Lame or sound? a little vid

But Allover you don't even know what her condition is. She doesn't have one. She had a lump (that was a tissue reaction to a wound) removed and is having a foreign body reaction to the internal sutures left behind. There is no actual problem with her joint, the underlying structures are a-ok. She has been x rayed and scanned within an inch of her life so I'm pretty confident on that one.

And she isn't really three. She is three and a half now so should be well up to a few sessions on the lunge a week.
 
Well this is my first TB and look where that has got me!! Rode past the local stud farm and saw her in field with her mum- fell in love and that was that. No sense at all. May all go belly up yet but she is my absolute dream and I only hope I get to do all the stuff that I know she'd be fab at. By the way, how do you upload pics to go with posts??! Am luddite.
 
i personally would lay off the lunging, lame or not, lunging puts excess strain on the hocks, unless its a mahoosive circle. If you lunge, do it on a very large circle so there is no tight turning involved and maybe add some trotting poles in to get her using her hind end consistently, lots of long reining in straight lines, this is also good so you can monitor how she is using it by being able to look from behind. If there is no improvement in 3-4 weeks i would be turning away. There is no better healer than time, my tb has been off for a year now! he is now on his way to being sound, but not 100%, but considering what his scans came back with, hes lucky not to be in a wooden box on my unit! She is still young and has plenty of time ahead :-) Oh and i cannot recomend magnets enough :-) increases blood flow and healing time :-) partly the reason mine has come sound..... for now ;-)
 
You stated that she has enough swelling on her hock to inhibit the movement in the joint, if this is indeed the case she will not be able to move her leg correctly when she is asked to work on a circle (as is clear in the video you posted), therefore she will compensate for the compromise to her mobility by "holding herself" which will cause further issues. As she is 3 and young both physically and mentally i can see absolutely no harm in turning her away to mature for 6 months and bring her back into work as a 4yr old. Mooching about a field could well clear the swelling and stiffness especially if she is attended to by a physio.
 
All noted. But with the greatest of respect I am going to follow the advice of my equine referral vet and continue working her. I trust their judgement and have no reason to ignore them at this point.

And the horse doesn't mooch in the field. It pelts round like an absolute hooligan. None of you would be concerned about a bit of lunging if you could see the tricks it pulls on itself! Idiot, foolish filly! :):D
 
Last edited:
I think vets must have something drilled into them in vet school, to either say "box rest it", or "Work it through it, itl be fine" i dont think iv come across a vet yet that has said give it a good few months in the field and the injuries settle and the re access. Mine told me to keep working him and he was broken, didnt make sense to me, couldnt bare watching him go round lame. You know what is right for your little lady. Good luck!! as for showing and the scars.... boot polish ;-)
 
Hehe China. I do totally agree that vets are usually like that. We left her on field rest for 6 months before she had the surgery in the hope it would go down on its own though and it didn't budge an inch. So this time I am happy to try something else. If she wasn't happy enough I wouldn't do it to her. I like her too much.
 
TBH I would turn her out and let nature deal with it. She is still a baby and hocks are the last to complete their formation. A winter turned away is by far the best thing for her.

If the swelling is going to go down it will, but working her with it like this will make her uncomfortable and eventually resentful. Her back is tight showing her discomfort.
 
Her back is tight because she has only been lunged less than twenty times in her whole life, it was blowing a gale and she thinks the whole thing is an excuse to run about as fast as she can at the best of times. I think expecting a horse that has done so little work to look totally relaxed and be swinging along might be asking a bit much really. I did already explain why she looks so uptight earlier on.

And, knowing the horse and the past history, I doubt very much nature will deal with it. She shouldn't have needed surgery in the first place. Nature should have dealt with that. She was left well alone the first time round all to no avail. After six months she still had a huge swelling with a wound that would periodically reopen on the top. She has a quite barmy immune system it would seem. Horrible animal. I'm going to shoot it!
 
Personally I wouldn't lunge her - it's too much pressure on an allready compromised joint.

Walk her in straight lines only on a hard surface, not in the school.

I also agree that she is tight over her back. This will have more to do with her hock than her inexperience at being lunged.......
 
Last edited:
another thought JT, the swelling could be the start of a bog spavin? we have a horse on our yard that had a hock trauma many many years ago and had two surgerys on it to flush the hock out. he now has a permanant bog spavin which presents as a large swelling, anyone who doesnt know him thinks we havnt spotted the mahoosive hock ;-) it doesnt affect him in general but does slightly inhibit his fluency in movement with that leg.
 
