Lame horse on bute and vet seen but still no better, what to do?

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alfirules

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Hello,

My horse Marco, who is just fittening up after kissing spines surgery, has now gone lame on his near hind.

He went lame last wednesday evening, it was very sudden as I rode him that morning and he was 100% sound.

As it was so sudden and he was hopping lame, my thoughts were get the farrier out as it's likely to be pus in the foot or a similar hoof problem. He had no swellings or marks on his leg.

so thursday morning i call the farrier, but couldn't get hold of him, so as he was so lame i called the vets.

I was at work so my mum dealt with the vet they sent, the vet was new and sounds inexperienced and he was very young.

He basically said he thought marco had nothing obvious and he said there was no heat in the foot (although that morning it was very hot to touch), he said he had a strong digital pulse but has them in the other feet too, so that must just be the way he is.

So he came to the conclusion that he had a sprain and said to bute him twice a day for a week then reassess him.

So on friday got hold of farrier but he was like, im going on holiday tomorrow and away until next wednesday, so can't look at him, great.

By saturday he had 3 days on 2 bute a day and was still hopping lame and foot was still hot and he was constantly resting it, so i decides to take the shoe off myself and poultice it.

couldn't really tell if there was pus on poultice but i guess without digging a hole the pus will take a while to work its way out.

Tonight he is still hopping lame and still on bute. does anyone have any suggestions as what it could be? Im certain its the foot, and hoping its just an abscess, but i would have thought the bute would make him more comfortable.

I would still like farrier to look at him, but thats not an option, so do i get a vet that i know to speak to and get to have a look, or do i leave it a few more days?

thanks for reading, have a cookie :) , any suggesstions greatly appreciated.
 
If he's hopping lame I would get your vet back out. Agree it sounds most likely to be pus in the foot but difficult to say without seeing him.
 
have a poke around his coronet band as if it is an abcess it could be working its way up to escape there.
is there any other local farrier you could contact??
 
I would go for foot as well. Have you got hoof testers? I keep them in the first aid box. Did vet hoof test him? Should off. If he has strong pulse it suggests it's in foot. Have you checked all pulses yourself? If it is poision foot it will be very painfull and will find the weakest point to burst out. Sole, hoof wall or coronet band and sometimes heel bulbs. You could always hot tub which will help if it is foot
 
I would say - get another farrier out! I had this with my pony a couple of years ago. i think (well I know) he trod on some broken glass and, although I thought i had checked the foot and seen nothing, evidently some glass must have got in. However, it wasn't until a week later - after having been out hacking fine in that time - that one afternoon he was all of a sudden non-weight bearing on his hind leg. I thought the worst and called the vet (thinking he must have broken something). Turned out he had a deep abscess/infection and he too was hopping lame. Thankfully out vet is a fab horsey vet and removed his shoe and dug it out himself. we poulticed and gave him ABs - apart from the vet nearley killing him with penicillin (yep - we didn't know he was allergic!) the lameness was resolved within the week once the infection and presure was realeased.

We had similar probs last year with our old TB - he was literally hopping on 3 legs and we thought must be something MUCH more serious than just an abscess but no, again was an large abscess in his foot that proved very hard to shift. One (new to the practice) vet came out and just didn't get to the root of the problem at all. It took the another vet visit and farrier to get him right but again once the pressure of it was released andit could drain he was sound. We did get him some Boa Boots to wear to help him.

So, the long and short of it - get a farrier out - there must be more than one. If they cannot find the problem then get a proper equine vet. if the other vet couldn't not find any obviosu sign of lameness - ie swelling anywhere then I would srongly suspect an abscess. Worst case scenario would maybe be a fractured pedal bone or something but I would got down the abscess route first (i was convinced our TB must have got something more serious as thought he was far too lame to just have an abscess but I was proven wrong)
 
thankyou for all your suggestions, there are more than 1 farrier, but they are buggers to get hold of around here, they are all busy and don't want to know!

It was a proper equine vet that came out, but i just think he is cr*p because it is so definately the foot! He did put hoof testers on, but said he didn't react, but my mum said he was fidgety and the vet said he was being naughty, but he is normally very good.

I will phone another farrier or will get another vet out.

thanks again!

will let you know how he goes.
 
The thing is with hoof tester's they don't always show up anything. Mine just recoverd from a deep seated foot abscess. Two vistd from a farrier then the vet both hoof tested no reacted. Like the vet said to me didnt want to dig as it's just not ready to come out just wait. It was a long 6-7weeks wait for it come out. Hope your's get better soon.
 
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