7 (I'm translating from French,so I think that those are the correct terms for the degree of change). I think that there is a separate section for posting questions relating to the spine, which I will post there later, as I think (I could be very wrong) that it is a separate issue from the shoulder lameness (though my understanding is that such issues can show as forelimb lameness?)

Many thanks in advance!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Jul 10, 2017 - 10:20 am:

You could give nuclear scintography a try but it should not be looked at as a firm diagnosis, but as a localization tool to be confirmed with diagnostic analgesia and other imaging modalities. See HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Lameness » Localizing Lameness in the Horse. Both shoulder and vertebral pain have been localized with analgesia (local, bursal, and joint space injections). This should be done by a experienced diagnostician following a repeat of the lower limb blocks. Yes cervical vertebral pain can mimic front limb lameness particularly if the signs are somewhat vague as you describe above.

There are no firm numbers on healing time but a wait and see program should be based on continued improvement.
DrO
New Member:
chloemom

Posted on Tuesday, Jul 11, 2017 - 1:11 pm:

Thank you again!

Hmm, no suggestion of trying local, bursal nor joint space blocks at the equine hospital, possibly given that the xrays of the scapula and the humerus, plus ultrasound of the bicipital tendon plus bursae/bursas (not sure of the plural form) looked really good? We were surprised that a repeat of the lower limb blocks was not performed.

I re-read the Localizing Lameness in the Horse, but have gotten slightly muddled in the terms.
1) Are facet nerve blocks considered intra-articular? 2) Are they used to narrow down the location, if the lower leg is eliminated as being the source? 3) I'm also curious as the role of the thoracic spine T1-T3, facet joints, ribs in upper limb lameness? No mention nor investigation was done - is that because of where pain is felt for those areas? Or that the ribs stabilize the joints, less likely to have issues, as in humans?

I'll try uploading some of the video of her trot. No head-bobbing/hip hitch was ever apparent on a straight line, nor on a circle, with the possible leg to the inside. I only have video of the improved, but not quite right, trot, where the head-bobbing has disappeared, but there is something off, as if momentum is being used to advance the leg. I have head-bobbing trot video under saddle, when the horse was ridden into a corner, then right-shoulder in.

The issue isn't apparent, to either the rider or a ground person, in walk. In my wisdom (hmmm), I thought it clever to try a couple of trot circles on the lunge two days ago (where she displayed the improved trot), followed by a tack walk, and then a couple of circles in trot again, where she was noticeably lame, head-bobbing only in trot, to the left, which surprised and disappointed me. I've promised to stop trying to assess how lame she is, and stick to the walking only.

Sorry, a bit scattered in this post.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jul 13, 2017 - 3:10 pm:

Hello Ros,
As to why or why not they did what they did you will have to ask them. Facets are joints between the vertebrae and could include the articulations with the ribs. When blocked the ideal is to get it intra-articular but I suspect many end up being a regional block instead that depends on diffusion to the joint. As to the effect of spine and vertebral disease on localization of lameness I think it is fair to say that the closer the lesion is to a limb the more likely it is to cause a change of gait there. But many painful problems may appear as a shortened forelimb gait. There are just no hard and fast rules here.
DrO
New Member:
chloemom

Posted on Friday, Jul 14, 2017 - 1:38 pm:

Thank you again, Dr.O. I just realized how silly that question was to you (why a repeat of the blocks wasn't done) - sorry!

I was able to speak with both our vet and the equine hospital's vet yesterday. Both vets recommend giving the lameness a bit more rest, walking under tack, and to check in with the equine hospital vet in one to two weeks, to give her an update. I need to learn to taper a strong desire to do SOMETHING with following a conservative (and reasonable) treatment plan before deciding the next step.

The equine hospital vet was not unduly alarmed by the cervical facet arthritis finding, and felt that we might still be dealing with two separate issues as our mare was not showing clinical signs that would lead us to suspect that the degenerative changes were causing her sufficient discomfort to be lame in one direction, on a circle. We reported no trouble with collection, contact, neck elevation issues, nor resistance to bending, under saddle, and no concerns were found during that lameness exam.

