Devastated - What am I going to do with him

[Jemayni]

Well Ive just returned from a depressing trip to the yard. Chance is lame. Again. He was off from last May-Decmber with multiple concussion injuries in both his front legs, caused by a combination of his dishing, hard ground & his boxy feet. He had his feet rebalanced & after much anguish the problem was resolved. However after being pottery all week he is now very lame, definitely on the left, possibly on the right too but its difficult to tell!

I know its pathetic & these things happen, but Im devastated. He's only 6 & he is the horse that everybody wants to own. Id just renewed my BD membership, he was entered for our first BE event in 2 weeks time & all was good.

What makes it worse is I have to sell him in the Autumn due to uni & I have no idea how Im going to!

Sorry for the wingy self indulgent post - but any words of wisdom or experience would be greatly appreciated at the moment!

 

[Tia]

What did the x-rays reveal? It did rule out navicular I'm guessing?

 

[Walder]

have no words of wisdom but a bit of experience - my girl is lame at the moment and im worried sick so i know how you feel and really sympathise with you . the only experience i have is that last year i had to sell my beloved pony and soul mate after 5 1/2 years together having fun as i desperatly wanted to carry on doing long diatance and although she loved it and was very willing she just had had too hard a life and couldnt do it - I sold her to a lovely lady who just wanted to walk round the block a couple of times a week - i still stay in touch and go and see her and she is much loved - but my heart still aches when i think about her and i am crying as i type this but i know it was the right thing to do for her! so as long as you find a good home for your horse when you go to uni and it will kill you to part you have to put the horse first and know that you did the right thing for for him (not you) x x

 

[_daisy_]

Have you consider going barefoot with him?

Ebi has been lame on and off for the last 3-4 years. She was diagnosed with ringbone in both her front feet coffin joints. AFter the last spate of lameness (albeit slight) lating around nearly 4/5 months I thought id try barefoot as id got nothing to loose and everything to gain. If it didnt help then I could put shoes back on her with no real loss.

She had her feet trimmed on 18/03/07 and retrimmed 09/04/07. My horse is now sound and ready for me to start back riding her. I really thought that this day would never come.

I know a lot of people dont like the words barefoot trimming but dont knock it till youve given it a try.

Just out of interest to anybody who wants to know: My barefoot trimmer/instructor has a horse who was due to be PTS due to his chronic navicular. She asked the original owner if she could take him and try barefoot before he was PTS. The owner gladly obliged. This horse could hardly walk when she got him - he is now able to do dressage and show jump again becasue he is barefoot.

 

[the watcher]

Can you drop the eventing and just continue with him as a dressage horse..at least then a good deal of the time he would be working on a surface....

 

[Jemayni]

Yes the xrays were completely clear. The only think they revealed is that he has virtually square pedal bones, which obviously doesnt offer the same degree of cushioning; hence making him susceptible to concussion injuries.

I think Im going to get them re-done when I take him down there this week, to see if there are any new developements!

 

[Jemayni]

I have seriously thought about it over the last few weeks acutally, I might ask at the vets their opinion!

 

[_daisy_]

ill PM you if thats OK?

 

[Jemayni]

The thing is, despite the fact he was supposed to be doing an intro in a few weeks, he hasn't done any xc in well over a year. I was supposed to do a hunter trials last weekend, but didnt dare due to the ground.

I havent even trotted him out of the school in well over a month & he hasnt jumped in several weeks.

 

[Jemayni]

Go for it!

 

[Tia]

Yes that's what I'd do - follow-up x-rays are invaluable.

 

[_daisy_]

goodo

 

[mickey]

I think the suggestion of maybe focusing on work on a softer surface (dressage) sounds good.
But if you can get some more pictures of what is going on that might help.
Is this the grey horse in your signature....He is gorgeous....

 

[brightmount]

I totally agree with E_C_W. I had a horse who was going to be PTS and barefoot saved her. It is a commitment, but you would have time before uni to get transition underway. I am sure he would be very comfortable in boots with sole mates pads inside, which is the first stage of conditioning the foot.

Here is an EP who covers your area if you are persuaded to give it a go or talk it through:

http://www.epauk.org/register/paulamayne.php

 

[_daisy_]

im glad someone agrees with me lynwood - I certainly havent looked back at changing her to barefoot, but like you said youve got to stick with it as it takes longer than a few weeks for the whole process to be complete. I know my trimmer says Ebis back feet are perfect. My farrier hasnt really touched them for ages as she has been unshod behind for nearly 2yrs and naturally worn them down.

 

[Tangaroo]

Is he insured? Have you thought about having MRI scans done on his feet? My boy was lame on and off when he was 5 and 6. The xrays showed nothing and eventually i asked my vet to refer him which he did. As he was so young and i had bought him to event i wanted to know what the problem was. He had both front feet scanned and he has degenerative deep flexor tendons in both. The vet told me he would never event and prob never be sound so i might as well have him PTS ! My own vet was more optimistic and put him on a course of Navilox, bute and heart bar shoes. We gave him 6 weeks and then would have made the sad decision.
He has been sound for two years now and is competing at XC and SJ again. I have to be careful what ground i ride him on and he once went pottery so i gave him bute for 3 days and he was fine. I know yours is prob a different problem but maybe more investigations would help.

 

[Ash the arab]

Its not a wingey post at all.I know how gutting these things can be, i have been enjoying a great horse all winter but unfortunately he is now feeling the hard ground and he is back in the field resting

I hope things are looking up soon x

 

[Jemayni]

Thanks. Ive just had a chat with ECW about it, as I said to her; I think its definitely something for me to look in to!

 

[Jemayni]

He is Fully comp, thankfully. From memory, I think MRI scans on his DFT was the next thing on the to-do list last time around. However he came sound before we got to this stage. This could be where Im heading this week! Ill keep you updated!

 

[FRESHMAN]

Sorry have not read all the replies but have you considered using the gel pads in the feet. It can easily be done by the Farrier & yourself. A bit like having the Air soles in trainers. One of my jumpers has them in all summer.

 

[Jemayni]

I have; in fact I put a post in comp riders about it only a week ago. I spoke to my farrier about it on wed - he didnt think it would help too much as he felt they were aimed more at horses with thin soles, but he said it was my money, so we agreed that he'd put some in when he was next shod. However only 48 hours down the line its lame!

 

[brightmount]

Talking of air cushioning, I heard this week that KC LaPierre has developed a new hoof boot with this feature, kind of like Nike Air trainers. I might not have this exactly right, as I heard it a bit secondhand, but it would be a great development for horses with concussion issues.

 

[malibu211211]

Get your vet to have a chat with your Farrier to see if there is anything they can come up with between them.
It worked for my boy, he has inflammation of the coffin joint in his left fore and hard ground is a real problem.
The farrier now has put quarter clip shoes on and has taken the toe shorter to take some pressure off the coffin joint. Where-as before he shod him with the fact that D has really flat feet in mind.
The next step was gel pads, so thats worth a try too
I hope you find a solution soon
Keep us posted