You have been working with specialists
for your horse's lameness problem. What does your specialist and/or vet
recommend as the protocol to bring this horse back? It seems to me that
the professionals you have been working with directly could give you the best
possible advice on a diganosis for a shorter stride and what would be the best
protocol for bringing your horse back.
Hello Rhonda, Just guessing here but the other thing it
can be is his feet. Poor shoeing, slight laminitis, contracted under-run
heels, thrush, etc. Google barefoothorses and read up on what a healthy
foot should be like. I'm not pushing you to take your horse barefoot but
some of us have had horses with the same symptoms as yours and have had
a complete turn around in the horse's health after getting the hooves
healthy. You can go back to shoes anytime. I know several others who
routinely pull the shoes and leave the horse barefoot (with frequent
trimming) for 2-3 months every year just to keep more healthy hooves.
Good Luck & Happy New Year, Don Huston
At 04:48 PM
12/27/2006 Wednesday, you wrote: >I have a ten year old gelding who
has had a problem with arthritis >for the last year and a half or
so. Unfortunately, he also has a >back problem and the
specialist who saw him said that a "gait >aberration" would cause his
back to go out. The vet said that I >could ride him while his
hocks were fusing, but I risked throwing >out his back which causes
the horse extreme pain, so I haven't been >riding
him. > >Now, finally, he has stopped being visibly lame, BUT he
is much >shorter strided on both hinds than he used to be. He
used to have >this HUGE swinging stride and now his hind legs move
much shorter >and lower to the ground than he ever moved them before
>(daisy-clipping). Does this still count as "lame?" Is
this common >on horses that have had arthritis? Any advice
about whether I >should continue to wait to ride him or whether it
might be okay to >start him back
slowly? > >Rhonda
