Branch of flexor tendon injury ? Lameness 3 months

claire1977

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24 July 2009
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Hi - has anyone had a similar experience to this? My horse starting going lame about 3 months ago. He has history of ringbone for ten years so initially thought it was this but he gradually got worse. He then got an abscess. After a week he wasn't better with the abscess treated so he went back tot he vets. They xrayed and found nothing obvious other than his feet weren't balanced correctly for his ringbone. They wipped off his eggbard and replaced with natural balance shoes which were meant to make him feel better in a couple of weeks.
A couple of weeks down the line he was terrible and after nerve blocks they reinjected his pastern joint with joint fluid.
A week in the box he had - but was still not right. after walking about he got more and more lame. More nerver blocks put the pain down to his heel .
Xrays show no fracture and the vet has suggested that it is an injury to one of the branches of the deep digital flexor tendon which could have been aggravated by changing his shoes. ultrasound showed no majot tears.
He is now back in eggbars after 6-7 weeks in natural balance but i it was the fault of the shoes- how long would it take for him to readjust to egg bars and a more balanced foot. (the remedial farrier took off a lot of toe) .
I am at the end of my tether as he is still lame and i was hoping the shoes would show more improvement than this although he isn't toe pointing anymore and his leg doesn't shake quite so much. he is worse on uneven or gravelly ground like his foot is sore?
Only other step appears to be MRI as ultrasounds and xrays are inconclusive.
:-(
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if you can i would MRI or else you will just throw money away treating an unseen problem. My horse has been off for 2 years with a deep digital flexor tendon injury , his legs shake also but have always assumed thats just hiM!
 
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