Heel pain (horse) and lameness- anyone had experience with this?

[Prince33Sp4rkle]

Definitely don't feel stupid, it's a huge huge area that people generally only explore when they come up against a big problem.

Now is the time to take action and learn all you can.

Shoes off and see what the feet do initially.

 

[cptrayes]

MRI is often a refferal job and expensive therefore often other things tried first?

The horse is insured, the cost is irrelevant. You do not treat twice with failed medication, then mask with painkillers and advise to carry on working when you have not established why the horse was unsound. Very bad vet care, IMO.

OP don't blame yourself, you've been let down here by a vet and possibly also by your farrier, many of whom do not recommend bar shoes, only heart bars at a pinch.

 

[avthechav]

Hi MM, I am going through exactly this at the moment. Ginge has had several bouts of 'lameness' over the last year, just like yours he would just be not right for a short time, and then usually by the time the vet saw him he was 100% again. So finally after the 3 rd irritating bout of lameness I decided to bite the bullet and MRI. He had clean x rays and blocked to the coffin joint.

The MRI showed inflammation of the nav bone and the star of signs of damage to the ddft. Interestingly it also showed similar in the left front, milder but still there netherless. Vet is happy that he has never been bilaterally lame as nerve blocks to one foot brought him sound.

He has had steroid injections into the bursa and Tildren for the right fore, and nothing on the left fore. His shoes were removed for the MRI and I am now 3 weeks in to our barefoot adventure. 2 weeks after the Tildren...last Monday he was reassessed and vet saw him trot on horrid hard circle. I expected this to be inconclusive as I imagined he would be sore with no shoes however ginge was sounder on the circle that I had ever seen him before! Somehow freer and perfectly even. We have a lot of work to do and I'm sure that it will be a long time before he is 'rock crunching' but I am planning on attempting barefoot indefinitely.....look at the work that Rockley farm are carrying out. I was initially horrified that my horse had been diagnosed by what used to be the navicular kiss of death but now I hope that with interventions like being barefoot I can help ginge stay in work for a long time. Watch this space!