Lameness issue

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Nedz123

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Hello I’m hoping someone can help, I have a 14yr old tbxwb mare that I compete at dressage.

15 months ago she had a reluctance to go forward bringing her neck up and hollowing her back , saw vet straight away who treated her hocks and SI .
Came back good but after 6 weeks was at square one .
Saw vet again who then treated the upper chamber of the hock , again was ok for a few weeks then went funny again this time I could definitely feels the near hind wasn’t right at all.

Went to see a specialist who suspected suspensory or stifle , has X-rays scans all inconclusive. We then nerve blocked high suspensory which made her 90% better . He advised 3 months off then a rehab program.

4 months later I got back on board took it slow but at week 10 back at square 1 again not going forward and generally feeling lame on near hind and near fore.

More scans X-rays nerve blocks all inconclusive, farrier had now put pads on all 4 feet which definitely helped but again 8 weeks back into work I’m having the same problem . Next stage is mri but we don’t actually know where it’s coming from , horse not insured now .

Any ideas or same situations would
Be great fully recieved as we are all at loss as to what to do for her.

All teeth, tack , physio etc up to date

Thank you
 
Hocks and suspensory issues can cause si pain so it's worth speaking to your vet and get that medicated as well.

Unfortunately when you have a few things go wrong it often causes other problems so it's rarely just one thing your dealing with.

In my experience using pads in shoes is rarely a long term solution so you might be better off trying to find why the feet are weak and addressing that.

If the feet are not right chances are she has soft tissue damage which will only show up on an mri, if that is the case I would be looking into barefoot rehab.

One of my horses has hock arthritis has had suspensory issues and coffin joint arthritis all treated and his 20 now and barefoot, he just kept tripping in front shoes and was immediately better once off and his feet are looking better for it.,
After treatment his canter was not great and he still didn't seem totally comfortable so my vet medicated the si joint and he was much better.
 
Sorry just wanted to add I think as your horse is not insured the mri will probably be over a £1,000 so I think with her being 14 and with other issues I would seriously consider it.

What are her feet like are they in balance has the vet said anything about them?
 
Thank you for your reply, hocks and si have been medicated but 6 weeks or so later she was back to square 1 .

Typical tb feet a bit flat but farrier is excellent balance etc on X-rays is good .

Would also say you can only see the lameness when on a contact so when I get her more together long rein you wouldn’t see it half as bad

It’s such a mystery.
 
Hock issues are so often the result of a compensatory movement pattern, and that pattern will have been going on a while, long enough to cause issues elsewhere. A good starting point, to give you context for the medical treatments you decide on, and to judge rehab programmes (most are strengthening only, they don't seem to change the way the horse moves as the primary aim) on, is equitooiacenter.com.

If you find my saddle fitting page on FB (I use my real name on here) I share loads of stuff on this.
 
Nedz123 said:
No we haven’t blocked the feet , maybe this is something I should look at?
Click to expand...
Or you could skip the nerve blocks and just x ray the feet seen as is lame on 1 anyway and they always x ray as a pair anyway, it just depends on how much money you want to spend but nerve blocks are not expensive anyway.
 
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