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  Discussion on Intermittent lameness after free jumping
Author Message
New Member:
Dvjl

Posted on Thursday, Apr 13, 2006 - 1:41 pm:

My 7 year old warmblood gelding has been off for almost two weeks since his last free jumping session. He went through the chute with poles and a low jump about five times finishing on a 2'6 high/2'wide jump in the last round. He took a large beautiful leap over it and I praised him and put him away. Nothing unusual happened.

Next day he was sore on his front left leg and partially walked like he is sore all over. I gave him rest and observed. He now displays intermittent lameness on the front left. I walked / trotted him on the lunge to study his movement and at times he moves soundly and others he is really lame, almost stopping.

I palpated his entire leg, checked the hoof and there is no heat, swelling, cuts or any other indication of a problem. I try not to call the vet for every little problem, but this sure starts to feel like I have to.

The lameness appears to be in the shoulder, but I read that shoulder injuries are uncommom, that's why I post here. My nightmare is that he got a bone chip that moves around, causing incredible pain at times. Is that possible? What else would come to mind if there is no obvious exterior symptom?

Thank you.
Member:
Suzeb

Posted on Thursday, Apr 13, 2006 - 2:04 pm:

The thing that comes to my mind is:

Is your horse wearing shoes or is he barefoot?

The shoulder lameness might be indicative of something going on in the feet; mainly too hard of a concussion on landing. You might want to talk to your farrier about this or analyze your footing or shoeing.

Dr.O will get to you soon and welcome to HorseAdvice .
New Member:
Dvjl

Posted on Thursday, Apr 13, 2006 - 2:25 pm:

Thanks for the welcome Susan. I should have mentioned that he is barefoot and has been all of his life. We have sand footing in the arena.

I should also mention that this horse went through a lengthy period of neglect and malnutrition, which could compromise his bone / hoof quality. I bought him 6 months ago and had him vet/farrier/chiro checked. My barefoot farrier says that his feet are great now.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Apr 14, 2006 - 7:48 am:

Welcome Delia,
yes, shoulder lameness would be quite rare for a horse with your history from a statistical point of view. Your first step is to accurately find where in the leg the horse is lame, for how to do this see Equine Diseases » Lameness » Localizing Lameness in the Horse.
DrO
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