Lameness

[Twiglet]

My horse had a fall in the field overnight on Sunday - he walked in sound, but after 6 hours in the stable, he was so lame that he literally couldn't move.
Had the emergency vet out - diagnosed a shoulder injury, wanted him into the surgery for X Rays to rule out a possible fracture. We decided to not take him in until the morning as he's a bad traveller and we didn't want undue stress on the bad leg (totally non-weight bearing, couldn't walk).
The next day (Tuesday) there was a marked improvement - now weight bearing although he was still lame.
Over the course of the day he progressively got better, until last night he was very nearly sound.
The vet decided it wasn't worth getting him in for X Rays as the injury was obviously less severe than it originally appeared.

So my question really is, does anyone else have experience with their horses 'exaggerating' lameness?! I know I'm attributing human traits to him, but he IS a TB, and he does LOVE attention......
I just think that on Monday we were discussing surgery and retirement for him.....then the next day the lameness was improved 70%, and this morning he was barely lame on a tight circle.
This is with minimal assistance from bute - only cold hosing and box rest.

Vet is back out tomorrow, so will see what he says, but if I hadn't have had lots of witnesses to the lameness on Monday, I'd be convinced I was imagining it!

 

[juliehannah58]

One of my friends ponies got kicked in the field, he fractured his shoulder in two places. He was totally lame at first, but the next day also seemed improved. It wasn't until he was x-rayed the fracture was discovered and he was operated on. Even then after the op he came sound very quickly and 3 years on he is now back competing and jumping exactly the same as before. If I were you I would get x-rays just to make sure, different animals react to pain in different ways and the fracture could only be very slight but still cause huge problems if not dealt with straight away.

I'm no vet but this is just speaking from personal experience.

Hope he recovers soon.

 

[Twiglet]

Eeeek, worried now!!

Ok, well the vet's out tomorrow so I'll see how we get on.......I'm hoping that he was just being a drama queen?! (the horse, not the vet!!)

 

[Marquire]

My boy is a COMPLETE drama queen.

last year I went to catch him after lunch and he literally hopped across the field to meet me and I really thought he had broken a leg. I managed to get him to his stable which thankfully was only about 10 yards away and called the vet. The vet came out and as he had a huge hoof shaped haematoma on his shoulder it was pretty obvious he'd had a kick. The vet was very worried out him having a broken shoulder as by this point my boy was standing in his stable on 3 legs, very subdued, holding the affected leg off the ground. I was nearly hysterical by this point and the vet gave him some drug and said he'd come back later with the x-ray equipment.

2 hours of crying my eyes out later, the vet returned. When we went to the stable my boy was standing on both front legs, resting a hind leg, eating hay like normal. But as soon as he saw us approaching he lifted up the sore leg and adopted this sad and sorry look on his face. He was x-rayed and thankfully it showed nothing broken. I ended up keeping him in for 3 days until the swelling went down but he was perfectly sound the next day when I trotted him up in hand.

I completely believe that some horses, like people, are bigger wusses than others and do make a drama out of the least little thing. My boy hates going out in winter and I'm sure he took the opportunity of being kicked to have a few relaxing days in out of the cold and rain.

Marie

 

[Ferdinase514]

Oh yes....

Finni is the BIGGEST drama queen you will ever meet. He can't take the slightest bit of pain and will make it look much worse than it is.

The Vet confirmed this last time he came out for a colic attack, he looked as though he was in tremendous pain, but after a small amount of pain killer was completely back to normal!

 

[Farm Kat]

Yes, Dad's horse is the biggest wimp there ever is, i havd a phonecall from Mum one day to say the vet was being called, and it looked like Mickey was being xrayed and maybe PTS depending on the injury as he was totally non weightbearing on the leg and was swollen around the pastern, booked xrays the next day, poprable unit, second vet came and looked at him, before hand, just an abcess that had formed very quickly and had spread up the leg. spent the next week hopping on 3 legs!!! Poof

 

[GTs]

I don't think horses understand the concept of exagerating - some horses deal with pain better, donkeys are especially brave.

I think if you fell down the stairs, and then slept for a number of hours you would be stiff too.

 

[Twiglet]

Mmm, i'm hoping it was that it was a 24 hour thing!
I've no doubt he was in pain - when the vet was testing the shoulder he was almost falling over (but he never once tried to bite, kick or evade, good lad!), but he just seemed to get better really quickly.

Vet back out tomorrow....fingers crossed it'll be the all clear as nasty me is off to sun herself on a beach for a week, leaving poor horsey to suffer on (spoilt rotten) livery!

 

[vanessahook]

i tested this once on my old horse cos i was convinced she put things on.
Brought her in one day she was fine, tied her up. Went and got the medical kit and started looking at her leg as if there was soemthing wrong, got the hibiscrub and cotton wool out. Within seconds she was holding the leg up and hopping around as if mortally wounded!! They're not as silly as we think!!