My horse keeps going lame after exercise, any advice or suggestions please?

[mightymammoth]

My horse went lame after a boxing day hack which involved going up two steepish hills. It was put down to him overdoing it and he was fine the next day so vet wasn't called. He had a week off and I started to do things with him again. Went on a road hack and trotting up a slight incline he went lame again.

Vet came the next day but again he was fine, vet said he was intermittently lame1/10 on right fore and to keep an eye on it (this was a week ago)

Yesterday after riding in the school he went lame again but today he seems fine. There has been no lumps bumps heat or swellings vet did the flection test when he came and nothing.

I'm really at my wits end and so worried he's my first horse so am neurotic over him as it is.

I've only had him since October and had him 2star vetted and nothing was picked up, previous two owners both say there have never been any lameness issues with him.

I've got the physio booked to give him the once over and will take it from there, has anyone experienced similar?

I just don't know what to do anymore...
Thank you

 

[Flight]

Hi, I had a similar problem with my gelding, some days he looked fine and other days he looked lame. I had him thermal imaged after being recommended on here. It was very good and highlighted problem was in a front hoof. He then went to vet for xrays and they found a keratoma. I can highly recommend thermal imaging as it showed me exactly where problem was with my horse as it was difficult to tell where the lameness was coming from. I used Clare Ellam from the inner picture and she was lovely. I hope you manage to get to the bottom of your problem.

 

[mightymammoth]

Thankyou for the reply, is this something's vets offer do you think or is it special companies?

 

[Shilasdair]

My horse went lame after a boxing day hack which involved going up two steepish hills. It was put down to him overdoing it and he was fine the next day so vet wasn't called. He had a week off and I started to do things with him again. Went on a road hack and trotting up a slight incline he went lame again.

Vet came the next day but again he was fine, vet said he was intermittently lame1/10 on right fore and to keep an eye on it (this was a week ago)

Yesterday after riding in the school he went lame again but today he seems fine. There has been no lumps bumps heat or swellings vet did the flection test when he came and nothing.

I'm really at my wits end and so worried he's my first horse so am neurotic over him as it is.

I've only had him since October and had him 2star vetted and nothing was picked up, previous two owners both say there have never been any lameness issues with him.

I've got the physio booked to give him the once over and will take it from there, has anyone experienced similar?

I just don't know what to do anymore...
Thank you

Seems to me that you have three reasonable options;
1. Rest him for one or two weeks, then see if he is sound for ridden exercise.
2. Ride him until he is consistently lame - then get the vet out for a lameness work up.
3. Get the vet back out now.

No one on a forum knows why your boy is lame, particularly intermittent lameness.
Good luck.
S

 

[mightymammoth]

Thanks for the suggestions am going to rest him for two weeks then the physio check up then try riding him and then vet again if he goes lame. Was just wondering if anyone had had similar experiences

 

[Puppy]

Try a longer period of rest, and if that doesn't work then I'd take him to the vet for a full lameness work up.

 

[Apercrumbie]

PMSL at the fleet of weasels comment

I imagine that thermal imaging is quite expensive so you may want to wait a couple of weeks to see if he improves before doing that. Is he insured? If he is, find out if he is covered for something like that.

 

[mightymammoth]

He is insured thankfully, can anyone tell me what the vet will do during a full lameness test? When the vet came he checked him over trotted him up and in the school and did the flection test. Or is that a full lameness test? Thanks

 

[Goldenstar]

IMO you need to get the vet back out .
These things need getting to the bottom of.
How long is it since he was shod?
Don't panic but you need to sort it out sooner rather than later

 

[Goldenstar]

They will do as before and may lunge the horse on the soft and on the hard looking for clues to tell them where the lameness is coming from.
the next step would be nerve blocking this is where they anesthetise the nerves in various areas to try to get the lameness to disappear and so lead them to the affected area
what happens next depends on what they find.

 

[mightymammoth]

Thanks goldenstar as I was thinking how are they going to be able to tell where the lameness is coming from. I will read up on the nerve blockers.

 

[mightymammoth]

He was shod 2 weeks ago

 

[IsabelleJ]

I would advise getting the vet out to do a full lameness workup, including flexions. Keep riding the horse the way you have been riding him before he goes lame, and ride just before vet comes. Do NOT feel cruel for riding your lame horse - that was a mistake I made, and in the end I caused him to suffer for an extra year. I will tell you what happened.

