lameness workup..can't afford it..healing vibes required! :-(

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doris2008

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So poor Lord Gord is still lame. It started off with a bruise on near fore, which was settling down, then he lost shoe = very sore again. Had new shoe. Very lame, lots of heat, then swelling. Farrier came back (this is over a week period), no sign of absess or bruise. Heat & swelling completley disappeared. A week later he is now much sounder but not right. It has been 2 weeks since farrier replaced shoe so can't still be soreness. For last few days there hasn't been any real improvement.
So..I thought it was pointless getting vet out as they will say rest him & then work up required if not improved.
Spoke to vet today, she said give him over weekend to see if improves, if not he will need to go in for a workup.
Now as he had problems with front feet a couple years back they are not insured!! vet says nerve blocks & xrays will prob come to about £400!! Then treatment on top of that if required.
We are very skint at mo & there is no way can afford to have it done, & hubby has point blank said no way.
So....major healing vibes required, he has to improve over weekend as there is nothing I can do at the moment to make him better.
Very depressed now as deep down my heart tells me this is going to a similar situation to last time, where he was diagnosed with 'general foot pain' due to a combination of slight changes to navicular combined with generally bad foot conformation. This meant months off work & remedial shoeing. Don't think I can go through all that again.

Cookies for reading all this...just needed to get it off chest, as after a recent comment from my closest friend about Gord I don't feel i can talk to her about it anymore.x
 
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vet says nerve blocks & xrays will prob come to about £400!

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That seems very expensive.

(((((((((((((((((((((( vibes ))))))))))))))))))
 
Try bio-flo boots on your horse, they might just help in the interim, your horse can wear them for up to 12 hours a day, I swear by them for various ailments, they assist the healing process around £30 pair, but bio-flo are the best, I wouldnt trust cheaper alternatives. (I'm not an agent!!)
 
Look up some of the barefoot horses sites for success with treating navicular and similar problems. A lot of people have gone down that route, often as a last resort and had very good results. It doesn't mean he can never have shoes on again.
A trimmer would want X rays though.

http://www.epauk.org/
 
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vet says nerve blocks & xrays will prob come to about £400!

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That seems very expensive.

(((((((((((((((((((((( vibes ))))))))))))))))))

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It doesn't, sounds about right - of course depends how quickly they find the problem and how many nerve blocks they need to find it.
 
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vet says nerve blocks & xrays will prob come to about £400!

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That seems very expensive.

(((((((((((((((((((((( vibes ))))))))))))))))))

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It doesn't, sounds about right - of course depends how quickly they find the problem and how many nerve blocks they need to find it.

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Ditto ive spent loads more than that over the last few months on xrays and nerve blocks
hope he gets better soon {{{{{{healing vibes on there way}}}}}
 
400 would be a fairly cheap lameness work up in my opionion as a set of 4 x-rays costs about 90 before you take into account nerve blocks, the time involved in doing a full lameness work up and another possible set or two of x-rays - it soon mounts up!

I was in a similar position with my ex-racer who I suspected had navicular changes occuring in his feet. He was given to me and isn't worth anything (apart from my emotional attachment) and i'm a tad strapped for cash at the mo so had a nice chat with my farrier who has over the past 3 shoeings changed his foot balance - I now have a sound horse and no vets bill
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Thanks for all the replies guys.
The up side is they are pretty sure it will be the same problem as before - hopefully they might jusy do xrays which they can compare to some taken in 2006 which will clarify any further changes.
My thoughts were maybe putting him back in roll toe shoes & pads as he was in for a while back then and see how he goes.
Box rest isn't an option as he colics after more than a few days (has been investigated but no explanation found as to why!).

Murphybarr - thanks, we have a pair of those already! Great things, I use them in the hope they help with blood flow down to feet! Whether they do anything I am not sure but at least I think I am helping!!

Thanks for the good vibes.
Am also thinking that if he does come better over weekend (clutching at straws mind...) then I may well ask for roll toe shoes anyway as they may make him comfier..are they ok for long term use?
 
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Very depressed now as deep down my heart tells me this is going to a similar situation to last time, where he was diagnosed with 'general foot pain' due to a combination of slight changes to navicular combined with generally bad foot conformation. This meant months off work & remedial shoeing. Don't think I can go through all that again.

