Help please - sudden lameness/ loss of energy

[Lashley1]

I've had this horse on loan now for a week and he has settled into the new yard fairly well.

Got up there this morning and he was fine. Rode out with a friend, just a walk around the roads, and he was also fine. Full of energy, sound and happy.

got back onto the yard, put him into his stable to untack and all of a sudden he lost all energy, head went down and seemed pretty lifeless ( normally a real fidget so alarm bells started ringing). Was just a short walk out probably only 30-40 mins and he is relatively fit so that wouldn't tire him.

Walked him out of his stable and he was absolutely hopping lame on his foreleg. Had checked feet back in the stable no sign of injury, no stones etc in his hoof. No heat or swelling in his hoof or further up the leg. Put him back in his box and he wouldn't weight bare on it and was still lifeless.

Left him about 15/20 mins went to get him some hay to see if he'd eat (eating fine) and started to perk up. Started weight baring again and by the time I left him he had picked up massively, back to his cheeky self and seemed to be walking in his box with no pain, will trot him up later to see how he looks.

Has anyone ever heard of anything like this?

Had us all stumped on the yard!

Thanks for for reading my essay!

 

[be positive]

My first though, until I saw lame in front, was that he had tied up , the front lameness being that bad may be that he had trodden on a sharp stone which by the time you looked had fallen out, this happened to one of my liveries once, the pony was non weight bearing, I assumed she had looked in its foot but she hadn't she just panicked and shouted for me, when I looked he had a really sharp stone wedged in, 10 mins or so later he was fine. The other possibility is a brewing abscess in the foot, they can flare up then settle a few times before becoming obvious.

Keep an eye on him, if you are lucky it was just a stone and there will be no more problems.