Lameness - Vets all baffled

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sluff

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I am writing to see if any one has seen anything similar to what my pony is suffering from, any help/ideas/advice welcome!!!!!!!

He is a 14.2 Welsh D 14/15 years old and has been jumped for most of his life. I have owned him for approx two and a half years

It has been almost two years since my pony first showed signs of near hind lameness. The first sign was refusing jumps which he would normally fly over. Then a progressive lameness appeared firstly on the lunge then appearing on a straight

Initially diagnosed with spavins, he was lightly worked through some bute however no improvement was seen. So off to the horsey hospital we go. Nothing appearing in his bone scans (neck backwards) apart from his hock.

A winter of box rest improved him from 4/5 to 1/5 at his best

He swings his leg out away from his body, which led us to believe it was something higher up than the hock. Osteo has tried and no huge improvement seen, steroids injected no real improvement seen, I can't remember how many vets have looked at him!!

Any ideas, anyone, anywhere!!
 
I'd get a second opinion from a good lameness specialist if the normal vet/s that know your horse aren't able to come to any conclusions. Could well be Spavin, how long since he had his last joint injections? depending on the type used can last anything from 3 months to a year max. In my opinion seems weird to recommend box rest for a horse with Spavin. have any xrays been done to see if it is getting worse?, also have the feet and shoeing been looked at too? Physios and Osteo can only help to a certain point I think. My horse has Spavin and he showed similar symptoms to your horse, he was diagnosed, treated and back in full work within a couple of weeks- don't give up, push for answers! wishing you all the best with it, (also recommend Newmarket joint supplement too if it is Spavin, but then it could be something entirely different)
 
Having read your post the way I understand it you have already had a bone scan (scintigraphy sp?) done?

I too had a welsh cob who baffled the vets including Liphook Equine Hospital who told me it could be a 'mechanical' lameness & they couldn't find anything wrong with him.

I knew my pony and couldn't accept this so got another equine vet out to look at him. She immediately noticed him swinging his leg outwards before it went forwards (hope you understand what I mean).

She said she strongly suspected it was his hip but it is very rare for them to get problems with their hips. Anyway she referred him to Rossdales at Newmarket.

He had a bone scan & my vet was right sadly he had arthritis of the hip but, it was only in one side & Rossdales said they had never seen it in one side only and asked if he had ever had a bad fall. unfortunately at 9mths old he fell down a drain & although he was checked out by a vet at the time that's probably when he damaged his hip & arthritis set in when he was older.

If you haven't had a full body bone scan I too think it would be a really good idea.
 
swinging leg out = no push from hip - therefore problems with sacrollic joint.

ask for vet to check out sacrollic joint as this sounds like the most probable, problems at this joint have a knock on effect on the rest of the hind leg (think of the horse "adapting" to the swinging) which could bring about the lameness.

hope you find out whats going on!
smile.gif
 
Hi all, thanks for your messages!

I have had the full body scintigraphy which unfortunately did not show anything wrong any higher than the hock

My initial thought was hip, perhaps arthritis even tumour (you read too many horror stories on the internet!). Ultrasounds have been done on and around the areas which are accessible nothing came up with suspensory, fetlocks are fine, feet are fine, back is fine, neck is fine.......

He has had steroids injected into his sacroiliac, not a pleasant experience and with no effect

He would rather canter than trot, a problem that is common with spavins I believe and has been seen cantering round the field on three legs, but then no amount of prodding and poking can gain a reaction from him

So with nothing on the scintigraphy, then muscle, ligament etc damage is next but with rest (field or box) there should have been a slight improvement!!!!!!

Any more thoughts???

Thanks so much!
 
Sounds similar to mine - finally diagnosed with arthritis of the upper hock only detectable by MRI. He had scintigraphy and full xrays x2 and showed nothing. In fact, I was told by a certain "leading" vet in Newmarket that I was imagining it and my horse was completely sound.

Sue Dyson was the one who diagnosed in the end. I would recommend going to a good lameness expert and getting a full work up again. Sue Dyson was very thorough and nerve blocked each part of the leg before moving onto ultrasound and MRI etc. Other newmarket vet saw him trot up and did the scintigraphy then afterwards wanted to see a ridden exam and then said there was no point nerve blocking! Useless fool.
 
I know you have had an osteo check him - but how about an ACPAT physio? Sounds like he has a movement dysfunction (maybe arising from a sub-clinical pathology) which needs to be addressed with rehabilitation - you can find your local ACPAT physio on www.acpat.org - they are very good and will hopefully be able to give you lots of help
 
They went as far as his stifle with the ultrasound and that came up clean (also came up clean on the scintigraphy)

Probably also worth mentioning that his joints were 'surprisingly clean' for his type, age etc

He also showed the same movements with nerve blocks (as far up as stifle)

Can anyone recommend any good all round joint supplements??

Thanks again
 
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Have they looked at his stifle?

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I would be thinking stifle too - ligaments too deep to show up well on scan and notoriously slow to heal - it has taken 6 months for my mare to remain consistently sound - she was on complete box rest for the first 6 weeks and limited turnout thereafter
 
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