Lame for 2 months suggested MRI cant afford

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katfilby

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I bought a 5 year old ex Race horse in Jan who passed vetting flying colours. Turned him out and he came in really lame. Lameness got worse over next day so had vet out. They x rayed, nerve blocked etc. Discovered something in coffin joint region. First thought it was pedal fracture but then not. He had a steroid injection into his joint. Has shown improvement but just staying the same. Still really lame. Has special shoes to take pressure of heels. Vet has now suggested an MRI and i simply cannot afford it being only 18 and having persuaded my parents after years to buy me a horse! I am DESPERATE for some help and any advise!!
Been on box rest for two months. Can be turned out and manages to go mad. Not on bute anymore. Cant turn a circle. Somedays better than others.
Kat x
 
PM Nats_uk - her horse had exactly the same injury and I just watched a video of him jumping and he was lovely.

Am sure she will have lots of helpful advice.
 
By the time you get to the stage of MRI regarding injuries within the feet - even though diagnosis has come on in leaps and bounds, treatment has not! Depending on the extent of the injuries (which you wouldn't know without MRI) the most they can usually do is surgical shoes, shockwave therapy and rest. You can do surgical shoes and rest without an exact diagnosis, and shockwave is far from 100% successful. I've got a horse diagnosed with severe injuries inside her two front feet that she probably had when I bought her despite passing a vetting, its a bu**er isn't it? She's on controlled exercise at the moment and the she'll be turned away for at least six months. Is this an option for you? There's very little more any vets or yourself can do than rest it and see what happens - or PTS now, the odds if it getting better are probably quite poor - though without MRI the vets couldn't give a realistic guess at if the horse will recover and how long it may take.
 
Ok worse case scenario an MRI would reveeal would be soft tissue injury requiring 6 months box rest / walking. Of course it could be something else. However you can't go far wrong with most foot injuries with rest / controlled exercise / remedial shoeing to address foot balance / glucosamine based supplement.

If you really cant afford the MRI I would box rest and provide controlled exerise in walk for 2 -3 months then gradually introduce turn out in a TINY paddock. I would walk for 30 mins - 1 hour per day in hand / on walker / ridden. At the end of 6 months either carry on building up the work or turn away for 6 months.

Alternatively take off shoes and turn away for 12 months, but 1st option more likely to result in sound horse. Good luck
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If you can't afford an MRI, I would treat this injury as though it were a collateral ligament tear - which I presume is what they are looking for with the MRI.

Turning the horse away will probably not help as it is v. lame. Speak to your vet and ask them what they would say if it were a collateral strain. Usually the answer would be a fair amount of box rest (6 weeks +) followed by very carefully controlled hand walking on hard ground, followed by controlled turn out in a small pen. Pretty much as kanter has described above.

I know that remedial shoeing can help, but while the horse is on box rest I'd be happier taking the shoes off completely. But speak to your vet.
 
Hi my first post - feeling brave now!! Have been hanging around anonymously for months!
My daughter who posts on here and is away had the same problem with both of our TBs. the first was very like yours in history and was misdiagnosed as navicular (few years ago when this was common). Eventually MRI showed huge collateral ligament damage and after much rest/bute/walking he was pts. He was 8 years old and the light of our lives. 5 years on our present Tb went "footy" - quicker diagnosis this time - collateral ligament. We have had joint injections, shockwave treatment, rest, controlled walking, silicone gel pads and remedial shoeing. He is now sound (how I hate tempting fate) and hacking out well and trotting and cantering straight lines in the school. Vet saw him last week for routine vaccinations and was thrilled with him. He will never compete again and who knows how long before he breaks again - but every day is precious. I can only second what everyone else says go for the restfor 6 weeks, walking in straight lines (horse walker made ours worse due to the circular pattern of movement), small paddock turnout for at least 6 months and see what happens. Find a good farrier and get your vet and him to communicate about the best way forward. Overall do not rush anything - hard as that is. I wish you every bit of good luck in the world for a happy ending - it can happen sometimes
 
Did you not get insurance hun?

