intermittant lameness

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k .powles

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hi please help
my horse came i lame 12 weeks ago had vet out 6/10ths lame in walk, took her to have xrays all clear nerve blocked the foot vet said she had soft tissue damage box rest and bute walk out i hand to grass allowed, did this for a week and she started to play up so took her off the bute hoping she would feel a little pain and stop being naughty, didnt work was about 2/10ths lame in trot so i made her a pen to go out in as was getting pretty hairy trying to lead her anywhere, she has since been sound then lame sound again she is in a small paddock now, cause she jumped out of pen, she will go in stable sound then in morning be lame for a day then sound for 4 days if she has a who ha in the field or jumps out she doesnt go lame staright away like i would have thought she would she had a lame day 1-2/10ths lame o thursday o sat she jumped the fence had a who ha roung the field jumped the fence again today this morning {monday} so this eve i lunged her , bad foot to the outside sound bad foot to the inside lame for 3 circles then sound . what i want to know is this normal for a soft tissue damage in the foot has anyoe else experienced this also when lame she looks lame behind i just thought compensating fornt i got back person coming out weds to eliminate hind thought please as this is doing my head in the horse is only 6years old x
 
In despair again,she is about 4\10ths lame in walk this morn and holding the foot up but did appear to be walking better after half an hour some ideas would be much appreciated x
 
Lunging a horse with suspected soft tissue damage is not a good idea as, even on a "sound day", you will most like aggravate the injury. I would recommend you find a small secure area where you can turn her out safely. This will help keep her sane and allow time for mother nature to do her stuff and heal the damage. I would also consider having her looked at by a specialist lameness farrier who can access whether she would benefit from alternations in her foot care to assist the process.
 
Firstly, I found your post very hard to read so apologies if I have missed something.

If the Vet has diagnosed soft tissue injury and box rest, how long did they want her rested for?
Was she OK on box rest, was it just the walking out that was the problem?

Did you consult the Vet about puting her out?

I am thinking that it sounds like you havent given it long enough for the initial rest. I also wouldnt lunge at all at this point.
I had a similar sort of situation with my horse last year and she needed 2 weeks straight box rest before even taking her out, she wasnt suitable to lead out safely so she got small amounts of turnout and we built it up over time. But even at that she would come in a bit sore but be fine again after rest in the stable.
A very long story short but this went on for over a year (she would be sound for up to 3 months in between times, but then go mad in the field and come back sore) it was very frustrating.
In her case after trying remedial shoeing I have now taken her barefoot and she is doing really well, totally sound. Basically she was landing very toe first as she had heel pain and kept straining herself. She would of no doubt ended up with navicular if we had carried on as before.

Agree again with the other poster i would get her feet looked at by a specialist farrier or maybe even a barefoot trimmer. I did a lot of research and got someone highly recommended to me. My ideal would be a good farrier who is also a barefoot trimmer.

You could always post photos of horses foot taken at ground level to see if anyone on here can spot anything.
From a Vet point of view then if insured I would maybe speak to the Vet about an MRI to further pinpoint the problem as this may help with fixing it.
 
hi thanks for comments i have spoken to vet and blacksmith who both say keep shoes on but i must admit i have thought about barefoot and letting nature get on with it, can i just add went down field at 2 to get them in and guess what the horse had jumped in to her friends field and was looking very please with herself showing me how sound she was..... is this sort of intermittand lameness ie very lame in morning then 6 hours later sound,,, consistant with cl damage or ddft damage the vets think it could be soft tissue as 5 xrays and scans as low as u can go drew up nothing she is not insured and vet advised against mri as said will cost a grand but wont fix her its not a cure i will just get to know what she has done but treatment will be rest,( which is proving difficult with a 6 yo sj who jumps for fun) could it be anything else . i just cant get it in my head how a horse can be so lame yet sound in hours , if this is consistant could you let me know, my vet also said that in a study of stabled horses with soft tissue damage only 25% came sound. the fencing is 3foot 3 electric fencing and the horse was schooling 1,30m at home jumping newcomers at shows
 
I doubt that she is suddenly magically lame then sound. There will be a pattern to it, you just have to find it.

My mare was 2/10 lame turning tight left on concrete. If you had seen her in the school or field you would never have thought she was lame.

She was diagnosed with soft tissue damage in her front feet due to poor foot balance. I removed her shoes against the will of my farrier but with the support of my vet, had her looked at by a b/f trimmer and 8 weeks later she was significantly improved. Now nearly a year down the line she has grown whole new feet and moves far better than you could even have imagined she could.

My vet says the only way to cure soft tissue damage in feet is to remove shoes. I now have another horse who also had slight underlying issues and he too has been transformed by taking shoes off and letting the feet sort themselves out.

Do you have any pics or videos of the legs/feet or the horse moving?
 
