Hind limb lameness-experiences?

[Trules]

Hi, I am after your thoughts. my mare, fit, iSH competes, lives out. I have had her almost 5 years, never been injured, is a tough mare, has gone lame behind yesterday.
she hacked out sat & sun felt better than ever, no problems. but yesterday, went out for a little roadwork and she didn't feel right behind in trot when I was rising on the right diagonal, couldn't feel anything on the left diagonal and then she had a few strides of feeling really wrong. so I immediately pulled up and walked home. she will be in on box rest until a vet can see her but there is no heat or swelling and she is perfectly happy weight bearing on both hinds. i don't think it is foot related. I am worried it Is something serious, what do you guys think? if it was a ligament would you expect some heat/swelling? many thanks in advance

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

I assume your vet will attend this week, and really that is the only thing, it is not always a good idea to box rest, especially as this can lead to extreme behaviours when turned out.
A sudden lameness can be caused by standing on a stone, and intermittent lameness can be symptomatic of an abscess, its not possible to be sure of anything.

 

[Trules]

Thanks MrsD. I really hope she has just stood on a stone. there is no heat in foot which is why i'm not suspecting abcess and she would be lamer in walk/ not happy weight bearing I assume. Saturday will be soonest I can get vet as I am back in work tomorrow. and i'm keeping her in in case it is ligament related. plus the field is so wet and slippy.
it's the way it suddenly went a lot worse in trot that is worrying me, as if something 'went'. absolutely fine in walk though.

thanks again.

 

[Baymare88]

Hi

Have you had the farrier out to check if he can find anything in the foot?

I don't want to scare you, and this may not be the case. But my mare went lame (intermittently) in her off hind (2/10 lame). After X-rays and nerve blocks we found she has arthritis In both hocks and hind fetlocks. All joints have been medicated, and she is doing really well (touch wood). She is stiff at first, but we do lots of walking to warm up and cool down, along with plenty of turn out and magnetic stable wraps and hock boots.

We don't do any trotting on the roads or hard ground either. She did keep swapping her hind legs over and resting them a lot. Hopefully it is nothing serious and easily fixed.

 

[Exploding Chestnuts]

Well, personally I would hack out and see how she is...... rather than get a build up of energy. You don't seem clear if she is lame at the moment or not.
Heat in the foot is not always found at early stages of an abscess, and abscesses come and go at first, if she is hopping lame one morning get the farrier out to remove the shoes behind.

 

[Trules]

thanks Baymare, no not had farrier yet. i would have thought arthritic changes would be more gradual? she went suddenly quite hopping lame in trot from being perfectly fine 2 days previously. i am preparing myself for the worse. so many horses of people i know have done suspensory ligaments recently. i just would have thought they come with a bit of heat and swelling?

 

[Trules]

thanks MrsD. I tried to trot her up a few strides this morning to see how she looked. but i'm on my own and couldn't really see. my fear is that if it is a ligament i will make it worse. i'm not overly concerned about a build up of energy, she is quiet in the stable and a pretty sensible laid back girl on the whole.

 

[Baymare88]

My horse had a few other problems at the same time (check ligament injury in one foreleg and fractured her collateral cartilage in the other). The hind lime lameness was intermittent and she didn't feel right behind in trot or canter. She would sometimes lose her back end. She didn't show any other signs until summer last year, at the time we were sorting out the front end first and then investigated the hind end. She doesn't really have any good legs :-(

How old is she? My mare is 14, and the annoying thing is she had an easy life before I got her, lived out and ridden once or twice a week. Do the vets do free call out days? I know some of ours do, which helps a bit with the cost.

If you are worried, I would get the vet to check. Better to be safe than sorry!

 

[Baymare88]

I would personally try and keep her in work, so that when the vet comes thee is something to see. That is what I had to do with my horse, unfortunately as she had an allergic reaction to a sting (her whole head was swollen I couldn't get a bridle on) she had time off, when she went to the vets for an MRI she was sound in front, where before she was hopping lame, but still not right behind.

 

[Trules]

thanks Baymare. vet will come out Saturday, my trailer is away for a service till then, and I may need it to take her for diagnostics. she is 13 this year. she has had a couple of easy months since the end of the event season. done 2 x jumping clinics in the last couple of weeks and has never felt better. I am worried because it felt like something mechanical, rather than just soreness. it's bad timing as i'm back at work tomorrow and won't see daylight again until the weekend, so there is not a lot I can do in terms of work. thanks for your thoughts.

 

[meesha]

Check to see if pelvis level as could need a chiro visit, see if resting one leg in particular, check if stifle puffy or swollen ( mine has bone cyst, was resting leg and stifle puffy, is now being treated). Make sure you have somewhere level to trot up, I knew something was amiss with my chap so took him into vet rather than home visit, he was trotted up flexion tested then sedated, xrayed, ultrasound done, excess fluid drained and 2 injections given into joint, all on first visit... Its amazing what they can do now! Fingers crossed yours is just stone bruise or muscle soreness.

 

[Gorgeous George]

My boy went lame behind in may totally out of the blue (he'd just won his first novice bd test 2weeks previously). It turned out he had damaged his hind suspensories (PSD), there was no heat or swelling & he was fine standing & in walk.I don't mean to scare you, but you asked about heat/swelling, however he is doing well now & is about to start cantering in the next few weeks.

Good luck.

 

[Trules]

thanks for replies. yes GG that is what I was wondering, if there could be suspensory damage with no obvious heat swelling. I think I will assume the worst until confirmed by vet.
Meesha, yes I intend to take her to vet on Saturday, then they will hopefully be able to do a lot more to get to the issue quickly. I am wondering if it could be something higher up. pelvis/ stifle. she could have slipped in the field maybe.