My horse has both fractured his pedal bone and sprained his coffin joint. There is also another horse on our yard at the mo with a more serious sprain to the coffin joint. Fractured pedal bone was special shoes (the full round ones) for 9 months, solid box rest for 6 months and then 3 months bringing back into work slowly. Sprained coffin joint was steriod injection, 2 months box rest, 1 month bringing back into work and another month consistant work before I jumped again.

If there is no real way you can afford a MRI I would agree with some of the other posts and say he needs solid box rest - you say he can be turned out. well if he has sprained or torn something everytime he goes mad he is going to make it worse. In both cases with my horse I had to turn down the option of restricted turnout as he just went doolally out in the field.

I agree with both kanter and Halfstep:
[ QUOTE ]
Usually the answer would be a fair amount of box rest (6 weeks +) followed by very carefully controlled hand walking on hard ground, followed by controlled turn out in a small pen

[/ QUOTE ]
However if your horse goes mad out in a field then you have to keep him in for longer and take longer building up the in-hand walking.

Good luck and keep us posted
 
Thank you so much for the quick responses!
I gathered a MRI scan would show something that required box rest and special shoes etc and was just wondering if it could show anything that didnt require that.
I am insured but it only covers half of the MRI and 20% of the time he stays at the vets. Which im sure will add up.
Vets out on monday so i will say to them i simply cannot afford it and to ask what the MRI would show. He can be on rest for as long as he needs it because to be fair there isnt alot else one can do.
He is able to wonder round a small area without going nuts and happily just eats the grass. Do you think this is ok?

There is a smaller paddock he can be turned out in and he does go mad for the first few minutes but settles, being a TB and only 5 he isnt the quietest of animals!

Its such a shame seeing as i have only have him a few months but these things happen. All i want is for him to get better and can wait any amount of time.

The vet has spoken to my farrier who has filed his feet in a certain way to relieve pressure of his heels, not sure of the name ofthe shoe but they are really thick at the toe. Definatly improved him but still looks like steady progress.

Again thanks so much for the responses its nice to have some reasurance that im not doing the complete wrong thing.

xxx
 
Also any idea on MRI costs i thought it was aroun d £1200 and what about cost of corrective shoes?

MY horse has had about 14 x rays if there was and really serious damage would it have not shown up on these?
 
You're about right with the cost of MRI. Unlike x-rays it shows soft tissue damage.

I went through something similar with one of my horses and was at the end of the line with her, but I was covered for an MRI scan, so before putting her to sleep I decided to use my insurance to find out if it really was hopeless. As luck would have it, this coincided with me bumping into an Equine Podiatrist who visited other horses on the yard, and as I had nothing to lose and seemed to have exhausted all my options, I decided to go down the barefoot route. The EP couldn't promise a miracle, but he had a strategy and a track record of success.

It's a long story really and I'm just skimming over it, but anyway, my horse became one of his success stories, and she came good and got back to ridden work and competition.

People will tell you barefoot podiatry is a minefield, which is true, but if you explore this option look for the qualification DAEP. Mine is in West Sussex but travels quite widely. PM me if you want.
 
Hi,

My horse has been for a recent MRI and like you I had to pay half the costs. It cost £1.012 including everything. He did not have to stay at the clinic though, I picked him up the same day.

As a matter of interest my horse was previously x-rayed and showed absolutely nothing, he had no heat or swelling at any time and nothing to see (as all the injuries are in his feet). The MRI showed that he had a severe tendon injury and also collateral ligament problems to the coffin joint.

He had 2 months box rest with walking out for 20 mins x 2 per day. He is now sound in walk and trot on the straight in hand and untested in anything else. He is now on month 2 of 12 months field rest. He is also on medication and special shoeing to help the injuries. However I have only been quoted a 30 per cent chance of getting him back into work. It is not always the case that 6 months box rest and walking out will sort everything.

