26 • THE PLAID HORSE
Talk to any rider, and you will hear it: “His left lead is better.” “His right to left change is better.” “His right hind is the weak one.” Talk to any rider and you will hear this too: “My vet injected his right stifle and it got better.” “My vet injected his hocks and it got better.” “My chiropractor adjusted his left pelvis and it got better.” So which is which? How do you know when your horse is just dominant on one side (a “right-handed” or “left-handed” horse) and when he is in pain? Which issues require a trainer and which require a vet? Sometimes It’s Easy If your horse is lame, your problems are based in pain. Most of the time, a visible limp is an indicator of pain, even if he improves with warmup. There are some “mechanical lamenesses”, or gait abnormalities not related to pain, but they are few and far between. If your horse is lame, your veterinarian needs to check him out.
IS HE LAME OR JUST A LEFTY? Distinguishing Between Lameness, Weakness, and Sidedness • By Keelin Redmond, DVM
Sometimes It’s Not So Easy So your horse looks sound to you and your vet when moving in a straight line and a circle. But the left lead canter still doesn’t feel the same as the right, or one change isn’t as good as the other. It could be one of many things. “Sidedness.” To a degree, this is normal. Remember that all of us have a dominant side. I am right handed. I write, brush my teeth, play tennis and dust my house with my right hand. But here is the key; my left hand doesn’t hang limply at my side. I can and do use it. And the more I use it (like when my right has been injured), the better it gets. Try it. You can write pretty darn well with your non-dominant hand if you practice for a few weeks. So if your horse simply CANNOT change leads from right to left, he’s not just right-handed; something is wrong. The same goes if he can’t land on the right lead or hold the canter in a small circle one way. His left hand is hanging limply at his side. You need to consider the degree of an issue. If it is a total inability to perform a fairly routine task, your vet needs to rule out pain as a cause. “Weakness” and its duration. Many, many flaws in a horse’s gait or performance are due to weakness. But these weaknesses should not persist forever. If your horse has been performing at the same level for several years, and he still struggles to canter in a circle to the right, it’s not weakness. Weakness is something that should improve over time. If the problem isn’t improving, and certainly if it’s getting worse, it’s not weakness. It’s either pain, or it’s restriction of range of motion. Range of Motion. A good rider knows which leg is pushing less. What no rider can tell is if that leg is weak or if it’s stiff. What a rider perceives as a lack of power can come from either cause. Diagnosing abnormalities in range of motion and being able to improve them is the basis of chiropractic therapy. Chiropractic, acupuncture, physiotherapy and massage generally will not make a lame horse sound. But identifying and correcting abnormalities in range of motion is where these therapies excel. Subtle differences in range of motion