Its off to the vets for us tomorrow!

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stencilface

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So, normans lameness has been niggling on and off since April. I thought I had bruised his feet (he's bf) so I put shoes on. Still lame.
Then an abscess was found which was sorted.
Still lame.
Then another abscess which had cleared itself was found
Still lame. (sound on bute though for a trial)
Suspicion of lami as he was a bit chunky (no other symtoms) enclosed space rest and general starvation (!)
Still lame
Then so I think it is just bruising as can take months to recover, remove shoes and let him be for a bit. He's sound in walk, but not on a circle and not in trot, so to help his weight I hack him in walk for 20 mins once a week, he was happy doing this and striding out and is much better on the gravel.
Not been ridden in about a month now, and this was the first appointment I could get for a full work up (given my work/holiday etc!) He has been seen by our normal vet several times, who did a few tests but don't have the facilities for a full work up really.

So, wish me luck. Anyone want to guess what it is? No heat, no swelling. I was convinced it was in the foot, but now I'm not sure! He had tendonitis in this leg 2 years ago...
 
Honestly, I've had PSD, tendonitis, tenosynovitis and now this since 2011. My horse has essentially been on box rest and paddock rest for 4 years now, interspersed with bits of work where I've tried to do something then he's broken again, but this time in a different way. I have only one insurable leg left, and unfortunately its not this one.

Which reminds me, I must check exactly what I am insured for and what my excess is (I reviewed it all last year and almost didn't renew it, although glad I did now!) so I know what my options are tomorrow. At 15 I'm not spending a fortune on diagnosis, if its unfixable without lots of expensive stuff I might not be insured for he can be turned away for 6 months and maybe have some danilon and I'll see how he is in Spring. He's 15 now so my dreams of competing him up to a certain level have long since disappeared, especially given that he cannot keep himself sound lol.

I'm almost plumping for navicular or some kind of arthritis atm, but I'll probably be wrong!
 
Good luck, hope its something straightforward and easily treated. If I had to guess I would steer towards lami, but only because it sounds similar to one of my lamenesses (horse's obviously, not mine!)
 
He's not overweight at all atm, although he's unfit so he's a bit saggy round the edges, but he's basically been on a diet all summer (he looks the best he's done for years as my mum has actually gone along with me this year!)

but we will see, I'll let you know it you're right! :)
 
So heel bulb nerve block sorted the lameness in his near fore, and he became lame in his off fore and is uncomfortabke with his near hind. So basically he's broken! Near fore was then planned for an mri so they xrayed both (double check No metal even though he's bf) which showed he's had no lami. So they did an Mri on both fronts essentially, get the results back on Monday but looking potentially at navicular/ddft and thinking likely same issue in both fronts?!

Hind leg I think is just the strain of the lameness taking its toll on his sacro and his old psd issue so hopefully will resolve. I'm giving him one bute a day to make him comfortable as now I feel mean for not taking him to the vets earlier as he has a proper injury. One should be just enough to take the edge off, but still leave some feeling of it so he doesn't fo hooning around.

Feeling apprehensive abput the prognosis and potential rehab, he's done box rest 3 out if the last 4 years and I'm not sure I have the energy to do it again....
 
Aww stencilface, fingers crossed for u
His issues sound v similar to my sisters girl who has been lame on and off for the whole time we have owner her (2.5yrs)
Couldn't afford MRi but blocked similar to yours and she's on extended field rest (decided retired) to try and heal anything. Vet wasn't optimistic. We pulled shoes and she's looking marginally better
 
That's what I'm considering, just retiring him aside from maybe lead rein hacks we can do in walk. It might not be that bad but I'm starting to think he just won't stand up to any work these days, either that or I need a flat field for turnout!

It's just a mess really!
 
Poor you, OP, I fully sympathise and I hope your boy mends for you.

My boy has been a catalogue of disasters over the last 4 years (fracture, several kicks, torn DDFT) and he's been shod, barefoot, bar-shoes, box rested, turned away - you name it.

