clairefeekerry1
Well-Known Member
right. the last 12 months have been hell. some of you may be aware of our situation others not so will keep this as brief as possible. about 11 months ago my horse started losing performance and became intermitantly lame initally looked like the front. he was sound on the lunge and to trot up, this was just under saddle. had several vets visits with no outcome so he had some physio and a new saddle. he was okay for a short period then the intermitant lameness returned.
this time it got progressively worse although still only when ridden. was hard to tell whether it was front or back and didnt really look limb specific, just an odd movement in trot only. had yet more vet visits and both front legs were nerve blocked with no response and both feet blocked too. after not getting anywhere he was sent in to vets for further tests and x rays. both front limbs were x rayed and showed nothing abnormal. by this point he wasnt really rideable. as soon as you asked for trot he'd throw his neck up and do some skipping type thing. i was then sent to another vets for skintigraphy. to my horror this came back virtually clean. no hotspots at all apart from one fetlock which was x rayed again then scanned with no abnormalities. he was then sent back to me to 'get on with it'.
got him home and rode the next day and he was unsound as normal. i then had a lameness expert out who said the problem was actually his back end/pelvis. he was then sent back to have his neck and withers x rayd which came back clean. he was then diagnosed with a sacroillic injury and put on rest. they did say it was unusal for this not to show on the bone scan tho. so he was turned away for the winter (6 months) and that brings us to feb this year.
i had his tack/teeth and back checked and slowly brought him back into work. took it very slowly but evident as soon as i asked him to trot same old same old hopping behind. at my wits end and running out of insurance money i finally got a refferal to a major equine hospital. they had him for 9 days and reported their findings as a horse with chronic back pain who was compensating by a 'hip hike' movement. they were not classing him as actually lame, more of a compensatory gait for pain. worse of all the thought the primary reason for this was an 'inapropriate sadle fit'!!! they x rayed his spine and found one vertabrate that was slightly close but nothing else. they said they could x ray 100 horses and half of them would show worse spine x rays than his and be totally sound. they then nerve blocked his metatarsil (sp?) and found about a 20% improvment in his ridden work. his hock x rays came back okay. they then medicated his spine and metatarsil although they said there was very little to go on with those as so minor. they said if i changed my saddle i should see a vast improvement and he was sent home with bute so i could bring him back into work gently.
so, i got a remedial saddler out who agreed my current saddle wasnt right and lent me a new saddle. i was told to use with a thin cloth however this made no difference. i then used with a thick back pad and saw a huge improvement. whilst not amazingly right, weird hopping had stopped. that was 3 weeks ago. the last few days the hopping has started to creep back in. were only hacking lightly in walk with a tiny bit of trot.
i feel totally devestated. has anyone got any final ideas before i make that difficult decsion? i am totally worn out now. i seem to have a horse that defies the vets. clinically there is very little wrong with him. i just dont know what else to do. i am literlally empty, cant sleep or eat, just had enough. what the f is wrong with him
he's 7 yr old ISH, 15.1, no injuries, enjoying a competitive life up until this time last year.
sorry its so long. i am at my wits end
this time it got progressively worse although still only when ridden. was hard to tell whether it was front or back and didnt really look limb specific, just an odd movement in trot only. had yet more vet visits and both front legs were nerve blocked with no response and both feet blocked too. after not getting anywhere he was sent in to vets for further tests and x rays. both front limbs were x rayed and showed nothing abnormal. by this point he wasnt really rideable. as soon as you asked for trot he'd throw his neck up and do some skipping type thing. i was then sent to another vets for skintigraphy. to my horror this came back virtually clean. no hotspots at all apart from one fetlock which was x rayed again then scanned with no abnormalities. he was then sent back to me to 'get on with it'.
got him home and rode the next day and he was unsound as normal. i then had a lameness expert out who said the problem was actually his back end/pelvis. he was then sent back to have his neck and withers x rayd which came back clean. he was then diagnosed with a sacroillic injury and put on rest. they did say it was unusal for this not to show on the bone scan tho. so he was turned away for the winter (6 months) and that brings us to feb this year.
i had his tack/teeth and back checked and slowly brought him back into work. took it very slowly but evident as soon as i asked him to trot same old same old hopping behind. at my wits end and running out of insurance money i finally got a refferal to a major equine hospital. they had him for 9 days and reported their findings as a horse with chronic back pain who was compensating by a 'hip hike' movement. they were not classing him as actually lame, more of a compensatory gait for pain. worse of all the thought the primary reason for this was an 'inapropriate sadle fit'!!! they x rayed his spine and found one vertabrate that was slightly close but nothing else. they said they could x ray 100 horses and half of them would show worse spine x rays than his and be totally sound. they then nerve blocked his metatarsil (sp?) and found about a 20% improvment in his ridden work. his hock x rays came back okay. they then medicated his spine and metatarsil although they said there was very little to go on with those as so minor. they said if i changed my saddle i should see a vast improvement and he was sent home with bute so i could bring him back into work gently.
so, i got a remedial saddler out who agreed my current saddle wasnt right and lent me a new saddle. i was told to use with a thin cloth however this made no difference. i then used with a thick back pad and saw a huge improvement. whilst not amazingly right, weird hopping had stopped. that was 3 weeks ago. the last few days the hopping has started to creep back in. were only hacking lightly in walk with a tiny bit of trot.
i feel totally devestated. has anyone got any final ideas before i make that difficult decsion? i am totally worn out now. i seem to have a horse that defies the vets. clinically there is very little wrong with him. i just dont know what else to do. i am literlally empty, cant sleep or eat, just had enough. what the f is wrong with him
he's 7 yr old ISH, 15.1, no injuries, enjoying a competitive life up until this time last year.
sorry its so long. i am at my wits end
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