Bute Question. Plus a brief update on my mare

arwenplusone

arwenplusone

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So a few of you will have seen my posts about my nappy, resistant and volatile mare.
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I lunged her this morning and she was ok so I hopped on. We had a short walk trot and canter and then I let her stretch down. After this she then refused to go into trot again. Even a small squeeze from my leg was met with tail swishing and resistance.

I can't help but think there might be something physical I am missing. She has had back, teeth and saddle checked but she is such a sweet mare to handle it is like she has a split personality!

I have had loads of good advice on how to proceed, from some very experienced people on here (thanks guys) and in RL so I am trying to process it all and make my own mind up about what to do next. Not an easy decision

Anyway, I thought what I could do is possibly put her on Bute with the thought being that if she then went well I would know it was pain? My only concern is Bute may not work on musculoskeletal pain? Also I am not sure if the vet will prescribe it for no reason!

Has anyone done this? and did it work?

Thanks
 
A good equine vet will be able to examine her and advise, if you tell them she has no obvious lameness but is not at all happy to work, so you suspect a problem.
Most woudl be happy to examine her befoer decing if it is physcial problme or an attitude.schooling problem.
Thye can't prescibe bute without examining the horse.
 
Not sure whether this is the same but my TB has arthritis in his coffin joint and when he went lame after his initial box rest the vet advised that he be bought back into work on Bute and then gradually reduce it. My TB does not have a high pain threshold and when the Bute was reduced before being bought back into work he would feel unlevel.
I think it did work as it gave him time to build up again without thinking it's gonna hurt.
It's worth a try
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dont know if this helps but when the vet couldnt find what was wrong with my mare we put her on bute and she responded really well to it, so thought the same as you must be a pain issue. but once i sent her to the rvc they said no nothing wrong with her cant explain why she reacts well to bute. told me it was behavioural. long story short took her ovaries out on my insistence and she is a different horse. vets dont always know best. make sure you weigh up the options and have a good think yourself!
 
I have a tb who tail swished bucked reared and was very nappy .After lots of time and other injuries along the way he has been diagnosed as having hock spavins .This arthritis was undetected by the vet in the early stages.I mentioned that he went better on one rein than the other ,he also tried to throw me on to his favourite diagonal and my instructor thought he was lazy and green he was 4 1/2. when i bought him.Some of your problems are similar might be worth a check its only a question of hind flexation tests which if you are experienced you could probably do yourself.The bute or danilon was what the vet prescribed for him but he has recently had surgery so I am waiting for the all clear at the moment.The arthritis took 2 years to come to a head it could be that you have picked this up early .Just another suggestion hope it works out for you.
 
Bute is very good for musculoskeletal pain, hence it is often used to relieve lameness. Vet shouldn't prescribe it without seeing the horse, but if you think she is in pain, it might be better for them to examine her anyway.
 
It could also be that she's not in actual pain, but she has a physical problem which makes it difficult for her to work how you ask her to. In which case, bute would have no effect - her reason for resisting would be frustration that you are asking her to do something that feels physically impossible to her, if you see what I mean.

If I were in your position, with such a promising horse, I think I'd go down the vet route and have as many tests as possible on her to try and find the problem. Not an easy decision, I know...I hope you get her right in the end
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Hmm, think a full vet work up could be the way to go. Cellie - I do hope it isn't spavin but will def mention this to vet.

He did make a comment last time about taking her ovaries out!
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I want to breed her!
 
We tried bute for my chap but it didnt help, turns out he had done his cruciate ligament.

Not read all the replies but how about trying McTimoney? Some people are not into this kind of thing and I wasnt until I gave it a try and saw a massive difference in the way my chap moves.
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The bute test is worth doing. Yes there are many things that could be wrong that it won't show up but there are some things it might. You've got nothing to lose, try it for a couple of weeks. Chances of it showing anything up are slim but you never know and its alot cheaper than the AHT. The vets shouldn't have a problem prescribing bute for this. Haven't you got any in stock from past treatments/other horses?
 
QR:
I would be wary of McTimoney. It may be that I had a bad experience, but I was deeply unimpressed when on the strength of several recommendations I got a chap out to look at my horse quite a few years ago. He dangled his crystal and said he had a sore back. Well, he did, but it was because he had undiagnosed hock spavins. The chap didnt take him out of his stable to look at him move, and I'm pretty convinced that if he had he would have been able to tell that the problem want coming from his back. If I had the experience then that I had now, I'm pretty sure I would have been able to tell the problem was his hocks.
Good luck with your mare Arwen, she sounds like she is an absolute horror just now!!
 
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