Mild Lameness - New Horse

[southdowns]

YO text me this morning to say new horse had been resting a hind leg and had been reluctant to put weight on it when she was picking out feet, she said there was no heat and he didn't look lame when she turned him out. I asked her to trot him up as i won't be around until its dark later. She just called and said he is a little bit lame behind and is still resting that leg.

He's 5, i've had him 4 weeks and he has done a fair amount in that time but is relatively fit (but originally came from Ireland 3 months ago so probably hadn't done a lot there). He was shod last Thursday, had quite a strenous hack on saturday, dressage on sunday, day off monday and was lunged yesterday morning and was fine.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what could be wrong? Am i over doing it with him? Someone please tell me to stop being silly and that horse go lame a lot and that it does not mean he'll be broken forever now!!!

YO will look at him again later once he's been in for a bit and let me know, if he's still the same tomorrow i'll call the vet

 

[spaniel]

Did you have him vetted when you bought him?

 

[amandathepanda]

Could it be to do with different foot balance now that he's had his feet done and done a fair bit of work since he was shod last week? Could well be something simple like needing his toes cut back differently. Maybe he has stepped on a stone somewhere and has bit of a bruised sole or a foot absess brewing? Even if you have a horse vetted before you bought him, it only proves that the horse was sound on the day of vetting - not what he did in the field an hour/day after the vetting. He's young so I'm sure he will be fine and this is just a temporary glitch

 

[spaniel]

More concerned that as an 'irish hunter' sold to the UK he may have been buted up hence my question about vetting. My next question would have been 'did you have a 5 stage with bloods'.

There could be loads of reasons for his slight lameness but its best to know the full background IMO.

 

[southdowns]

I did have him vetted. My friend suggested that he could have trodden on a flint on the downs on Saturday and the bruise has just started to come out which could be right, especially as there is no heat or swelling???

 

[amandathepanda]

If he has bruised his foot then he will more than likely have some tenderness in the affected area if you prod it a bit with a hoof pick. Swelling up the leg would be unlikely but sometimes with a bruise there will be some heat in the affected area.

Spaniel - I know exactly what you are saying about imported Irish horse being buted up etc, however I think southdowns is just looking for reassurance at the moment that it could well be something minor and not a long term problem. If the horse has been over here for 3 months now (and the poster has owned for about 3 weeks) then I would have thought lameness being controlled with bute would have shown up before - especially as the horse has had an increased workload with his new owner!

 

[AmyMay]

Could be anything. My horse went very lame four weeks after buying him. My blacksmith came to see him and we discovered he had a very bruised sole.

I would have called the vet if the BS hadn't found anything - so think you are wise to do the same.

 

[southdowns]

Thanks guys, i will have a good look tonight but do feel a bit better. My boyfriend also just gave me the 'it can't all be plain sailing talk'!!!!

 

[spaniel]

Im sure it really is something as innocent as a bruise. Teach me to read the post properly, I assumed the horse had only been here for 3 weeks hence the alarm bells!

 

[southdowns]

Don't worry - i wasn't offended!

 

[_jetset_]

I would also think either bruising or an abscess... Sometimes, if the farrier had pu a nail in wrong and then taken it out, then the horse has gone out in the field and mud got into this, an abscess can start forming.

If it is an abscess, then you will see the horse getting gradually worse until hopping lame. This is how Grace was with her, she was sound on the straight, lame on a tight circle then the following day completely hopping and feeling totally sorry for herself

 

[Bert&Maud]

If it is 5 days since he was shod the first thing I would do would be to get the farrier back, nail bind can take a few days to show, and he will also be able to identify bruising etc.