I've been reading up on other parts of this web site, and found the article on DJD to be very interesting. Read the article on Wobblers as well. I'd be very interesting in understanding any difference in the approach for diagnosing, treating as well as the prognosis for degenerative changes in the cervical facets specifically (unless the information is there, and I missed it). I do understand that the progression of the disease is dependent on various factors, and that we only have this most recent xray for our baseline. I'd be grateful for pointing to any specific studies, articles, and similar discussions.
New Member:
chloemom

Posted on Friday, Jul 14, 2017 - 6:12 pm:

* Temper not taper
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Jul 15, 2017 - 9:10 pm:

Hello Ros,
There really is no good prognostic information published on osteoarthritis of the equine cervical vertebral facets. There is an interesting human paper recently reported that helps illuminate the problem with diagnosing and by extension prognosing:

Chiropr Man Therap. 2015 Feb 9;23:9.
The correlation of radiographic findings and patient symptomatology in cervical degenerative joint disease: a cross-sectional study.
Rudy IS1, Poulos A1, Owen L1, Batters A1, Kieliszek K1, Willox J1, Jenkins H1.
Author information


Abstract
BACKGROUND:
There are few known studies investigating the correlation of symptomatology with the specific subtypes of cervical spine degenerative joint disease demonstrated on radiograph. The aim of this study was to assess the correlation and diagnostic test accuracy of specific symptoms in determining the presence, type and severity of degenerative joint disease on radiograph.
METHODS:
A retrospective cross-sectional design was used to correlate cervical radiographic findings with neck pain and related symptomatology. Radiographs of 322 patients from April 2010 to June 2012 were assessed and evidence of radiographic cervical degenerative joint disease was extracted. Clinical data for each patient was obtained from their patient files including: pain using a VAS, presence of neck stiffness, presence of headaches, presence of shoulder referral, presence of hand radiculopathy and presence of hand numbness. Measures of diagnostic test accuracy and regression analysis were used to assess for any correlation between symptoms and radiographic findings.
RESULTS:
Referral of pain to the shoulder and neck stiffness showed small degrees of correlation with cervical degenerative joint disease, however, these correlations were not maintained when age was accounted for. Only age showed consistent statistical significance as a predictor for degree of disc degeneration (correlation coefficient (95% confidence interval): 0.06 (0.055, 0.066)); the presence of facet hypertrophy (odds ratio (95% confidence interval): 1.12 (1.09, 1.15)); or uncinate process hypertrophy (odds ratio (95% confidence interval): 1.15 (1.12, 1.18)). Neck stiffness demonstrated a small degree of diagnostic test accuracy for the degree of cervical disc degeneration (area under the curve (95%CI): 0.62 (0.56, 0.68)) and the presence of either facet (diagnostic OR (95%CI):1.69 (1.04, 2.76)) and uncinated process hypertrophy (LR+ (95%CI): 1.17 (1.00, 1.38)).
CONCLUSION:
The results of this study indicate that clinical symptoms such as pain level, headaches, shoulder referral and hand radiculopathy or numbness are not reliably correlated with radiographic findings of degenerative joint disease in the cervical spine. A small increase in diagnostic accuracy between the presence of neck stiffness and all forms of cervical degenerative joint disease is shown, however, this increase is not at the level expected to change clinical practice.

DrO
Member:
chloemom

Posted on Sunday, Jul 16, 2017 - 9:17 pm:

Thank you! That's a very interesting study and in keeping with both my own experience as well as other readings.

The results of another interesting study were reported in various newspapers this week - that radiofrequency denervation combined with exercise compared with exercise alone resulted in either no significant difference in pain intensity or a difference smaller than the prespecified minimal clinically important difference after 3 months, among patients with chronic low back pain.

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama/article-abstract/2635632

Alas, it is so very tempting to try as many interventions as possible, some at great cost to the patients (or if the patient is an animal, their owners), which is understandable as chronic pain is such a complex issue, and a burden on many levels.
Member:
chloemom

Posted on Thursday, Aug 3, 2017 - 1:21 pm:

Hi, as promised, I am sharing a link to our mare trotting on the lunge, close to 2 months post paddock incident. Not the worse that she has looked, but definitely no better than when she was seen at the equine hospital on July 3, 2017. I will try to add some photos as well (the video is boring, the clip plays a second time, but in slow motion), where I can see that both the angle and the shape of the foreleg is different, as is the height of the head and neck when the foreleg is advanced.

