Lame horse!!

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rmbk22

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Hi all,
Just wondering if anyone has had similar experience or can give advice. I bought a 15.2 5 year old cob gelding in december 2008. He is a beautiful boy and although we didnt get of to the best start as he is a nervous type and very green things were really starting to improve. Then in September 2009 he spooked in the arena while loose and jumped the gate and caught his back end slightly. The vet checked him over and advised one weeks rest as he had cut himself and it had become infected. after I started riding him again he didn't feel right, he fely very tense and short behind and started refusing jumps (only 2"3) he also started trying to bite me when girthing and mounting. I took him to the vet who said he was 3/10 lame on l/hind and had limited flexion in r/hock. He did x-rays up to hock and didnt find any abnormalities so referred him for bone scan. bone scan showed up sacroiliac strain and he was given steroid injection into the joint and advised 6 weeks box rest. he was given rest and vet found him to be sound again and I started riding him again in march with recommendation of 4 weeks road walking. After 2nd day he came in from the field lame again. A trip back to the vet and nerve blocking revealed pain coming from the left foot so he was given injection into coffin and some other foot joint. Vet advised to give one week rest and begin riding again but this time he said to just ride him as normal and have some fun! He still had habit of biting when mounting and girthing but this lessoned over time and i had a good 8 weeks with him and he seemed to be enjoying his work too. However about 4 weeks ago we had a cross country lesson only doing the 2"3 jumps and he went great but was not happy with me mounting him 2 days later and seemed to be sore aroung r/si area. I took him back to vet and he said he was a bit stiff and sore behind but was definately lame in both fore legs R>L and failed flexion test on all four limbs. He gave him Tildren and said to begin riding again in 2 weeks but he does not feel confident about his future long term.

Has anyone experienced similar problems with a horse and what was the outcome?
He is insured for lose of use with NFU - Anyone any experience of claiming?

Sorry for the essay but at devastated as he is really such a great boy!

Thanks
Regi:)
 
Hiya, i read your post hoping to share some of the many expereinces i have had with lameness, but i cannot shed any light on your situation. Very sorry!
I hope you get some solid answers and improvement soon. Fingers crossed, thinking of you x x x
 
Is it always the same vet?
My feeling would be send him to one of the big equine hospitals and have a full work up on him - all 4 legs/feet/joints and back, blocks, scans - the lot!
Find out exactly what you are dealing with. It just sounds a "ad hoc" and that your vet is treating individual bits of your horse when he seems to have multiple problems (been there done that!). Sounds as if you need need a top lameness expert to do everything in one go whilst you have some insurance left. If you have already done this then sorry if I missread your post.
 
I disagree with misst - plus this approach will most likely result in multiple exclusions on your insurance all at once - some of which may be unnecessary.

This horse appears to be developing multiple problems as opposed to having them all start together.
I would however look for a more specific diagnosis - you probably will require one if you want to be in a situation to claim for LOU. Were nerve blocks performed in both front limbs on the last visit to determine which joints/areas the problems are in?
 
glenruby said:
I disagree with misst - plus this approach will most likely result in multiple exclusions on your insurance all at once - some of which may be unnecessary.
Click to expand...

my first thoughts were along the same lines as misst - would they really exclude just because you have had the workup? mine went in with supposed lameness in 3 legs - turned out to be just in 1 foot, but only that foot is now excluded (and my insurance company are b*ggers for excluding things!)

OP - hope you get things sorted somehow. good luck!
 
Well, thats a bit different really - not a similar situation. I would just say that in the OPs post there is no evidence that all the problems occurred together and now that the previous ones have been treated - (seemingly successfully) then there isnt any point trying to work up each leg - just the lame one. Also most back pain is due to hindlimb lameness so will most likely resolve once the lameness has been treated - maybe with the help of some physio.
 
Hi
Thanks for all your advice. He was seen in equine hospital in nov but only had scan from withers back as front legs ok at that time and it was only the sacroiliac that showed up as a hot spot. They also did xray on back legs from hock down and all clear. A flexion test was carried out on the front legs then too and he passed that.

He hasn't had nerve block on front just on the left hind. Think vet just decided to try the tildren as he really wasn't sound on any of his limbs this time. He has had a little physio after si strain so think I will try that again and see if it helps too. Vet seems to think it could be a degenerative type of disease but nothing showing on xray at moment. He says to keep riding him when he isn't lame and try to enjoy him while I can it's just so hard when he is making faces etc when girthing a mounting cause not sure if he is genuinely sore or if it just a habit now!! It's difficult to know if he is lame though as it was so subtle before that I could never really see it or feel it.
 
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