Vet and I are trying to figure out why my 9-year-old trips so much over his front feet. I've owned him since he was 6 months old and he has always been one of those horses that stumbles over his front feet  (lazy, drags his feet) but it has seemed worse this year. And he stumbled badly on the first barrel on two different barrel runs recently, and stumbled badly at the end of a pole run when coming to a stop, so I needed to investigate.

When he was 4, he had a minor tendon injury to the right front which never caused him any problems but we caught it early on a "routine" lameness eval. Since then, he has always flexed slightly off on that foot, even though it completely resolved. At least ...... that is what we have assumed. Last week, we decided to nerve block (since it's been several years) and make sure that's what was bothering him and causing the tripping and it WASN'T! (Much to both of our surprise.) I'm not technical but we did 3 blocks and it made no improvement whatsoever on his way of going on the right front. So it's higher up somewhere.

Vet really didn't think it was his knee or shoulder, so we chose not to block or x-ray the knee, and I know she did a neurological exam (she was crossing his front legs over to see what he did). She suspected his neck. He has always been a stiffer-type horse his entire life so that didn't present any red flags for me, but she felt he was a lot less flexible to the right. We did x-rays and she could see some mild changes at C5/C6.

She's also going to send them off for second opinions. So she did a shockwave treatment for him that day. (5 days ago) to hopefully help with mobility. I have already had him checked by a chiro this year, but I know it will be more important going forward and may need to do it more often for him. He's also already had some PEMF treatments this year. Already on Adequan.

Neck issues are a new territory for me, so just curious to hear other's stories of what neck problems your barrel horse has and what you do to help them the best you can.

What was his responce to the neuro exam?

Normal. No issues there.

More questions,thats all i got lol.Did you xray feet?for navicular,did you check angles?does he only do it while riding?EPM?i know you said he has done it most all his life,but seems to be getting worse?

Did not x-ray feet at this recent visit because the block did not help his way of going at all. Did x-rays back when he was 4, for a different issues that is now resolved. He has great feet and good angles. Good strong bone in his legs and wears a size 2 shoe (big feet!!).

I've never had the luxury of being able to watch him out in the pasture because I've always boarded. Of course, they tear around from time to time - have never seen him trip or go down in the pasture ever.

I did not specifically ask her but vet never mentioned she was worried about EPM. Yes he has always been a stumbly horse but I do think it is a bit worse this year, than prior.

We have a gelding that got extremely sore in his SI. Vet xrayed the neck. He had fractures in C4 and C5. She injected via ultrasound. He gets injected roughly every 15 months. She could see the fractures on the xray, but she couldn't tell what side they were on. With the ultrasound, she could see they were on his left side.  She called them jackhammer fractures. At some point, he was tied around pretty tight and he must have flipped. He landed with his neck bent and it fractured the wings on the vertebrae. She said with staying on top of injecting him, we should be fine because he didn't have any arthritis developing yet. Ingore it and he'd have wobblers eventually. I think neck injuries are more commin than people realize. I honestly believe most neck injuries are blamed on EPM.

I didnt mean to sway toward EPM,was just throwing a few different things out there,good luck on the diagnosis,i wish you and your horse well,keep us posted

I know some people don't go this deep into it, and if you don't that's fine but don't come at me if you don't agree/believe in this. I would have a chiropractor/body worker that really knows the fascial lines work on him. Maybe it is different around you, but around me only the chiro I currently use has mentioned the fascial lines to me. In your situation of course it is sounding like the front limb protraction line or front limb retraction line which would make sense why he is having front limb and neck issues. I think a lot of front limb/neck stretching and possibly even some poll relief would help. 

If you read my original post, he already has gotten regular chiropractic work in the past, and will continue to get it even more frequently now going forward.

Good to know. Of course, vet offered injections but she wanted to wait to have some of her colleagues give a second opinion on the rads. I'm thinking we will eventually end up going that route in the future, most likely.

