In Wiley's study, horses with T1 fractures (or fractures of the 1st rib) were all racing Thoroughbreds with ipsilateral lameness (on the same side as the fracture). | Photo: Courtesy P. Ramzan, MRCVS

A lame horse that’s resisting the rider. It’s a complaint equine practitioners commonly hear, but maybe not necessarily one that would, right off the bat, cause them to think “broken rib.” But one researcher believes rib fractures are an underdiagnosed cause of lameness, with one type unique to racehorses.

Claire Wylie, BVM&S, MSc, PhD, MRCVS, recently examined digital records at Rossdales Equine Hospital, in Newmarket, U.K., where she’s a resident in clinical research, hoping to uncover common clinical signs of rib fractures in adult horses so veterinarians can recognize these cases more readily. She presented her results at the 2016 British Equine Veterinary Association Congress, held Sept. 7-10 in Birmingham, U.K.

Wylie reviewed 11 years of case results, excluding foals, and found 50 rib-fracture cases, 40 of which treating veterinarians had considered to be clinically relevant, or capable of causing clinical signs. Affected horses were anywhere from 2 to 17 years old, with a median age of 5.5 years, and had been with their owners for a median of three years. The horses were mostly Thoroughbreds or Thoroughbred crosses (60%), male (geldings and stallions, 75%), and racehorses (42%), which accurately reflects Rossdales’ patient population