Help and advise needed! Unexplained lameness!

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sophie12345

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Hi all,
Don't know if anyone has any advise or ideas about some unexplained lameness in my horses off hind back leg. I'll explain in brief what's gone on so far hopefully not to bore you too much!
He's a 16.1 7yo tb gelding. We noticed a slight lameness about two months ago now in the off hind back leg, there was no swelling or obvious signs as to why he was off on this leg. We turned him away for a few weeks thinking it may just be a strain. After this the lameness was still there, not better but nor worse. We then had a specialist out who confirmed what we already knew and that he was 2/10th lame on that leg. He suggested ten days of bute and box rest, he himself did not know what the lameness was, so again we were stabbing in the dark just trying things to see if it would get better. It's now been two days since he has been off box rest and he is still lame, again it's not worse but it's certainty not better. There is no swelling / heat or any other obvious signs of the lameness. He has recently had physio / dentist / farrier, and these have never brought any problems to our attention. So now we are stuck, do we take him to a equine hospital and go down that route of nerve blocking/scans etc? Do we try resting him for longer? Do we maybe try and work him to make the lameness worse and more obvious for a vet to see? I don't know! The annoying thing is that it is such a slight lameness and no one seems to have an idea what is causing it. My thought now could he have a slight fracture on the bone? Or is the lameness maybe higher up his leg and going into his hip/stifle/back area?
Any advise or ideas welcome as I'm stuck for what to do now! Thank you
 
We then had a specialist out who confirmed what we already knew and that he was 2/10th lame on that leg. He suggested ten days of bute and box rest, he himself did not know what the lameness was, so again we were stabbing in the dark just trying things to see if it would get better.
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So, the specialist, was he a vet? (as you were given bute?)
If indeed it was a vet, then I'd get a 2nd opinion as he didn't suggest a nerve block & scan of the problem area, or knew what it might be (as you say above)

Please, get a vet to investigate the problem & do a proper work up
 
Yes the vet was a specialist from an equine hospital, he did suggest maybe nerve blocking and things if he wasn't better, but my opinion was that he didn't even have a clue what it could even possibly be, so I don't know if its a better idea to just take him straight to an equine hospital or have a local vet look at him first? Or rest him again?
 
sophie12345 said:
Yes the vet was a specialist from an equine hospital, he did suggest maybe nerve blocking and things if he wasn't better, but my opinion was that he didn't even have a clue what it could even possibly be, so I don't know if its a better idea to just take him straight to an equine hospital or have a local vet look at him first? Or rest him again?
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It could be any manner of things, and the vet in front of the horse recommended nerve blocks. That doesn't mean he didn't have a clue what the issue was, just that he wanted to use diagnostic tools available to him before making a diagnosis.
 
Mine was diagnosed with bone cyst on stifle, you couldn't see the swelling till clipped as he was still in winter woolies. Vet checked for swelling by standing behind horse and feeling down both legs at same time, even I could feel it doing that! It could be so many different things, I took mine into vets as easier to do a workup.
 
Have you had a good chiropractor look at him too? - I've been through a lot of this myself and it's amazing what one bodyworker can see that another may miss. Just a thought.
 
You need to listen to the vet looking after the horse and go down the diagnostic route if it's not resolving with rest - my girl was mildly lame with some swelling to her hind fetlock but very little heat. Lameness didn't resolve with rest (about 2 weeks) so we scanned her and she had a 50% lesion in her tendon.

The vet who saw your horse previously 'didn't have a clue' because there are so many possible causes and he can't possibly narrow it down without accurate diagnostic testing such as scanning and nerve blocks.
 
I would be wanting to go down the nerve blocking route, followed up by a scan.

If it was a problem up into his pelvis/back, I would have thought the physio would have picked up on it.
 
Yes he's had recent physio and she said he was fine, actually better than what he normal is! I know the ideal would be for him to go into an equine hospital and have further investigation, he is insured so it is fine for us to do, I'm just in two minds and thinking perhaps just seeing if resting him for a bit longer may work?
 
