Baffling Mystery Lameness :(

M

MTMTE

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Hey,

I was wondering if you guys could help me out with this, or if anyone had had any similar experiences. My horse is a just turned five year old warmblood x. I have never had any unsoundness problems with him and, to my knowledge, neither had the previous owners. About two months ago I took his shoes off and tried him barefoot. All seemed well and he wasn't unsound, at all, from day one. I then decided to sell him and the day before his vetting I had him trimmed, and took him for a ride in the hills. He seemed to be tripping a lot (as he often does, hence the barefoot experiment.) I didn't push him hard but the next day he was lame in his left fore. (I should point out that prior to this I had felt he was slightly 'off' on a left circle. Maybe one stride in every three or four. It was only very slight, but definitely there...)

I felt he was sound enough for the vetting. (I had informed the people and she was keen to go ahead.) The vet came and felt that he was footsore, told me to have shoes put on him and that she would come back in two weeks. I did so and she returned. I again felt he was sound but he failed a flexion test (1/4 on the lameness scale, again in the left fore.) He was also slightly unsound on a hard circle, again to the left. The buyer pulled out and I had him x-rayed. The x-rays were completely clear, although the vet did point out that one of his heels was closer to the ground than the other one. I had a new farrier shoe him with this in mind and he is still unsound when lunged to the left. The vet said it could be deep soft tissue which could take up to three months to heal. She could come back to ultrasound/nerve block him, or alternative suggestions have been to have bar shoes put on him. I just wondered if anyone had any idea what it could be. I had his back done not so long ago. I'm just desperate for my horse back! Thanks in advance :)
 
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Needs the nerve blocks done. Feet won't cause him to be flexing positive and blocking will tell you where exactly the pain is.
 
It depends on your circumstances, if it is going to take three months to heal, I would be tempted to give six weeks off and then think about looking in to it, after all what is the treatment going to be? It does not sound like box rest.
I would not be a happy bunny if I wanted to sell it, but what do you do, the more you investigate, the more you learn, but the horse may not get better any faster.
Difficult.
 
The vet said that the most likely cause is a deep soft tissue injury as there are no external signs of any swelling etc. She said if this is the case the course of action we take is simply a period of time off - not box rest. Nerve blocks will tell us where the pain is, and it's possible that an ultrasound scan will show nothing. I have decided just to give him the time off as I am a student and I am not in any rush with him as he is a young five year old. I was just wondering if anyone had had anything similar show up and what it had proved to be :)
 
Personally speaking I hate the whole treat it blind theory, Yes undoubtedly you are going to go through a period of rest - But if that box rest, pasture rest or what will depend on what is actually injured!!

I second getting a full work up done including U/S and nerve blocks - given the horse is only 5 years old I would want to know what is going on and given that you have noticed an issue for a while now is the time to be getting to the root of the problem.

NB, a horse tripping a lot can be a sign of unsoundness, so the whole barefoot experiment could of been as a result from your horse showing signs of unsoundness.

Also if the horse hasnt improved with shoes on and was comfortable without shoes personally I would take the shoes off.

Good luck with him and hope it all works itself out :)
 
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