As it stands, we are still operating under the idea that the issue is soft tissue injury, to the right shoulder. Following the referral visit to the equine hospital, she continued with stall rest, hand walking and then tack walking for 3 additional weeks, and is now being turned out in a very small paddock during the day. We were told to try a gradual return to work after the 3 week mark (6 weeks post initial assessment), and she continues to show some variability in her lameness. Thanks to the season, we are able to walk her on a grass track, trotting on the lunge was for the purpose of video taping her only.

The equine hospital, after seeing the increase in lameness, is suggesting either a bone scan (at $2K for half a horse) or trying cervical facet injections. Our vet thinks that we should still give the injury more time, or, if we want another opinion from an equine hospital, try a different one.

I am okay with staying the course, but would be so much more comfortable if the actual cause of the lameness could be narrowed down (say, tricep strain) and with the knowledge that a lack of action on our part would not worsen the situation (ie. could she develop fibrotic myopathy), but barring the dx investigations suggested above (repeating the blocks, blocking the shoulder, etc), I will probably not be able to receive such assurances.

https://youtu.be/lvyrgAtjH44
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Aug 3, 2017 - 5:38 pm:

Goodness Ros I hate to judge from a short film clip but nothing you describe above matches what I see in this film. First the head bob "up" occurs when the left fore is weight bearing, just before leaving the ground, but that is not the most remarkable thing on the film. Has no one mentioned the asymmetry of movement in the rear end (did I miss this somewhere above)? There is a remarkable hip (sacral) hike "up" when the left rear is weight bearing at the trot. A careful evaluation of this would require you to watch as the horse trots away from you. Note: a left rear lameness can be associated with a left fore head bob up, for more on this see the article on the Diagnosis of Lameness under the subtopic of identifying rear vs forelimb lameness.
DrO
Member:
chloemom

Posted on Friday, Aug 4, 2017 - 3:33 pm:

Thank you Dr. O!

I fear that I've become rather myopic, and think that I might be going slightly nutty, looking and seeing only what I thought was the current issue.

In Nov 2016, our mare was showing resistance in the canter, and tested tender on her right hock. Given that she had developed, summer of 2016, a swelling on the LEFT hock that was later dx as LDE tenosynovitis, X-rays were done and to everyone's surprise, a stable bone chip was found in the left hock. Bilateral hock injections were administered, as well as a steroid injection into the LDE tenosynovitis swelling. Training continued as expected over the winter and into the spring.

In late April 2017, we hit another training roadblock, with resistance in the medium trot - breaking to canter. The dx was loose stifle - the right had a hitch when our mare was young, most noticeable transitioning from trot to walk, but improved with work. Both stifles were blistered and corrective hind shoeing.

Then the excitement of May 31 popped up and we all started focusing on her right shoulder.

I'm so very grateful for your comments and redirect. I think that I've been chasing my tail. We knew that the stall rest and lack of work would worsen her stifles, but without being to examine her, does this look like a (right) stifle issue (hip hike up)? Or pain on the left hind? I did notice, when tack walking her, that on occasion, I feel like the left hind slips - like on ice.
Member:
chloemom

Posted on Friday, Aug 4, 2017 - 9:39 pm:

I will try to video trotting from behind, as suggested, to record hip movement. I've re-read the Localizing Lameness article but will print it to bring with me, as I'm getting myself muddled esp wrt to same side lameness vs diagonal leg lameness. I'll also look back to early video to see if the head bobbing/shortening of stride/hip movement was different.
Member:
chloemom

Posted on Saturday, Aug 5, 2017 - 12:14 pm:

Well, I went to the barn with every intention of filming the trot from behind, but took one look at her left hock, and opted to not trot her at all, only hand grazing her. The swelling from the LDE tenosynovitis looks different to me, in that there is marked effusion at the directly on the front of the hock, rather than the swelling that is slightly to one side (ie, the LDE tenosynovitis swelling is not aligned with this new, higher up swelling). Pressing on the LDE tenosynovitis swelling (lower hock, looks like half an apricot) did not cause the upper swelling to buldge nor vice versa, so my fear is that they might not be related.

