lameness workup results

[dottylottie]

thought i’d make a new thread rather than adding onto my previous.

so diva went in for a lameness workup yesterday, following what we initially thought was abscess lameness.

not very positive outcomes unfortunately, she’s got a keratoma in her left hoof and damage to the collateral ligament in her right.

the theory we’re working on is that, having been out in a new and very sold/rutted field for one night, she’s injured the collateral ligament due to compensating for the keratoma that we were unaware of.

the keratoma is thankfully very small, and is going to be removed, and the collateral ligament damage also seems relatively minor but we’ve still got a 31 week rehab program, and that’s assuming she behaves which she absolutely won’t on box rest.

treatment options for the collateral include steroids, stem cells, arthramid, cartrophen and hy-59(?) never heard of the last one! have ruled out steroids due to her being a native, vet said he would opt for cartrophen and arthramid but i’m not sure how arthramid works with ligaments!

vet was quite positive about the outcome, doesn’t see why she can’t make a full recovery, and i do trust him not to sugarcoat things as he was very honest with lily’s injury.

feeling very deflated as we were finally getting going, and feeling very overwhelmed with where i’m going to find all this cash, as the 5k limit for the insurance is going to run out sharpish - workup alone was 1.5k.

first step is to get the corrective shoes on, in order to get the keratoma sorted, and then go from there - would like to do laser/water treadmill aswell as we’ve got a wonderful centre 10 mins from the yard, but need to discuss with them and the vets the best way to go about it.

he did say she’s not *that* lame, and he also said from the x-rays my farrier clearly does a wonderful job from the hoof balance and the nail placement etc, so that’s reassuring at least!

thankfully she’s not sore without the shoes on so far, as obviously we put fronts on due to her having thin soles, but she actually looks better in walk today. keeping everything crossed!

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

That sounds very positive I hope she makes a full recovery and behaves on her rehab

 

[dottylottie]

That sounds very positive I hope she makes a full recovery and behaves on her rehab

thankyou! he’s added “please follow rehab plan” which i didn’t get on the last one…so that’s me told for turning her out last time i dare say we will turn out long before he would like us to, but her welfare has to come first and she was very unhappy last time. but we will give it our best shot! i’m hoping she will at least stay calm enough to hand graze in the field with lily for periods.

 

[Roasted Chestnuts]

lol your vet knows you then

 

[SusieT]

Could you do field pen rest rather than box rest? It's likely you and she will be happier with that?

 

[dottylottie]

Could you do field pen rest rather than box rest? It's likely you and she will be happier with that?

this is most likely what we’ll be going for as soon as the keratoma is out & healed, but it’s a fine line between not giving her enough room to run around, and giving her enough that she doesn’t feel the need to escape - last time around i found she was actually worse in a small pen, she got very worked up and kept going through the fence despite the electric - she was also jail breaking lily, so at least that’s not a worry this time i want to give it a go for the initial period, until the keratoma is sorted and we’re hopefully trotting up sound, but i’ll be honest i don’t even slightly intend to keep her on box rest for 31 weeks she also developed ulcers last time, so between that and her going bonkers to walk and dangerous in the stable it’s honestly not worth it

 

[dottylottie]

well we’ve done our first 10 mins this morning before i had to leave for work and she was very good, i just hope it lasts at the moment i think she was just confused as to why we were walking up the lane just to turn round and come back!

 

[MidChristmasCrisis]

I’m glad something has been found which can be “ worked on”. My mares collateral ligament was injected with something on Monday to promote fibre regeneration and strengthen attachment to bone. I haven’t got the invoice yet so can’t tell you the product as she had 3 substances injected. We ve done 2 months of 20 minutes walking in hand and ridden and are doing so well I’ve been told to go away for 2 months, increase to an hour and introduce trot and canter. Hang on in there with the rehab

 

[dottylottie]

I’m glad something has been found which can be “ worked on”. My mares collateral ligament was injected with something on Monday to promote fibre regeneration and strengthen attachment to bone. I haven’t got the invoice yet so can’t tell you the product as she had 3 substances injected. We ve done 2 months of 20 minutes walking in hand and ridden and are doing so well I’ve been told to go away for 2 months, increase to an hour and introduce trot and canter. Hang on in there with the rehab

thankyou for a positive story! when you find out what was used please could you come back and let me know?

have just realised also that this will need to be 2 separate claims as completely different issues, which is some reassurance in terms of cost!

 

[MidChristmasCrisis]

I will do dottielottie…having separate claims saved me too!

 

[khalswitz]

There is a really excellent FB group for keratomas that really helped me when Mary had hers removed and the subsequent healing process.

She keratinised really quickly with no complications, and was turned out after 8 weeks, normal shoes on again after 14 weeks, started riding after 24 weeks and now 43 weeks later she’s only a few weeks off the trim that will finally rid us of the whole defect - just to give an idea of timescales.

You’ll get good at bandaging!

 

[dottylottie]

There is a really excellent FB group for keratomas that really helped me when Mary had hers removed and the subsequent healing process.

She keratinised really quickly with no complications, and was turned out after 8 weeks, normal shoes on again after 14 weeks, started riding after 24 weeks and now 43 weeks later she’s only a few weeks off the trim that will finally rid us of the whole defect - just to give an idea of timescales.

You’ll get good at bandaging!

thankyou for this! obviously she’s going to be on box rest anyway so i’m not worried about turnout, but i am concerned with how it’s going to fit in with the rehab for the ligament! for the rehab plan on that one it says riding in walk from week 9 assuming all is well, but i can’t see that one going to plan with the keratoma! im hoping to try and keep her barefoot once we’re done with corrective shoeing, she had the shoes off at the vets and looks sounder for it, which is odd considering she only had the shoes on 2 trim cycles ago due to being a bit footsore with stones!

