Gutted - opinions please

[dwi]

Daisy is lame again

A quick recap...she first went very lame over four weeks ago, no obvious reason but farrier thought it might be her shoes, she had them changed, kept on box rest for 8 days before being brought gradually back into work. She has been back in full work for ten days now and felt perfectly happy cantering and jumping, her old self again. She had a jumping lesson on Tues and was then very slightly lame yesterday with a slight nod on about every 3rd or 4th stride, so slight that you wouldn't notice if you didn't know she had been lame a few weeks ago. Hoped that it might be nothing so tucked her up last night but she is more lame today, noticeably nodding on each stride in trot.

I don't know what to do

There is no heat, no swelling, there's nothing wrong with her shoes and there is no pattern to what I have been doing the two times she has gone lame. Both times it seems to have started mild and got worse. Presumably if I get the vet out and she's only 1/10th lame there isn't much he can see? I expect that if I rest her for a week she'll be fine but I don't then want her to go lame again when I bring her back into work. We had so much planned for this summer, I think she heard me talking

Cookies if you got this far

 

[rubyred]

Vet can flex, lunge on hard etc to see what makes it worse. Then use to analyse gait and possible nerve block. Bruising can take ages to come out of the foot sometimes

 

[Tierra]

Replied in new lounge

 

[annie02]

How are her soles? Maybe she has soft soles and that is why it takes awhile before she gets sore and then rest makes them better. Also could explain why a farrier visit made it worse...ask your farrier about it.

 

[Panther]

you don't say her age or history..

it's so hard without seeing the horse... she isn't over-reaching... can sometimes be as simple as that... not enough to feel anything other than discomfort for horse..

saying that if she is the cob type in pic should be more hardy and bruised sole if very possible.. .. heavier types are prone simply cos of weight... ... you might ask farrier to pack shoe or try yourself.... pad sole up really well and duck tape to support and protect.... temp you don't want to get thrush.. or try a boot.. when out..

if successful then move on to a foot hardened routine...

 

[samp]

Sounds like I would get the vet to come and have a loom to get to the bottom of it

 

[hollyzippo]

If there is nothing obvious it is even more important to get the vet. They will nerve block and do a full lameness work up. Once an area is pin pointed can thn scan and x-ray etc. More often than not will lameness there is nothing visible to the owner.

 

[TGM]

How old is she? If she is a teenager or older then they may be the possibility of some arthritic changes happening. Definitely worth having a full lameness investigation with nerve blocks and X rays - personally I prefer to take a horse to a proper equine hospital to have this done, rather than have the local vet come out.

 

[dwi]

Thankies everyone for your comments. I have spoken to the vet today and he has recommended box rest and then he'll come and see her on Tuesday.

She is ten with no history of lameness and very little "mileage". Before I bought her she hadn't done much and as such when I had her vetted last year they said she had the body of a much younger horse.

He has said that he may well want to take her in to the hospital after he has been to see her but I'm really hoping not as she is a terrible traveller and loader and I don't want her to thrash about and make everything worse.

Keep everything crossed for me

 

[Tierra]

Tbh, with miscellaneous lameness (so assuming the vet doesnt find anything on the surface to be causing it), then the best place to go is one of the major equine clinics.

While your vet can do the flexion tests and x-rays at home its hard to go much beyond that. The clinics can do better gait analysis and have more diagnostical options to establish what the issue is.

As I mentioned in the new lounge, its much better if theres some underlying arthritic changes going on, to find out now. You have much more chance of managing it early on. Equally if it turned out to be something boney in the foot, its better to know early on.

Did you have x rays done during the vetting? Joint wear and tear, for example, doesnt have any signs really than manifest themselves on the outside (and conformation can predispose certain shapes to this. Its not necessarily simply an age or work load thing).

Anyway, best of luck for Tuesday and keep us updated

 

[Alex_kate]

vet will possibly do nerve blocks, xrays, thats what found out joeys problem