hock problems horses
Horse hock problems, didnt pass flex vet exam but never walked a lame step in his life!!!?
I had my horse vet examed, he was practically sold on conditions of the vet exam, I was 100% this horse would pass this test with flying colours!! He has never steped a lame step in his life, he is a 5 yr old QH gelding, he is jumping 3’9 with ease, he just flys and goes! The vet did the fex test and his back left hock he limped on for several steps then was fine. So he classiflied him lame! But when I work him and he is out on his own he is 100%. So I am getting x-rays done tomorrow, what am I to expect? Is this treatable, not to big of a deal or is he broken for life? This blew me away could it just be a flewk?
He has had time off also, i have barley riden him for the last 3 months! Due too moving.
Flexion tests are going out of fashion in Europe because there are so many discrepancies in the way they are performed and how people determine the results.
If your leg was cranked up at an unnatural angle and held there for 3 minutes and then you were told to run, do you think you might hop a bit – I would. Also some vets only hold the leg up for 30 seconds, others do it for 3 minutes – there is no standard and because there are no set guide lines, that leaves the entire process open to scrutiny.
I’ve seen horses x ray completely clean, no prior history of lameness, OCD, chips, nothing and fail flexion tests and personally I think it’s a total load of crap. If a horse x rays clean and there is no OCD, I would buy it. People put too much emphasis on flexion but don’t bother to take x rays – that makes no sense at all.
One of my friend’s horse’s had never been lame, x rayed clean and flexed out sound on 3 of 4 legs – we stood there shocked when he hobbled off on one of his front legs. However, the prospective buyers looked beyond the flexion and bought him anyway. Your horse could have OCD or chips in the hock but chances are they are clean and it was just the result of excessive stress on the joint when flexed. If you get clean x rays, you tell any propsective buyer that you have a full set of x rays that are clean and they are welcome to view them but he does not flex out on that leg – anyone that know anything will look past that, even the vets will.
**Edit** You don’t need to give him time off or take it easy either unless the vet sees something on the films that is of concern. Don’t panic – this is a common thing to happen even with high dollar competition horses – you will still be able to sell the horse if you have clean x rays.
for the sake of a horse, please watch