Many sports horses will experience lameness at some point during their careers. Successful treatment and prognosis of these injuries depend on a combination of veterinary science and common sense.
Observing the horse in motion to establish which limb(s) is affected is crucial. Flexion tests, which involve stressing specific joints, can help pinpoint the source of lameness.
Keep the Feet Healthy
A horse’s feet are the foundation of his musculoskeletal system. As such, they are also susceptible to injury and disease. Most lameness cases originate in the front feet, which makes sense because horses put more weight on them. Front-end lameness tends to be easier to detect and treat than hind-end lameness.
A veterinarian will often start by performing gait analysis to determine which limb (or limb) is affected. Then, he or she will palpate each hoof to assess for signs of heat, pain, and swelling.
The vet will use a hoof tester tool consisting of several prongs that can apply pressure to particular areas on the foot.
Horses should have their feet picked or inspected daily, especially those that are shod or in stables. Look for thrush, which is a bacterial infection that causes the frog and bars to become soft. It has a foul odor and, if left untreated, can cause severe lameness.
Other common problems of the feet include cracking and bruising in the sole, which can develop from poor trimming of shoes or from excessive wear on one part of the foot. Also, white line disease can occur when the frog becomes too swollen and presses against the sole.
If your horse is showing signs of these conditions, the farrier may need to be called to examine the feet and make appropriate recommendations for treatment.
Puncture wounds to the feet should be evaluated by a veterinarian, as deep cuts and gashes can penetrate the coronary band or the pedal bone and cause lameness. Infections such as thrush or digital seroma need to be treated with antibiotics and tubbed and poulticed.
Other tools in the veterinarian’s arsenal of diagnostic methods for lameness include radiography (x-rays to view bones), ultrasound (to see tendons, ligaments, and other soft tissue), and medical imaging such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI).
In some cases, nerve and joint blocks may be used — these are techniques that temporarily “block” the nerves to a suspected joint or other area on the body. The horse is then trotted before and after the block to see if his movement is normal afterward — this helps the veterinarian pinpoint the location of the troublesome joint or another area.
Keep the Joints Moving
When your horse is “lame,” he is not moving normally because of an injury or illness.
This can be anything from a minor abscess that requires three weeks of rest to a career-ending tendon fracture. A grade usually describes lameness, with 1 being the most subtle and hard-to-detect low-grade discomfort and 5 being a complete inability to move at all.
Every time a horse moves, he puts extra stress on the joints. This is why it’s so important to be aware of his regular behavior, routine, and way of going so you can catch changes or injuries before they become major issues.
This is also why exercise and training on a regular basis are so important, as they can help keep the joint supple and reduce the chance of pain or friction.
Running your hands down the horse’s legs will reveal a lot of flesh and bones, tendons and ligaments that work together to bear his weight and facilitate movement. However, the joints are at the center of it all – they provide thrust and absorb impact with each step.
So, it’s no surprise that they are horses’ most common site of injury.
The location and cause of lameness in horses can be difficult to diagnose based solely on observing the horse’s gait, as certain horses are predisposed to developing specific conditions such as hock arthritis in racehorses or hind limb suspensory lameness in dressage horses.
Keeping the joints healthy starts from birth and should continue throughout the horse’s life, even when he is not in peak condition.
Supplements like TRI-ACTA GastroJoint Care supply antioxidants that protect against the damage caused by free radicals and support collagen production, which in turn helps the horse maintain strong and healthy joints.
While the aging process will always result in stiff and sore joints, limiting this with the right approach is possible.
Managing the horse’s diet, supplements, and regular exercise is key, as is keeping his weight in check. The extra pounds a horse carries add to the amount of stress placed on his joints with each stride, so reducing this is essential to avoid lameness in older horses.
Give Your Horse a Rest Period
Whether your horse is on a rest period from competition or due to an injury, it’s important that he returns to work slowly and carefully. Your trainer, coach, or vet can help you develop a strategy for returning your horse to work.
Observe your horse’s gait. Most lamenesses are more pronounced and easier to detect at the trot than at walk or canter.
Look for a change in the rhythm of his strides or an inability to pick up his feet as he goes down. A change in the way your horse lifts his head as he strides (an abnormal head bob or nod) may also indicate that one of his front legs is sore.
Your vet will perform a physical examination, palpating each limb and looking at the horse’s overall conformation. He or she will likely perform flexion tests, which involve holding the suspect joint, such as the shoulder, hock, or knee, in a flexed position for a few minutes before releasing it.
Then the vet will trot the horse – any soreness should be exacerbated at the trot and should be easier to see. Hoof testers, a type of tool with large prongs that apply pressure to specific spots on the hoof, can also be used to locate sore feet.
For more in-depth evaluations, your vet may use nerve and joint blocks to temporarily block a suspected area. Then he or she will ask your horse to trot before and after blocking to determine if a joint or nerve causes the pain.
Medical imaging, such as MRI, may also be helpful in diagnosing more complex lameness.
Once your horse has returned to work, it’s important that you plan ahead for his long-term fitness level. If you ride in high-impact disciplines, such as jumping, you may need to improve arena footing to give your horse a cushioning surface for his footfalls.
See a Vet
Ultimately, the best way to minimize lameness in horses is by working closely with your veterinarian and keeping an open line of communication. The vet’s job is to identify the cause and develop a plan for recovery, which may include rest or treatment with specific medications.
A thorough lameness exam typically includes a clinical history, a standing examination, and an evaluation of the horse in motion (usually trotting). The horse will be evaluated on a firm to hard footing, and the veterinarian will often test the affected limb by palpating it for heat, pain, and swelling.
This can help determine which limb is affected by the problem and where the pain might originate from within the limb. Hoof testers can also be used during this part of the exam to assess the degree to which a problem is impacting the hoof.
Flexion exams are another important part of the lameness exam and involve putting a limb under stress for a consistent period of time in order to evaluate its response. These tests can be helpful in identifying areas of stiffness or pain and can sometimes provide clues to the cause of the problem.
Nerve and joint blocks are methods of numbing specific portions of a limb for the purposes of assessing whether or not the area is sensing pain. The horse will be evaluated at the trot before a block is administered and then after the block, to determine whether the lameness has changed or not.
These blocks can be particularly useful in diagnosing navicular disease, as they can help to desensitize the back half of the hoof to pain.
Once the veterinarian has ruled out any underlying causes of lameness by evaluating the horse’s history, physical, and radiographs, she will formulate a treatment plan.
Depending on the situation, this may involve a period of restricted movement – stall rest – followed by a gradual increase in exercise intensity, and ultimately reintroducing the horse to work once the symptoms have subsided.
The goal of the treatment is to prevent lameness from reoccurring by minimizing damage to the inner hoof and by providing effective and appropriate rehabilitation and management techniques.