Lameness challenge - advice before Fri 16th gratefully received!

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angelat

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Hi everyone, bear with me this is a bit of a long post but hopefully you like a challenge!!

Have a 16.3 warmblood, just turned 5 and recently backed, passed 2 stage vetting by same vet who is looking after him now. Was in dire condition when bought and a few weeks after starting regular work, showed intermittant lameness but no injuries or heat.

Vet thought might be due to growing pains as horse has shot up 2 inches since being fed, had poor muscle tone particularly at back end and has a monster stride which he needs to co-ordinate!

Vet has always said that any problem is in left hind but initial x rays of all legs showed nothing and nerve block of suspect leg up to and inc suspensory ligament didn't address the lameness.

However, over the 8 weeks since these initial investigations, the horse showed continual improvement and to myself and my trainer, he looks perfectly sound and even. In fact he got 80.8% in his first walk and trot test and 9 for his paces - proud Mum that I am.

But, the vet is still not happy with him - and took him in for a bone scan - again perfect apart from a hot spot in left hind fetlock. Another set of x rays again came up clear.

On Friday 16th the vet is coming out to nerve block the left hind fetlock joint again and I have several questions but would welcome any suggestions as to anything else I should ask as I either want a diagnosis and prognosis so we can act if need be or the horse to be "signed off" and insurance exclusions limited.

My thoughts are:
Bone scan indicates potential early bone problem but if so why is he improving with daily work? Why nothing on 2 sets of x rays?

Could it be soft tissue but again how would that improve with work?

Prior to the bone scan, the vet said that he didn't think the horse would ever be able to event which seemed quite a strong statement and still does. We are looking to do up to Novice if he has any jumping ability (more of a dressage horse)but not Badminton.

Is it possible that the vet has upped the ante because when we bought the horse he was in a sorry state (and very cheap)and is now being valued as worth a lot more due to his breeding and paces - would this make the vet more cautious?

I don't mean to be overly challenging to the vet, he's a senior partner in a well respected equine practice and a great bloke but for my own peace of mind I need to be sure I have covered all the options. After all this is my equine baby we are talking about...

THANKS ALL
 
In your shoes I would be doing nothing further at this stage, as the horse is showing signs of improvement.

However, your vet sounds as if he has the bit well and truly in his teath - and pound signs in front of his eyes.......

If you x-ray enough, you'll eventually find something - even if it has no bearing on the original problem.
 
Echo Amy completely but also with WBs that young and that big which has been poor for some time, I'm afraid I would be throwing him out in the field to mature properly and slowly before subjecting him to any work.
If he's meant for dressage then what is the rush?
He needs time to mature gradually now his body is filling out and doesn't need it stressing at all IMHO. (but I'm known to not like working young horses before their skeletons and minds are ready for it, this one doesn't sound ready to me because of his past history.)
 
Hind end weakness... poor back end muscling.... lack of coordination... irregular gait.... all of this a mystry... in a Warmblood. Sounds like digestive myopathy which is as common as muck in warmbloods, heavy horses and their X's. Google PPSM and EPSM easily fixed with a change of diet.
 
I used to have an xray happy vet - in fact he was every procedure happy - particularly if it meant he could charge you mega bucks!

I would personally cancel the vets visit on Friday and give it another month before you have him back (unless something catastrophic happens) will give you time to get a bit more condition / muscle on him.
 
Sounds like he is growing, and has not fully build up the muscles to support himself, this will come with time and work. I would personally cancel the vet for the moment and see how the horse goes. We have one on our yard which was looking a little off, but when he was vetted we spoke to the vet about it and he just said as a Warmblood he is still growing and just needs time for the muscles to build up to support the amount of bone. I hope it is just something as simple as that.
 
I'm with the opinion of putting him out in a field for a couple of months, let him grow into himself esp as he sounds like he has been lacking in the TLC dept before you got him. Dont overfeed him to get the condition just let him grow. Which he should be able to do in a field. Bring him back into light work and be prepared to start slowly. If you dont have the patience now - do you want to be stuck in the same situation in 1-2yrs time when you have put all the effort in and he goes lame then. Couple of months now may save you a year down the line.
Good luck
 
Hi many apologies for the delay in updating you but thanks first to all of you for your advice which was so useful. As it happens the vet didn't come on 16th and hence we are still waiting for an update ourselves.

What I am really relieved to hear from you is an endorsement of current programme of fitness and fatness - since early Jan the horse has been fed to bulk him up and worked regularly but gently e.g. in walk or trot to build up muscle. We have only recently started canter so he has been progressed carefully.

We did debate with vet and physio the wisdom of turning him out for a few mths vs. keeping him in work and the view was that we needed to see if he improved or deteriorated particularly since the horse was under a 3 mth warranty so we did have an option to return him as a last resort. The dealer has kindly agreed to extend this indefinitely while we get to the bottom of it.

At present we will still probably have 1 more visit from the vet as he hasn't seen the horse for several weeks but further interventions we be limited if we can't find a definite issue.

The horse won't be going back I'm sure we can manage any issues and he deserves the committment as he is such a lovely horse and so genuine.
 
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