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blood_magik

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appologies in advance for the long post

my horse came up lame when I was warming up for a jumping lesson on Tuesday and I was really hoping that it was going to be a 24 hour thing, but it would seem not..
had the physio take a look at him yesterday as he was still really stiff through his stifles and hocks and she recommended the vet see him after hours of poking and prodding.
so the vet came up and did a flex test, which was positive. she gave me the option of bite and 2 weeks box rest or x-rays.

I've gone for the x-rays but I'm now wondering if I should have asked her to give him bite as he's obviously uncomfortable?

I've been told that I'm allowed to exercise as normal unless he feels off - surely this will make any issues worse, especially as the vet thinks he's damaged his ligaments?

sorry for rambling. any advice would be appreciated, assuming you've made it this far :)
 
I agree with you- if you think he's uncomfortable enough to need bute, don't ride him.

How long to x rays?
Does he has sole grazing? (ie could he injure himsefl further in the field?)

If he was mine- if he was lame - I would box rest him. If he was just stiff I would allow him some limited grazing to see if the movement helped and assess daily. Trust your vet and physio- it's what you pay them for, but no one knows your horse as well as you.

Hope he's feeling better soon
 
nikCscott said:
I agree with you- if you think he's uncomfortable enough to need bute, don't ride him.

How long to x rays?
Does he has sole grazing? (ie could he injure himsefl further in the field?)

If he was mine- if he was lame - I would box rest him. If he was just stiff I would allow him some limited grazing to see if the movement helped and assess daily. Trust your vet and physio- it's what you pay them for, but no one knows your horse as well as you.

Hope he's feeling better soon
Click to expand...

Def agree with the above
 
thanks for the advice. I'm taking him for xrays on Tuesday - today would have been too rushed and she wants to see him being ridden to see if that makes a difference.

he is actually lame rather than just stiff. I noticed that it becomes a lot more noticeable in canter whereas I have to look for lameness in the trot. does that make sense? the physio said that the forward propulsion in the trot masked it.

he gets really grumpy if he doesn't get out of his box everyday so I'm going to turn him out into our indoor school. hopefully there's less chance of him hurting himself and he doesn't feel like he's being punished - you wouldn't believe the look I get when he's kept in :p

I'm still in two minds about the exercise.. hate having to make decisions like this - thought my dad would kill me when I told him I'd picked x-rays over box rest and bute (he pays my vets bill) but I guess there's no point in masking the issue with pain killers if it's going to be an ongoing thing.
I at least owe my horse that much and if he ends up never jumping again then so be it

ramble over (sorry)
 
If the horse is in pain, why no Bute?

Depending on what he is like in the field (quiet or a loon), I'd ask the vet about Bute and turn out. If he could be in an injury paddock/small area then so much the better.
 
xrays will only show bone problems not ligaments. He will need a scan if it's ligaments. Most common problem is bone spavin. Keeping him in won't help this condition, but if it's ligaments then he should have box rest. Sounds like the vet suspects the former if she has requested xrays.
 
blood_magik said:
appologies in advance for the long post

my horse came up lame when I was warming up for a jumping lesson on Tuesday and I was really hoping that it was going to be a 24 hour thing, but it would seem not..
had the physio take a look at him yesterday as he was still really stiff through his stifles and hocks and she recommended the vet see him after hours of poking and prodding.
so the vet came up and did a flex test, which was positive. she gave me the option of bite and 2 weeks box rest or x-rays.

I've gone for the x-rays but I'm now wondering if I should have asked her to give him bite as he's obviously uncomfortable?

I've been told that I'm allowed to exercise as normal unless he feels off - surely this will make any issues worse, especially as the vet thinks he's damaged his ligaments?

sorry for rambling. any advice would be appreciated, assuming you've made it this far :)
Click to expand...

Very confused:confused: Why if the vet thinks it is ligament damage are they going to x-ray, should they not scan for that? Also, if he is lame then he should not be ridden and why do they need to see him ridden at the vets?

If it is possible ligament damage then any more exercise would surely be detrimental? If he were mine I would refuse to ride him for the vets until I was sure there was no way he could be damaged further.

It is very difficult when a vet who has trained for years etc tells you to do something you feel you have to listen and take their advice but in my experience, follow your instinct, you know your horse and if he is not happy then don't ask him to do things he doesn't want to.

I had a horse who tied up once in the school with me after 10 mins of work having been exercised every day, warmed up properly that day and was on no protein. I got the vet immediately who refused to take any blood, tried to make me run him up to see how lame he was and then said that he needed to see him lunged on concrete next week and that I should get him fit enough to do that:confused::confused:

I got a second opinion!:D Vets are not infallible.
 
well my vet said to ride/ turn out as normal unless he feels uncomfortable and surely bute would mask any discomfort? I'm not really willing to exercise normally at the moment because I'm not wanting to make anything worse and jerry certainly picks his moments to act like a nut job. but saying that, I'm guessing that maybe that's what the vet is wanting? would certainly make their job a bit easier

he's being turned out indoors so he can be watched - our indoor warmup isn't too big and if he was outside and hurt himself more, it's a fair walk back to the stable block.

wish Tuesday would hurry up and get here so I can get him sorted
 
well he's seeing someone different on Tuesday so I'll go over everything again with him.
think I'll stick to walking in hand for now and see what Tim says on Tuesday.
I'd hate for him to be stuck in his box unnecessarily.

I agree with the tendon/ligament thing - if he overdoes it, he could end up doing more damage.
I thought his tendons would show on an x-ray?
 
To be honest, bute is a fantastic anti-inflamitory as well as a painkiller and it is no different to us taking an ibruprofen, yes it covers up lameness but thats the idea of it!... if the horse starts to move more naturally after an injury, the injury will heal itseld much quicker. I personally wouldve opted for the bute to see if that reduced the lameness at all (as this can help determine the cause of the lameness too) and or cure it completely - sometimes these odd lamenesses are caused by simple tweeks out in the field or even in the stable. While on bute, i'd still allow turnout but not ride or lunge.

If the lameness was still there on bute or once bute had been withdrawn, I'd then look at nerveblocks, xrays and or scans...
 
Wagtail said:
xrays will only show bone problems not ligaments. He will need a scan if it's ligaments. Most common problem is bone spavin. Keeping him in won't help this condition, but if it's ligaments then he should have box rest. Sounds like the vet suspects the former if she has requested xrays.
Click to expand...

had a good look at his hocks when i was walking him earlier and i think you may be right about the spavin.
ive done some reading about treatment and prognosis and its quite depressing :(
 
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