Lame horse - opinions on cause?

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olliesmum

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My 5 year old cob has been lame in the right hind for three weeks. There is no obvious heat or swelling. He comes out lame in the morning and it wears off a bit as he moves around. I had the vet who said "don't know". If anything it seems to be getting worse not better. Any opinions on cause and what to do now? Should I go for nerve-blocking, try a physio? Any other ideas?
 
Get a different vet out!
My pony had similar simptoms but only very slight, she wasn't lame enough to nerve block so they had her in for xrays and there was a small 1mm spur on joint between fetlock and hoof... they think it's early degenerative joint desease.
 
Did your vet examine the horse, but not find anything immediately obvious - then suggest waiting a day or so to see how things improve/decline? (as can quite often be suggested when there's no obvious sign of what's wrong).


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Sorry but your vet does not sound very good - get a second opinion!

The vet should start with a full lameness work up which should include
- hoof testers, and generally looking at the shape of the foot, fit of shoes, etc.
- walk and trot in a straight line on the hard
- flexion tests to see if there is any deterioration and whether it is centred on the hock or stiffle
- walk and trot in a straight line in a surface
- lunge in a surface
- and possibly lunge on concrete if your horse is likely to be sensible about this

If nothing obvious comes up you can try bute/danilon for two weeks and paddock rest. If no improvement I think you would be looking at x-rays and nerve blocks.

Also worth checking the horse's back and teeth just in case the source of the problem is there (some back problems look like hind limb lameness, and while you're looking at everything else you might as well check the teeth!).
 
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The vet did use hoof testers, walk and trot in a straightline, and flexion tests but didn't lunge.

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Doesn't sound as if he did anyting wrong on an initial examination. So, how did you leave it with him? Did he want you to contact him if there was no improvement?


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Agree, horse should get a full lameness work up. Are you insured for said horse? It can be very expensive to get the full work up. Apparently (a vet told me this btw) cobs due to the shape of their hind ends can often have problems on the backends with lameness eg stifle/hock. And I'd certainly leave the shoes ON so that when you do get a lameness work up, he isn't coming up foot sore to skew the results.
 
If he was sound on the ground it sounds the same as my boy who has a back problem. I had a joint assessment with physio and vet who decided a course of sedated 'deep' physio treatments were needed then we shall see what happens. If this doesn't work then we will have to persue scans etc. I'd get a different vet out with a physio.
 
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