Mystery lameness - at end of tether.....

S

scotsmare

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This will be long - sorry!

My 4yr old was proving tricky to back earlier this year - was very tight behind saddle and not happy with rider. She was having irregular seasons so we got her scanned but ovaries were fine. She was a bit tender when prodded in the back by the vet who gave her Danilon and prescribed rest before further investigations.

So, Danilon / rest complete and we brought her back into work only for her to be lame on a front leg - kind of looked like was around her knee but no heat / swelling. Vet came back and decided that we should address the imbalance in her front feet before doing much else. Annoyingly, she chose that day to trot up sound
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but previous to that she has consistently been lame on a soft surface - more noticably so than on the hard.

Farrier came today, said she didn't have a 'pair' of front feet and that they were different. He's adjusted the angle as much as he can in one go. Different remedial farrier booked for a months time. However, he didn't think her feet were the issue......

After trotting up on hard / soft surfaces, she is still slightly lame. Throughout all of this there has been no visible sign of tramua or definite injury. Until today, when there is a swelling to the inside of her near hind fetlock.

Now, I'm presuming dopey ponio has just knocked herself just to keep things fresh
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but am at end of tether with this on/off lameness.

Any suggestions......
 
You dont mention breeding or maturity for age.

I would suggest 2 routes, one more costly than other.

Option 1 would be to call vet and ask for scans and x rays from the knee down on both front legs. This will either show a problem or eliminate the prospect of something being wrong. Lame or not, something will show up....

Option 2 would be to turn the mare away over the winter to grow and mature. Just like teenagers get growing pains, young horses often do too, which couldbe causing the intermittent lameness. If she is backed/broken riding away it wont be detrimental to her to have the winter off, say Sept, Oct, Nov, Dec, Jan, Feb, then bring back into work and see how you go. If you still have the lameness problem I would investigate further, but you may find that with time to mature and grow she sorts herself out.
 
She is warmblood and I didn't back her last year cos she was too immature. She has grown approx an inch over the summer this year.

I do have the facilities to turn her away over the winter and was wondering whether this was my best option or not as she hasn't been ridden away.
 
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no, not yet - now that the farrier has been i've to bring her back into some sort of work and then get vet back once she's lame again (which seems a bit irish but never mind.....)

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Think you probably need a full lameness work up done to try and get some answers......
 
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See I thought SL's too but vet also suggested growing pains at the weekend......

Vet is happy to investigate further but she needs to be lame for him to see what I'm wittering on about!

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WB's dont really stop growing and maturing till they are seven or eight. I would go down the 6 months off route - much cheaper initially!
 
Agree with R2R, wb's don't really mature until much later and growth spurts could be imbalancing her.

I would turn away too, then you can monitor her, and if still lame when starting again, do full checks
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