Lame horse, what would you do?

ellie_e

ellie_e

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Ok, so went for a weekly jumping lesson last night, horse was fine, jumping ok nothing to strenuous, hacking home which takes 5mins horse is lame in walk and trot. Get off check theres no stones in shoes etc all clear, so walk him in hand home. Cold hose legs down and his front fetlock is puffy with some heat, so put some arnica gel on it, and turn him out thinking he might of jarred it jumping. Horse canters off down field like nothings wrong. Go up to check this morning, cold hosed and put more arnica gel on, not as puffy as last night but still heat in the fetlock (towards the outside of the leg at the bottom), hes not as lame as yesterday, every other stride or so, so what would you lot do? Keep him in and give him so bute? Or keep him out and continue with what im doing? Hes a 6yr old kwpn, currently out 24/7.
ETA, he was shod on Monday...
 
It does sound like he's strained something jumping. I would say no to box rest and bute as all you will be doing is masking the symptons. Can you put him in a small paddock or section off some of your field with electric fencing so that he can stay out, stay mobile and keep the circulation going without having room to hoon around? I would keep cold hosing and applying the gel and if he's not significantly better by Monday get the vet out.
 
I would call your vet, as chances are he's done a tendon.

Do not give bute until your vet has seen him later today. But do keep cold hosing and stabled.
 
Its not his tendon, as tendon would be up, and its not, its just the bottom of his fetlock joint on the outside has some heat, its only slightly puffy,( we have another horse on yard whos just done his tendon, its nothing that bad!) sally i wont be able to separate him but he is normally very quiet in the field, have you had any experiences with the ice wrap things?
 
ellie_e said:
Its not his tendon, as tendon would be up, and its not, its just the bottom of his fetlock joint on the outside has some heat, its only slightly puffy,( we have another horse on yard whos just done his tendon, its nothing that bad!) sally i wont be able to separate him but he is normally very quiet in the field, have you had any experiences with the ice wrap things?
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He could well have damaged the soft tissue instead of a tendon and sometimes, most of the times it is worse than actually doing the tendon itself. Take it from me, my horse had 18 months of box rest and is only now really starting to work, there was no obvious inflammation and it was his collateral ligaments. The same thing has happened to my friend's mare, she had a little swelling but not much around the fetlock and she also had done her collateral ligament. I would definitely get the vet as turn out was a complete no no for us. Your horse is young like mine so has every chance of full recovery if diagnosed correctly and straight away.
 
There is more than one tendon in the leg (as you'll know) and my concern would be the suspensory ligament. And as the lameness came on after jumping it would be a vet visit for me.

It's actually difficult to compare two different horses with possibly two different tendon or ligament injuries as the two can present very differently in terms of degrees of lameness.
 
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Box rest and bute for a week then get your vet out to examine and probably scan the suspensory ligaments. Beware your horse may become sound in the meantime but it doesnt rule out suspensory injury(especially if limb is still a bit puffy). if you were to resum work too soon it could be catastrophic. I would have it scanned eitherw way.

Definitely box rest before vet out though as that is the first thing he will tell you to do. How lame was he? Also swelling needs to be gone before scanning.
 
From Saturday theres been no heat or swelling or puffiness. Hes back to his normal self, will keep an eye on him as per gelnruby... thanks for advise all.
 
ellie_e said:
Its not his tendon, as tendon would be up, and its not, its just the bottom of his fetlock joint on the outside has some heat, its only slightly puffy,( we have another horse on yard whos just done his tendon, its nothing that bad!) sally i wont be able to separate him but he is normally very quiet in the field, have you had any experiences with the ice wrap things?
Click to expand...

Sounds like he's rapped his pastern. I would just turn out (restricted if possible but not essential) and not ride until he's 100% sound). If it is just a bruise, it should only be a couple more days. If the lameness persists or gets worse, then confine him in the stable and get the vet. I very much doubt if it is serious.

The other possibility is a bruised sole. In which case it should get better by itself unless it leads to an absess, which will show by hoof getting hot and lameness getting worse.
 
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