lameness work ups

[maletto]

I'm after your experiences of lameness work ups please

my boy is ever so slightly lame on his left hind and it's been going on for a while so I think it's time to get the vets to see him.

will they want me to take him to the surgery or can they do it at the yard?

if they end up having to do the full work up, how much do you reckon will it cost?

of course I will ask the vet all these questions when i speak to them tomorrow but they're closed on a Sunday

 

[eva]

hmm, my boy is now lame on his right fore, also ever so slightly, it's been like that for nearly 3 weeks now, vet came recently and did:
palpation on the leg;
trotting on hard surface in straight line;
lungeing on soft surface;
lungeing on hard surface;
and concluded that it's prob upper suspensory ligament pulled ever so slightly, and ordered us rest for another week. that examination was £50 incl shared call out visit. he said he could nerve block but as the lameness was so light, there was no point. This clinic also does mobile xrays and some other scans, but the vet said there's no need for that.
hope it's of any help?
I also asked my farrier to take a look at him and that was free

 

[NicoleS_007]

You can get a lameness workup at home but after if you require x rays etc then you will have to go to the clinic. We had a lameness work up at home which cost £50 but that was just basically an examination (you can get nerve blocks at home). Then he was referred to the clinic for x rays. Think it was around £300 for another lameness work up, nerve blocks, cortosone injections and 5 x rays. Sorry dont know how helpful that is to you

 

[TheMule]

The vet will first try to locate the source of pain- they will most likely hoof test, trot up and do flexion tests. This will either highlight a specific area or wont. Either way they'll probably then do nerve blocks to try to pinpoint the location more precisely. This can be done at home.
This will probably cost at least a couple of hundred pounds with nerve blocks etc

Beyond this, you'll then start to get into the realms of x-raying/ scanning (depending if it looks like joint or soft tissue) This can be done at home if vet has portable x-ray machine- if he does you'd beeter warn them they should bring it.
Better add in another few hundred

If still inconclusive you will then probably have to decide if you want scintigraphy/ MRI scans etc
Now we're starting to talk vet stays and thousands!

 

[pines of rome]

I had a lameness work up at my yard, trotted up in straight line was ok flexion tests both fores still ok then made me lunge him trotting small circles on tarmac, 3/5ths lame on both reins, proceeded to nerve block navicular area much improved. Vet was not optimistic started talking box rest leverage reduction shoes a year off,i decided against this and have taken him barefoot with an EP and have had physio as well as he had compensating lameness issues,now 6 months on i have a much sounder happier little horse. all i can say is that sometimes you have to go with gut instinct because vets arn,t always right.

 

[eva]

well not necessarily hundreds and thousands, my vets do nerve blocks for £36 pounds per 2 blocks :| no need to panic until tomorrow! just have your horse clean and ready to be seen, have your lungeing equipment ready and you'll be all right!