can anybody suggest a cause for this unsoundness

rupertsmum

rupertsmum

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My TB is a bit of a hypochondriac so I never really know how bad he actually is!
in his front leg he is unsound in trot. in walk he is striding out and is totally happy and sound. when i ask him to trot (on the road surface) he can be sound but then his stride is really short and on occasion he looks quite lame.

i though the had an abscess and poulticed it and a very clear fluid came out, the farrier has reshod him and said there is no obvious foot problem. the physio has found some tightness in his hind leg which is normal for him and estimated him to be 1/2 10th lame although at the time she was under the impression that he had an abscess in his foot.

has anybody got any ideas about this? the totally happy, striding out in walk is confusing me!

there is no heat, swelling or obvious injury or area of tenderness anywhere!

truly grateful for any suggestions
 
I would get the vet to do a lameness workup. My horse was totally sound in walk but lame in trot and had a ligament problem. I would be on the safe side and get vet to look. Hope it resolves soon.
 
thanks I will do that as I am completely at a loss! out of interest how was it treated and how long did it take to get better?
 
I'm rather surprised that you have gone to a farrier, physio and online forum before considering a vet! Without actually seeing your horse, any suggestions that even the most experienced ppl make on here are just going to be wild guesses.

If your horse is consistently lame (lunged on a hard surface), get the vet to do a lameness workup. If, however, he is only intermittently lame it will be much trickier to get to the bottom of it. But either way it would probs still be worthwhile getting the vet to have a look anyway as it is obviously causing you problems.
 
As others have said it sounds like a full work up at the vets is the only way you will find out what is going on. Could be one of a million things.
Hope it is nothing serious & he is back to normal soon. :)
 
Would be suprised if it turned out to be anything other than a problem with his feet. You describe the symptoms my horse has last year. Although my vet was called immediately that the problem became evident.

A full lameness work up, which included x-rays and obviously nerve blocks, was done - and it was discovered that my horse had significant problems in both front feet.

Remedial farriery with the assistance of the x-rays have ensured that he has stayed relatively sound since.
 
Like the others have said, it could be any number of things. My boy had a collateral ligament sprain. He's been on box rest for 9 months with controlled exercise. The joint has been medicated loads of times, he's had Tildren and IRAP, special shoes, MRI scans to diagnose the problem and £1000's spent on him. He is now sound but we are taking it day by day. And i am totally neurotic about it all as he's a beautiful warmblood that was to be my GP dressage horse and he's only rising 8!!!!!!!!! he did it we think in the field....as he was fine one day and not the next! He was totally sound at walk and you could only just see it at trot, was very hard to see in a straight line but was there when lunged on a circle on a hard surface. I had to convince several vets that he was not right, but then I had x-rays that showed nothing, but i insisted on an MRI which revealed all!!!!!!

Yours is probably nothing like mine so don't worry, but do get it checked out.xxxx
 
As others have said, ligament strains can be pretty serious whilst showing only very mild and intermittent lameness - as I now know!!! High or proximal suspensory ligament damage can happen with no obvious heat or swelling because the area is covered, as are many structures in the foot. Even vets are hard pushed to identify where the problem is without ultrasound, nerve blocks, xrays etc and I'm just glad that my lad had a really experienced lameness expert.
I'm sure it's nothing serious but let an expert check your horse over, just in case! :rolleyes:
 
thank you to everyone who has posted their ideas.....i'm hoping that he is just being a wimp!

wooly Jumper, as i said in my first post i though he had an abcess and it just happened to be the day before the physio and farrier were due. I didn't intentionally call them out to diagnose the lameness.

i think that a call to the vets is on the cards!

good luck to all of you with the lame horses!
 
I had similar problems with my horse.He went lame near on 3 weeks ago,then seemed to be sound and then lame again. I kept him in overnight for several nights but because he didn't want to be in he was coming out of the stable very on his toes and where he was prancing about on the end of the leadrope would pull up lame again.I ended up putting him in a very small paddock so he was at least outside and had the vet out to him. He has just finished his course of bute so we are yet to see if he is still lame but the vet suspects he has either damaged the extensor tendon or possibly a ligament. He is sound in walk but noticeably lame in trot or at least he was prior to having the bute. He initially had heat just in front of his fetlock joint and a few days later had a hot hoof and I initially suspected an abscess. The farrier checked him over with hoof testers and had no response whatsoever so that ruled that out. Today a new pony went out at the yard and cue lots of galloping horses so hopefully he won't have managed to do any further damage to himself.
 
Obviously could be any number of reasons. Ask for x-rays my vet wanted to put my TB down due to a dropped pedal bone that x-rays proved was angled correctly. Due to the delay in getting x-rays done my farrier had my horse on wedges and compression pads. I was paying 160 every 5 weeks for shoes he didn't need that gave him thrush! My tb has low heels, long toes and had thin soles prone to bruising. I got him barefoot and he has iron clad soles (manner of speaking) and much better growth. If vet and farrier don't help a DAEP spends a lot more time encouraging the correct motion of the foot and will be much less invasive. If there is no heat it's usually a bruise, I wouldn't panic if he's well in helpful and happy. But do consult an expert- which in my view is a DAEP when it comes to feet. Vets are great for jabs and surgery but I was shocked to find out what they DONT know about feet!
 
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