Lottie's lameness work up...

atlantis

atlantis

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Was a bit inconclusive!!! Well very really. He couldn't find anything that might be making her lame (as in external signs). Nothing in hoof testers and no real reaction from the splint.

He did think that she was a bit lame on left and right fores on both reins, right worse than left.

Nerve blocked both sides a couple of times and it made no real difference.

He did feel around her shoulders in the muscles and she reacted badly to that and I have a feeling that its shoulder/neck.

His advice was to shoe (to balance the foot!! Will talk to farrier as he's not really had a good chance to balance it without shoes yet as nothing to trim until now).

I've got the Physio coming in the morning so we'll see what she finds. Will get her to give an opinion on her saddle too as she's put weight on since I last had it near her. Will get saddler asap too.

So not the definitive answer I was looking for!!!
 
One of our Appaloosas was 'just not quite right' and it was found to be uneven muscle development in her neck. The vet gave her acupuncture and it worked a treat! Your physio may well be the best person to deal with the problem, especially if she is qualified to do acupuncture.

Good luck! At least you have an idea to follow now.
 
Goldenstar said:
Horses with low grade foot pain often get sore necks .
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That is true, if the horse is holding itself to reduce pain it can hold neck wrongly, but also if it has been doing that over a period, the neck then gets sore even if the original problem is reduced. I think I would think about turning away for six weeks. Depends on what happen tomorrow.
 
Yeah I think so. I'm a Physio (human)and the 2 people who were with me today are both Physios too. Poor guy had lots of questions and opinions lol. I'm not sure he was convinced about Physio but I do think she'll find something muscular tomorrow.

She was not his friend for a bit when he was prodding her neck. It was the biggest reaction he got. Nothing on flexions or any other palpation.

I do level 1 and 2 equine touch but haven't done loads with her, which works along meridians but also releases the fascia. I'll get cracking on it more I think.
 
Bonkers2 said:
That is true, if the horse is holding itself to reduce pain it can hold neck wrongly, but also if it has been doing that over a period, the neck then gets sore even if the original problem is reduced. I think I would think about turning away for six weeks. Depends on what happen tomorrow.
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Yes. I wonder if the splint was sore, which has caused soreness in her neck. Splint now better, neck still sore. Maybe? Turn away not a bad idea.

Goldenstar said:
Horses with low grade foot pain often get sore necks .
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If foot pain was still there wouldn't the nerve blocks have worked? She couldn't feel anything round the corronary band when he checked after the block.

Bonkers2 said:
I agree, get some physio done, If the feet are not balanced without shoes, how will they be balanced with shoes? There is something call sacro-cranial massage/manipulation, , which is related to neck,
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That's my feeling. Quite possible to balance a foot without shoes on. I don't think shoes do that all on their own lol. My farrier has equal numbers of shod and unshod horses in our yard.
 
I had one horse with low grade foot pain that did not respond to general foot blocking
We did get a response in the end to a very localised block a hunch by a very very experienced vet responding to my feeling that the issue I felt he disliked having the affected on the outside of the circle .
If the feet are not balanced you have to ask your self why .
Where in the imbalance in the foot showing ?
 
Pearlsasinger said:
One of our Appaloosas was 'just not quite right' and it was found to be uneven muscle development in her neck. The vet gave her acupuncture and it worked a treat! Your physio may well be the best person to deal with the problem, especially if she is qualified to do acupuncture.

Good luck! At least you have an idea to follow now.
Click to expand...

My appy boy was lame when ridden when I sat on the right diagonal, spoke to vet over phone who agreed it sounded like muscular and get physio. He was un even all over and had exercises to do. Four weeks later he was so much better.
 
I think Physio is usually a good idea - frank managed to do lame to almost sound (vet saw before video and couldn't finding wrong when visiting post) and kind of helps in case muscle issues are hiding or contributing to stuff. It would be interesting to see her feet- I'd be concerned that vet has suggested shoeing because they couldn't come up with anything else.
 
Goldenstar said:
I had one horse with low grade foot pain that did not respond to general foot blocking
We did get a response in the end to a very localised block a hunch by a very very experienced vet responding to my feeling that the issue I felt he disliked having the affected on the outside of the circle .
If the feet are not balanced you have to ask your self why .
Where in the imbalance in the foot showing ?
Click to expand...

Tbh I'm not too sure. They are going through transitioning to barefoot as she had her shoes removed about a month before I bought her as she came over from Ireland, but she passed a 5 stage getting at the start of November.

They have changed shape and she has a definite ridge where her diet was changed. I don't know what she was like in Ireland but she came over at the start of October and she lost condition on the journey so they fed her up on alpha a oil, barley, conditioning cubes and ad lib hayledge. I changed her to low sugar diet and got her teeth done. She piled weight on and so I cut down feed and started soaking her hay. She went lame 4 days after farrier checked, but didn't trim, her feet.

