Do I investigate this horses lameness any more?

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teasle

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My horse has been lame since early spring. I have had the lameness investigated, to date he has had 3 lots of nerve blocks, 2 lots of x rays, an ultrasound scan and an mri. I still do not know why my horse is lame, nothing shown by the investigations should make him lame like he is. He is ok in walk and the lameness is best seen trotting uphill. It has been intermittant, some days he looks sound,only to be lame again within a few days. He has spent a period confined to a pen but that did not change anything. If I want my vet will do more nerve blocks to see if area causing the pain has moved. (He blocked to the left fore fetlock ,and this is the area that has been investigated). My vet wants to put him in stocks to nerve block him as he is becoming more uncooperative. He will not load easily and is getting worse each time, so that I dont want to ask anyone to help to load him incase they get hurt. If my vet comes to the yard to do these nerve blocks he says that he will have to sedate my horse for each block which will be time consuming and expensive. Do I go on with these investigations or give up? I dont even know if they find out what is wrong with my horse that theree will be any treatment to help. I am insured but have spent most of it on the investigations he has already had. Every time I have a test done, there is no answer even after an mri. Has anyone got any ideaas?
 
His back has been checked , but my vet said that a back problem would cause a hind leg lamness only. When he originally blocked out at the fettlock he was not nerve blocked any further ,so his shoulder has not been nerve blocked.
 
I would check shoulder, pelvis and SI joint. Yes they will either cause lameness on the front/hind legs respectively but the fact that the horse will be compensating for this could make him look lame on a different leg.
 
Give him time in the field. My mare dislikes vets hugely and had to have 12 nerve blocks last summer - hoof to elbow. They never showed an improvement. She had scans etc with no lightbulb moment.

We turned her out for4 months and just gave her plenty of time then revaluated and she was sound.

That was her second undiagnosable front limb lameness. Both times if was time that fixed her
 
He has been resting since spring. The trouble is the lameness comes and goes, I feel so happy if he is sound ,, then get so upset when he is lame a few days later. Can shoulders etc be checked without nerve blocking? My plan was to leave him untill the spring next year, but he does not seem to be getting any better , or if he does ,not for long.
 
Are you insured? If so, I would ask for him to be referred for a bone scan, though permission must be gained from the insurance company prior to this. Thermal imaging is also a good suggestion and less expensive.
 
thatsmygirl said:
Thermal imageing is what I would do
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this ^


my dog is getting scanned on monday and i expect to find more than what the vets already have. not their fault but different scanners/methods....e tc


ets thermal imaging is about £100 ish and i think sometimes covered on insurance...!

im paying mine myself though.
 
What a pain! I sometimes think vets are reluctant to refer you because they want all the money themselves. It is pointless doing more and more blocks with a complicated and intermittent case. Your vet could 'shop around' for the best price for a bone scan. It is usually around £1k. Good luck.
 
What is thermal imaging, my vet has not suggested it, and who does it, do you have to go to horspital? Thank you all for your replies.
 
teasle said:
What is thermal imaging, my vet has not suggested it, and who does it, do you have to go to horspital? Thank you all for your replies.
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nope

they come to you - they make no contact at all to your horse/dog

mines coming my house monday - i can give you full feedback if wanted???

ive never used them before but i would already reccomend it based on the idea :)

there you go

http://www.veterinary-thermal-imagi...raphy-and-animal-thermal-imaging/case-studies


people im using ^ :)
 
iv used thermal imageing a few times and swear by it, they come to u and pick up any parts off the horses body that has problems, a lot off race horse trainers are now useing it weekly as it picks up on problems before you see any signs yourself. They will take pics off any areas found and I then pass them to the vets but have never had a vet suggest I do it but found it far far cheaper in the long run so maybe this is why. Cost me £60 and I had my answer there and than but the vets wanted to nerve block x ray etc etc. Google the inner picture for more info or I used colin Duncan and again if u google him he's got a section on thermal imageing and can see pics etc. My friends horse wouldn't come right and after a lot off money spent she went for thermal imageing which showed up far more than the vets knew about
 
That thermal imaging looks very interesting. If it highlights ateas of concern on the horses body what do you do next, is it back to the vet?
 
teasle said:
That thermal imaging looks very interesting. If it highlights ateas of concern on the horses body what do you do next, is it back to the vet?
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mine is going back to the vet (scans get put on a cd i think!)

and also for myself too...

id reccomend it over a costly bone scan first.... then if no joy then mabey further investigation...

