how would you know if your horse was lame?

Answer 1

Well the most obvious indicator of a lame horse is when his gait is irregular. Limping or favoring a leg is a common sign something isn't right with your horse. Check your horses gait by lunging or have someone walk him out for you. Once you have established which leg is sore, check the leg and hoof thoroughly. Is there any swelling or heat coming from any joints. Is his hoof clean with no signs of thrush or foreign objects. Check with your vet it your horse is in discomfort, a good sign something is wrong.

Answer 2

Lameness is easiest to see when the horse is trotting. If the pain is in just one leg, you’ll notice that the horse is not moving evenly. The severity can range from a barely noticeable hitch in the stride to a reluctance to put any weight on one foot. A lame horse will often throw his head in rhythm with his stride. If the horse is sore in a front leg, he will throw his head up as the sore side touches the ground. If the lameness is in a back leg, he will lean onto the sound side. He may also drag the toe on the sore side.
If the horse hurts in both front feet or all four feet, you won’t notice a limp. Instead, he will keep his head up and move with a short, stumbling stride. A sound horse stands with front legs perpendicular to the ground. A horse who stands “camped out” instead of keeping his legs under his body is probably sore. A relaxed horse will often rest a hind foot, but he’ll keep equal weight on each front foot. A sore horse might try to take the weight off a front leg by pointing it forward with just the toe on the ground. While an observant horse owner can recognize that a horse is lame, pinpointing the exact site and cause of the lameness is usually a job for a veterinarian

Answer 3

If the horse is acting "ouchy" on one of it's legs. If the horse seems to be limping or has a stone bruise on the bottom of it's hoof or if takes short steps with one of its legs (especially on rocks but make sure they are taking short steps with only one of the legs b/c some horses just have tender feet and take short steps on rocks anyway). If you supect your horse is lame, have someone else jog it away from you and watch the back legs, then have them turn and trot towards you, is the horse putting any extra weight on one leg than the other? If you can't tell, put colored tape evenly on the sides of the rump of your horse and see which tape goes higher or lower (i've seen my vet do this before). Also, if the horse is limping, he will bob his head out of the ordinary. Also, feel all four legs to see if there is any heat or swelling.

Answer 4

I was about to put all of the things that "j_smoocha" wrote but since that person wrote it first he or she is exactly right watch the horse. Or if you ride and feel your horse often enough you may be able to feel the difference. But you have to make sure that what you are feeling or seeing is not just stiffness that some horses can work out of, or "off/short" look and feel for the difference. And talk to your vet and ask for any other tips they may have.

Answer 5

The horse would not want to walk. And when the horse does walk, it is limping. If you need some foundering websites, here are some reputable ones.

[e-mail] foundering/laminitis support group
www.naturalhorsetrim.com discusses the way the hoof should be trimmed.
www.johnthevet.com A UK veterinarian that follows and helps people out on the [e-mail] website.

Answer 6

Unable to bear weight on their leg that has gone lame.
Call a vet for futher help.

Answer 7

well, they'd be limping also there would be heat and or swelling on the affected leg

Answer 8

Just hangs out all the time. Never wants to do anything cool. Lives with his mom. Smokes a lot of pot. Still listens to RUSH. Has a Slayer sticker on his backpack. The usual signs.