Constantly lame youngster, run out of options

Melody Grey said:
Sounds tricky. If you can afford and have facilities to turn away for 6-12 months, I’d do that, on Bute if needed. Barefoot rehab/ intuitive barefoot trimmer or really barefoot aware farrier, using hoof boots if needed.

I’ve had MRIs done with animal friends/ E&L all pre-approved and without problem.

I’m guessing since you mention animal friends, that the horse isn’t insured for loss of use as I don’t know if they offer that? If you do have LOU insurance, you may need the MRI to confirm that claim?

Fingers crossed for improvement.
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No LOU. If he can’t be comfortable in a field I’ll call it a day with him. I just want to be sure that I’ve done what I can within reason before making that decision.
 
MrRoo said:
What would the treatment for this be?
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Sorry its been 40 yrs since had horse with nav, the treatment will have more options now im sure, our horse had isoxuprene, not sure that spelt right!, it improved blood flow which in some cases pools we were told, he had nav bilaterally, unless theres something obvious to see in foot or leg nav is a suspect

In those daye we used wide web shoes, its very different today with the use of barefoot which itself can improve blood circulation and make hooves tougher

He did compete in dressage and won comps, but later had other problems sacroiliac

Only suggesting maybe discuss with vet
 
Melody Grey said:
Sounds tricky. If you can afford and have facilities to turn away for 6-12 months, I’d do that, on Bute if needed. Barefoot rehab/ intuitive barefoot trimmer or really barefoot aware farrier, using hoof boots if needed.

I’ve had MRIs done with animal friends/ E&L all pre-approved and without problem.

I’m guessing since you mention animal friends, that the horse isn’t insured for loss of use as I don’t know if they offer that? If you do have LOU insurance, you may need the MRI to confirm that claim?

Fingers crossed
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LadyGascoyne said:
I'm sorry you're going through this - and that he is too.

What do his feet and conformation look like?

And what breed and type is he?
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Really good conformation, great feet (apart from all the nonsense going on inside them). He’s a cob type, 15.2. He’s just lovely. I’m gutted for him and me.
 
tristars said:
Sorry its been 40 yrs since had horse with nav, the treatment will have more options now im sure, our horse had isoxuprene, not sure that spelt right!, it improved blood flow which in some cases pools we were told, he had nav bilaterally, unless theres something obvious to see in foot or leg nav is a suspect

In those daye we used wide web shoes, its very different today with the use of barefoot which itself can improve blood circulation and make hooves tougher

He did compete in dressage and won comps, but later had other problems sacroiliac

Only suggesting maybe discuss with vet
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My mare had bilateral navicular syndrome, confirmed by xray. She had weekly injections of cartophen, prescribed by vet and administered by me. I thought it had done nothing, but weeks later noticed she wasn't lame any more. She's been pretty sound except on stones for getting on for a year now. Worth a try?
 
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Marigold4 said:
My mare had bilateral navicular syndrome, confirmed by xray. She had weekly injections of cartophen, prescribed by vet and administered by me. I thought it had done nothing, but weeks later noticed she wasn't lame any more. She's been pretty sound except on stones for getting on for a year now. Worth a try?
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Yes, we had discussed using cartrophen post Tildren but then he went lame again. And it’s all a bit odd because he’s lame on his ‘good’ foot.
I’ll speak to my vet again tomorrow about cartrophen.
 
MrRoo said:
Yes, we had discussed using cartrophen post Tildren but then he went lame again. And it’s all a bit odd because he’s lame on his ‘good’ foot.
I’ll speak to my vet again tomorrow about cartrophen.
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Just to say that the mare that I used Cartrophen for was mostly 2/10 lame on right front, 1/10 on the other, but the extent of the lameness did seem to shift from one front to the other at times. She's not ridden, so my bar for soundness is relatively low. She is 100% sound trotting and cantering round her field.
 
So happy for you that it’s been approved! Fingers crossed you get an answer, and you have a clear path. I had a fairly young horse who was a mystery till MRI, he was walking to meet as I walked down the drive next to his field, I turned round to call the dog, turned back and he was on three legs. Turned out he’d nearly severed his check ligaments I think from memory! Had X-rays, scans, 6 weeks of box test then off to Newmarket for his MRI. After loads of box rest and rehabbing he was still lame. He was a knob in the stable so lumped him off on grass livery at a stud with the space for him and basically agreed all round that we’d give it 6 months before looking if he was sound as long as he was happy and bright in the field.

He came back early due to an unrelated condition but in evaluating quality of life he was still lame so pts at 8yos.

I was gutted. He was a nutter but he was my nutter.

This is all to say is my advice would be give him the chances you feel are reasonable (ie box rest if needed, if he’s okay in a field, see if grass and time help him come right!) but at the end of the day you’ve done right by him trying to figure this out and keep him pain free but there is nothing wrong with throwing the towel in. I put two horses I treasured very much in 2018, within 2 months of each other as for both of them there was no end in sight. You’re a good owner, and he’s lucky to have you. Sorry you’re in this situation.

