Since it seems we all may have a little extra time on our hands - I am trying to get suggestions/thoughts on a mystery lameness in the right front.  I have a gelding that is 1D/2D suddenly stop turning the first barrel.  He goes in like he is going to turn and at the same point every single time he checks out (when his hip gets to the barrel on the backside). Long story short he has been looked at by two clinics.  One in state with me and another out of state with a close friend of mine who was considering buying him.  

On soft ground it isn't very lame, but on hard ground in a tight turn to the right you can really see it. I have had xrays done by both clinics and there is nothing obvious, injected stifles and coffin joints with hyvisc earlier this year. First vet said he was negative to hocks; second vet said he was positive on both, but more on the right hock. I have not injected the hocks yet. 

Yesterday he got blocked in the right heel - no improvement.  Blocked up to the bottom fetlock (abaxial block) - some improvement but still mild lameness. The second vet feels the lameness is coming from above that block. I was not at yesterdays appointment as it was out of state, so that is where they stopped. I am going to bring him home and review those findings with my vet to make a game plan. 

Has anyone ran into this and how did it turn out?  I'm looking at all options so when I review with the vet I can list my full concerns.  

Mine with on/off subtle lameness was a splint bone fracture.

Yikes!  I will put that on the list to look at.  

I had a mystery lameness going on 3 years ago, Had 2 Vets x-ray nothing then one said it was the shoeing, so had a different farrier work on my gelding didnt work, then took him to another vet and he nailed it right on, my gelding is IR and it was his diet.

Was it just in one front leg or both?  What did you change his diet to? 

Bump

I put my gelding on Triple Crown Lite, pull him off of pasture and watched what type of hay he gets as my hay was pretty loaded with sugar too, he gets very little pasture time, the green pretty grass just had way to much sugar and he cant handle sugar, so hes got to have a very low NSC feed. And now that spring has sprung the grass will be a big NO NO for him untill later on into the summer and rain is less. It was one foot at first when his lameness started was his left, just was always sore and gimpy, so hauled him to a few different vets and was tolded he was just thin soles and use a different farrier, new farrier put pour in pads and no different, after about 4 to 6 months then my gelding got worst since I didnt know what was going on with him, he got to hurting in both front hooves so went to a different vet looked at him did a test and sure enough hes IR, so had to do some changing up his diet and hes doing just fine now, I just had to learn what he could have and not have as in feed and hay, if he gets to much pasture he starts to get sore, I did try to change his feed last year to something I thought would be good for him since he was doing so well, but wrong he cant tolerate any type of feed thats got any molasses in it at all, I was trying a good Sr feed that I though would be good for him, went back to my Triple Crown Lite and no more issues. 

Google IR or EMS in horses maybe that might give you any ideals if you horse is showing any of these issues. Good Luck to you..

My gelding had mystery lameness and it turned out to be EPM. I thought it was hocks or stifles, NOPE! EPM. Treated him and he is stronger than ever. 

I will certainly do some IR & EMS research.  If it is IR thats really not that big of a deal for me... I have a diabetic daughter so honestly I can handle a horse too lol. 

As far as EPM we typically don't see it that much out west where I am.  I will have to read up on that as well since I usually skip past those posts. 

How is your gelding doing? And another thing I was wanting to ask what feed are you feeding him? 

He is doing the same.  Our appointment isn't until the second week of April. Our vets have scaled WAY back due to COVID... not to mention sounds like we will be placed under "Shelter-In-Place" for 30 days.  

I feed Cube-It alfalfa cubes and I pour Forco over them.  I don't weight the cubes every feeding, but typically it is between 10-12lbs per feeding.  With winter and lack of alot of riding I always pull my horses off grain - so he hasn't been grained since end of fall (which I fed Ultium).  He gets no other supplements at this time.  We also don't have pasture so when he gets 'turn out' time it is in the arena for the day. 

Well hope you get to see the vet when you can, this mystery stuff is really for the birds, Good Luck and keep us updated Please

Okay - So to update...  Southtxponygirl you were just about spot on!  There is a lot going on inside each hoof.  It seems he has had laminitis for quite some time.  There is no rotation on any of his feet.  The vet is thinking he has had a small metabolic resistance most of his life (prior to us purchasing him).  The vet feels our feed program has maintained thus far, but we have done nothing to address the feet changes he needs.  

It is interesting as the vet reviewed years and years of videos.  My horse now packs his right hind going around the first - almost three legged. So we are putting focus into that right hind.

His hind feet have negative palmar angles although they don't have the bullnose look from the outside.  We trimmed him right there are the vets office and took xrays afterwards to verify - and we are now headed in the right direction there.  He has severly bruised soles on both hinds feet so we will be padding with a leather pad to help soften impaction from the ground.  He also has a spur on the front of his right hind pastern.  You can see in the xray where prior to trimming there was a ton of pressure on that spur due to the negative angle (just at a standstill).  After the trim you can see the release of that pressure and decent spacing. 

We have not dove too far into the spur yet and what to do there... First we are address the shoeing needs and ride for a couple weeks. We will go back for a follow up to see what has gotten better (or worse) with the shoe changes.  Then we will address the other issues we saw on the xrays. 

Where our state (and surrounding states) are shut down there is no feeling to rush and inject to bandaid.  We can take our time with multiple follow ups to see what helps where. 

Glad that you are getting this all figured out, it took 3 to 4 times for me taking my horse to different vets over time to get his mystery lameness figured out.. Kept trying different things on him and all I needed to do was change up his diet to help him out.. Good luck and keep us posted if you can..