Any ideas what could cause this

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lillith

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Firstly this is not my horse, I am possibly thinking of taking her on though.

She is a middle aged (10-14) traditional cob mare and has had issues with her hooves and particularly her frogs for a while. She has chronic thrush despite a clean stable, twice daily hoof picking and cleaning with hibiscrub and purple spray. Vet says she is prone and has pretty much given up after a string of different iodine and anti-fungal treatments. I think her hoof walls are too long and her heels VERY long which doesn't help.

More worryingly for me she also has an odd lameness in one hind leg. She puts full weight on it and isn't short as such but she seems to stand on her toe with her heel off the ground. The farrier has let her heel grow down to try to get it on the ground almost giving her a club foot she did not have before the lameness. She is in no way reluctant to move forward and seems happy to hack out. She improves with work and once warmed up will happily trot (and canter off after another pony).

Farrier has said he thinks she may have done a hind suspensory at some stage but she has never been head bobbing lame on it, just gradualy started to walk on the toe. Her fetlock is not very flexible when moved with the hands but she is not bothered by me trying, there is no heat or swelling.

Any ideas?
 
Hi,

I would get it checked out by a vet.

My boy had no swelling, heat or anything like that. People thought I was mad when I wanted to take him up the vets but every now and then in trot he would knock or drag his toe.

First time I took him to the vets they passed if off as though he had just banged or twinged something. I asked them to do x rays which they reluntantly did but nothing came up. They told me to give him bute and then see how he was.

He still was not right. But I decided to start walking him only to build up some of the muscle thinking it was this. Chiro told me his pelvis was out. Didnt believe it so took him back up the vets.

Turned out that he had pulled his hind suspensory ligament. He had the operation to cut the nerve had 2 weeks box rest and is now out in a small paddock on his own for a further 5 weeks.

Get it checked out. Trust your instincts.
 
Thanks, like I said it isn't my horse I was considering taking her on though and if it could be sorted would.

She has been building up to this/like this for about 2 years and the vet is not exactly being helpful.
 
By what you've described I would be tempted to just ignore it. I'm guessing the horse is used for hacking and if there's been a problem for 2 years then it's probably too late to alter things now. If she's not lame and not bothered by it then i would put it down to her age and just ride her and see how she goes. Doesn't sound like there's much a vet can do for her, maybe get a second opinion from a different farrier and go from there.
 
fair enough, do you think there could be improvement?

I would want to use her for more serious hacking than they do atm.

I really like the mare which is why I am asking.

Does anyone think her hooves could be part of the problem?
 
I would advise strongly against ignoring it if you are thinking of taking this horse on.

Yes it could be something and nothing but on the other hand it could be an old injury like ligament damage that is affecting the horse again now. I have been told that ligaments do not just "go" its wear and tear and she could have slightly pulled or twinged it years ago and progressivly it is getting worse. OR it could be the start of arthritis. The list is endless of what it might and might not be.

Like I said it could be nothing really and maybe just a bit stiff or indeed something to do with the frogs. But I know people that have ignored such things and later down the line wish they hadn't.

I will always go on gut instinct and thank god I did with my boy. If I had carried on like everyone was telling me to I could have ended up with a severly damaged ligament.
 
I think you would be very unwise to take her on and expect her to stay sound if you intend to increase her workload.
 
Thanks guys.

Its kinda what I thought.

I am (hopefully) going to be getting a new job soon and may well be able to afford a horse and my mates mum is trying to sell the mare and I know and like her.

I had a feeling that her issues would be more of a problem than I could comfortably take on though.
 
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