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Sidewinder gait in horses.

Monica Aleman1, Emily Berryhill1, Kevin Woolard2

  • 1Department of Medicine and Epidemiology, University of California, Davis, Davis, California, USA.

Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine
|August 22, 2020
PubMed
Summary
This summary is machine-generated.

Sidewinder gait in horses, often seen in older animals, stems from neurologic or musculoskeletal issues. Diagnosis can be aided by electromyography, but the prognosis for function and survival is typically poor.

Keywords:
electrodiagnosticsequineneurologyneurophysiologyspeciesspinal cord disease

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Area of Science:

  • Veterinary Neurology
  • Equine Medicine
  • Animal Orthopedics

Background:

  • Sidewinder gait in horses is an incompletely understood condition characterized by lateral trunk and pelvic limb deviation.
  • This gait abnormality affects horses of various breeds and ages, with a mean age of 18.9 years in affected individuals.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate and report the diverse causes of sidewinder gait in horses.
  • To detail the clinical and diagnostic features associated with this neurological and orthopedic condition.

Main Methods:

  • A retrospective study was conducted on 24 horses diagnosed with sidewinder gait between 2000 and 2019.
  • Data included neurological and orthopedic examinations, diagnostic workups, and postmortem evaluations. Electromyography and muscle biopsies were utilized in select cases.

Main Results:

  • Neurological causes included spinal cord compression, equine protozoal myeloencephalitis, and thoracic myelopathy. Musculoskeletal etiologies involved osteoarthritis and pelvic fractures.
  • Electromyography and muscle biopsy were instrumental in diagnosing neurological disease and localizing lesions in 9 out of 9 examined horses.
  • The case fatality rate was high, at 79%, indicating a severe outcome for affected horses.

Conclusions:

  • Sidewinder gait in horses can arise from either neurological or musculoskeletal problems, frequently affecting older animals.
  • Electromyography serves as a valuable diagnostic tool to differentiate between neurological and non-neurological causes and to pinpoint the location of neurological lesions.
  • The overall prognosis for horses exhibiting sidewinder gait is poor, impacting both their functional recovery and survival rates.