The reasons I went for MRI are that my vet suspected what he had or changes to the cartilage of the coffin joint. These require very different management, so although people can give advice, this could be wrong unless you actually know what is happening.

I really do wish you all the luck in the world and the cost of specialist shoeing depends on what is required due to the cost of the different products used.
 
Thank you again for all your help. The vet is now coming on Wednesday for a big chat about it all which will help alot. Im preparing for the worst as its been 2 months with not alot of change. I just find it so hard becos im in the position of not being able to afford it but i want whats best for him. Its just such a shame he has the sweetest personality i have met! Makes evrything 10 times harder!
Will keep you posted.
xx
 
Agree with halfstep and Misst - would suggest your vet was wanting to look at collateral ligament. Having had two horses with this injury the main treatment is simply rest. If you have the time and the patience turn away for six months. There is no point bringing back in to work any sooner even if the horse appears sound as the ligament will simply 'break' again. The success rate with this type of injury is greatly improving, however, unless you are one of the lucky ones your horse is unlikely to be competition fit again and should not jump. If you don't have the funds for an MRI you could try talking to your vet about using ultrasound. Whilst some of the collateral ligament is hidden from view the top edge is visible. My vet did a lot of research using my horse as his case study and found that diagnosis is possible sometimes through this route. In my horse's case whilst diagnosis was reached through an MRI you can see some level of swelling on ultrasound. Good luck.
 
I only had to pay half my MRI but I have found paying for it valuable as my horse has been diagnosed not only with collateral ligament strain but also coffin joint arthritis. So they are medicating the arthritis alongside the treatment for the collateral ligament damage.
 
read this with interest as just picked my horse up for spending all day at the vets. He is lame on near fore, but no heat, swelling etc. Has had 6 nerve blocks without even reaching the knee! Been ultra sounded at each and not showing any soundness. Vet wants him back next week to nerve block upto shoulder if ness. But as not so localised up there, he suggested a bone scan, is this an MRI? Injecting with radioactive fluid and its shows the trauma up in red. How do you know if you are covered for an MRI? I have read my policy and cant find anything about me paying half or not? I am with SEIB. Any one else had a similar lameness problem? Vet was thinking suspensory but no difference when nerve blocked. Horse has not done much since Jan, only hacked and not even jumped.
 
I know of an endurance horse that had remedial shoeing for 12 months to "support his heels." Still lame in field and £5,000 worth of vets feeds, injections, shoeing. Clear X rays, never really got a diagnosis.

Contacted barefoot trimmer. Told to remove shoes, gradually, heel supports one shoeing, shoes removed 2nd time. Then she took him, trimmed his feet, exercised in boots and horse returned sound after a couple of months. Obvioulsy it was more complicated than this, but that is what basically what happened. Vet was prepared to PTS after 12 months, but the horse has returned to competition again. Shod again, but shoes will be removed for the winter, so feet can rest and build up strength again.

Might not be appropriate in your case, but you could look on some barefoot websites - Hope for Soundness,e tc.
 
I think by bone scan they mean a gamma ray scan which is different from a MRI. I believe they can do a gamma scan of the whole body whereas the MRI is very detailed but of one particular area.
 
Hey sorry i havnt posted i have been away for a week which was to be honest well needed!
The vet nerve blocked him again and found the pain was still in the same place and hadnt got worse and not moved. slightly more pain on the inside than outside. x rays show he has a "spike" on his navicular possibly? but not something that would cause this and it may have always been there always. showed a few small things on the x ray but most likely not the cause of lameness. good pedal bone.
spoke about the mri and she said we will try remedial shoeing as she thinks this may help if not the mri scan as last resort as probably tendon damage.

so basically to sum up my poor boy is on box rest OR if i can sucessfully turn him out and keep him out then thats another option which i hope works! and he is now recieving remedial shoes! so all in all, no where near the end of his problem
frown.gif
!

thanks for everyones posts! xxxx
 
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