What is wrong
Hi everyone,
I’m looking for advice or if anyone has experienced something similar with their horse, because I honestly feel pretty lost at this point.
Around Easter I was away and my sharer was taking care of my horse. She’s very experienced and had even filmed him the day before everything started, and he looked completely normal then. He’s 14 years old and has never had any injuries or previous issues before this.
Then suddenly, from one day to the next, he started dragging the front of both hind hooves on the ground even on asphalt. At first I thought maybe he was just stiff because the weather had been changing a lot, but it never went away. Since it’s affecting both hind legs equally, I realized it was probably something more complicated and took him to the vet a few weeks later.
Before the appointment, the vet mentioned possibilities like neurological issues, toxicity/poisoning, or something affecting the nervous system/spinal cord. But after extensive exams, she ruled out neurological causes and kissing spines.
At the clinic they could clearly see that he drags his hind feet, but otherwise he looked surprisingly normal. He passed flexion tests, was lunged on different surfaces including asphalt, and they really struggled to find anything obvious. The vet even said that if she hadn’t specifically been looking for it, she might have assumed it was just part of his natural movement pattern but this is definitely NOT normal for him.
The only thing they maybe found was a very slight issue in one front leg, lower down near the hoof area, so we were sent home with Meloxicam/Metacam for two weeks. Unfortunately it made absolutely no difference.
What makes this even stranger is that he CAN lift his hind legs properly in certain situations. Over poles/cavaletti he lifts them normally, and if he’s excited or more energetic, the movement improves and he lifts higher. Under saddle he still drags, but usually less at the beginning of the ride.
It’s most noticeable in trot. His walk maybe feels a little shorter now too, but honestly it’s getting hard for me to judge after staring at him so much. His canter seems pretty unaffected.
I don’t think it’s laziness either, because dragging his hooves on asphalt can’t exactly be comfortable.
Has anyone experienced something similar before or have any advice on what steps I should take next? I’d really appreciate any experiences or guidance. I also have videos that I can post in the comments if that helps.