# Sore shoulder?



## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

Well my horse has been lame for a few days now, and it seems to be in her right front shoulder area. It's hardly noticeable at a hand walk, but if you get on her back or if you trot her (on her back or just lounging on the ground) she is limping. 

We thoroughly checked her yesterday for any cuts, scrapes, swelling, heat, and my barn manager even took a hammer and tapped all along the bottom, top, and sides of each hoof to check for abcess, but we found nothing. We checked her back for signs that it was bugging her, and no flinches there either. So we're stumped...the only thing we can figure is that maybe out in the pasture she slipped and fell on her shoulder and it's just sore. 

Gave her 1g bute the first night when it was really sore and haven't since, I just don't like to give it too often...and last night I put liniment on her shoulder, her back, her butt, her other shoulder, really anywhere the lameness cause might be coming from!! 

*Has anyone had a similar situation happen and what was the cause?* *What else could I be doing* (besides the liniment and a whole lot of hand walking) *to help her along?*


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## AlmagroN (Jul 19, 2009)

make sure its her shoulder first. 2 things:

1- go to the front of the shoulder and push in with your fingers and watch for any flinching

2- take the front leg of the suspected shoulder and flex it out straight and pull a slight bit. if its shoulder as soon as you flex it out straight they should pull back on it and sometimes if its real bad they will rear up a little when they pull back


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

AlmagroN said:


> make sure its her shoulder first. 2 things:
> 
> 1- go to the front of the shoulder and push in with your fingers and watch for any flinching
> 
> 2- take the front leg of the suspected shoulder and flex it out straight and pull a slight bit. if its shoulder as soon as you flex it out straight they should pull back on it and sometimes if its real bad they will rear up a little when they pull back


Thanks, we did that already...no flinching when pressing into her shoulder (or back, or rump, we pressed everywhere just to be sure!!) and she didn't react to flexing on either side. 

The consensus so far is she must have just fallen in the pasture and bruised it or something...I'm going to keep putting the liniment on and just see what she's like in a couple more days.

But has anyone else had their horse get an injury like this one??


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## kitten_Val (Apr 25, 2007)

Why did you think it's shoulder? If its a bruise there she should be really jumpy when you touch the affected part (at least my horse was). Can it be an abscess (knock on wood, of course!)?


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## eventerdrew (Mar 13, 2009)

my guess is it's not in her shoulder. I think it is more likely to be in her leg or hoof. I would hope for an abcess.

how severe is the limp? if it is "pretty off" to "severely off" then she most likely has an abcess. 

Wait a couple of days and see if anything shows up. If in doubt, soak her in Epsom salts anyway!


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## MIEventer (Feb 15, 2009)

Could be something a Chiro can fix. 

It could be your new saddle.

A great replacement for BUTE is B-L Solution. It is a liquid that is a Herbal without the harshness of what Bute does to your horses stomache, that does just as good of a job. 

I have a jug of B-L Solution at hand for Nelson when and if he needs it. I like giving it knowing that it wont cause any ulcurs or other issues that traditiona bute does.


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## CJ82Sky (Dec 19, 2008)

MIEventer said:


> Could be something a Chiro can fix.
> 
> It could be your new saddle.
> 
> ...


were we related in a past life? lol
LOVE BL solution, and my jumper won't eat bute but will take the BL when needed. it's also a lot better on their digestion.

and i second the check the saddle and chiro.


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

Well the reason we think it's the shoulder is just the way she's moving. It's not severe, it's actually BARELY noticeable at the walk and even lounging at a trot, and slightly more noticeable with weight on her back. Here's what we've done (we being a trainer at my barn, the barn manager, and I) so far when she came up lame...

**Note -- I hadn't ridden her for 4 days before this happened so that's why I don't think it's the new saddle...the last time I rode her was last Sunday and then hadn't been able to do anything with her until Friday, and the lameness turned up when I brought her in from being turned out on Friday...I have seen her every day since Monday, just not ridden. I noticed her walking funny Fri when I brought her in, so it happened Fri while she was turned out.

