at a loss with mare any help appreciated

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horsedreams

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little mare we have is having some real issues atm

she does not seem to want to go forward freely in trot or canter in the school
very very tense
hacking out is fine on a long rein in walk nothing unsual (up and down hills) until we are coming home and she changes by tensing and almost curling up in a ball and backing up spinning will not go forward bangs into cars walls anything that is the way
she has never done this before and nothing as happened to scare her-- it as started in the last 2 days this behaviour which is getting very dangerous
but as been very tense the last few weeks rushing in the school when asked for trot or canter as though she is trying to run away from things so not done any schooling since
had lameness checks done and back etc.. almost everything checked out
i'm considering the next step to be a mri scan
vet is at a loss and so is the physio
as anyone any ideas please
 
I would think about ovaries myself. There was a post a few days/weeks ago about a mare with similar behaviour, if you do a search it might come up.
Do hope you can get to the bottom of it and she returns to the normal mare you know.
 
Only thing that springs to mind if you have had all the usual checks done as in teeth, back and tack, is whether her ovaries are bothering her when coming into season. Some mares are uncomfortable when cycling, just a thought really.
 
hi
thanks for the replies forgot to mention ovaries scanned 2 weeks ago with no cysts etc but did have a injection to help her release eggs
vet back today for another horse so got him to watch her being ridden and she seemed worse today so he is booking her in at leahurst for a gamma scan as we have done everything we can at home with checks,blocks etc.. just have to wait for appointment for them to order the stuff in for injecting her --fingers crossed we can get to the bottom of it
 
Sounds similar to mine, he is booked in to have a bone scan the week after next. Hopefully this will get to the root of his problem and givbe me some answers. My vet thinks my horse has a problem in his scarollic (sp) joint
 
that was mentioned to me yesteray about mine --i hope all works out for your horse please let me know your outcome i would be interested as they have similar problems
i just hope its nothing to serious with yours or mine
can i ask are you just resting your horse at the moment until the scan?
vet as told me to leave mine --just turnout until she goes to leahurst
 
R had similar problems (reluctance to go forward, but spinning and pissing off), after almost 2 years of investigations, including scintigraphy, turned out it was the saddle that caused soft tissue damage and was pinching his spinal cord (i had had the saddle checked numerous times during that period!!).
 
My vet has told me to keep him in work as when he is rested it gets better for a few days. So I am lunging him I won't ride him as he really objects. I do feel mean working him when he has an issue but they do need to be able to pinpoint the hot spot otherwise it will be a waste of time.

I have had my saddle checked and this is not the issue. I get exactly the same reaction on the lunge, my horses problem (we think)is where the pelvis is. The next cuople of weeks are going to go slowly but at least I will hopefully know one way or the other.

Do you know how long until your scan yet?
 
no i have to wait for them to order the dye they inject into them for the scan

vet thinks it may take 2-3 weeks but fingers crossed it could be sooner(something about a shortage in the country

i'm going to talk to my vet today about lunging as my mare is the same on the lunge but not as bad as being ridden but makes sense to keep her working until she can go to leahurst as you said rest does help the problem

we have our saddles done every 6 months and it was done a couple of weeks ago so i don't think its the saddle or these symtems surely would of shown up months ago as she is no differant in shape etc...

we are almost sure its in the pelvic area as watching her cantering down the feild she is bouncing on both back legs at the same time its weird to watch and explain
 
horsedreams said:
we are almost sure its in the pelvic area as watching her cantering down the feild she is bouncing on both back legs at the same time its weird to watch and explain
Click to expand...

That's interesting as I had a foal once at six weeks old that would what we called bunny hop when cantering around the field, most weird to watch and he wasn't lame in trot or ill at all. Vets were perplexed too, looked at everything and it was only bloods that told us he had an infection somewhere although we could find no entry sites anywhere then he started having fluidy bumps appear on different parts of his body; one day it would be on his knee, the next day it had moved to a back leg; it went around his body in different places for over a week and then settled just below his hock. By this time, he was nearly four months old. It was drained and whereas normally you'd be lucky to get 10 ml of fluid out, we had a jugful, nearly 200! It was very clear fluid, tested and it was a different strain of joint-ill which the vets had not seen before. After treating with Eurythmycin and something else (banana and raspberry flavoured drenches) he never looked back and went on to a hectic RC career, always had notice of his good paces on his dressage sheets.

Hopefully, it will be a simple explanation for you too once you get to the bottom of it.
 
glad your little one went on to recover

have found no lumps or bumps fluidy on her

so will have to wait for the gamma scan --thankfully she is insured
 
just a little update on my mare we now have our date for leahurst -- a week this thursday so hopefully we will get to the bottom of what is happening
as she is no different to the other week we have been told not to work her as it might make what ever is going on a lot worse than needs to be
 
update on mare
vet phoned tonight
results were left side sacaraliliac ,kissing spine and both hocks
so nerve blocking on monday to see which area is causing the most problems
so update monday night of outcome
 
Goodness, poor mare and poor you - its been a long old road getting to these answers!!

