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| Author |
Message |
    
chris martin (Mnchrist)
| | Posted on Monday, Jul 23, 2001 - 10:02 am: |   |
Hi Dr. O.,
I have a 3 year old tennesse walker who stumbles, I regard it as an inattention problem, he doesn't do it when he is really attentive, but it is a problem. Vet says nothing physically wrong. Yesterday he fell down while cantering around the arena, this is the first time he has tripped while cantering, usually it is only at the walk. Luckily no one was hurt, but I have to stop the stumbling. He has gone to his knees 4 times before. I read in gaits of gold two things, 1 to have his front shoes overshoed 1/4 to 1/2 inch and the 2. that clogged tear ducts can cause stumbling. I have had his feet checked over and over by the farrier, toes rolled etc. Any suggestions? |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM (Dro)
| | Posted on Tuesday, Jul 24, 2001 - 6:18 am: | |
Have you had him examined by the vet for soundness and sight? Some lameness/neurolgical problems may exhibit this problem as a primary sign. Other than this the feet should be trimmed as short as possible with a light shoe and the toes squared off. Some have recommended working over heavy cavalletti but I have not seen that help bad stumblers.
After that is all done conside getting another horse: people have been killed coming off a horse that stumbled forward. I don't think blocked ducts are a likely cause, but if the eyes are running, I would have them flushed.
DrO |
richard evans
Member
Username: Revans
Post Number: 6
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, Jul 30, 2004 - 6:04 pm: | |
I have a 4 yr old 16.4 TB mare - she stumbled everywhere when I first got her - I wasn't sure if it was from nerves (she had been beaten severly before I bought her, I witnissed the beating - then I bought her from a horse owner that should never be horse owner)I tried everything - my farrier recommended flushing the tear ducts - the vet came out - a very simple procedure - and the stumbling stopped - I highly recommend flushing tear ducts for stumbling - good luck! I noticed that this is a maintanence deal - I flush her eyes a couple times per year - or more often when needed! |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: Dro
Post Number: 10906
Registered: 1-1997
| | Posted on Monday, Aug 2, 2004 - 6:17 am: | |
Richard, what do you figure the relationship between the blocked tear duct and stumbling was?
DrO |
richard evans
Member
Username: Revans
Post Number: 8
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Friday, Aug 6, 2004 - 12:45 pm: | |
When a person has a sinus infection or a head cold - our balance is off or we are just good enough to lie down until the infection passes - much like horses - when their tear ducts are blocked the fluids build up in the ducts and causes pressure thus causing imbalance to the horse (my opninion). |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: Dro
Post Number: 10930
Registered: 1-1997
| | Posted on Saturday, Aug 7, 2004 - 10:04 am: | |
Interesting thought and link but I don't think this is common richard. First I see many horses with blocked ducts that do not have any stumbling / balance problems (and vice versa!). Second an infection of the sinus or a head cold (which is a systemic viral infection) are not really analogous with a blocked tear duct. I cannot argue with your own experiences and will see if I can find something that I may have missed before but neither can I cannot find a medical or scientific reference for this.
DrO |
ANN COLLIER
Member
Username: Dres
Post Number: 399
Registered: 10-2000
| | Posted on Saturday, Aug 7, 2004 - 10:14 am: | |
Dr. O.. is one of the symptoms of a blocked tear duct.. constant tearing...?
thanks Ann |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: Dro
Post Number: 10943
Registered: 1-1997
| | Posted on Monday, Aug 9, 2004 - 7:49 am: | |
Yes the tearing is out of the inner corner of the eye. The eye is usually comfortable unless infected and the tears run along the bottom lid margin and do not accumulate over the cornea.
DrO |
richard evans
Member
Username: Revans
Post Number: 9
Registered: 10-2003
| | Posted on Saturday, Aug 21, 2004 - 6:59 pm: | |
Dr. O - My vet said the same thing - there is no phsyiological reason that blocked tear ducts would cause stumbling - but for Foxy and I it worked - after flushing her movement is clear as glass - my vet is perplexed why this has worked so well - but it has - I asked my vet if and when he comes up with an explaniation to let me know - I will post it!! Thanks a bunch!! |
Robert N. Oglesby DVM
Moderator
Username: Dro
Post Number: 11039
Registered: 1-1997
| | Posted on Sunday, Aug 22, 2004 - 9:10 am: | |
It really is this lack of a known mechanism that makes this one hard to follow. But there is a logical explanation: what ever was causing the horse to stumble got better and it just happened you flushed the nl duct prior to what really fixed the problem.
What if you had cleaned the ears, or trimmed the feet, removed a tick, pulled the mane, sprayed the horse with the latest homeopathic preparation for stumbling. Actually some of these are related to stumbling but you see you are always doing stuff to a horse, so to draw a causal relationship from just temporal relationship support is always fraught with error.
On the other hand, next year we may see a report where 30 stumbling horses have their nl-ducts flushed and they all quit stumbling while the pathologist find a recurrent branch of the vestibular (balance) nerve traveling through the nl-duct explaining the reason! If so you will see it here. But at this time yours is the only case report I know.
DrO |
Michelle Spinosa
Member
Username: spinosa
Post Number: 16
Registered: 1-2008
| | Posted on Friday, Oct 10, 2008 - 5:58 pm: | |
Is there an update on this? |