1. Checked the affected leg for any swelling or heat, or marks...nothing.
2. Checked everywhere else on her body for swelling, heat, marks...nothing.
3. Cleaned out her hooves and then took a hammer and tapped firmly all around the underside, top, sides, back of each hoof to see if there were any reactions (looking for an abcess)...nothing.
4. Checked all down her neck and back for any reactions/soreness...nothing.
5. Poked and prodded her shoulder to check for soreness to touch...nothing.
6. Flexed her legs to check for anything there...nothing. 

She hasn't really given us any obvious signs of anything, so at this point we just hand walked her a lot, and I've put liniment on her shoulders (both of them just in case), along her back, and over her rump too just to see if that would help. We've only been doing that a couple days now, so we'll see if we get any improvement. 

The only reason we think it's the shoulder is just because at this point, with nothing else to go on but the fact that it happened while she was turned out Friday and she came in with grass stains, it's the only thing we can assume logically happened.

But based on ALL of the above, I'm open for any other suggestions that might fit and solve the mystery!! If it keeps up after the farrier sees her Tuesday and can possibly rule out hoof issues that we wouldn't have thought of, I'm just going to give up and call a vet. In the meantime, none of this seems to be bothering her so I'm not giving her any bute or anything. She seems happy as a clam she gets to be turned out each day and then no arena work! ;-) lol


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## paint gurl 23 (Jan 26, 2009)

I would get a chiro out to have a look at her hips. She might have one side out that is appearing to be causing the soreness in her shoulder...horses work opposite, so if there front left shoulder looks sore, there right hip is most likely the culprit..not always but 99.9% of the time. Same vice versa.


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

Thanks! Well several of you have suggested the chiro, so I may just go that route today.


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## AppyLover615 (Sep 16, 2009)

I have no suggestions for you, but I wish your horse a swift recovery and let us know what the chiro says. I'm interested to see what you do or how she recovers 

~AL615


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

Well, I called the vet out today and we found the problem! It was a little more obvious today just before the vet came out...some heat showed up in her right front hoof and she was really lame on it today. The vet brought out the hoof testers and found it...an abcess! She was able to dig it out and the instant she was done, I walked Sandie off to her stall and she was no longer lame! 

It really is amazing how painful those little suckers can be! Poor girl :-( The vet put ichthamol on her hoof to draw the rest out and wrapped it, and her farrier is coming tomorrow to trim her and finish digging if need be. Vet says Sandie will be rideable just as soon as the hole is healed over which she says should only be about 3 days...she said we'll be fine to be in the hunter pace this weekend!! YAY!  

Thanks for all the advice and wishes everyone...I'm just glad it was something little like this and not anything having to do with her muscles, tendons, etc!!


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## tealamutt (Aug 21, 2009)

I'm with Drew. 9 times out of 10 when someone comes in for a "shoulder lameness" problem it is actually an abscess. They both look the same so it could well be a shoulder problem, I'm just playing the odds here. Since she isn't super off, I'm not suprised the hoof test was not fruitful. I'd still soak her and see what pops up, if the chiro doesn't help out.


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## AppyLover615 (Sep 16, 2009)

cool! I'm glad it was a simple thing even if it was painful in the beginning. 

and good luck in the show this weekend!

~AL615


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## tealamutt (Aug 21, 2009)

great! don't know how I missed your post before I left that last one. So glad it turned out well for you two!


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## Lisa Moore (Sep 2, 2011)

My horse has a smilar problem i just posted about it in hoof care as her right hind bulb has split and i wondered as she has a left shoulder problem could it be connected? She moves away from pressure in her right shoulder has a horrid limp and nods her head when trotting on a circle but just limps when on the straight. Has been like this since june so haven't worked her and now she's put a horrid amount of weight on feel like im trapped in a vicious circle.Farrier has said she injured her shoulder and told me to rest her but it's interesting someones said about your horses hip as sometime last year when dong her feet the farrier did say that there was something wrong with her back end but not bad enought to get anyone out to it. Now worried im not getting good advice and may have lead to worse problems. Haven't got the vet out to her as i thought they just tell me to rest her. Don't know what to do.


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## Hoofprints in the Sand (Nov 23, 2008)

oh wow OLD THREAD alert! ;-) haha Lisa I would say have the vet out if the farrier wasn't able to figure it out.


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## Burtonshort (Sep 12, 2012)

*Sore Shoulder?*

Thanks for sharing - been having the same problem but now will definitely look into the possibility of an abscess.


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