I would take him in to put your mind at rest if nothing else, I took mine in and within a couple of hours he was diagnosed via trot up
& flexion then xray and ultrasound to confirm, he was then sedated, stifle cyst area drained and injected. All done in a couple of hours and on our way home, follow up visits at home and if more injections required hopefully to be done at home.

Much better to know asap what you are dealing with.
 
sophie12345 said:
Yes he's had recent physio and she said he was fine, actually better than what he normal is! I know the ideal would be for him to go into an equine hospital and have further investigation, he is insured so it is fine for us to do, I'm just in two minds and thinking perhaps just seeing if resting him for a bit longer may work?
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If he's not better after 2 months rest then rest on it's own isn't going to do much - you need to know what you're dealing with
 
Also bear in mind, if you are insured, the vet has now attended for a lameness in that leg. It will be excluded 12 months from when the lameness started regardless if you make a claim or not as the vet will have to disclose that he has been.
Without nerve block / xrays no-one can guess what a lameness could be & if your not insured its not that expensive.
 
sophie12345 said:
Yes he's had recent physio and she said he was fine, actually better than what he normal is! I know the ideal would be for him to go into an equine hospital and have further investigation, he is insured so it is fine for us to do, I'm just in two minds and thinking perhaps just seeing if resting him for a bit longer may work?
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Why do people seek vet advice then ignore it? If you are worried enough to call a vet - rest is not going to be the answer!
 
Hi sounds like my horse, 1 or 2/10ths lame, on and off in waves, stomping action in back end and worse when damp. He had no heat or swelling, bute had no impact. After a couple of days rest he would work sound for a couple of days and then look off again. Xrayed - thought proximal suspensory, hocks xrayed clean, but bonescan/ultrasound showed suspensory clean but hocks problem.

I was surprised but diagnosis bi lateral spavins (usually bi -lateral although one leg can appear fine and the other markedly worse) nerve blocks confirmed it.

We started off months earlier with the suggestion he was footsore as I had taken shoes off the previous year due to poor farriery (and he was a bit) but only on pursuing it have we finally got conclusive evidence. I would get him checked as if you can nip it in the bud it would be the best thing for him, I so hoped it would go away and threw everything at it to avoid investigation.

Incidentally I have my horse checked quarterly by a fab chiro & body worker and although they found soreness (unusual), the spavin didn't show up at all until he suddenly looked more lame started moving oddly behind.

Sometimes if it's something slight and you know your horse, you should follow your gut instinct and have a lameness workup, take it from there.

Good luck, I hope it's nothing, but if there is something wrong the quicker it is dealt with the better for both you and your horse.
 
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sophie12345 said:
Yes the vet was a specialist from an equine hospital, he did suggest maybe nerve blocking and things if he wasn't better, but my opinion was that he didn't even have a clue what it could even possibly be, so I don't know if its a better idea to just take him straight to an equine hospital or have a local vet look at him first? Or rest him again?
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Most vets are just guessing the same as us until they nerve block and can pin point the problem, if the horse is insured this would be covered so I would go down this route as soon as possible it may be something very minor that can be treated, or it may not but either way at least you will know and can deal with it, most vets have mobile equipment to x ray and scan so they may be able to do it all at your yard.

You need to get the lameness workup done now the insurance only give you a certain amount of time to be able to claim on something, for example if your horse was seen by a vet last month its on your records so you have about 30 days to let the insurance company know and put a claim in otherwise they wont pay out, read the small print some do vary but you do have a limit.
 
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My mare has osteoarthritis in one leg, then a physio visit showed up pain in her back. It was linked to a lameness in a different leg which only showed up after a flexion test. We treated with box rest/walker/individual turnout (built up over 4 weeks) then had she still been lame it was at that point he was going to nerve block and scan. I didn't want to wait that long as I thought it was more arthritis but it seems to have done the job. Certainly after the length of time you have waited I would want more answers. Good luck!
 
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