 

[khalswitz]

thankyou for this! obviously she’s going to be on box rest anyway so i’m not worried about turnout, but i am concerned with how it’s going to fit in with the rehab for the ligament! for the rehab plan on that one it says riding in walk from week 9 assuming all is well, but i can’t see that one going to plan with the keratoma! im hoping to try and keep her barefoot once we’re done with corrective shoeing, she had the shoes off at the vets and looks sounder for it, which is odd considering she only had the shoes on 2 trim cycles ago due to being a bit footsore with stones!

I wouldn’t try too hard to predict the keratoma recovery - some people’s horses are instantly sound, others (like Mary) are instantly sound on box rest but once they start moving are lame until the defect grows out a certain amount, others are lame until it’s fully grown out. It just depends on their support needs etc for the hoof.

Some horses keratinise in 6-8 weeks, others take 16+ - again you just have to play it by ear.

So you may need to delay the start of the walking etc based on the keratoma - but play it by ear. Lots of people on FB have managed to get their horses barefoot again once the initial support for the defect is no longer needed.

Good luck with it, always happy to talk keratomas if it’s helpful!

 

[AandK]

Defo check out the 'Equine Keratoma Support Group' on FB, lots of stories on there and people to ask questions of, myself included! My horse is 4.5yrs post op. I think time is going to be key with your horse, and if you can get the shoes off once the keratoma defect has grown out enough, all the better. Good luck!

 

[dottylottie]

not a good day today, home from the workup on wednesday and already walking her this morning was like flying a kite, bouncing around and jumping at invisible monsters.

put her in the little pen area outside the arena where she’s been whilst i mucked out the last couple of days, and the second i unclipped her she trotted off and started bucking - bare in mind this space is maybe 1.5x a stable. last couple of days she’s stood rooted to the spot eating the hedge.

tied her up and she was calling to lily in the field, who also wouldn’t settle because she could hear diva and see her from where she was tied, and then one of the girls came to the bottom gate to get to the arena and diva started rearing up.

if this is less than a week of being in, how on earth am i meant to keep this horse in for 8 months minimum!!

if i put her out she’s a fruit loop in the field at the best of times, and even with sedalin lily will keep winding her up, and even if i tried to keep them out 24/7 they’d have to come in for me to ride lily and walk diva, so they’d just explode every time they went back out again. it feels like i’ve got 2 on box rest again. rehab livery is out of the question, whilst i can manage all the vet bills etc i simply can’t afford to send her away until she’s better. but i’m also not prepared to just turn her away without at least trying to manage it!

also conscious of the fact she’s already done her SDFT in both hinds 2 years ago, and now has a ligament injury and a keratoma. if she comes sound, is she just going to keep breaking again? have we just been woefully unlucky, or is she somehow predisposed to these injuries? they’re too expensive to keep as pets on livery, for the pittance she’d be worth to sell she’d end up being passed around or sold on as perfectly healthy which i just can’t risk, but then i’m not willing at least at this stage to put down a horse that could potentially be perfectly sound the rest of her life - but at 6 years old how many injuries until its too many?

sorry for the woe-is-me ramblings, just feeling very overwhelmed with it all at this stage. regardless im going to see it out and try my hardest to get her right, im just not sure where to go from there, or what the hell to do with her in the meantime!

 

[SusieT]

Honestly- with that history I would treat the keratoma. Ideally with her on a large hard standing area so you can keep it clean/dry but not as small as a stable. I would then turn away - with three ligament injuries the liklihood of her becoming a long term riding sound horse is low and the box rest part intense . Can you make a zig zag pen? I've seen them on here before -basically you make a square then have a fence/line across middle so they never have any space to get up speed - a bit like a maze?

 

[dottylottie]

Honestly- with that history I would treat the keratoma. Ideally with her on a large hard standing area so you can keep it clean/dry but not as small as a stable. I would then turn away - with three ligament injuries the liklihood of her becoming a long term riding sound horse is low and the box rest part intense . Can you make a zig zag pen? I've seen them on here before -basically you make a square then have a fence/line across middle so they never have any space to get up speed - a bit like a maze?

the keratoma is being removed, i’m just waiting on dates from the vets, i work 12 hour shifts 4 days a week atm and currently it’s incredibly hard to swap shifts! i don’t have any suitable hard standing unfortunately. honestly i tried everything the last time around in terms of pens, in the end she had a larger than i would’ve liked pen, and sedalin - she was going to run round regardless, so i at least wanted it to be in a straight line and not hairpin turns! she’ll definitely be out long before the vets would like, there’s no avoiding it with her, but i’m hoping we can at least wait until she’s cleared for trot work.

the vet did say it seems to just be very bad luck, when i bought her she was over 100kg overweight and went blasting round the rock solid field like a lunatic, when she did the tendons in the back legs. this time she was out in a very hard, and rutted field, for the first time, and clearly had a hooley - keratoma seems to have formed due to a crack in her hoof, she’s always had brilliant feet but it’s taken a while to grow out. i suspect the keratoma has gone undetected by me, caused compensatory movement, which has then led to the ligament injury, vet also said this is a valid theory.

i’m not really in a position to turn her away, if i don’t have her on the yard then lily can’t go out, atm she’s going out next to someone but it’s hard work to coordinate and other pony only goes out for a couple of hours at a time due to previous lami, so not a long term solution for lily. obviously if needs be it’s a consideration down the line definitely, but not something i’m jumping to!