Advice on lame mare please!!

i would call the vet and update them- get an explination of what he thinks it is, prognosis, longer term plans etc.
get it wrapped and cold hosed/cold boots on twice a day
if she wont go in the stable, section an area off in the indoor somehow the size of a large stable/2 boxes, with a pal in there for company.
feed soaked and rinsed hay in small holed nets
bute twice a day
and get it scanned ideally

the current management isnt working as its 2 weeks down the line and you still have a swollen leg and lame horse..
its very likely a tendon esp if the swelling is on both sides of the leg...
 
From what you describe it's almost certainly a tendon strain or a suspensory ligament branch strain (that will fill more on one side than the other) and the point of the box rest is that it will not heal unless you make her stop using it.

If you have insurance change your vet (again!) and get it scanned.

If you have no insurance keep her in and ice it until the swelling is resolved and then you MIGHT be able to start walking her out in hand, before a lengthy period of turning her away - that's if you ever want her sound again?

Tendon injuries are really tricky things that cause long term problems if you do not treat them properly from the off. You need more help from a vet you can trust. Try a younger one, newer out of college, hopefully with a more open mind and better customer bedside manner!
 
QR - my friends horse isn't stabled and didn't settle to box rest (jumped out of stable), so she turned it out in a small square of paddock, and got vets advice that this was right to do. Perhaps you could try that?

Out of interest - why don't you like bute? My little man has hurt his leg so is on one sachet of danilon a day whilst the swelling goes down, it's just like me taking an asprin and he's much happier with it than the pain of not having it.

Maybe your horse will b less worried and in pain if it is allowed the treatment vet has precribed? Must be agony, poor thing
frown.gif
 
I have never owned an icelandic, but i have owned a fjord and it lived off fresh air! Also he was a little tank and did not like to be where he did not like to be. he was like a 13.3hh shetland with the power of a shire, could bend hinges on stable doors and could climb over walls like a goat!

I can only assume that islandics are quite similar and one that is used to living out for 11 years is not going to take kindly to being in.

Sometimes as an owner you have to way up the risks against the possible good, when it comes to management.

Box rest is designed to rest an injury, and if a pony/horse will stay on box rest with out the risk of damageing the injury futher then it works. However if you have a pony that generally is quite in a field and is used to eating grass and nothign else. Putting them in a stabel where they are goign to constantly run round in tight circles trying to get out, and having to eat extra forage to replace the grass, is not really going to help the injury, ot the digestive system.

Of course the Op understands that there pony needs a constant supply of forage goign througth there system. However if giving adlid soaked hay is going to pile energy and weight on to the pony,, and if the pony is very stressed and messing round constantly the injury is never going to heal.

the bute will offer an anti imflamitory, and this has to be taken into account. However if the op dosnt agree with using bute then there are other natural antimflams you can get hold of, that are kinder to the stomach, that you may want to look into.

Its been 2 weeks and the pony is still not right. I would contact your vet again and tell them the situation. Explain that on box rest your pony was very stressed and runnigng round in tight circles trying to get out. The vet may agree that keeping the pony turned out if they are quite and not likely to move round too much is better than aggrivating the injury more by churning up a stable.

You have to find out what is exactly wrong with the pony. I think many vets have a 2 weeks window , of offering a pony bute and box rest to see if the injury improves. this is probably more a case of ruleing out things that would ussualy improve over that time.

As the leg is still not right and the pony wont do the whole box rest thing and trying to manage the pony that lives on fresh air is hard. Maybe they can offer a better solution.

if it turns out that it is an injury that needs very strict boxrest, then maybe they will offer a seditive to help calm the pony down.

You need to speak to your vet and inform them what is going on. You need to tell them that the pony has not bene on box rest and you have not given the bute, and the leg is still nto right. explain why you have not given the bute or boxrest, so that they can offer maybe an alternitive method and medication to help your pony.

Its not always a one size fits all world with anything. A horse in pain that isnt stressed out is less liekly to injure its self than a horse in pain, who is stressed and wanting to get back to its herd.
Maybe she is better off out with her herd and with a different type of treatment. Unless you have a word with your vet, they cant help you.

The next step is to have a word with your vet, and have more investigation into what is wrong with the leg and take it from there.
 
KingCharles thank you very much for your post
The vet was no help at all, saying to give her another few days if there were signs of improvement. So I've put her on Devils Relief and MSM.
While she's in the school she picks a corner where the sun is shining and hardly moves about. This to me made more sense than leaving her stressing in a stable. I'm picking up enough poo to know theres is a constant supply of forage going through her system!!
 
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