£100 is better than £1000! even if your insurance covers it - id rather spend out £100 out of my own pocket :)
 
teasle said:
His back has been checked , but my vet said that a back problem would cause a hind leg lamness only. When he originally blocked out at the fettlock he was not nerve blocked any further ,so his shoulder has not been nerve blocked.
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Dont particulary agree with your vets statement. My mare had a kissing spine problem ( Has since had op and is fine now) and among other contributing factors she was ' lame' in front! Could your horse have a bone scan? Might give a more clearer idea of what's going on.
 
Am makinf inquiries about the therml imaging. THANK YOU VERY MUCH FOR THE SUGGESTION. Hasanyone had any experiences of it.
 
My next door neighbour has just told me that my own vet does thermal imaging and that she saw it demonstrated when she went to a practise open day. I wonder why he has not suggestes using it on my horse?
 
hmm, your horse sounds just like my sister's hrose who has also been lame since april. Vet could not find a problem and some days he was very visibly lame and then others not lame at all. Vet said to field rest him but he stil did not come sound. Physio (who we had to see anoter horse) looked at him and said the problems did not appear to be back related. Vet and physio thought either low in fetlock or possibly in the stifle! No heat, now swelling. My sister had thermal imaging done and this showed heat in the OTHER leg sort of in the buttock but nothing on the lame leg!

Eventually (August) he was referred to rainbow vets for a bones scan - this didn't show anything really obvious, a little take up here and there (in his spine, in his legs etc but nothing exdessive). He then had nerve blocks and finally ultra sound once they'd pin pointed the problem spot. After all this they finally diagnosed high suspensory desmitis and he has been on box rest and restricted turnout since then with 3 lots of shock wave therapy every 2 weeks to start with. They said his is chronic damage although not really too severe (he was hardly lame) but we have to box rest and restrict his turnout space until at least December although he can go for 15 to 20 min ridden walks with some trot now being introduced. Not sure if he'll ever come truly sound again but it's early days yet.

I think thermal imaging may help but I am surprised they did not go for the bone scan first
 
A lady at my yard had thermal imaging which showed a hot spot in hock but lameness turned out to be caused by high ringbone in foreleg.

What are the feet like? This would be my starting point for intermittent lameness.
 
He has been unshod for 3 years and has hardly worn shoes ever, and by now he has been turned out for 6 months, the vet who did the mri also mri"d his foot as she saw so little wrong with the fetlock, and found no problems with the foot.
 
Do you think that a horse is better on restricted turnout? I found my horse cantering circles round the pen , he was scared on his own and expressing his fear and frustration in physical movement. In the field he just ambles about grazing most of the time.
 
teasle said:
Do you think that a horse is better on restricted turnout? I found my horse cantering circles round the pen , he was scared on his own and expressing his fear and frustration in physical movement. In the field he just ambles about grazing most of the time.
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I suppose it depends entirely on the horse to be honest. We're lucky, we have our own land and stables and 5 horses so what we did/do is bring in sister's horse at night and mine comes in with him - this is the norrm anyway for them in the winter, it just started a month or so early this year. Then, in the morning, my sister's horse mooches round the stable area whilst we're mucking out etc and then we put him in his small paddock. We had to get high electric fence posts as otherwise he will jump out! We have then created a larger paddock next to him in which i put my 2 yo so they are like that for the day.

We started with putting my horse in the larger paddock but he wasn't as happy as he is not keen on electric fencing and, with him being in the stable at night too it was alittle unfair. We tried the 2 yo in and he's been brill and is happy just to munch on hay. To be honest my sistre's horse is thankfully quite a chilled out soul BUT out in the field - they have a good 6 acres of hillyish field - they can have their moments where they have a good belt around. In fact, we could tell the days they had done this as it was when he was lamer! he also does like to play with my 2 yo so it wouldn't be ideal to have him out.

I used to have a pony though who really was a but of a moocher and to be honest i probably would have left him out as he kept out of trouble anyway and wouldn't be bothered hareing about. I think in all honesty we could leave my sister's horse out but his recivery time would be a lot longer i imagine. As it is he's happy with how things are for now so we're continuing as is.
 
How was the sacro iliac injury diagnosed ? It would be a bit scary to tel my vet he was wrong, but I definately asked him about his back as my farrier had found a problem earlier. His back is ok now and even my farrier has checked it. The vet checked it too.
 
What vet is doing these investigations, as in is it your normal vet or is it a big equine practice that does full lameness work-ups?

Two examples:

One mare. Four years old. Little mileage. Intermitent lameness over ten months-ish. Sometimes front, sometimes hind. Full lameness worth up at the Animal Health Trust - chronic damage to both rear suspensory ligaments. Totally unexpected due to her age and lack of work.

One gelding. Six years old. Intermitent lameness. Looked to be near hind, then seemed to transfer to off-fore, then both. Back tender in one spot, but not drastically so. Lameness and work-up at Oakham. X-rays. Has Kissing Spine.
 
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