I've owned him since he was 6 months old and he has never had a traumatic injury or accident. Only pulled back a couple of times in his entire life and things broke free as they were intended so I hope no damage from that (one was when someone thought it was a good idea to land their parachute in the middle of a horse show .... seriously? Can't blame him for freaking out about that.)

I did, but I wasn't sure if yours focused on the fiscial lines as well. Only the one I use now has even mentioned them and explained them to me. :)

I lost a horse to injury related wobblers. It was a really tough lesson. At the time, I had one vet tell me I was imaging things. I know exactly when his wreck was that caused his injury. But not knowing what I know now, it progressed into wobblers. Took about 7 years from the injury until we had to destroy him. I assumed EPM. Even put him on the EPM meds and they did help for awhile. There's nothing worse than losing one to a neurological issue. 

Just checking to see if your boy is doing ok.

Bump 

Thanks for the check! I can't say that I've really noticed that the shockwave helped?? We went to a barrel race over the weekend and while his runs were overall fine (very, very small stumble on the backside of the 3rd barrel on his first run), I noticed the first day (after spending the night) that he would still trip a bit on his front feet when I was walking him around periodically. He's not used to being stalled so I try to get him out for hand walking frequently. But it was better the next day.

I did decide to give him a shot of Pentosan on Thursday last week, in order to start a loading dose. I figured it can't hurt and I just got a new bottle for my other horse.

My chiro did also check him the night before the race started, just to keep as much mobility as possible.

Still waiting on vet to get second opinion on his rads.

So I guess we're at a standstill for the moment and just see how he does going forward.

Hmmm. I just stumbled upon my own old thread, so I thought I would update it, in case anyone else may be having the same problem(s) with their horse.

I was back to my vet a few weeks ago, and we xrayed his back to check for kissing spine, which looked pretty decent. She also had sent his neck xrays to more of a specialist she found but we hadn't gotten a response at the time of the appointment. He was still very, very stiff in the neck. So we decided to inject C3, C4, and C5 to see if it would help his movement. A few days later, we heard back from the specialist and it was not good. Basically, he has a structual abnormality with the vertebra in his neck that he's had all along. The vetebrae are tipped cranially and also sideways. This narrows the chanel for the spinal cord, and is probably causing some compression and/or pinching.

So my horse's barrel racing and performance career is over. Possibly even riding .... although I'm not quite ready to give that up yet. I am hoping that since he hasn't developed anything like Wobbler's yet in 10 years, that maybe he won't especially with minimal riding now.

He's one of the ones that can sit for months and you hop on and ride off on a loose rein. So for now, he's a trail riding horse for myself and my young kiddos, and he can place his head and neck where it works for him. The injections haven't seemed to help at all with his stiffness. He's much worse to the right than the left. Doesn't hardly bend his neck at all.

So there you go folks. I think neck issues are going to be more well-known when we continue to learn more about them.

Always check the WHOLE BODY of your horse and don't assume it's just the hind end, or otherwise.

I'm sorry to read your update. Neck issues truly suck. I also think they are way more common than most people realize.

So sorry!  But at least you know now!  I agree every part of the body does matter!  praying for you and your horse!

My big mare had a wreck with our former farrier, long story short, he had her tied to the door handle of the tack compartment on the horse trailer, mules next door were raising a ruckus, then broke thru the gate that goes between our places, scared the mare, she pulled back , the door handle came off and she flipped over, fractrured several vertabrae in her poll area and tore ligaments in her withers and shoulder area.  Blah Blah Blah, almost a year off from that  , that was 14 year ago.  We stay away from long trotting for long periods without her being somewhat framed up in the front as that really tends to get her sore in the neck, if she is towards the end of her shoeing cycle she also tends to get sore and seems to trip on uneven ground especially not to mention her neck gets very tight to boot at that time.  PEMF treatments seem to help the most for her as well as a stretching program I had found on CSI Pads link a few years back.

I was taught years ago by a veterinarian that the horse's neck was the balance beam for a horse and unfortunately not given the consideration it should when trying to isolate performance, lameness issues.