A change of character such as trying to bite an owner when grooming the back end, bucking, or general bad temper, can be a sign of pain. Your horse may also demonstrate pain during the tacking up process.
Doesn’t move as quickly or easily. Doesn’t reach normal height when jumping.
When riding the horse have a friend stand parallel to it and video its movement. Look for the horse lowering its head to counterbalance the back end. Look to see if all the legs are taking equal length steps or if one leg is taking shorter strides than the others. [2] X Research source When riding the horse have a friend stand a safe distance behind the horse and take a video. Look to see if the hips move up and down symmetrically. A horse with a sore back leg will try to protect that leg with the result that the hip moves less. [3] X Research source
You may be able to feel this easily when you are riding your horse.
Your horse may lose height early, which means it will knock against jumps it used to take with ease. For example, you may notice that your horse knocks down fences during jumps.
When your horse has a painful hind leg, it may slip and land awkwardly.
Resting one hind leg while standing. Standing with the sore leg tucked under its belly so that the hock is straight and the leg does not have any weight on it. Standing with one leg on a large mound of shavings to elevate it.
Because it hurts to flex the joint, the horse may not pick its leg up cleanly, and may have a tendency to stumble. A useful tip is to walk and trot the horse on sand so that you can trace its hoof prints. The sore leg tends to move towards the midline, rather than following the line of the matching front leg. If your horse’s hock is injured, it may have a hard time walking backwards in a straight line. This is because the sore leg takes shorter strides, so the horse naturally moves in a curve to the affected side.
Be aware that disuse atrophy can arise because of pain anywhere in the limb and does not localize the discomfort to the hock.
The veterinarian will also look for other tell-tale signs of discomfort such as head bobbing, unusual foot placement, shortened strides, and weight shifts.
If in doubt that the hock is swollen, compare one back leg with the other. Look to see if the areas that normally ‘go in’ are puffy and baggy. Sometimes feeling the normal hock and then feeling the other side, can help you detect a difference in how they feel.
Check the temperature of the injured hock compared to that of the hock on the other leg.
Do not attempt to perform a flexion test yourself. Only a trained veterinarian should do this.
The veterinarian first sterilizes the skin with surgical scrub, where the needle is to be inserted. A 1. 5-inch needle, 20 or 22 gauge is used to inject about 1 ml of local anesthetic just below the skin along the path of the cutaneous branch of the superficial and deep fibular nerve. After the local anesthetic is injected the flexion test is best performed within 15 minutes, because the local anesthetic can spread to the lower limb making the foot numb which can also alter gait. If the lower limb becomes overly numb the horse may drag the leg and scuff the back of the hoof. If this happens the veterinarian will bandage the lower limb to reduce the chance of abrasions.
To take the radiographs the vet will work with the horse in a standing position and use a portable x-ray machine. There are typically two images taken: an exposure at lateral view taken from the side (facing towards the horse), and an anterior-posterior view taken from in front of the hock joint facing towards the horse’s tail. It is possible for x-rays to come back normal and yet there still be pain in the joint. This is because x-rays show bone damage, rather than inflammation of the joint lining. If the x-rays are clear but the hock is painful, this is a strong indication for giving a hock injections. Many veterinarians want to rule out chip fractures before giving hock injections, because the steroid could delay bone healing if this is the underlying reason for the lameness.
