Help! Lame horse!

[dressagediva81]

3 weeks ago my mare came in from the field hoping lame on her left fore. She could barely walk, phoned vet first as the lameness was so bad, he suspected an abscess, she was pointing her leg at this point and not willing to put it down, he dug about in her foot and hoof tested but nothing showed. He gave her bute and advised me to keep her feet clean, use peroxide and see how she went. Had my farrier to come and check her, he tested her feet, nothing, put different shoes on to give her more support saying he thought she had pulled her tendon a bit. Into the second week I contacted my vet again and said what my farrier had said and he advised me to turn her out, farrier said keep her in, she has been in now for 2 weeks, very little improvement but is weight bearing and is sound with bute, no abscess appearing, small amount of heat in hoof and a small swelling but no heat on the outside of her leg midway between knee and fetlock. Could this still be an abscess? Could it be a damaged tendon? Vet wasn't concerned about the swelling....any advice would be great.

 

[PorkChop]

It could be many things unfortunately, I don't think either your Vet or your farrier are wrong, just different approaches.

Does she have a stronger than usual digital pulse in the lame leg?

I personally would ice and turnout, take her off the bute and reassess in a few days.

The only way you will know if there is no progress is nerve blocking/x-rays/scan. Sometimes is a bit of a waiting game, and I wouldn't say you could completely rule out an abscess until she is off bute.