Does this sound like Navicular/ Low DDFT tear to you?

[charleysummer]

My friend's horse has been lame for a while, intermittently- the horse had lami (although i didnt see this myself so cant confirm) then got an abcess apparently.. causing exreme lameness signs- again i wasnt around to see how the horse was.

Anyway the horse has gone very very lame over 2 days, and is toe pointing, putting weight off the navicular area and can hardly walk. He is holding it up on his toe and just hobbles almost falling over. Hes on box rest and vet is out later but wondered what you though it could be/thought the same as me.

He has small upright shod hooves and has developed a very short stride with head bobbing and he seems to rock unevenly in trot with very short strides- relunctant to move past a gingerly ambling walk for a LONG time. nothing was thought of it- he wasn't being worked at the time due to owner illness. But obviously now he is in a great deal of pain. It is his front left hoof- There is heat and i suspect the lower ddft has torn as he was doing a lot of running around yesterday due to upset with horses moving and trying to get back to them.

Any thoughts / further ideas?

 

[Izzwizz]

My mare had a tear to her DDFT within the hoof. She was intermittently lame and it was only found when she had an MRI scan. It sounds similar to how my horse was though your vet will probably want to do nerve blocks and xrays first to rule anything else out. Hope it gets sorted out soon, its awful not knowing whats going on for for sure.

 

[NooNoo59]

I had a horse with navicular, started with severe lameness then seemed sound but she just did not feel right, mri showed navicular with associated ddt damage, no hope of recovery, was eventually put to sleep. Poor horse, he must be in a lot of pain

 

[charleysummer]

He is bless him my own mare tore her ddft at distal medial margin- prognosis was poor however she is back confirmed sound and jumping 3ft courses, working 5/6 days a week and competing (over a year later barefoot and with *attempted* careful rehab- she had better ideas a lot of the time ) so im truly fed up of hearing DDFT! (i do ensure days off and lots of care though)

However this case does seem very bad- hes had some bute- i'll probably offer her some of mine as my mare smells the stuff and crumbles in to a nervous wreck, must remind her of her op and staying at the vets.

Vet has been out so I will ask my friend what he said- poor boy has separation problems too and is stabled on his own atm, luckily a mirror has pacified him as he stands looking at himself for quite a while! I just can't see him coming sound :/ he's done no work for months due to illness from his poor owner who must be in bits- and just stands in a field going lame at slight movement..

 

[Silmarillion]

My mare was barely lame with hers, apart from the day after she tore it when she was hopping and barely put her foot down. She tore 2cm along her DDFT, right under the navicular bone.

The tell-tale sign with mine was the heat - two hot fronts, with one burning hot heel. Took a long time to diagnose though, and an MRI scan. Worst place to do it, in terms of being able to see it - higher up would have been seen on ultrasound and could have been re-scanned and monitored. It was too far into the hoof capsule to be seen by anything but MRI.

Mine had the most upright legs and feet you'd ever seen, but X-ray showed the axis of the bones to be "broken back", causing extra strain on the DDFT.

Wait and see what vet thinks, is the best answer. Good luck.