Strange lameness, what do you think?

[akhala]

I would like to get some advice on my mare's lameness. She is an active young sport horse. It started several days ago after a day rest in a stall and a preceding week of light work. Nothing in the care had been changed. There are no wounds, cuts, nothing is swollen and there is no heat.

I was lunging her and I noticed that when she was going to the left, she was lame with the left fore. Going to the right she did not exhibit any signs. After 15 mins or so, she seemed fine again. On the following day I checked her going straight first and she seemed ok, but while lunging exactly the same thing happened. The following day I only hand walked her for about an hour. The next day I tried her going straight and she was fine; I tried to lunge her, but there was the lameness again only the fore left and going to the left. Therefore I stopped her and walked her again for about an hour. Today I was walking her for an hour. Where do you think that the problem is? I was thinking about giving her several more days of rest and seeing whether it is still there, but I am worried...

I will appreciate any opinions. Thank you!

[jumpturnjump]

Aidan was just having this same problem last month.
He was perfect on straight aways, but around corners and while being lunged he had a noticeable limp. It turned out to be one of his hocks that was sore and it just showed up as a front leg lameness even though it was really stemming from the back leg. Like when he had to step under himself at an angle with his back leg, it caused him pain so he just limped up front.
Try flexing her hocks out and see if that gives you any clues :]

[Razzle_Dazzle]

I agree, if you can't find any swelling or heat in her leg then you need to check else-where. I am wondering if it's not her shoulder since she only does it in one direction? I would give her a full body examination- look for any swelling or heat, try flexing and stretching her out, and look for sore spots around her shoulders and top line, etc. If you can't find anything ask someone else to look at her incase there is something that you missed, and then I would call a vet. The fact that you cannot find anything wrong with her after a physical examination and she has not shown any signs of improvement is a bit worrisome.

[DressageNerd]

Based on the information it could be anything. It could be a tendon or ligament injury or bone that's not quite right or muscle soreness. It could be a lot of things.

I'd consult a vet and see if they can't have a look at her, locate where the injury is and perhaps do x-ray or ultrasound or whatever to find out what is going on.

It's like my horse, one day we wen't into his stall and his legs were swollen and he was 3 legged lame so we put him on stall rest for 1 week to see if there was a change. The swelling was down but he was still lame, not as obviously but still off so we had the vet come out. Put this intersting contraption on his which recognizes foot falls and to identify which leg it was (since looking can be misguideing). It was the left hind so we started blocking and found that it was his suspensory. The following week he was ultrasounded and confirmed.

A lot of the time with some injuries they are so minute that they go unchecked or undiagnosed until it becomes more severe and makes itself obvious.

[Jpugs16]

Like someone said, this could be almost anything from an abcess to a back problem...I think asking the vet to come take a look might be the way to go if this has persisted for a while with no improvement.

[Wryley&&Jessie]

It definately sounds like an absess to me.

I think you should get the vet out to see the horse, better be safe then sorry!

[wundahoss]

I agree with others, it could be anything. It could be an abscess, but I wouldn't think it's any more likely than other possibilities. Abscesses are generally painful regardless of what the horse does. Do you/have you done much lunging with her? Especially if she's still immature, lunging is quite hard on their joints, travelling around & around on an angle. I don't advise lunging young horses for exercise, and people still need to be careful of mature horses doing endless circles too, for that reason.

I'm a hoofcare practitioner & there appear to be others who know what they're on about here so if you were to post some hoof pics you might get some better ideas of whether it may be hoof related pain. More info about her age, management, workload, etc may be helpful too.