Conference noted::equitation

    Did you check out the shoulder area? The back? I'm not good with
    lamenesses, I call the vet at the first sign of trouble, but
    couldn't a problem in those areas make him appear to be off 
    (I like "offness", it's a great word!) in some circumstances??
    

    
    	Doesn't that just kill ya? Ebony did this a couple of 
    	months ago, but in the rear...We were at a side saddle
    	clinic and halfway thru I could tell he was really off.
    	Took him home, and the next day he gallopped up to the 
    	fence to see me, brat! 
    
    	He was the same as yours, no heat, no swelling, feet 
    	weren't sore, nothing. It probably was muscle, and	
    	probably his back because the side saddle was slipping
    	to the inside that day, putting my weight off balance.
    
    	Were you doing a lot of lateral work or something that
    	would tire his back or shoulder?? 
    
    	Just an idea...
    
    	Sherry
    

    Re .2 - no, actually just some light, slow, western
    trotting.  Nothing very taxing,  I'll check the shoulder
    and back area tonight.  The ring is soft, so I have a
    hard time seeing lameness. I'll have to seek out a firm 
    surface to check him again at the trot. Nothing more fun 
    then dragging a horse up & down the street to see if/where 
    he's lame...:-( 
    
    L

    It may be a stone bruise. One of my ponies was
    foot sore  (right hind) for three days. Just
    enough for me to notice. No heat, no swelling,
    ...nothing..., a mystery... I begged him to tell me what
    was wrong but...
    ... the blacksmith found the remains when he trimmed him

    
    Does he need shoes? My beastie went thru this just 2 weeks ago. He
    was overdue for shoes (about 3weeks overdue), got new shoes and
    he was sound once again.
    
    Nancy
    

    possible FOOT ABSESS
    
    foot absesses will come on fast and without hoof testers to check
    his foot it will be hard to tell.
    
    suggestion:
    
    if it is an absess...it will become worse before better.
    
    soak his hoot in hot to warm water with epson salts
    
    you may want to poltic his foot.
    
    
    My mare come up lame a few weeks back...my friend who is a vet standing
    there talking to me says...your horse is lame I turn and she was right.
    So off Jess got and we checked her out.
    
    No heat, cuts, bruises, swelling etc. it was the darndest thing. So
    I did not want to spend the money right then on xrays to see what
    was in the hoof....
    
    So I used some really big plyers of my husbands as hoof testers and 
    started squeezing to find a sore spot if any. There was a spot on her
    hoof that she flinched to and so we were going to cut the hoof a little
    hole in it and I said no again.....
    
    so we soaked her foot every day with the hot water and epson salts
    three times a day. a week or so later she was still off.....
    
    I then polticed it a few days and the horse was fine.
    
    The vet said that absesses come on really fast and this seems to
    be the time of year that she sees more of them. the horse will be 
    sound one minute and lame the next.
    
    some times they the vet or blacksmith will cut a very small hole
    into the bottom of the foot and you can soak it and draw out the 
    absess really fast. I let it ride and left the mare out to pasture
    and stopped using her and it took a month instead.
    
    good luck....hopefully he is better now.
    
    terry

    Also try flexion tests of the ankle and knee -- may have just twisted
    or pulled something enough to be a little sore.  Recently Algiers 
    twisted his back while bucking.  He appeared off on the left hind for
    the next 2-3 days, but the problem was actually in the back muscle over 
    the loin area on the left side.  I could tell by the way he cringed as 
    I got to the spot while grooming him.   And he was off for a few days
    after he got cast and caught his leg over the top of his dutch door. 
    Again, it was just a sore spot -- this time just below the stifle. 
    Again, I could tell by the way he would flinch and pull his leg back as
    I approached the 2 square inches that were sore.
    
    Mary

    RE.5
    
    Our Thoroughbred had a lot worse experience with a hoof abcess, he was
    laid up for about 7 months, from last fall until this past May. He
    would come up lame, like yours,with no outward obvious reasons. The
    vet assumed an abcess, and we went the politice route, but it
    reappeared a few weeks later. At that point x-rays were taken. They
    showed the abcess, and he had to have the hoof resectioned. It was
    2 months before he could even hold a heart-bar shoe on the hoof. 
    Once he was able to hold the shoe things progressed great, and he's
    now perfectly fine, but it was a nasty experience.
    

	Just as a word of caution, please be careful when performing
	"do-it-yourself" hoof tests as you can cause damage to the sole...

	If there's a question of an abscess, ask the blacksmith or vet to	
	check it out.

	Good luck!

	Linda