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This is a very identical situation to what I had with one of my horses. She had several thousand pounds worth of diagnostics including MRI, and the vague conclusion was navicular syndrome exacerbated by poor foot balance and conformation. Basically there are many structures in the foot that all work together when the foot is balanced and working as it should, but if that balance is upset it causes unnatural stresses that can lead to damage and pain. Shoeing can mask these issues but rarely indefinitely.

I know it is a controversial issue, but I am with orangehorse on this, you could consider a barefoot programme under the management of a qualified DAEP. This is not the same as taking the shoes off, and a horse that has previously "not coped" with having its shoes off is by no means unsuitable for going barefoot by following a carefully structured programme.

It gets the feet balanced, corrects foot structure and allows proper flexibility and growth. I am recommending this course to you because my horse was days from being PTS. We had the MRI on insurance to be sure nothing could be done, but based on the result we decided to think outside the box and try something that seemed radical at the time (but we had nothing to lose). The horse went from strength to strength, quickly became sound and gradually increased her work level to what would be called "normal". In fact she is better than normal, as she is doing it all without shoes, when many shod horses are crippled as soon as they lose a shoe!

My DAEP practises the KC LaPierre method, and approved practitioners have to undergo continual assessment to call themselves DAEP. A list is here including the UK:

http://www.equinepodiatry.net/locate.html
 
What problems did he have before? You sure it isn't still an abscess? Has the vet tried treating with antibiotics? I only say this as last summer my horse got an abscess and has had them previously where we cannot actually find it - had farrier, vet and physio (to check if shoulder problem), noone could find anything. Got farrier back and turns out it WAS an abscess after all - this took about 3 weeks to actually find!

he has suffered since (he has cr*ppy feet) and last year was off work for 5 weeks with an abscess that just would ot drain. Farrier kept coming out (he was v good) and we treated for ages but eventually vet came and gave antibiotics and it sorted it, he wasn't even v lame just not wuite righta nd hobbly' if you turned him, there was hardly any heat either!

On Wed we took him out and he is lame, thought he'd just stumbled on a stone but he wasn't right so we took him back and again he is sore when turned on hard ground (not the same foot as last time!) Now have farrier coming out tonight as we are starting at the foot as the 'suspect'. Most frustrating though and I don't relish poulticing again! Think is poss due to him having now been chucjked out 24/7 and maybe the wet ground has caused his foot to become soft and (knowing him) he's hit it on something!

Personally I would still try the farrier again see if there's any pus or something still in there - mine went on for s*dding ages!!!
 
This sounds similar to what is happening with my boy. I had the vet on on Wed and he is fairly confident that the lameness is caused by the hoof being cut back hard as the kept pulling his shoes off and breaking off chunks of hoof. THe farrier put NB shoes on but has cut the toes off so the vet thinks that the Laminae has been bruised and wants to come out and have another look when the shoes are off. Between them they are going to ensure the foot is balanced properly and if required put the mesh and rubber between hoof and shoe. If there is no improvement then nerve blocking the foot is the next step
 
LadyT - problems he had before started very similarly. Lame in near fore. Box rested - no improvement. Lameness workup showed he was bilaterally lame, worse in near fore, only slightly in off fore. Nerve blocks, x rays showed small changes to navicular, but told similar to probably what most horses have but combined with poor feet would leave him sore. So box rest & roll toe shoes with pads. After a few months he came sound as has been fine ever since (bar the odd day). That was end of 2005 beg of 2006.
As for an absess - I wil get farrier to check again when he is out. Although I would have thought it would have got worse instead of better. At first there was lots of heat (mostly hoof) & leg really swelled. This disappeared shortly after farrier checked & he is certainly much less lame but seems to have stopped improving over last few days.
 
I know how you feel - Last month was £700 on an emergency call out and a course of HA injections.

I have just spent another £500 on nerve blocks, x-rays and a tendon tap on Cairo.

Didn't go for tendon scans at another £300 as vet said even we knew the actual damage, he is too old to be on box rest.

Without insurance it is so expensive - thank god for credit cards with balance transfers at low/nil rates though looks as though this will be getting hard to do now.

A huge amount of money for an old horse but at least I know what his problem is now - old age has caused bone to snap where the ligaments are attached, hence the initial great pain with no swelling/heat. The tendon coming up huge afterwards was secondard problem.

Hope it does sort itself out, Cairo is now retired apart from some very light hacking from May but he is really just my OH's pet so being ridden doesn't matter.