We will bring our mare for yet another set of eyes next Friday, and I am going to try influence the investigation in any way - open mind, tail to snout evaluation, as well as discussing with our ever-patient regular vet.

I will report back after that visit but want to continue to share our journey, as well as thanking Dr. O. I'm beginning to understand how complex detecting lameness can be, including the joys of having to deal with owners, like myself, that want to try every treatment at once, and might have gotten tunnel vision.

I am so very grateful to have found this forum!
Member:
lsweeney

Posted on Saturday, Aug 5, 2017 - 1:20 pm:

I'm going to just throw this out there. I have no expertise on the various conditions that your horse has.

I had a yearling that had a hairline fracture on the face of her pastern along with a suspensory ligament injury. She was supposed to be on stall rest. For a young horse, this was difficult, and she would buck in place in her pen. I tried hand walking her to eat grass, and it was like walking a stick of dynamite. After a good 7 months of this, the fracture was showing little improvement. We were moving to Northern California where my horses could be on more property. I made up my mind that I would just turn her out. I figured that if you look at a horse out in a pasture, they are rarely running around. She was put out in a large arena. Every morning she would get up at dawn and run laps around this arena. This lasted for about 2 weeks. Once she got it out of her system, she settled down and eventually went sound.

I don't know if similar pasture rest would help your horse.

Oh, and I had a situation with this horse when we were diagnosing why she had this subtle limp, where my regular vet thought it was in her shoulder. He came out with me to a race horse specialist and shared his opinion. So the specialist followed his lead and was going to start on the elbow up. I said, no. Start from the beginning. So instead, he did a ring block around the pastern joint, and she almost went sound. Then he numbed the suspensory ligament, and she went completely sound. So be careful sharing opinions with whoever new that gets involved.

Good luck, and I'm sorry that you are dealing with this frustrating lameness. I know it is no fun. Especially, for someone who is in such a demanding sport.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Aug 6, 2017 - 11:35 am:

You can see a sacral rise when the left rear is weight bearing (compared to the right) and a slight left head bob when the left fore is weight bearing that is late in the weight bearing phase. This alone is not enough to localize the leg much less where in the leg. It is suggestive of a left rear lameness that may also be causing the head bob. A thorough exam to identify the best leg to start with (see the article for more on this) followed by a successful block (one that eliminates the symptoms to a significant degree) is required for the next step of localizing the lameness.
DrO
Member:
chloemom

Posted on Sunday, Aug 6, 2017 - 11:39 am:

Thank you, Laurie, for sharing!

I'm trying to prevent myself from becoming too focus on any one area right now, as we wait for the second (third?) opinion of a primary vet, but it is against my nature ha! You were smart to request that the specialist start from the ground up!

We've been turning her out into a small paddock, where she is near friends, but has trouble getting into too much trouble, once the xrays and ultrasounds from the equine hospital were clear (but of course, we might have been looking at the wrong end of the horse all this time). I've been tempted to have her turned out into her regular paddock during the day, but the barn owner has been wise in discouraging me until we have a better sense of what is going on, plus some sustained improvement in the lameness (which we have not). I'm hoping for some clarity soon!
Member:
lsweeney

Posted on Sunday, Aug 6, 2017 - 1:59 pm:

I had two excellent vets think that my horse had a stifle issue. I think she had been kicked in the stifle, so there was some swelling, so off we went to UC Davis. She was running a slight fever, and she wouldn't put any weight on the foot. I kept thinking that if I had pain in a joint, I wouldn't want to keep swinging the leg around. Sure enough, starting at the ground, she went sound after numbing the foot. It turned out to be the hoof abscess from hell. Two UC Davis vets tried to get it to pop somewhere. They couldn't get to it. She was prone lying on the stall groaning like a scene from My Friend Flicka. I think it went the full 10 days. After being convinced that she was dying, it finally resolved, and she was up, eating, bright and the students were feeding her the bananas that I had brought her. https://www.horseadvice.com/horse/messages/4/66775.html
Member:
chloemom

Posted on Wednesday, Aug 9, 2017 - 2:12 pm:

Good grief, I just re-read some of my posts. I meant to say that I was going to try NOT to influence the evaluation, this coming Friday, not the other way around.