Her off fore foot last week

E8AB2FE5-3666-4B68-975D-0897D3D73ABB_zpsy7bg3pav.jpg
 
They've been a bit thrushy so I've been scrubbing them most days with some antibacterial stuff. Can't remember name.

Farrier was coming Wednesday but we discussed it and put it off until after vets today.
 
atlantis said:
Some view last week

78BA05DB-5955-4A86-B33E-2D5FC54ABD3E_zpsum3c1fyk.jpg


Not the best shot sorry.
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I'm not sure if it's the angle but that frog doesn't look good does it?

What do I do about that. Reluctant to put shoes on and want to get that sorted. She's been stood in and I have the go ahead to go gentle work. Boots needed to get some frog stimulation and what else can I clean her feet with?
 
I would soak in Clean Trax, you would need 2 bottles to do all 4 feet, and a soaking boot. It really does get to the bottom of Thrush though, even though it is a bit of a faff standing around waiting for 3/4 an hour soak time per foot. It is around £10 a bottle, and can only be mixed just prior to use, and is not active any more after the hour and a half.
 
I would get a second opinion by a different vet BEFORE getting the physio I think far too many people get physio as they want a cheaper and a magic wand. She is lame end of story.
 
Her heels are under-run, which should improve in time with correct stimulation. Thrush can be quite painful, so maybe that's a contributing factor to the muscle pain?
 
hihosilver said:
I would get a second opinion by a different vet BEFORE getting the physio I think far too many people get physio as they want a cheaper and a magic wand. She is lame end of story.
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I'm a (human) Physio!!! We don't have magic wands. Contrary to popular belief 2 different professionals can work together. I'm going to get the Physio tomorrow as I valur her opinion. She is an excellent acpat registered Physio.

I agree a further opinion may be necessary but I will do that with full involvement of the vet I was with today. The practice is an enormous equine hospital with many vets. Already had 2 different ones involved. The guy who came out to see her and he referred to the specialist at the practice, who we saw today.

I will fully involve my farrier, Physio and both vets. It's called multidisciplinary working and we do it all the time in the nhs!!!
 
I would not be happy with that foot, the side on shows a very upright almost boxy foot with a contracted heel but the front and sole show a different picture, the white line is stretched and open, the frogs and heels are weak but it looks like two different feet, I would be interested to see what they look like after a decent trim, there is nothing really to take off the toe which is unusual in a horse with underrun heels .
It may be worth getting xrays done to see what is going on inside so trimming, or shoeing if you go that route can be done to balance her foot correctly not just as it appears it should be to the eye.

If she is compromised anywhere then the pain can be referred to higher up, I would still get the physio before doing anything else as she has been lame for a while, it can do no harm and will at least ensure she is not holding herself awkwardly to avoid sore muscles, physio is not a cheap option or a magic wand but can work well in conjunction with appropriate veterinary care.
 
Faracat said:
Her heels are under-run, which should improve in time with correct stimulation. Thrush can be quite painful, so maybe that's a contributing factor to the muscle pain?
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Yes it could quite simply be that. She has definite muscle pain and the lameness is low grade enough that muscle pain could be the main cause of it.

She had no reaction to the hoof testers though and he was very brutal with them. Much more so than the vet before. I have no idea if that is relevant or not?
 
be positive said:
I would not be happy with that foot, the side on shows a very upright almost boxy foot with a contracted heel but the front and sole show a different picture, the white line is stretched and open, the frogs and heels are weak but it looks like two different feet, I would be interested to see what they look like after a decent trim, there is nothing really to take off the toe which is unusual in a horse with underrun heels .
It may be worth getting xrays done to see what is going on inside so trimming, or shoeing if you go that route can be done to balance her foot correctly not just as it appears it should be to the eye.

If she is compromised anywhere then the pain can be referred to higher up, I would still get the physio before doing anything else as she has been lame for a while, it can do no harm and will at least ensure she is not holding herself awkwardly to avoid sore muscles, physio is not a cheap option or a magic wand but can work well in conjunction with appropriate veterinary care.
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Great post thanks. I'm not happy with that foot at all. The other fore is similar but without a crack. She scrapes a lot which doesn't help at all.

It doesn't show in the photos at all but she has old deep rasp lines like someone previously has pared away at the toes. I don't think it was the people I got her from but before that. Apparently she came over with 4 horrible, chuncky all different seemingly home made shoes on.

Very good point about the X-rays. I'll discuss with farrier.

Back feet have underun heels but with the longer toes.

Those photos do look like 2 different feet but I don't think it's quite that bad in real life. I think the angle is a bit crap on the second photo but I've not really looked properly at it before. I'll try to get some more tomorrow, but her frog looks more weak if anything, but she's been in quite a bit.

Do I need boots and pads? Farrier mentioned boots before. I'm new to barefoot but very keen to learn!!
 
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