Sending you healing vibes. If the problem is old age, may I suggest trying some magnetic straps - for Cairo when the front legs started to show wear and tear they made a huge difference. He now has another set on the back and the poorly leg is now showing signs of being a lot more sound.
 
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I know how you feel - Last month was £700 on an emergency call out and a course of HA injections.

I have just spent another £500 on nerve blocks, x-rays and a tendon tap on Cairo.

Didn't go for tendon scans at another £300 as vet said even we knew the actual damage, he is too old to be on box rest.

Without insurance it is so expensive - thank god for credit cards with balance transfers at low/nil rates though looks as though this will be getting hard to do now.

A huge amount of money for an old horse but at least I know what his problem is now - old age has caused bone to snap where the ligaments are attached, hence the initial great pain with no swelling/heat. The tendon coming up huge afterwards was secondard problem.

Hope it does sort itself out, Cairo is now retired apart from some very light hacking from May but he is really just my OH's pet so being ridden doesn't matter.

Sending you healing vibes. If the problem is old age, may I suggest trying some magnetic straps - for Cairo when the front legs started to show wear and tear they made a huge difference. He now has another set on the back and the poorly leg is now showing signs of being a lot more sound.

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Good news that he is improving. Things are so expensive aren't they! Could do with an NHS being set up for horses!
He's only 10 so hopefully not old age catching up with him yet...crikey I hate to think what he'll be like at 20!
We have some bio-flow boots which I use religiously!
 
One set of x-rays of merlins fetlock was £650 .... so I think a bit of a bargain if it includes the nerve blocks as well!!!

Vibes to you though, as I was lucky enough to be covered on the insurance at the time...... wont be now though
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crikey I hate to think what he'll be like at 20

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Well Cairo is now 22 and is now feeling a lot better than he was in January, dragging me from the field and trotting and having a sneaky canter round the school with Chancer playing if my back is turned.

So lovely to have him being a naughty old bugger after all the pain he was in at the start of the year.

Hope yours recovers as well as he has - jumping days are over but we may still have some nice hacks this summer as vet is optimistic for his recovery to this level.
 
My horse had nerve blocks and x-rays not very long ago and including the stabling whilst she stayed a night it was £400.

Hope your horse recovers soon x
 
Hmm, well farrier came out to mine tonight - cannot find any abscess and doesn't want to dig any further but horse still lame (only when asked to turn though!) most frustrating though as he's done this before and he has gone nearly sound in the past but I know it's still there. Farrier thinks the same but we're waiting to see if it'll move down further yet. Hardly any heat but as said he was the same before and abscess finally came out after 5 weeks!!!

It could be there's some underlying problem but I just think he has sh*tty feet, they've got soft. he's been an idiot running about in the wind and based it maybe higher up? Obviously you have some more history on your horse's problems and I think navicular changes can also cause abscesses to occur but I still wouldn't rule it out entirely. They're buggers horses aren't they. Mine was belting about tonight cos he was angry and wanted tea but ask him to turn on hard ground and "oh no, can't do that mum!"
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" We are very skint at mo & there is no way can afford to have it done, & hubby has point blank said no way. "

Doesn't he know his place?
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Try not to worry too much yet. It could well be bruising. It's been so wet that lots of horses are suffering with bruises and abscesses. Two weeks may seem like a long time but it can easily take that long for bruising to go away, specially if you're not able to keep the horse in on box rest.
If I were you I'd give it a bit longer before going down the whole x-ray route. He may well come right given a bit more time. Really hope it works out for you. Mine had an abscess that rumbled on for a couple of months. It was very boring but he's absolutely fine now. Good luck.
 
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" We are very skint at mo & there is no way can afford to have it done, & hubby has point blank said no way. "

Doesn't he know his place?
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Nope, sadly he doesn't!! It would appear I know mine though!
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Thanks for the replies guys.
I trotted him up last night & whilst I couldn't see there was much improvement, knowledge person with me thought he def looked better. So I videoed it & will trot him up again on Monday & compare. He was certainly full of beans & tried to run off up the road with his head between his knees with my friend! I did notice he was much freer & was keen to really trot on. Hopefully this is a good sign.
 
Sorry to hear about your predicament and even more sorry for your horse, particularly in light of your comment below;

"We are very skint at mo & there is no way can afford to have it done, & hubby has point blank said no way."

What will be your future plans be for this horse if you don't have any exploratory investigations done and what will happen to him if he is not given the appropriate treatment?
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