Currently he's on the ok side - ish. Honestly, who knows? He's nearly 18 and a perky little chap. However, I, for one, won't ever attempt long term box rest with him again, so if he doesn't become sound enough for me to potter out once or twice a week, he'll be fully retired. If he gets significantly worse, though, well I know what the answer will have to be - but we're not there yet.

Good luck with yours and I hope you get a diagnosis you can work with.
 
Just my thoughts, any chance he was bilaterally lame before April so it didn't show? How good are/were his feet looking bare? What were his heels like?
 
I don't think he was bilaterally lame before then, I did a dressage comp in jan/February so he must have been ok then, definitely not in the same state he was in April. I though I was being good and was riding him in the field before work ( no arena and I think riding on the road at 6am is foolish even if it's light as drivers just don't exoect to see you ) but the field got dry and I upped our canter work ( max fives mins) and that's why I thought he'd bruised his feet, so yes probably has been lane on both all along. Either way I'll be getting our physio out (was planning to anyway) as he must be feeling all horrid and crooked after being lame for so long.

I'm just utterly fed up, if I think about it too long I can feel myself welling up, when realistically I've been luckier than lots of people. There was a lady in the vets who's 5 yo gad a prospect of an eye being removed after they found a tumour in it, or pts :(

Everytime I think about getting a horse in the future it makes me upset as I just can't face the trauma of so many injuries again, I'm a keeper for life sadly unless they're wholly unsuitable. If I do get another it will be native with short untroublesome limbs!! At least I have my whw pony and mule to keep me busy I guess.
 
Oh bless you, I know how long you have persisted with him and between you and nickib you haven't much had luck with your grey lads and you both need big hugs!

Mules might be the way forward for ruggedness!
 
He's only 11h but actually I might be able to squash him into submission and behaving, the little grotbag. Honestly, stronger than any horse we've had, and stupidly quick with it. Took me five mins, rope round his nose and a scoop of feed to get him to have a hose alongside him today, it wasn't even switched on! Going to be a long process :D
 
The results are in!

So we have damage to the DDFT in both feet, but worse in the near fore where he was most lame termed as 'diffise tendonitis of the lateral lobe' with also a focal lesion on the near fore going into the navicular bursa with fluid in the navicular.

So, first port of call is eggbar shoes apparently to reduce the pressure on the tendons with a rolled toe, so 6 months of that with small paddock rest - over winter, just excellent - why does my horse always get these diagnoses over winter, mental note for next time - never leave my horse to recover by himself, take him straight to the vets so you can do small paddock rest over summer :(

Potentially inject with steroids at a later date, and surgery if nothing gets fixed, although I really want to avoid that, not much point on a horse that essentially can't/won't stay sound!

Now I need to work on my dad and do my best smiles and the OH to get our school we've just got planning for marked out and completed before the worst of winter hits so I've got somewhere to turn him out thats not a quagmire.... :(

Wish I'd taken up tennis instead.
 
Yep, its annoying, hate box rest, small paddock rest as the management of it for us is such a pig as they're all out for 10 months of the year pretty much, only have two stables so two get brought in for the worst months of winter and then thats it, otherwise through winter we let them have all our (hilly!) 12 acres and you barely see them in the daytime. They're so fat in the summer we have to shut off the furthest away field completely which means it had tonnes on it for winter.

I honestly don't know whether to bother riding him beyond hacks in walk (if at all tbh), as each time he gets lame its just heartbreaking, back breaking and bank breaking! But he's only 15 and thats a long time for me to have a retired horse and not a ridden one. Can't really afford two on top of the two rescues, even with our own land.
 
Oh no :(

I think thats where I might be with the paddock/stable rest. He's already spent two months (vet advised) like that this year when we thought it was bruising/laminitis. I might buy him a mirror....

how much longer has your girl being restricted?
 
The vet's going to rescan in about 6-8 weeks from now to see if she's improving or if the special shoe she has on is just masking the problem. That will be at 3 months in. Annoyingly she looks about 90% sound currently, is still beating the others up and being a witch to catch if she feels like it :mad: For us though that will be crunch time as to whether we continue or not... which I don't really want to think about!
We were told the vet had never seen anything like what she's done and because of where it is, we've needed to stabilise the navicular as much as possible to stop it pulling the tendon off further - which is why I have kittens when she's stood doing handstands in the field out of boredom. If it's stabilised and improving then we're looking at a minimum of a year off.
 
