Trigs
New User
Hi all,
I'm a long-time reader of the forums here, but have never posted before, so hello, please be kind!
I've had my boy since June last year, and we've had a bit of a rough first winter. He's a ten year old thoroughbred, who trained but never raced. Shod on all 4 feet, turned out for 8-9 hours per day, stabled at night. Fed Calm & Condition, Alfa A Oil and Biotin, along with ad-lib haylage. I'll try to give as much background info to his case as I can, just incase anything I'm overlooking may be relevant.
Following the snow, my boy had quite a bad case of mudfever, which, despite applying a barrier cream daily since the beginning of September (he's a chestnut with 4 white legs), affected him quite horribly on both fores behind his knees, resulting in lameness. We followed my vet's advice, box rest until all scabs came off, washing 1-2 times per week and applying Sudocrem. Once all the scabs came off and the hair began to regrow I was given permission to turn out again wearing Equilibrium Close Contact chaps, which have been fantastic, and we've had no further problems at all as far as the mudfever goes.
However, just as he was looking sound again, he came in from the field hopping lame on his near fore. Tried to contact farrier, to no avail, so called out my vet. Vet removed shoe, pared foot and found an abscess. Poulticed twice a day, as advised, for around 8-9 days until nothing else visible on the poultice, at which point my farrier came out, put the shoe back on and packed the hole with a little cotton wool.
As advised by my farrier, I began to turn him out again, and was told that he would be fine to ride. I trotted him up a couple of days later just to check his soundness, at which point he looked crippled. Again, called out the vet, as very worried that there could be something more serious lurking. Vet saw him trot up, performed a flexion test on the fore and then pared away more of his sole, diagnosing that the lameness was the result of him being footsore following the abscess. He recommended that I get my farrier to fit a pad beneath his shoe to offer more protection to the tender area in his sole.
Still with me?
So, the pad was fitted 3 weeks ago, and he's still lame. I'm trotting him up once a week for my instructor's opinion, and though he is improving week on week, he's still noticeably lame on the hard ground, though in the field, and trotting up in the school and on the lunge he looks sound. I've spoken to my farrier again, who says simply that the vet dug around too much in his sole, and it will take time for him to come right again. I just wanted to know if anyone had any experiences or advice of similar situations?
I'm in no hurry to rush him back into work, it'll be 12 weeks today since he was last ridden as a result of snow/mudfever/abscess, but I just want him sound again. Feeling somewhat useless, and want to do something, anything to help. If anyone has any ideas/thoughts, I'd love to hear them, he means the world to me, and I just want to do everything I can to get him right again.
Sorry it's so long, just wanted to give as much info as I could. Neither myself, my vet or my farrier think the lameness now is related to the mudfever, but thought it best to include everything, just in case!
Any advice hugely welcomed, thank you!
I'm a long-time reader of the forums here, but have never posted before, so hello, please be kind!
I've had my boy since June last year, and we've had a bit of a rough first winter. He's a ten year old thoroughbred, who trained but never raced. Shod on all 4 feet, turned out for 8-9 hours per day, stabled at night. Fed Calm & Condition, Alfa A Oil and Biotin, along with ad-lib haylage. I'll try to give as much background info to his case as I can, just incase anything I'm overlooking may be relevant.
Following the snow, my boy had quite a bad case of mudfever, which, despite applying a barrier cream daily since the beginning of September (he's a chestnut with 4 white legs), affected him quite horribly on both fores behind his knees, resulting in lameness. We followed my vet's advice, box rest until all scabs came off, washing 1-2 times per week and applying Sudocrem. Once all the scabs came off and the hair began to regrow I was given permission to turn out again wearing Equilibrium Close Contact chaps, which have been fantastic, and we've had no further problems at all as far as the mudfever goes.
However, just as he was looking sound again, he came in from the field hopping lame on his near fore. Tried to contact farrier, to no avail, so called out my vet. Vet removed shoe, pared foot and found an abscess. Poulticed twice a day, as advised, for around 8-9 days until nothing else visible on the poultice, at which point my farrier came out, put the shoe back on and packed the hole with a little cotton wool.
As advised by my farrier, I began to turn him out again, and was told that he would be fine to ride. I trotted him up a couple of days later just to check his soundness, at which point he looked crippled. Again, called out the vet, as very worried that there could be something more serious lurking. Vet saw him trot up, performed a flexion test on the fore and then pared away more of his sole, diagnosing that the lameness was the result of him being footsore following the abscess. He recommended that I get my farrier to fit a pad beneath his shoe to offer more protection to the tender area in his sole.
Still with me?
So, the pad was fitted 3 weeks ago, and he's still lame. I'm trotting him up once a week for my instructor's opinion, and though he is improving week on week, he's still noticeably lame on the hard ground, though in the field, and trotting up in the school and on the lunge he looks sound. I've spoken to my farrier again, who says simply that the vet dug around too much in his sole, and it will take time for him to come right again. I just wanted to know if anyone had any experiences or advice of similar situations?
I'm in no hurry to rush him back into work, it'll be 12 weeks today since he was last ridden as a result of snow/mudfever/abscess, but I just want him sound again. Feeling somewhat useless, and want to do something, anything to help. If anyone has any ideas/thoughts, I'd love to hear them, he means the world to me, and I just want to do everything I can to get him right again.
Sorry it's so long, just wanted to give as much info as I could. Neither myself, my vet or my farrier think the lameness now is related to the mudfever, but thought it best to include everything, just in case!
Any advice hugely welcomed, thank you!