Sorry for the long response but I feel more people need reassurance that it’s really sad to loose a young horse but it is perfectly okay and reasonable to draw a line and say this is when we pts.
 
4Hoofed said:
So happy for you that it’s been approved! Fingers crossed you get an answer, and you have a clear path. I had a fairly young horse who was a mystery till MRI, he was walking to meet as I walked down the drive next to his field, I turned round to call the dog, turned back and he was on three legs. Turned out he’d nearly severed his check ligaments I think from memory! Had X-rays, scans, 6 weeks of box test then off to Newmarket for his MRI. After loads of box rest and rehabbing he was still lame. He was a knob in the stable so lumped him off on grass livery at a stud with the space for him and basically agreed all round that we’d give it 6 months before looking if he was sound as long as he was happy and bright in the field.

He came back early due to an unrelated condition but in evaluating quality of life he was still lame so pts at 8yos.

I was gutted. He was a nutter but he was my nutter.

This is all to say is my advice would be give him the chances you feel are reasonable (ie box rest if needed, if he’s okay in a field, see if grass and time help him come right!) but at the end of the day you’ve done right by him trying to figure this out and keep him pain free but there is nothing wrong with throwing the towel in. I put two horses I treasured very much in 2018, within 2 months of each other as for both of them there was no end in sight. You’re a good owner, and he’s lucky to have you. Sorry you’re in this situation.

Sorry for the long response but I feel more people need reassurance that it’s really sad to loose a young horse but it is perfectly okay and reasonable to draw a line and say this is when we pts.
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Thank you and I’m sorry for the loss of your horses. Yes, I will let him go if that’s what needs to happen, he’s just such a poppet it’ll be very hard to come to terms with.

Anyway, I’m preparing for the worst but hoping for the best and I’ll update when I’ve got the MRI report.

Thank you all for your kind words and advice, it’s really helped.
 
Just wanted to update you on the MRI outcome. I had the report yesterday and Joe now has moderate disease in the off fore coffin joint. This one was fine at the last MRI in June, so this has all progressed over the last 10 months.

Options are to try something like Alpha2EQ or call it a day. Considering he’s had the joint medicated with steroid and arthrimid and had a round of tildren and this has all still happened, my vet thinks there is little point in trying anything else. So the decision has been made for Joe and I just can’t get my head round the fact I have to PTS a 6yo from arthritis.
 

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MrRoo said:
Just wanted to update you on the MRI outcome. I had the report yesterday and Joe now has moderate disease in the off fore coffin joint. This one was fine at the last MRI in June, so this has all progressed over the last 10 months.

Options are to try something like Alpha2EQ or call it a day. Considering he’s had the joint medicated with steroid and arthrimid and had a round of tildren and this has all still happened, my vet thinks there is little point in trying anything else. So the decision has been made for Joe and I just can’t get my head round the fact I have to PTS a 6yo from arthritis.
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I'm so so sorry.
 
I'm so sorry. You've tried hard but not only has nothing worked he's actually getting worse, so now you know you're doing what's best for him 🤗
 
Marigold4 said:
My mare had bilateral navicular syndrome, confirmed by xray. She had weekly injections of cartophen, prescribed by vet and administered by me. I thought it had done nothing, but weeks later noticed she wasn't lame any more. She's been pretty sound except on stones for getting on for a year now. Worth a try?
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If you dodnt mind me asking how much did you pay for cartrophen with you injecting
 
Boulty said:
If he’s been shod for the duration of his issues and most of them seem to involve the foot / structures adjacent to it then my suggestion would be to try barefoot rehab.

If funds would allow (& if you’ve got insurance money left they should cover at least part of the cost) then to give this the best shot of working I’d send him to Nic Barker at Rockley Farm if she would accept him.

It is possible to attempt this yourself at home but if it’s something you’ve never done before then it can be difficult to do so successfully without a good support network of professionals who have.

Another option as something else to try might be glue on shoes that offer support to the whole foot (eg Duplo shoes or Easycare shoes) but not all farriers offer this so might take a bit of research to find someone who does

If this didn’t improve things / wasn’t an option then I don’t think it would be wrong to consider PTS if you feel you’re running out of options (it also wouldn’t be wrong to turn away for a year and see what happens but doesn’t sound like is currently field sound)
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This!
 
MrRoo said:
Just wanted to update you on the MRI outcome. I had the report yesterday and Joe now has moderate disease in the off fore coffin joint. This one was fine at the last MRI in June, so this has all progressed over the last 10 months.

Options are to try something like Alpha2EQ or call it a day. Considering he’s had the joint medicated with steroid and arthrimid and had a round of tildren and this has all still happened, my vet thinks there is little point in trying anything else. So the decision has been made for Joe and I just can’t get my head round the fact I have to PTS a 6yo from arthritis.
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I’m so sorry, big hugs but at least you know now.
 
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