Mary Allen
Horse legs are prone to injury and degenerative diseases. It is therefore common for horses to become lame. Recognizing an irregular gait is not always easy, localizing it is only possible after meticulous research into the cause.
When a horse limps, the owner is deeply frightened. Lameness can be a short-term event of a few days. However, it can also become a long-term problem or even permanent. Whether leisure or sports partner – with a chronic lameness the horse is considered unrideable.
Lameness is a change in gait caused by a pain-related, functional, or structural disorder of the musculoskeletal system. It can have numerous causes, often making it very difficult to pinpoint the exact cause. Trauma, congenital or acquired anomalies, infection, metabolic disorders, diseases of the circulatory system or the nervous system, or any combination of these factors are possible.
Horses don’t simulate. If it runs out of round, something is wrong. And this should be noticed and treated as early as possible. Firstly, the animal is spared suffering, secondly, the chances of recovery are better. However, various studies have revealed, as an incidental finding, that there is a problem here: riders often mistakenly assume that their horse is fully fit. As long as it isn’t lame, unwelcome things like clock glitches, stumbling, or stiffness are ignored.
First Signs Appear When Standing
The horse is dependent on the human taking responsibility. Horses are masters at compensating for physical weaknesses, at not letting anything show up for as long as possible. In particular, Nordic breeds such as Icelandic and Fjord horses and robust ponies are tough. According to the motto “don’t show any weakness, otherwise, the predator will eat me”, they bravely keep up until they eventually start limping.
An attentive owner will observe his horse regularly. Even when standing, where signs of lameness can already be identified. For example, if the horse shows a protective posture by relieving a hind leg particularly often or taking on less weight on a front leg that it puts forward, backward, or sideways. Repeated palpation of the limbs helps to detect swelling, asymmetry, increased joint filling, temperature differences, and hypersensitivity. It is also meaningful how the four-legged friend turns in a confined space, for example in the box or at the grooming station. If he shows turning pain or lack of coordination, the matter should be investigated.
If lameness is suspected, the horse is shown in hand, first at a walk, then at a trot. It should be observed by another, experienced person. The horse is being fed from one to and from one, the distance should be around 30 meters. Then it is allowed to walk and trot in a circle for several minutes, left and right. Lameness can be judged well on the lunge. This shows whether the horse is breaking in or the lameness is increasing. All gait analyses should be done on hard and soft ground.
Typical lameness on a forelimb is the head lowering when the sound limb steps down and raising the head to a normal height when the diseased leg takes a load. If the lameness is on a hind leg, the viewer will notice an asymmetry and shorter duration in terms of raising the croup, i.e. the horse’s cross. Lameness cannot be detected at the canter due to his three beats with the suspension phase.
The severity of lameness is not necessarily synonymous with the severity of the health problem. A relatively harmless hoof abscess can cause acute, dramatic lameness, while osteoarthritis in a toe joint can show non-specific symptoms that only gradually become more pronounced. The majority of lameness affects the front legs. Of these, 95 percent originate in the lower leg area, from and including the carpal joint down.
Rest Breaks & Medication Help
It is also worth taking a closer look at the hooves. A significant number of lameness cases are caused by non-physiological hoof conditions. If the position and shoeing are optimized and the cutting intervals are kept short at five to six weeks, an important step towards health has been taken.
The exact localization of the cause of lameness is reserved for the veterinarian. After palpating the body and limbs, he will carry out a detailed gait analysis. Further information is provided by the examination with hoof forceps, flexion tests of the joints, and diagnostic nerve block anesthesia, which are carried out section by section from bottom to top. If the horse is no longer lame after sedating an area, you indicate that the problem is in the sedated area.
There are numerous further examinations: X-rays show changes in the bones, and ultrasound can show the structure of soft tissues such as tendons, ligaments, and muscles. For particularly challenging cases, orthopedic specialist clinics have the option of using scintigraphy, computed tomography, and magnetic resonance imaging to detect even the smallest changes in hard-to-reach places.
Only the totality of the findings allows a reliable diagnosis. Luckily, many lameness conditions improve on their own after a short time, or with little effort once the horse has been given rest and anti-inflammatory medication. An individual exercise program for recovery, possibly adapting the training, and improving the housing conditions increase the horse’s chances of lasting recovery.