Any advice / ideas on mystery lameness?

[lindahaydock]

I have a 16yr old, 15h, stocky mare that had to be retired a couple of years ago due to spavin in both hocks. She goes out in the field during the day, stabled at night. Last week she went out into the field fine but came in severely lame, took ages to get her in from the field. No heat or obvious signs of injury but I got the vet as thought it was something serious like a tendon or something. Vet said she thought it was an abscess so we poultice the foot for a couple of days and put her on bute but nothing came out. I asked farrier to look at it, he said not abscess its laminitis and advised I got my vet back out. Next day I got vet out, it was a different vet who also said it’s not laminitis! Could still be an abscess but advised I poultice higher up around coronet band for few days and book her in for xrays as it could possibly be fractured pedal bone! Continued to poultice for couple more days but nothing came out. I had also been treating her as though she has laminitis, giving her a deeper bed, restricted grass, feed etc not sure if coincidence but she made a marked improvement. The day she was due to go for xrays she appeared totally sound again! So cancelled xrays and vet advised give it a few days see how she goes and take her off the bute…. So far (everything crossed) she is fine, although only been a couple of days.
I’m continuing to treat her as though she has laminitis (even though 2 vets are telling me that’s not it and she really isn’t happy that her feed has been cut). Wondered if anyone out there has had experience of severe lameness that’s lasted about a week then totally disappeared?
She has never shown signs of laminitis before. Is it something you would expect to come on suddenly and then totally disappear? I’ve no experience of laminitis so any advice / tips would be welcomed
Thanks!

 

[skyejosh]

I've had a similar experience with a pony at work. She generally lives out 24/7 but lately has had filling and heat in her legs and been lame. she is normally calm in the field and has been having a bit of a break so is not anything work related. The vet was out to another horse on the yard and owner askes if she thought it could be laminitis. Vet has insisted it definitely isn't but we restricted grazing, she isn't fed at the moment as not in work. As soon as we cut down on her grazing her legs began to improve. Her owner had to leave her out for 2 days due to work being done to her stables and as soon as she was left out again the filling heat and lameness returned, although vet insists it can't be the grass bur equally can't come up with another reason for the problem. we are now just keeping grazing restricted and aren't having a problem.

 

[Puddleduck]

Sounds similar to my mare. She suddenly went lame aged 19 after a hooley in the stubble fields. YO went mental with me for over doing with an oldie but we quickly realised it wasn't related. Vet diagnosed lami as part of early cushings and pergolide quickly sorted her out.
Would recommend speaking to your vet about possible cushings given your horse's age, it's the time year where it tends to start to show up in new cases or get worse if already established.