Silly horses, why don't they just stand still and not be idiots? Does she have an eggbar shoe, or something more complex? I feel after my barefoot rehab I'm going back beyond square one going to eggbars - argh! I honestly never knew there was this many things that could go wrong! Are you feeding her any supplements at all? MSM or anything?

I'm hoping to get away with 6 months box rest/field rehab and then another year off after that too, as there's just no point going into anything fast as he's just made of porcelain apparently. By that point he'll be 17 and no doubt thinking of what the next illness/ailment he can throw at me, by which point he won't be that insurable either. Might have to leave work early today and put him in tonight and figure out a small paddock for him and pray that we have a dry october/november so I stand a chance of sorting something before the field returns to a bog.

I did look at nice short legged connie and luso crosses last night, then reminded myself that I don't have the money or time for that. I think at some point soon if mini SF doesn't want to take up horses I'll just leave it entirely, I'm honestly so fed up.
 
Dad's a farrier so he's worked with our vet to come up with a one-off! I don't know the exact spec but it's started as a reversed shoe, so no support at the toe but lots for the heel, then there's some bevelling and flairing going on as well. She's always been special needs to shoe - before now we had to keep her in racing plates in front as anything else was pulled off too easily and she has ridiculously thin soles (i.e. 1-2mm on x-ray) so BF was never an option for her :( No supplements but I keep muttering about getting an ArcEquine unit on at least a 6 week hire as she could have that on whilst in the stable and it MIGHT also help her to chill out.
Mum's recently bought a 4yo Irish chap which I do ride to get my fix but he just doesn't give me the buzz I get from riding my mare :( Mini has a 3yo SecA that we're currently child proofing :D so at least I get to play with that little chap
 
I have two 3yo to play with, but neither bomb proof so can't go on the roads yet, and we've no arena so I can't do much with them! Plus, the mule doesn't want to let his pony mate out of his sight at all, and goes a bit nuts so I need to work on gradually separating them. So I have stuff to do, but its not exactly what I wanted to be doing this year.

I didn't know about hiring those, what are they supposed to be good for - everything? Might be worth a go, I need to book the physio too really as otherwise my boy willl never be comfortable.
 
I'm not entirely convinced by them but at £180 for 6 weeks hire (can continue then for £30 a week after) I can't help thinking it's worth a shot. When you look at threads on here there are folks that absolutely swear by them.
Frustrating starting again isn't it - I'd just got to a stage where we were ok to do anything - dressage, SJ, XC etc the thought of going back to square one is just gutting having spent 3 years getting her right after racing.
 
After PSD, and two other lots of tendon related rehab, I've just about had it with box rest and in hand walking, the last lot I did whilst pregnant and it wasn't fun, although I did learn that norman can do a levade on a long rein the little you know what!

Looking at those units, I could consider buying one over their 12 month payment plan, it would be essentially doubling my insurance payments for a year, which might be worth it in the long run for my horse, and any of our other horses. Hmm, food for thought!
 
Yep they're kind of intriguing - and can be used on people ;) The rental cost can be offset if you chose to buy (I don't work for them, I'm literally in the process of talking myself in and out of it!)
 
Lanky Loll said:
Yep they're kind of intriguing - and can be used on people ;) The rental cost can be offset if you chose to buy (I don't work for them, I'm literally in the process of talking myself in and out of it!)
Click to expand...

And now I am too, this is not good for my productivity today, or my bank balance. I wonder if I should ring the vets back and ask their opinion - although if its the same as their opinion on magnets (like the magnet rug and boots I bought for his PSD...) then it won't be a positive one!
 
Oh SF I don't know what to suggest I had a nosey at some old posts as couldn't remember and his feet always looked ok and improved really well barewise so I am surprised at the ddft strains.
 
:D

I think he puts it in the same bracket as that hologram balance band rubbish. I also sprayed arnica, rustox and ruta grav on his gums last time too - yep, did nothing. I do feed him pro balance, but thats more for his feet.
 
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