Fingers crossed all further treatment goes well and she has a good prognosis!
 
thankyou --
yes a long time in finding these problems --i'm glad i rested her though as if it is the kissing spine could you imagine the agony she would of been in and also with the sacroiliac--ouch so feel a bit better that i didn't put anymore pressure on her and we can help her out now if only they could talk!!!!!!!

the vet did say that they would of been surprised not to find the hocks without hot spots as many 10year olds have bony changes without pain
they are almost sure it's the spine and sacroiliac that is the problem as these were more evident on the scan but monday will give a outcome after the nerve blocking
 
Horsedreams am sorry to hear the results, fingers crossed you have a good outcome on monday.

When boy was there this week even though he showed a hotspot on his left hock, he was not visibly lame either on a hard surface or a circle until they did flexion tests and even then it was minimal. My vet is optimistic that I should be able to carry on and event mine.

Let me know how it goes on monday.
 
hi mll

will update monday its strange but mine showed more lame on the hard surface than on flexion tests -- thats what made the vet at leahurst think it was more than the hocks themselves

the hocks i know can be treated as we have another mare at home with it in both hocks and she's had it for 5 years now but still works and competes (not as much but she is 15 now)

we manage her with equine answers premiere flex though we went through countless different joint supplements over 2 years till we came across this one which worked for her though as with all the products out there each horse responds differently to them

do keep me updated on how you get on over the next couple of weeks --i'm sure you will be relieved now there is hope of still eventing him
 
update on mare

well not the best news she is having to stay down at leahurst for another night or 2

today they nerve blocked the hocks and stifle --although there was a slight improvement on her going her back was still very tense when ridden

so tomorrow she is having the xrays done on her back and hocks to see how much change is going on -- they suspect it is kissing spine causing the main problem which as led to the sacrioliac problem but they need to know how serious it is before deciding what route to take --( injections or surgery)

they have said they will be able to also see what is going on in the sacrioliac aswell so will update more again tomorrow
 
update of todays tests--
we now know she as moderate kissing spine -- xrays showed 3 overlapping

when nerve blocked she was more free in her movement and able to sit to in the canter

so she has been medicated in this region today and is coming home tomorrow for 5-6 weeks and then going back to see how she as progressed if they are happy with this she will not have to be operated on --so fingers crossed

the other news is that as she as so much going on (sacroiliac and hocks) they blocked her suspensorys above the hock today aswell and improvement was very evident so in the morning they are ultrascanning both her suspensorys so will know more tomorrow

when she gets home she is to have physio once or twice a week in the sacroiliac area and also her back so it is going to be a long road to recovery if we ever get there

more update tomorrow after i have bombarded the vets with all my questions!!!
 
well got her home today

outcome is she is to have 8 weeks box rest with in hand walking building up from 5 mins to 20 mins twice daily over the weeks

ultrascan showed up her proximal suspensory ligament of the right hind so we are advised to have shockwave therapy --yet to investigate this as don't know a great deal on the outcome so if anyone reading this as had experience i would be grateful for your outcomes

she is due to be seen again in june to decide if she needs the operation on her spine and ligament



-
 
Sorry, no experience on the shockwave and sorry to hear she has a bit of recovery in front of her, but at least you know what it is now and you are working towards sorting it all out. Best of luck.
 
thanks booboos

relieved we have got to the bottom of all this eventually

8 weeks sounds long but i'm sure it will soon pass

luckily she as 5 more at home for company so will alternate turnout so she is never on her own
 
hi horsedreams, my gelding has the same problems as your mare. in dec 3months after having him he bucked like a loony in the school (something he had never done before) this was after a bit of time off from snow. he was diagnosed with kissing spine quite mild. these were injected and he came home on 4 weeks pessoa work, sadly i wa sunhappy with his progress and took him back, this is when they found SI problem and both hind suspensories damaged (high up) he had all areas injected and shock wave to the suspensories with 6 weeks box rest but was ridden from the box starting at 15mins walk and increasing by 5 mins a week to 40mins where i took him back as he was showing signs of getting bucky again. the vets said as he has so many issues surgery for us wasnt an option and i just have to work him through it, we are 3 months down road now and he still throws dicky fits but i am working him daily in the school, 30mins in walk long and low on the bit, hes building beautiful topline and hes managing over poles in walk and have started to add a bit of trot. i dont trust hacking him out as we are on top of lots of hills and he struggles down hills and starts bouncing to buck. he goes back a week tomorrow to vet to assess progress.
i wont deny there has been several times i have thought i have to give up as i feel so bad riding him through pain but im hoping we are strating to get an improvement now and one day he may be fit and well.
i can say though one of the biggest helps for him has been 2x weekly acupuncture, he responds amazingly to this and i have a wonderful local vet who comes to do this. the vets in halifax where i take him to said my biggest problem would be building topline as he had none, hes an ex racer and was shocking on top but acupuncture along with correct work seems to be doing the trick. annax
 
hi annar
sorry to hear about your horse

i'm halfway through box rest with in hand walking twice a day from week one 5 mins building up to 20 mins before we go back to see if we need the op (june 6th )--up to now we are on week 5 and doing ok ---sanity wise!!!

we had had physio when into week 3 and now are continuing with this daily (through physio showing us exactly what to do)

she had the injections in her spine when down at leahurst

although she has other problems aswell from what i have been told if the op for spine surgery will be standing sedation
i do think this is the route we will be going down at the moment but i will update after our next visit

hope all goes well for you and your horse on your next visit to the vets
 
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