My boy was diagnosed with ddft and collateral ligament damage in the hinds about nine months ago by MRI. He has been rested (not box) had some drugs, walked out in hand and ridden for ten minutes which we stopped in December, when I took him for the lameness work up the vet said that the lameness was not evident until we nerve blocked and lunged on a hard surface, but i know my horse and knew he was not right which is why we started this process. He will start work again at Easter, vet said on no circumstances worked him on the lunge or in a circle as this will put undue stress on the injury and associated parts. Have also now taken shoes off after doing lots of research and getting a lot of questions answered on here. Your horse needs time, i do not agree with box rest as i think movement is good as it makes the blood flow and this helps the healing process, do not lunge in any circumstance. I would also question the thinking behind having such a young horse not insured, as treatment is expensive and if you have to pay for it all your self it would probably end up actually being more cost effective to pay the insurance.
 
k .powles said:
could it be anything else . i just cant get it in my head how a horse can be so lame yet sound in hours
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This pattern of lameness can be seen in bone and cartilage chips inside a joint. They can move to where the horse doesn't feel them and it will be sound. Then they can move to somewhere where they interfere with the joint and the horse will be crippled. Cartilage does not show on xray and small slivers of bone are difficult to spot.




my vet also said that in a study of stabled horses with soft tissue damage only 25% came sound.
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Your vet is not aware of barefoot rehabilitation, which is producing a cure rate of more like 80% or over for these injuries. I've just hunted my second one.
 
thankyou for yor comments farrier is coming on friday think i will take shoes off,in thexrays there was a a slight crack to some side bone but vet said he didnt think that was significant but your idea of a small sliver of something seems to be more logical as the mare was so lame this morning then this afternoon sound ,i know she was sound in the paddock i have not trotted her up on tarmac as worried about concussion but was trotted up for vet on hard standing but not concrete, will my farrier be able to trim her or do i have to get someone specialised ,gut instinct is telling me to go barefoot she has good feet x
 
i havent any pics but on first visit to vets for xrays and evaluation the nurse sedated her and took two xrays then, then the vet came in and took over tried trotting her up and the mare didnt want to and looked lame behind he thought spine at first neurological, but only showed slight pain to hoof testers either side of heel( my farrier sais most horses would feel this and react) then nerve blocked the heel and went sound and the rest you all know intermittant like a yo yo
 
lame again this eve that makes a change from morings anyway heat in foot back of pastern and inside fetlock not weight bareing this time so now being booked in for more xrays to see if any changes if not newmarket her we come for an mri , i phoned them for a quote only 850 pounds so not that bad hope to have some news next week x
 
Check they've put the VAT on that, it's the cheapest I've heard of but maybe because it's only one foot?

At least you should get a proper answer, sorry about your horse and your bank balance :(
 
yes with vat added but only one foot and no investigation or trott up. mind you how lame she is tonite i dont want her to walk up let alone trot , shoes off friday ready for whatever but i think it is the way to go let nature deal with it, in any case i have to have them off for xrays so as farrier booked for friday better him do it than get charged mega amounts for vet to do it, dont think my credit card is gonna like me much after this ( or my husband) x
 
I would leave the shoes on for now or until you have been to the vets, as she will likely be footsore afterwards, how will you tell what is the original lameness or her just being footsore, my gelding went lame at 5 this was intermitant and only on a circle with lame leg on the inside, his feet were not in balance and too long, we put natural balance on went sound straight away, he just has normal shoes now but feet have to be kept short and shod every 5 weeks, good luck with your horse hope you get some answers x
 
she is not having a trot up just xrays, thanks for your post but this is something more serious altho heat was gone this morning and she was weight bearing, she has been and will be kept stabled until i know whats going on , a little bit of heat on inside of hoof but pastern cold and rest of foot cold, unlike last night, she has xrays on tuesday to see if any bony changes as she was xrayed within 24 hours when it all started a hairline fracture wouldnt show up that soon,this is just to satisfy me having this next lot of xrays being done and she needs shoes off for it,i will talk to vets on tuesday about pros and cons for going barefoot x
 
It does sound like its in the foot though, my friends horse sounds like your and was diagnosed with navicular, not saying yours is but hers was very random in lameness much like yours good luck at the vets will look out for your progress x
 
hi all just an update we had more x rays today , and the vets did one at a different angle and guess what she has a pedal bone fracture, which i am told is better than soft tissue damage,at last i have found out what is wrong and i would like to thank all of you that have repied to my thread and all of you with broken horses i so hope that you all make a full recovery i know i have a way to go 3 month confinement then more xrays in april to see how we are going but both myself and my vets are are happy that we have found out what is wrong with grace thatnks again to all xx
 
hi all just an update in case anyone is interested in pedal bone fractures,well we are in to week 3 of box rest and pen rest we have to walk 20 yards to the pen from the stable door, she has had her egg bar shoe on with clips 3 weeks today and is already walking sound to and from her pen, obviously we dont know about trott and wont do until her next vet visit mid to end of april,she is not on any pain relief doesnt like to eat it which isnt a bad thing ,cause she is obviously feeling better by being naughty ie had a bronk on the spot in her pen hasnt enough room to go any where, i chose her to have time out in a pen for two reasons firstly to help keep her sane and secondly she cant kick the door when in a pen and you most prob have guessed it yes she kicks the door with that foot will give another update in a few weeks hope this helps anyone x
 
hi all i am going to start a new thread for this under pedal bone fracture as altho there is some research to be done i cant find any forams giving detailed rehab so for the sake of someone starting to go thru this process or for any one in the future i am going to start again to make it easier for people to find to read about this x
 
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