Help please x2

[rlhnlk]

Also in competition Riders.

My horses seem to have a conspiracy going on to stop me having an easy life.

Yesterday got up the yard to find my 20yr old welsh lying down. When she got up she was very lame but happy to walk. I checked her out and phoned the vet who said leave her till tomorrow. I couldn't decide what was wrong with her- no laminitis syptoms, not footy at all, but clearly not comfortable. My new seemingly very knowledgeable yard owner thinks its her shoulder muscle, which makes an awful lot of sense when you look at her plus she gets better the more she moves.

So any ideas what is helpful for healing a pulled shoulder muscle, bearing in mind even when sound she can never really be bothered to go faster than walk.

Then tonight I take off the tbs fly rug to find her covered in lumps. I *think* they are protein lumps, she has had these before and she has recently started living out on quite lush grass. They aren't itchy and aren't bothering her but they are worst where her saddle would go so I can't ride, they are all over her body though so not tack related. I can'tbring her in off the grass either as i don't have a stable

So anyone know any easy ways to get rid of/ avoid / minimise / whatever for these lumps. Preferably without calling the vet as mine are ridiculous with diagnosis procedures and fee's plus they tend to umm and ahh for too long for my liking.


Any help, ideas or stories of previous experiences appreciated.

I'm now dreading tomorrow in case they have decided to do a group effort.

 

[Dogstar]

My first thought is to be careful the Welsh pony hasn't got laminitis rather than an injury as there has been much rain and warm weather lately which could trigger it thanks to the grass growing a lot? Also the lumps could be fly bites, my two had big lumps and they went down on their own within a week.

 

[rlhnlk]

With the welsh, her feet are stone cold, her conformation means she leans forwards slightly on her front legs and she was happy to stand like this rather than rock back onto her heels. I can't find the digital pulse at all, there is no swelling in her legs, she is happy to toddle around of her own accord she just doesn't seem to be able to stretch her legs out in front properly. She is a bizarre welsh cob, I think she is anorexic as she doesn't put wieght on easily and even living out tends to prefer to sleep thorugh the day when its sunny and doesn't start to eat until late, perhaps someone has told her there is less sugar then. Seriously though I'm 99.9% sure it isn't laminitis and it was my first thought too. I check her feet and pulse everyday and there has been no change whatsoever.

The tb has probably in the region of 100 lumps on either side. The ones on her neck do look like fly bites but the ones on her back are much worse they are about 1.5 inch long and 1 inch wide raised up by about 0.5inch. There aren't as many flies at this place as she is used to so I'm not sold on the fly thory. She has had protein lumps in winter before when I overloaded her with alfabeet in an attepmt to keep her weight on, and it seems a coincidence that as she gets onto good grass up these pop.

Thanks for your thoughts though

 

[Birker2020]

Bearing in mind that 99% of lameness is from the foot and shoulder lameness nearly always ends up being diagnosed as a foot problem I'd get some foot pincers on her and start tapping around the nail holes to start with.

 

[rlhnlk]

Thanks for replying applecart14.

I think she has been chased by my other horse and turned quickly or she has been zapped by the fence as it was turned on the day she went lame, she is getting better though so I am really looking for ways to help heal a sprained muscle. I am getting the physio out to her but he can't come until Monday coming. I don't want to put the foot pincers on as they preceded her one and only bout of laminitis, although it was very mild I don't want to risk this. As I say she is quite happy to weight bear on her feet and is taking the weight over the whole of her foot- not rocking onto her heels at all and happy to walk around of her own accord. I am literally looking for any ideas for helping a pulled muscle.

The tb has almost definitly got protein lumps not fly bites as they are all over and it would take a swarm of flies to cause this many lumps in such a short space of time, she has had them before although not to this extent. The only other possibility is an allergy to something in her field, I think this is unlikly as she has been in the field 8 days before it has shown up and I think the accumulated effect of richer grass has brought this on. Obviously reducing her protein intake as much as possible is the best thing but I'm curious if anyone has any other ideas for reducing the effect of these especially as the higher protein feeds eg alfabeet tends to be handy for keeping her weight on during winter.

Consequently to continue the run of injuries the tb managed to scrape her neck and draw blood on her door frame which is smooth wood with no sharp edges- how she has done this I do not know.

 

[Birker2020]

Well it is entirely up to you but there is no way that foot pincers on a horse would bring on laminitis, and I would even put £50 on that!

I think you are going down the wrong avenue exploring shoulder muscle problems but I am happy to be proved wrong. I hope your girly gets better soon x