Horse refusing the lift up hind leg

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Olivia clydesdale

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I rescued a 23yo tb 6 months ago, he has slight bit of arthritis in his pelvis, this is controlled by regular physio and equisagge seasons and when I got him he was always reluctant to put his weight on one of his back legs however nothing I was ever seriously concerned with. The last few weeks he began to refuse completely to lift it up and on Tuesday he fell on the concrete when I eventually got it up. I phoned the vet immediately and she came out, however he is not lame, his conformation is perfect and he had no swelling anywhere. She gave me danilon for him which I gave been giving him but still no luck in lifting the foot. I have had the farrier out, there is no abcess in the hoof my boy is reluctant to put weight on, however even the farrier couldn't get the leg up to do his feet. He is currently on box rest and the vet and farrier are both due out again on Thursday, if the farrier can not get it up I may need to think about sedating him which I really don't want to do. Could anyone tell me what there opinion is on what this could be or how to go about trying to figure out what is wrong. I am now at the stage I am happy with his condition and he was just coming back into work which he was enjoying, if there is something terribly wrong I would much prefer to sell his tack and let him live the rest of his life as my handsom field ornament xx
 
Why is he on box rest when he has arthritis? I would turn him out, keep him on the danilon and see if moving about helps, is there a need to pick his foot up other than to pick them out, following the fall he may be stiff, even if not obviously lame, he will have lost even more confidence so give him a bit of time without trying, there is no need to pick feet out every day and a few days being left alone may really help him.
There may well be an abscess brewing in the foot he is trying to avoid placing weight on even if it is not yet showing to hoof testers, again leaving him out wandering on it should help bring it out and once it gets really painful he will let you treat it, waiting a week or so for a trim should not be the end of the world if he has been done regularly until this time or just do the fronts which tend to grow longer anyway.
 
The vet recommended he was put on box rest, I put him out in the paddock suprised every day after work to let him loosen off, however I don't want to put him back out in the field if I have been advised to keep him stabled until the vet is back out on Thursday. Right now he has his front feet done, one back shoe off because when he fell it slipped and the vet has to take it off (which has been shod by the farrier, he didn't want to put a shoe back on it because after the fall it was a bit sore, it's fine now) and his other back foot needs shod with his old shoe on but the farrier can't lift it to get it done. X
 
If he's lame on both hinds he won't look lame, did the vet flexion test/nerve block?

How did you know about the pelvis arthritis as he was a rescue? Did you X-ray him or someone else. It is possible this has got worse.
 
I'd get his hocks checked, also consider stifle arthritis.
I bought an old horse who at first lifted his feet for me (needed seds to shoe) over time he became impossible to lift any foot at all and terribly sore all over. He became increasingly miserable. We suspect that he'd been given cortisone jabs to make sound for sale which after 6 months worse off leaving me with a truly crippled horse.
I'd certainly be getting his hocks x-rayed and go from there.
 
Casey76 said:
If he is reluctant to lift this leg up, the problem could be in his other leg (too painful to take the full weight).
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That was my first thought. My boys issue is on his right hind, and the farrier has to take at least 10 breaks when shoeing that hoof as horse struggles to keep it held up for longer than a "pick out" time.
 
If it's down to arthritis, I would have no hesitation in sedating to have his feet done - why are you reluctant to do so? My horse has hock arthritis ,and was becoming increasingly more difficult to shoe behind. I tried him without shoes, but he was struggling on our stony byways, so I had to get shoes back on him. I gave him a good dose of bute in the morning, and a bit of sedalin just before the farrier arrived - and he stood perfectly to be shod. I'll be doing this every time he's shod now - as I don't want to see him struggling and getting upset, and I don't want my farrier getting hurt
 
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