Saddle Slipping? Check for Lameness

A prospective study of factors associated with saddle slip was conducted with 128 horses presented for gait evaluation at a referral hospital in the United Kingdom. Lameness and saddle slip were assigned scores and examined before and after diagnostic nerve blocks were performed.

The saddle consistently slipped to one side in 38 of 71 horses (57%) with hindlimb lameness, one of 26 (4%) with forelimb lameness, zero of 20 with back and/or sacroiliac pain and zero of 11 with no lameness.

Diagnostic nerve blocks abolishing the lameness eliminated saddle slip in 37 of 38 (97%) horses with hindlimb lameness. In most horses (86%) the saddle slipped toward the side of the more lame hindlimb. None of the horses with saddle slippage had significant asymmetry of their back measured at several locations.

These remarkably simple but intriguing observations demonstrate that saddle slip can be an easy to recognize indicator of hind limb lameness and this should be considered when the complaint arises.

— Greve and Dyson. EVJ 2013;45:570-577.

Developmental Orthopedic Disease and Future Warmblood Performance

A study was conducted to examine the effects of developmental orthopedic disease (DOD), including primarily osteochondrosis (OC) and osteochondritis dissecans (OCD). Show-jumping performance records of stallions presented for admission to a Belgian studbook were used to evaluate future performance by counting the number of events entered and scoring the ranking of the horses after they began performing.

The study included 78 horses with DOD and 137 unaffected controls. On average, horses…