Extremely lame horse going on for over 2 weeks

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madgeymoo

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sorry quite a long story

i have a mare who is 16 years old and after a hooling session around the field (Something she never does as food normally comes before anything) came in slightly lame we thought she had just jard something, however over the next couple of days became very lame so had the vet and treated for an absess, xrays taken to be on the safe side, scanned the tendons and found nothing and nerved blocked, back third of foot still no change and the 2nd nerve block was significantly better, On the x-rays aparently a track line in the middle of the hoof, this was dug and nothing was found. so fastforward 2weeks and we have a crippling lame mare who can barely even walk around her stable, she has had an egg bar placed on the foot (saturday) for support although she now seems even lamer and pulse and heat in the foot was raised. 2 bute a day are not touching her and i am relucantant to raise this as she hasbeen on 2 satches a day for nearlly 3 weeks now....

we are having a different vet practice coming on thursday for a second opinion as we are unhappy about how much our vets have phaffed around and still not give us an answer what is wrong with her

but wondered if anyone had ever experienced anything like this before
is there anything else we can be doing for the pain apart from 2 bute,support bandages on the front and deep bedding in her stable...
 
My gelding had a similar episode, slightly lame to start with and then so lame it was as if he had fractured in his foot. The vet was at a loss and laminits was what he came up with and it was left to the farrier and myself to tackle the issue. He had slight heat and the digital pulse was slightly raised, no swelling.

The horse was barefoot anyway and apart from shortening the toe nothing else was applied to the foot. He was kept in a small paddock (it was that very cold winter). I put a rug on him as he wasn't moving around much. He was fed just ad lib hay, placed in different places to encourage movement, access to a mineral lick and water. We bandaged his good leg to support it and the farrier recommended a magnetic hoof wrap.

Reduced the bute to 1 sachet a day.

I also bought some embrocation and just massaged this into his fetlock joint. All we could do was wait.

After a month he showed improvement and gradually he came sound.
We still have no idea what it was. He was able to graze again as usual.

Hopefully the second vet will have some answers for you.

Good luck
 
In the mean time I'd treat for laminitis, just to be on the safe side. Deep bed soaked hay etc...
Also check for thrush and treat if there is any sign of blackness or 'eaten' frogs or heel bulbs or deep central sulcus( frog cleft).

Fingers crossed you get to the bottom of it and she is soon sound.
 
Thank you all for your responses

moorman the link was very informative and the videos have really started to make me wonder about going bare foot... the egg bar was placed to offer support incase it was a tendon or ligament problem

i understand that they have to eliminate problems but surely 3 weeks is dragging on a bit...

Today she has had the shoe removed and the vet padded her foot for support she does seem easier although that could be due to having a shot of fenadine and some sedation to take the edge of the pain as she has been very uncomfortable and lieing down an awful lot with a digital pulse of around 60 bpm

thursday will hopefully give us some answers fingers crossed
 
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