kennita2001
New User
I currently own a 13yo 17hh TB gelding and have had him since he was 4yo. He has always been 'accident prone' with many things go wrong.
13 months ago I put him out in a paddock (40 acres, grassed with a small creek) and when I grabbed him the next day he was severely lame on his hind near side leg. He would put the foot down on the toe and then 'snap' the heel down. I have seen him do this previously but it was only the odd time, not prolonged.
I pulled him out of the paddock and called the vet. The vet was stumped as during the consult he started doing it on the other hind leg also. Flexion tests were performed and the vet went over him and concluded that he thought it was spinal somewhere with nerve involvement and reccommended taking him to another vet that specialised in strange lameness.
However, the lameness was intermittent and came and went and so when I took him to this other vet I was told there was nothing wrong with my horse in a very abrupt way. Just to note that unlike the first and third vet this vet never walked or moved my horse around to see the lameness, he just went on feel and stated that it was just the way the horse moved. However, having owned the horse for a long time I knew this was incorrect as he had never walked like this before.
I also took him to a third vet who told me that he agreed with my original vet that it was nerve damage but it was out of his area of expertise and he recommended spelling.
So I took him home and put him back out in the paddock and in January he got extremely bad abcesses in both back feet that resulted in him being stabled for 6 weeks and then corrective shoeing. He seemed to get better throughout all of this rest and so finally when his feet were healed I decided I'd try leading him off of my other horse.
He started working OK being ponied and we were walking up to 8km a day so I decided to get on him again. The day I got back on him he dragged his feet along the road and would not walk without dragging both back feet. By the time I walked him home he was bleeding from the front of both back feet but did not seem to realise it. It was as if he couldn't feel the feet.
So I called my farrier and had the shoes moved forwards and brought him to a chiropractor I had used previously as the two vets I trusted had both believed it to be nerve damage in the spine. She treated him for 6 weeks with no improvement.
Throughout all of this he has been getting steadily worse to be lame permanently now though the type of lameness changing. Sometimes he will be 'traditionally' lame ie just put the hind legs down for as short a time as possible, sometimes he will snap the fetlock, sometimes he will refuse to move.
The last few weeks he has been deteriorating rapidly, often refusing to move or walking with his feet almost crossed underneath his body, as if he can't hold his legs straight under him.
Anyway, I got the farrier out to him a few days ago and the near side hind he could only pick up directly underneath himself and the off hind he wouldn't bend the fetlock or hock and kept his leg completely straight, as if on a pendulum.
And today he tried to canter across the paddock and wont put the off hind on the ground at all in canter but looks pretty good on it in walk.
Basically, I am running out of ideas to try with him and am trying to avoid the necessity of having to put him down - I am more than happy for him to retire as a paddock pet if I know he's not in much pain.
Does anyone have any ideas on what the problem may be or any treatments?
Since the problem has got so much worse over the last few weeks I am getting the vet back out and am going to ask for tests as no xrays or blocks were done due to everyone thinking its nerve damage. Is there any specific tests anyone would recommend or things to watch for?
Any ideas or help would be most appreciated...
13 months ago I put him out in a paddock (40 acres, grassed with a small creek) and when I grabbed him the next day he was severely lame on his hind near side leg. He would put the foot down on the toe and then 'snap' the heel down. I have seen him do this previously but it was only the odd time, not prolonged.
I pulled him out of the paddock and called the vet. The vet was stumped as during the consult he started doing it on the other hind leg also. Flexion tests were performed and the vet went over him and concluded that he thought it was spinal somewhere with nerve involvement and reccommended taking him to another vet that specialised in strange lameness.
However, the lameness was intermittent and came and went and so when I took him to this other vet I was told there was nothing wrong with my horse in a very abrupt way. Just to note that unlike the first and third vet this vet never walked or moved my horse around to see the lameness, he just went on feel and stated that it was just the way the horse moved. However, having owned the horse for a long time I knew this was incorrect as he had never walked like this before.
I also took him to a third vet who told me that he agreed with my original vet that it was nerve damage but it was out of his area of expertise and he recommended spelling.
So I took him home and put him back out in the paddock and in January he got extremely bad abcesses in both back feet that resulted in him being stabled for 6 weeks and then corrective shoeing. He seemed to get better throughout all of this rest and so finally when his feet were healed I decided I'd try leading him off of my other horse.
He started working OK being ponied and we were walking up to 8km a day so I decided to get on him again. The day I got back on him he dragged his feet along the road and would not walk without dragging both back feet. By the time I walked him home he was bleeding from the front of both back feet but did not seem to realise it. It was as if he couldn't feel the feet.
So I called my farrier and had the shoes moved forwards and brought him to a chiropractor I had used previously as the two vets I trusted had both believed it to be nerve damage in the spine. She treated him for 6 weeks with no improvement.
Throughout all of this he has been getting steadily worse to be lame permanently now though the type of lameness changing. Sometimes he will be 'traditionally' lame ie just put the hind legs down for as short a time as possible, sometimes he will snap the fetlock, sometimes he will refuse to move.
The last few weeks he has been deteriorating rapidly, often refusing to move or walking with his feet almost crossed underneath his body, as if he can't hold his legs straight under him.
Anyway, I got the farrier out to him a few days ago and the near side hind he could only pick up directly underneath himself and the off hind he wouldn't bend the fetlock or hock and kept his leg completely straight, as if on a pendulum.
And today he tried to canter across the paddock and wont put the off hind on the ground at all in canter but looks pretty good on it in walk.
Basically, I am running out of ideas to try with him and am trying to avoid the necessity of having to put him down - I am more than happy for him to retire as a paddock pet if I know he's not in much pain.
Does anyone have any ideas on what the problem may be or any treatments?
Since the problem has got so much worse over the last few weeks I am getting the vet back out and am going to ask for tests as no xrays or blocks were done due to everyone thinking its nerve damage. Is there any specific tests anyone would recommend or things to watch for?
Any ideas or help would be most appreciated...