I think I will take her for a walk with BH this evening. I reckon she'd quite like that. I hate lunging at the best of times anyway and I need to ride him so kills two birds with one stone :)
That way she can take her exercise in a nicer fashion.

I think the theory on it is that it is fibrous swelling. It certainly feels that way at the moment. Although last week I did get a few days of pus discharging from it which is why, for the moment at least, she has to keep moving and keep the circulation up. Just in case there is some more in there. The vets are optimistic that once the stitches dissolve it will go down but we shall see. If she has a permanently fat hock I'll just have to pin a note to her bum when we go out. Something along the lines of 'please don't worry, I have noticed her hock is huge, it isn't anything to worry about' or something like that :p :D
 
Hi Jesstickle, I am sorry to say that you have come on here to post about your youngster, and as you know it best and you are going to go with the advice given by the vet, I don't know what you want anyone on here to say.
As far as I know only a strong and sound three year old should be ridden and lunged [I never lunge until the horse is well behaved and able to work slowly in order to build strength]
The general opinion of the people on here, who have years of experience with hundreds of horses is that it should be turned away, if you are concerned that it will go nuts, give it some sedative and turn out with a quiet friend.
The original question was lame or sound, well you have your answer but really, you should know yourself or ask your vet, to explain how to tell, your horse has a problem, as this is something you need to know.
It is up to you to decide what to do, but we have given our advice, and if it does not fit with your opinion, fair enough, we are concerned that the horse will be damaged long term, not that we want to agree or disagree with you or your vet.
With such a radical solution by your vet, I would ask for a second opinion.
 
MrsD123, what an incredibly patronising response. I think perhaps you haven't read my posts very carefully at all. Or that maybe you just get out of bed on the wrong side a lot. You do often seem to be crotchety when replying to people's posts :) I shall clarify some things for you as perhaps I haven't been entirely clear in previous replies.

1) the horse is living out 24/7. I have quite categorically stated that and yet you seem to be under the impression she is stabled. She hoons around because she feels well and is a playful youngster. I presume your advice is not to sedate her for the next six months to prevent perfectly natural behaviour? I mention the way she behaves in the field because it is directly relevant to how sore she is and how much work she may or may not be capable of. Plus because I think it is funny and she makes me smile when she plays quite so athletically.
2) I have already given my opinion which is that the horse isn't quite right. I can see it quite clearly and I have said as much. And for the record I do see plenty of horses just as lame as mine in ridden work at shows or for sale on the internet. I seem to diagnose lameness better than a good percentage of the population apparently.
3) The general opinion was not that it should be turned away. Of all the people that replied only about three actually suggested it. Others have offered alternative exercise she can do which I am very grateful for and will be trying out. Especially as that was the question I actually wanted answered when I posted. I think that was perfectly clear, so why you feel the need to ask me what I wanted I'm not quite sure.
4) Although you may get a second opinion with another vets, as I have previously stated, I trust my vets, there are reasons why we aren't just turning away which I have previously explained (we tried field rest pre surgery it didn't work, there has recently been discharge from the site etc) and they know my horse and her bonkers immune system.
5) How on earth do I know that the people suggesting turn away have years of experience with hundreds of horses? For all I know they could be 14 year olds who have only ever owned my little ponies. Of course I am not going to disregard my vets advice to listen to them. I am happy to consider anything which is suggested but I am of course only going to use the bits of advice I feel are relevant. I'm sorry that it doesn't include your advice but there is no need to take it personally and pen me a snipey reply.

Cheer up petal. worse things happen at sea :)
 
Coo what a furore!

FWIW I'd do a combination of lots of the above, including leaving her out as much as possible for a year from the original injury to let her get all the seasons on it.

I'd also teach her to pony alongside BH, I'd get her happy to walk in, over, under and through absolutely anything I could think of before she was ready to back, with all manner of objects tied to her, dangling from her, flapping round her. A good long strip of bubble wrap is an interesting one I found both for walking over and dragging round behind you. I'd have her absolutely spot on with whispered voice commands before you get into lunging her much. I'd also have her walking over poles both from a jumping point of view coming at them from lunatic angles and from a physio point of view walking over fans of poles, alternate raised etc

You may be having to delay backing her but you can at least use the time to get the most obedient, calm, experienced, flexible and ready to be backed horse that you possible can:)
 
shes gorgeous if that helps :) she looks off to be on the off hind... but thats been said a million times now lol! If it was my horse, I would have posted here to get other peoples view before getting the vet. I second the advice of perhaps a holiday to grow up more and strengthen her joints ... I planned on backing mine as a 3yr old.... hes now waiting til next year due to his attitude more than anything. Good luck :)
 
jemima_too said:
A good long strip of bubble wrap is an interesting one I found both for walking over and dragging round behind you.
Click to expand...

