Intermittent lameness / unlevel horse

[dressagelove]

I have a 9 yo thoroughbred gelding, who is not particularly overweight, but is looking very well for his type

I used to event him last year, and havent been doing as much with him, just a couple unaffiliated ODEs

he is sound most of the time, but whenever i do any more strenuous work such as jumping, xc, schooling on grass etc, the day after, he is nearly always lame on his right fore. on the right rein the lameness is quite obvious, but on the left rein he appears completely sound. on a larger circle he is better, and on a tight circle it is much worse

As far as i can tell there is nothing in his legs, or hooves, no heat nothing at all etc, and the fact that it comes and goes makes me think it may be muscular or something

this is doing my head in as it just keeps coming and going,, i think i may call the physio tomorrow and see if they can help, does anyone else have any ideas? maybe an old trauma that hasnt healed properly...?

 

[cptrayes]

My guess would be, because there is nothing you can see or feel in the leg, that your horse has a slight collateral ligament strain inside the foot. It is strained by work and OK if it's allowed to recover.

The cheapest way to sort this out will probably be to get xrays of the foot with the shoe on and see if it is properly balanced to his foot bones.

An MRI scan would be best, but they cost around £1,000 !!

A friend of mine had a horse with similar problems, and an xray shown to the farrier did the trick and it is eventing fine this season.

I have to stress this is just a guess, but it fits what you are describing.

 

[Lainey123]

Same symptoms as my boy, he had collateral ligament strain, diagnosed by MRI. He is totally sound now (barefoot) but no swelling or heat anywhere as it was deep in his hoof, only MRI pinpointed it as x-rays where no good. Good luck and hope you sort it.x

 

[LMR]

Sounds like my boy and he had suspected collateral ligament damage. I couldn't afford the mri so he is on box rest just now.

 

[AmyMay]

My guess would be, because there is nothing you can see or feel in the leg, that your horse has a slight collateral ligament strain inside the foot. It is strained by work and OK if it's allowed to recover.

The cheapest way to sort this out will probably be to get xrays of the foot with the shoe on and see if it is properly balanced to his foot bones.

An MRI scan would be best, but they cost around £1,000 !!

A friend of mine had a horse with similar problems, and an xray shown to the farrier did the trick and it is eventing fine this season.

I have to stress this is just a guess, but it fits what you are describing.

This.

Clearly a vet job.

 

[dressagelove]

Thanks very much, although this seems quite disheartening :-(

Vet is coming tomorrow, so see what he says, but as all of you seem to agree, it looks like it may be that! can't afford £1000 for MRI scan, does anyone know how long it takes for it to heal completely? Is the treatment just box rest, or anything else?

 

[criso]

Even without an MRI the vet can nerve block and pinpoint where the pain is and they can x ray to check for bone changes in the foot.
If you have insurance they would pay for that and depending on the company may pay all or some of an mri.

 

[Zuzzie]

Often lameness due to collateral ligament damage is shown to be worse on soft footing (such as an arena) rather than on a hard surface. I could be wrong, but if your horse is sound between bouts of hard work then I don't think it could be collateral ligament damage because once the damage has occured it requires months of box rest so I can't understand why it looks okay some of the time. The vet will go thru the usual investigations, nerve blocks, Xrays etc and if nothing shows then an MRI will be suggested. If you are covered by insurance then make sure this includes MRI - sometimes they only pay part costs on this.

 

[Zuzzie]

Forgot to say, if it is collateral ligament damage then you will probably have to box rest for a few months (I would think at least 3 but sometimes can be much more). They can offer treatments like PRP, IRAP, and Shock Wave Therapy - all of which are not guaranteed to fix the problem - the only guarantee is that they are expensive!
Good luck.

 

[cptrayes]

I could be wrong, but if your horse is sound between bouts of hard work then I don't think it could be collateral ligament damage because once the damage has occured it requires months of box rest so I can't understand why it looks okay some of the time.

Zuzzie a mild ligament strain can be fine one day and then sore again after work, it depends on how bad the strain is. A mild strain will recover until it is stretched again with a harder bout of work. My friend's horse was never box rested, it came right in a couple of weeks just with having its feet properly balanced.

Even with bad strains, box rest is not required with a barefoot rehab. Box rest with a mild strain may also be counterproductive because it can result in adhesions if the horse is not kept in gentle movement.

OP don't panic. If your horse is only unsound after a more strenuous bout of exercise, I doubt if you have a huge problem if you get on top of it now.

 

[criso]

Mine had collateral ligament damage (as well as other tissues in the foot) and after the box rest and treatment it behaved very much like the OPs signs.
The difference being his strenous work was turnout. He's be OK for a bit of light hacking then hoon around the field come in on three legs. Rest him and keep him in and he'd look OK for a bit.

In the end mine was rehabbed barefoot and at that point he was living out and having gentle exercise but started to come right as soon as his foot balance/landing was sorted.

 

[Luciejjkk]

The problems with my horse started as intermitent lameness, alot like you described.

He was successfully nerve blocked to the back of the hoof and was diagnoised with navicular.

As Lainey said, there was no heat/swelling etc as the problem was IN the hoof.

Nerve blocks would be the place to start to locate exactly where the problem is.