A jerk, a jump, a hop with the hind legs tucked up high. Similar to the function of strings on a marionette, stringhalt seems to make horses yank their legs up and halt them there momentarily before taking their next step. This uncontrollable exaggerated movement of the digital extensor muscles is the outward sign of neurologic disease, sometimes caused by toxicity, sometimes of unknown origin. If time doesn't cure it, the prognosis is poor. But today researchers are hard at work looking into ways to make horses with this condition safe, happy, and free of clinical signs.

History, Clinical Signs, and Causes

Stringhalt appears to be an age-old disease in horses and other hooved animals. Descriptions of the disease date back to the Renaissance. William Shakespeare has even been credited for the name of the disease (as a variation of the term "springhalt," from Henry VIII)