Oo, I do love bubble wrap. I love popping it. sounds like double fun. I can play with Nitty and then I can bring it home and drive OH potty! :D

I did try flapping a feed sack around her once and all she did was try and stick her head in it! I'm not sure we learnt much of a lesson that day, other than that Nitty is a pig disguised as a horse! Perhaps I'll have better luck with bubble wrap. She can't possibly think that is edible. Can she :p ?

How is the new horse j_t?

O and MrVelvet, I am coming to comment on your thread but yours is absolutely gorgeous :)

I'm not backing her 'til next year now anyway. It's freezing cold and she is wooly like a yack. I'm not a masochist. I'll be waiting until she at least sheds some hair and it is light after six o clock again! I don't want to be backing her in the middle of winter. Hideous thought, I hate winter. I'll hardly even ride BH, never mind her as well!
 
If the vet wants her worked but She is a divvy on the Lunge then I Would definitely go down the long reining route. Its far better for the joints and far more beneficial schooling wise if she is rubbish And tense on the lunge. Remember fat hock.or no fat hock, you are still training for the future.
 
amymay said:
Personally I wouldn't lunge her - it's too much pressure on an allready compromised joint.

Walk her in straight lines only on a hard surface, not in the school.

I also agree that she is tight over her back. This will have more to do with her hock than her inexperience at being lunged.......
Click to expand...

I have to agree with this, she does look sore rather than lame to me but I would not want to be lunging her regardless of what the vet said. Long Lining would be much less of a strain on her joints.
 
china said:
How did you come across such information? One of my students with two years experience could have commented on here....
Click to expand...
OK, well maybe I am a crotchety person, I just don't think people should work a lame horse, sorry it just a welfare issue, and I cannot say I have ever seen any horse hoon [not sure what that means Google: Hoon is a derogatory term used in Australia and New Zealand, to refer to a young person who engages in loutish, antisocial behaviour. In particular, it is used to refer to one who drives a car or boat in a manner which is anti-social by the standards of contemporary society, that is, fast, noisily and/or dangerously.]
As it happens the average age on here is quite high, and average experience of posters ditto, for example I have handled 1000 horses, and am over 58, so that brings the average up quite a bit.
My point is that the OP asked is horse lame or sound, well it is not sound, and as she has to look after it day in day out she should be able to tell.
 
Looking at her movement I would guess that she is expecting the leg to be sore when she is transferring weight onto it in the sequence, therefore is holding herself in the back to help accept/lessen the expected pain.
As your vet has said to lunge then I would do it on as large as circle as possible and maybe use something like a chambon/draw reins looped (like kerilli does it) attached to the cavesson to encourage her to use her back actively and allow it to soften instead of her current bracing action :)
She dosen't appear lame more just not 100%, which is often harder to work with imo!

I would also speak to the vet re: bute and maybe try one session on the lunge with her on bute to break the expected pain if he agrees. Just an idea as it can be a useful method with people :)

(fully expecting outcry here - but trying to give just my own observations to OP that don't go against her vet!)
 
thanks only_me. She doesn't have to be lunged exclusively. Just worked, although lunging has definitely been cleared as ok. It is just rather difficult to think of things besides lunging that are safe to do with an essentially untouched 3 year old however. Which is why I ended up stuck lunging. I am teaching her to long reign but as I say, my hacking is diabolical and I wouldn't dare take her out on long lines so again we're stuck in the school. Which is why I felt compelled to ask on here if anyone could think of anything else to do with her that isn't going to result in us both getting killed.

And, just to make it perfectly clear, I can see that she isn't 100% right! How many times do I have to say I can see it before people believe me. I feel like I'm going totally potty!
 
Last edited:
She has gone back on Danilon since I took the video to try and help with the swelling so she is now working on bute as a happy side effect of something else. Don't know if she is any sounder mind you as I haven't done anything with her since Thursday. I know she has to work but I have the most hideous cold ever and I haven't been able to bring myself to do anything with either of them (I'm aware that it totally feeble). I'll do them both tomorrow and will report back. Will have a second session on long reigning I think. If we can get to the point where I can walk behind her rather than off to the side I can at least take her for a walk round the fields :)
 
Just thought what about the trec sessions that lady local to me does she does sessions for yougsters, you could make your own little course based on that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top