long term unknown lameness HELP

[callyh]

I have a 12 yr old mare and has now been lame for 12 mths. The vet advised for her to be box rested 6 mths which we did due to her having a rather large hold dug in her hoof after her sole had been over paired and made very thin, soft and then bruised. we thought she would be right after that and eventually after 10mths was allowed shoe back on. Daisy has throught the year had a nerve block injection to ensure ts not her hoof and confirmed it is not her hoof, then advised it was athritis (since advise but a second opinion that she only has xtra mild and would not interfere with her work) I am now at wits end as after 12 mths of mostly box rest not vet can help or say what is wrong.....Please Please Please can anybody offer any advise......

 

[ErinDoig]

Oh crikey.

have u been through x rays etc?

My mare was lame on and off for 18months we ended up sending her for MRI scans at liphook to finally get a conclusion. Not cheap but if you're insured might be an option...

good luck hope u turn a corner soon

 

[dozzie]

I think bone scans are your best option. This will hopefully show where the lameness is most likely coming from.

 

[RachelB]

Your vet sounds a bit useless for a start, letting it go on this long un-diagnosed! Especially as you now can't use any insurance money as it's been over a year! I would push your vet to get your horse referred to somewhere like Liphook to have scintigraphy (bone scans) and/or MRI to find out once and for all what it is. And I( also can't believe you've had to put up with box rest all that time! Especially if it is arthritis, the horse should be out in a field wandering about keeping loose, not cooped up not moving!
I hope you can afford the MRI and scintigraphy though, likelihood is your insurance won't pay out now...

 

[the watcher]

I am also surprised the box rest has been going on this long without there being a certain reason for it ut don't have any bright ideas on where you should go next I am afraid, it depends to an extend on how much pain the horse is in and what you realistically expect to be doing with it in the future

 

[OrangeEmpire]

You poor thing! Here is my story which may or may not help!

My 16yro TB started being intermittently lame in his right hind leg about 18months ago. It was almost intuition that made me spot it rather than seeing him hopping. After many many vet visits my vet refered him to horse hospital for xrays on his neck - like me she was working on intuition and a hunch as he was only occaisionally lame when she saw him and nothing we did seemed to trigger it. Typically he was sound when he went to horse hosp and the specialist reported that he had arthritis in his neck but that it couldn't make him lame and that we were imagining things. He was still lame at home so we took him to another hosp for a full body scan which showed his neck as still being the trouble spot. He was sound there too. After talking to the specialist on the phone he decided to trot him up one last time and for three strides he was lame (before going sound again!). This was enough to convince him that we weren't mad after all! It turns out that arthiritis in his neck is squeazing the nerves to his hind leg causing him to have shooting pains and poor coordination. It took a long time to pinpoint the cause.

anyway he had cortizone injections to the vertibrae and had a 6 month programme of lunging to build up his neck before I could try to introduce ridden work once more. Now he is able to go out and about again and as long as I keep him together and his neck flexed he is sound (see pics in sig!) - relieves the pressure on the nerves you see.

The point of this long rambling tale is that I think your vet should be being proactive and send your mare for a scan. Your insurance will have to pay out if it is below your limit (costs about £1200) as it is part of an ongoing investigation - i'd phone them and see .

Since being on box rest hasn't cured her, if it is safe to do so I'd bung her out. If it is arthritis, you hopefully can manage it with pain-relief (NoBute works for my horse), cortaflex (glucosamine supliment) and if possible light exercise (in hand perhaps?) to build up muscle to support her. But either way the vet keeping her on box rest is just rubbish! There is no 'cure' but there is a heck of a lot you can do to help her so don't give up!

 

[Doublethyme]

Can't offer much help apart from agree with above - change vets now! and get her scanned MRI or bone scan.

6 months box rest for digging her hoof out - all sounds very odd! Unless she had an abcess (which you don't mention) why on earth would a vet dig around in a foot because the horse had bruising/thin soles - I would have thought that was the last thing that should happen! 6 months box rest would more than likely made the soles even thinner too from lack of stimulation.

I would be inclined to get a 2nd or 3rd opinion from a proper Equine vet - maybe if you post where you are in the country, someone could recommend one and then if I was you I would be asking some very stern questions of your current vet!!!

 

[callyh]

just to keep you all informed i have had a second opinion now from another vetenary practice that is well known and highly though in the area, it has its own horse hospital.... this is where it now gets worse.. he also said it is a bruised sole that is soft (at the point of the frog for about an inch to an inch and a half), his advise was to box rest her 7-10 days with bute, if its no better then to call him back out...i cant keep her in any longer she has now kicked a perfect hoof print clean throught the new stables, so yes she out again. i know this is very long (ya will never know lol) i have spent hundreds and now thousands on her the hundreds is nearly a thousand in vet bills and the thousands is the EQUISAGE i have just invested in. Due to her been in all the time she has tightened up (so i have just found out) all on her right side of her back and her neck. I have had a friend out tonight to look at her to see how i can request an xray. She has done more than any of the vets so far.. She had her on a short lunge (IN WALK ONLY) on her right and she was fine, on her left could hardly move. She then checked all her legs digital pulse and then to her back and neck hind queaters etc....and yes she also said the same request an xray....i will be calling the vets first thing in the morning to get an appointment and i will keep you posted.

Thank you all for your help and advise it really means alot to know others care just as i do... all help opinions will be taken as all i want is her out of this horrid pain.

 

[scats]

My lad has been lame for over 2 years- not in walk, just trot.

He was 6 when it started, came in lame one day from the field. Six months of investigations at horse hospital (x rays, mri, gamma scab, surgery) and it was found he had damaged his collateral ligaments and joint capsule and because of this trauma he had extra bone growth to his fetlock. He had been on box rest for 6 months with controlled walks but came no sounder so vets agreed he could have turnout for 6 months in very small area. 12 months later he was sound about 90% of the time- every few weeks he would trot up a little lame. He came totally sound this year and returned to work in May, just walking, then by end of June he was doing tiny bit of trot and stayed sound.

I had to stop riding in July due to my other horse getting colic and having surgery and I had no time at all to ride my young lad. Trotted him up about 3 weeks ago and he was very lame again in trot. Vets can only assume the bone growth on fetlock is getting worse, or was being kept supple by being in work and stiffened up when out of work. Im not sure, but the leg is no longer insured after our 4k bill in 2005 so cant afford to have any more gamma scans to find out.

Hes now got gel pad shoes on for concussion as he is quite upright. Hes still lame so vets have advised gentle walking work every day (hes sound in walk still) to see if working the joint makes any difference.

The chances are my lad will always suffer from chronic lameness and I will just have to manage it best I can really. Hope you get sorted soon.

 

[callyh]

Well thought i would let people know whom may have ead this, after reading replies from you i stood my ground and demanded that my mare (Daisy) b seen and xrayed, Toady i took her to be exrayed only to find that the vets were wrong and that she has an old rotated pedal bone, Daisy now goes for an MRI on 24th Sept... I willkeep you all posted as to what happens and what the are doing with her...

I would also like to thank people for telling me to make that move of requesting an xray, it has been the best thing i have done so far but then again you dont expect Vets are not right...

Regards

Callyh