My story begins almost exactly 2 years ago. From the January onwards, I had a little niggling feeling that something wasn't right with Sidney, he was really grumpy and never really happy. I couldn't find anything in particular wrong, so just left it. In May, when the ground started getting hard, he was even grumpier. One day, as I was doing his girth up, he turned and gave me the most horrendous bite on my stomach! I had a bruise that was, I kid you not, the size of both my hands, that didn't lose its colour for three weeks! He has NEVER done this before, so I immediately called the vet out. He was perfectly sound, and vet thought I was mad asking for a full lameness workup, but I knew something was seriously wrong by this point. On flexions, he was 6/10 lame on the near fore!

Vet couldn't narrow down where lameness was, so we were to be sent to the horsepital for a bone scan. I was supposed to keep on riding, but a loaner was doing most of the riding for me and really disagreed with riding a lame horse, and I could definitely see where she was coming from, so he had three weeks off before his bone scan appointment. Took him to the horsepital, he was completely sound even after flexions, the rest had worked! They couldn't do a bone scan because they weren't sure it would show anything as he wasn't really lame. So basically, that was that and he was sound for the next year.

The next year, at the same time of year, with the ground getting harder, he came in from hooning around in the field with his mates absolutely crippled. (I'm told he carried on galloping even on three legs, the plonker!!) Vet came out, and he had done both his front suspensories. The interesting part was, that when the vet x rayed, they found a bony spur on the coffin joint. The conclusion was that he had torn the suspensory ligaments by compensating for the sore coffin joint. The scans showed old tears to the ligaments, so he had probably torn them slightly the year before, and they had never healed properly.

If I had carried on riding him the first year, I am sure that we would have figured this out then, rather than him having to suffer on for another year. I know he was hurting in the meantime, as he had gradually got worse at travelling, eventually falling over in the trailer going round a left hand corner - as he was reluctant to weight bare on his bad leg.

Please please get the vet out as soon as possible, and carry on riding between now and then if you can. Try riding before the appointment, so that the vet can see what you can see. Don't make the same mistake I did

Cookies for reading this long screed, I hope it helps you!

Isabelle

 

[Pearlsasinger]

A friend has recently had this, horse went lame after a trip into a ditch out hacking. After a few vet visits, they had x-rays done. Nothing was found. The horse was turned away for a couple of months but went lame again after the farrier had taken his shoes off. Friend, who is a nurse, thinks it must be a ligament problem and that he needs more rest on a flat field.

 

[Booboos]

The problem is that it could be one of a thousand things and no one, not even a vet, could advise you over the internet. Slight, intermittent lameness is tough to diagnose but you do need to get to the bottom of it as what is a smaller problem now could get worse in time.

If he was mine I would talk to the vet on the phone (a very good equine vet) and decide whether I should either ride for two weeks and re-examine or re-examine now. Unfortunately it does sound like your horse needs more comprehensive exams to figure out what is going on. The first step is usually nerve blocks to try to determine where the lameness is coming from. Other exams like x-rays or ultra sounds are done depending on the type of problem suspected.

 

[mightymammoth]

thanks for the suggestions so far

 

[Tnavas]

Have you had the farrier look for a possible abscess they can come and go.

 

[Flight]

Thermal imaging is carried out by special companies and isn't expensive at all, It doesn't give you a diagnosis but can highlight area where problem is. It cost me £60 for lady to come out and scan him and she emailed me copies of the pics to take to the vet. Wish I had done it first before taking him to the vets as they ended up nerve blocking wrong leg for a lovely £400 as couldn't tell which leg the lameness was coming from as he was compensating with other legs and looked off on all 4.

 

[only_me]

It could be a splint forming?

 

[mightymammoth]

Have you had the farrier look for a possible abscess they can come and go.

going to do this tomorrow thanks

 

[mightymammoth]

It could be a splint forming?

good point any idea of a prognosis if it is a splint?

 

[cptrayes]

Prognosis for splints is excellent but usually only rest will cure them, they often (usually?) stay lame if kept in work.

 

[mightymammoth]

Prognosis for splints is excellent but usually only rest will cure them, they often (usually?) stay lame if kept in work.

thank you, will have a look into splints now to see if that could be a possibility

 

[diggerbez]

if your horse in insured then i would get a full lameness work up done by a good equine vet who is used to performance horses. its pointless (IMHO) to keep riding in the hope that he'll go more lame and so there will be something for a vet to see- yes you might achieve that but you might also completely break your horse for good- so if there was the slightest feeling that he wasn't 'right' then i wouldn't be doing anything... i think its different if not insured but you say you are.... what area of the country are you in? someone might be able to recommend a suitable vet?

 

[mightymammoth]

I'm in Stoke on trent so use Nantwich vets. He is insured but is again appearing sound although has only been walked from the field to his stable and vice versa. I am going to give him a few weeks off then physio then see what the vet says. Thank you for your reply