Lame barefoot horse... Where do we go from here?

[BigGinger]

12days ago by lad showed signs of lameness in his front left. Noticed this while I was lunging on the left rein before riding, he was nodding and had shortness in his steps I left it at that and I box rested for 3 days over the weekend i got a good friend to watch him trot up and she could definately see lameness in front left but there was also slight heat in hind right fetlock and said she couldn't decide if he was also lame in his leg too.

Farrier came out on Monday to check feet and trim and didn't think any abscesses were brewing and was quite happy with feet. At this point he trotted up sound so for Monday eve I lunged him lightly and he looked good and I also lunged Tuesday and he looked great so Wednesday morning he went out for 1 hour supervised and he didnt hoon about although he had a roll and a canter round but nothing crazy. Wednesday pm he trotted up quite lame (again on left front). Plan was to box rest for 5 days and assess and he has improved slightly but then got worse as he now seems lame on right leg and is hobbling when asked to turn circles in both directions.

Just to add, he doesn't do box rest week he get very unsettled and is usually on his back legs and previous times of box rest he has needed to be sedated throughout.

Vet came yesterday evening and says he is definitely lame on right front leg not left but it could be both of them. She wants him in for tests (nerve blocks, X-rays, scans) what can I expect? She hasn't said what it could be or what she thinks it might be but I dread them sayin he needs any types of shoes as I've worked so hard taking him shoe less..

Any experience of this kind of lameness?

Apologies if I've missed any major info need my heads abit all over the place after everything we've been through!

 

[dianchi]

Yep Vet needs to get to the bottom of it now!
Would say, nerve block from foot up and then x-ray/scan based on those results.

Fingers x its a minor tweak somewhere!

 

[BigGinger]

just to add. horse was previous lame on left front around when he threw a splint but he came sound once this had formed and with rest. since had short spells of shortness in the last few weeks on the lunge but after a few strides looked fine

 

[JennyNZ]

It so sounds like an abscess to me. Did either the vet or the farrier get the hoof testers out ?

You don't say how long he has been barefoot, but the adjustment can take awhile. Also changes in diet and living conditions can play a part too.

Abscesses really are b**t**d things! You can have an intermittantly lame horse or lame on some ground but not others or lame going in one direction, but not the other. Enough to drive

 

[BigGinger]

It so sounds like an abscess to me. Did either the vet or the farrier get the hoof testers out ?

You don't say how long he has been barefoot, but the adjustment can take awhile. Also changes in diet and living conditions can play a part too.

Abscesses really are b**t**d things! You can have an intermittantly lame horse or lame on some ground but not others or lame going in one direction, but not the other. Enough to drive

Yes hoof testers where out. He didn't react or show any signs of discomfort but the vet did say she really didn't want to miss something like an abscess but said after the second nerve block if it is an abscess then he should trot up sound and they should find it on scans/X-rays if it was an abscess

He has been barefoot for 10 months and has just grown out the very last part of his 'old' hoof as such and has had no major problems and feet are looking the best they ever have, he just needs more varied work to get the feet/frog working and expanding (I think that's the right word) if you look at my previous thread there are lots of pictures.

He has recently has small tweaks in his diet but still very forage diet so high fibre, low sugar/starch (sugar/starch content always below 10%)

He's on speedi beet, hoof kind chaff and hand full on topspec cool condition cubes to encourage him to eat up. Supplement wise he has brewers yeast, linseed and magnesium