Another look at her left hock's swelling made me reconsider my earlier statement - that the two swellings do not seem to be related - as pressing on the top swelling (front of the hock) DOES cause the lower swelling to bulge. So most likely the swelling is the same extensor tendon sheath.

Some of my reading on LDE tendonsynovitis points to mechanical stifle issues often being a cause? But I didn't get the sense from those articles that either issue is thought as being painful per se?

Laurie, I read the message thread about the horrible abscess experience. I knew that they could be painful, but didn't realize that it could go on for so long! I'm glad that you were able to locate the real issue rather than running down the wrong path.
Member:
chloemom

Posted on Wednesday, Aug 9, 2017 - 10:41 pm:

As per the Localizing Lameness article, I video taped some trot tonight, with masking tape to help. Wow, powerful visualization tool. I can now see the left hip hitch that Dr. O mentions in this thread.
Member:
chloemom

Posted on Wednesday, Aug 9, 2017 - 10:44 pm:

Sorry, failed to correctly attach the photo:

hip hitch
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Aug 11, 2017 - 5:21 pm:

Remember we are first getting the leg right, then go about localizing the pain.
DrO
Member:
chloemom

Posted on Sunday, Aug 13, 2017 - 9:23 am:

We saw a third vet last week. I had sent several X-rays, a detailed history and background as well.

I was pleased that he looked carefully at the whole horse, flexion tested each limb a few times, always having her trot out in a straight line. He then walked her in small circles, both directions, repeatedly, and flexed the front legs again. She resented having her leg brought away from the body. She appeared to have an increase in lameness as the exam progressed.

He then asked that we stand in the middle of the circle, and watch the hoof placement of the inside leg, as well as the path of the outside leg, in both directions. It became obvious even to us that when the right foreleg was on the inside, her hoof did not turn slightly to the inside of the circle - in fact, it was almost counterflexed (toed outwards). When the right leg was to the outside, she cut the arc short, creating angles, not keeping the leg parallel to the other. Also, he said that her right elbow (? I'll have to listen to the video again - can't remember if it was elbow or shoulder) slipped/DrOpped when she walked.

He felt that her current lameness was caused by some sort of injury to the (brachial) plexus area. Most likely from that May 31 paddock incident where she wrenched both front shoes.

She flexed sound on both hindlimbs, but that wasn't to say that all is well - her stifles are a bit loose and both hocks will probably need some tlc again - but he felt that the hind end issues were not causing her the pain and change in gait that she presented with at that time.

She resented having an area above the pectorals pressed - looked like he curled his fingers around the edge of her scapula - on the right side only, and flew backwards. Also very reactive in one specific area when poles w the end of a pen (not reactive at all on the left).

I must admit that the dx surprised me, but at this point, I am willing to focus on gently rehabbing it, and then dealing w any hind end issues at a slightly later date, as the right foreleg issue appears to be muddying the water tremendously.

We are back to stall rest for at least a week, as she tends to gallop and do sliding stops in even the smallest of paddocks, as well as dmso on the 'area' (in quotes bec it is not a surface area, rather deep under the scapula), and sweating it, for 1 week. Twice daily tack walking, some trot, but only on a straight line. I'm to call him with an update in one week. He thought that if that treatment helps, even a tiny bit, shockwave *might* help. If this treatment doesn't help, most likely shock wave won't help.

No body work or anything that taxes the area unduly.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Aug 14, 2017 - 10:56 am:

Did you show this veterinarian the film you linked to above and if so what did he say about:
1) The head bobs up when the left fore is still in contact with the ground?
2) The asymmetry of the pelvic motion when the left weight bearing is compared with the right weight bearing.
These are undeniable objective findings on the video.
DrO
Member:
chloemom

Posted on Wednesday, Aug 16, 2017 - 5:08 pm:

No, not specifically. Other than the flexions in each hind being negative, as well palpating her lower back, SI joints. Sigh.

I'm having my primary vet out next week to look at both hocks, X-ray her left hind again to check on the bone chip.

My primary vet revised the last vet's treatment plan, to 3 mnths strict stall rest, as we haven't fully rested her yet (always included hand walking and/or tack walking).
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