Hello Everyone!

Short and sweet topic to challenge your critical thinking and your ability to feel your horse next time you are riding or driving them.

Horse’s bodies should be straight when we ride or drive them. If they cannot be straight or be straightened and then remain straight, they are simply LAME. We can agree to disagree on my last sentence, however, I have spent my entire career palpating, riding, driving, treating and then rechecking the same horses again and again with the realization that if a horse cannot move with its body in a straight line, there is something physically wrong. And YES, THEY ARE LAME…BODY LAME.

I cannot tell you how many horses that I have ridden, have a lateral walk. As soon as you get on them and ask for the walk, they move lateral, not forward. This is NEVER NORMAL and THE HORSE IS LAME. This is BODY LAMENESS.

Just like a human, though we are not quadrupeds, if you have a knee or shoulder injury you are incapable of moving in a symmetrical manner during exercise or engagement of any full body movement. When riding a horse, the horse will compensate for our imbalances and try to balance us to their center. However, if they are injured, they cannot carry their body in a straight and straight forward movement biomechanically because it is not possible. Why? They are lame, body lame.

Horses develop through the training levels. However, if it is a struggle for a horse to progress and remain straight during this training process, the horse is lame, body lame.

Examples for you to ponder after multiple lower limb injections have not provided you a solution:
If a horse has its haunches stuck to the right, your horse is lame, body lame.

If a horse has its head tilted or turned to one side and you keep pulling on the opposite rein thinking that it will fix the problem? How has it working out for you? AND your horse is lame, body lame.

If your horse’s entire neck is to one side and you must hang on one rein but not the other, your horse is lame, body lame.

If your horse leans on your leg on one side, and worse both sides, depending on the direction, your horse is lame, body lame.

If your horse cannot pick up a canter lead one direction but can the other, your horse is lame, body lame.

If your horse cannot do a clean lead change. Your horse is lame, body lame.

If your horse bulges a shoulder once direction but not the other. Your horse is lame, body lame.

If your horse bends softly one direction but struggles to bend the other direction. Your horse is lame, body lame.

If your horse’s posting diagonals are different, feels horrible one diagonal and good the other. Your horse is lame, body lame.

If your horse can move lateral off your leg easily or smooth one direction but resists the other direction. Your horse is lame, body lame.

If your horse consistently drifts right or left off the ground when jumping. Your horse is lame, body lame.

If your horse can spin or roll back one direction but not the other. Your horse is lame, body lame.

If your driving horse is not straight. Plain and simple, it is lame, body lame.

I could go on forever with examples. I have spent my entire career as a veterinarian seeing and recognizing body lameness patterns. Now I want you to do the same. I can give you the tools. My mentor, Dr. Hwa Choi, words resonate with me in her strong Korean accent: “The answers you seek are right in front of you in every patient. Unlike humans, animals never lie”.

Please share this blog and my podcast with your horse friends, and comment below if this was helpful. Most importantly, remember to always put The Horse First.

AJD