Amber is lame

Ambers Echo

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She twisted a shoe off in September. She was not fully back in work till November and not jumping till January when she decked me twice.
Pro never mentioned any concerns about soundness though which I hope is reassuring! But videos from the pro show her looking tense and he described her as 'very difficult'.
Since having her back she has been going nicely on the flat, but she objected strongly to popping a cross pole a few days ago. Only did it once as she was clearly unhappy.
The following day she was lame. Same leg as before - front right. So now worrying it is the same injury not a random tweak.

Vet came to nerve block and narrowed it down to front right foot or pastern. Will come back soon to start imaging. Healing vibes please Leg Gods.

xx
 

milliepops

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I hate those "wait and see" things, urghghhhh it's so horrible not knowing what is wrong with them. Even if they get better there's always a bit of a question mark over what it was. I'm such a doom monger I would agree with pushing for the diagnostics now. Hope you get some answers soon x
 

Ambers Echo

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yeah, bad timing! what a nightmare :( is yours all back to normal now?

No not really. The doc at the hospital said that would now always be my 'bad ankle' but I think writing off a body part like that is a little premature! So I've been doing a lot of physio but flexing it is still very painful. Something gets stuck when I flex. Most other things seem ok.
 

Ambers Echo

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I'm so sorry AE, hope its nothing, maybe related to the recent hard ground????

Such a worry for you x

Fiona

Thanks. I doubt it's hard ground. I am mainly hacking in walk on tarmac or ambling round a field. Or on a surface. No jumping on grass or anything, Don't think Harry did either. All on a surface or hacking on roads.
 

ITPersonnage

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Sorry to hear about Amber's lameness but surely (??) the pro would have sent her back if he'd suspected a lameness issue - he must have known working her with an injury would/could have made it worse? Or am I being naive? Anyway, I am another one who's sick to the back teeth of un-diagnosed lameness, you have my sympathy in buckets if its any good to you...
 

milliepops

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Sorry to hear about Amber's lameness but surely (??) the pro would have sent her back if he'd suspected a lameness issue - he must have known working her with an injury would/could have made it worse? Or am I being naive?
possibly... hopefully it wasn't something that was grumbling on then but I have seen other examples of where there's something that is not obvious, treated as a training issue, because that's the way it's been framed by the pro/owner/etc -not through negligence just because there was never anything specific enough going on to mean anyone noticed a physical issue.

Fingers crossed this is something simple and quick to resolve, obviously.
 

Fiona

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Thanks. I doubt it's hard ground. I am mainly hacking in walk on tarmac or ambling round a field. Or on a surface. No jumping on grass or anything, Don't think Harry did either. All on a surface or hacking on roads.

I meant that maybe she had been throwing some shapes in the field when turned out, not that you had over-ridden her x x

Fiona
 

Ambers Echo

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possibly... hopefully it wasn't something that was grumbling on then but I have seen other examples of where there's something that is not obvious, treated as a training issue, because that's the way it's been framed by the pro/owner/etc -not through negligence just because there was never anything specific enough going on to mean anyone noticed a physical issue.

Fingers crossed this is something simple and quick to resolve, obviously.

Whenever a horse 'misbehaves' I think pain first off. As I did when she threw me off in January but I assumed it was a damaged saddle that she was reacting to. Pro said she was 'very difficult'. You'd hope he would spot lameness but many don't and many ride through behaviours that would make me wonder about thinking outside the training issue box. I did tell him she was a generous, hard working horse! But he just said she was only willing for me because I did not expect enough from her. And I accepted that. But now I think she was telling him all along she was unhappy. I just have a horrid feeling she has not been right for a while. :(:(
 

milliepops

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possibly.. don't beat yourself up though, we're all doing our best all the time and sometimes things slip through (or don't, this is just thinking out loud and its entirely possible it's a new acute problem). x

in fairness to pros they are in a bit of a tricky situation when presented with a new horse they don't know, brought to them for training, it's inevitable that things will be approached from a training issue POV. While I think we should definitely all be aware and questioning about physical issues it's hard to untangle them from training problems sometimes esp if it's something fairly subtle, compared to an obvious unsoundness or sore spot etc. Of course he may also have been completely not questioning and just ploughing on but it's impossible to tell from here.
 

ITPersonnage

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I did tell him she was a generous, hard working horse!
I suspect that most owners would say that (and I'm definitely NOT saying she isn't, quite the contrary) but I guess the pro would think "yeah, yeah heard that one before" - but I do get what you're saying MP and AE. It is difficult to tell what's pain/naughtiness/training issue sometimes.
 
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