Mystery lameness in loan horse

AstonishedTrowel

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I would get the foot xrayed- which actually will cost no more than about £200. Most good equine vets will have a portable machine.

If you tell us which part of the country you’re in posters may be able to recommend one.

I'm based in Aberystwyth, unfortunately without my own transport. I think the vet does have an X ray machine onsite, but not a portable one (I know, not ideal). I have no idea how much an x-ray of one foot would cost, that's actually really helpful! (My experience was with two hocks x-rays + nerve blocks which was A LOT more!)
 

AstonishedTrowel

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The abcesses started in June/July 2017 and the resection was at the end of October. It took a while to grow down and the special pads in his shoes had to be redone.

However he has been totally without issue on that foot since April 2018 and he's been ridden very regularly since then. The hoof wall is still a little distorted but changing back to normal with each trim. It was definitely worth doing.

I have changed his feed to include micronised linseed, a balancer and magnesium oxide and that has made a big difference to his feet too.

Happy to share more detail via PM if that would help.

I see! Between June/July and October was he exhibiting the classic signs of an abscess too? (Pulse, heat, sensitivity etc). It's good to know, knowledge is power! Thank you.
 

Equi

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Ohh no, I'm so sorry. That must have been so sad and frustrating... And tbh is a similar fear for me in this situation too :/ thanks for your advice, it's a tough decision!
It was tough cause she was also my best friend and the horse died when she was away and I had to deal with that all too!

Just on cost xrays of my horse were £50 per usable X-ray (usable as in what was used to diagnos) at surgery. That was at a big practice. Friend recently had xrays at her yard of feet and was 30 per foot plus call out. Vets diagnosis was the horse needed shoes as she was bare as fook and horse is now sound. That one depends on your view of shoes etc.
 

Surbie

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I see! Between June/July and October was he exhibiting the classic signs of an abscess too? (Pulse, heat, sensitivity etc). It's good to know, knowledge is power! Thank you.

Yes - he had classic abcesses in July, late August and then finally in October which led to the resect. X-rays taken in August and October. He had not much heat, lots of sensitivity, some pus but not much we thought because it was struggling to get out.
 

AmyMay

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Ystwyth vets in Aberystwyth have a large animal practice, and from what I can see on their website have facilities on site to X-ray.
 

pixie27

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Is it a possibility to look for an out-of-area vet with a portable x ray machine? You’d need to pay call out / fuel but it might save you the transport costs. As far as I can remember, when my horse had a load of x rays, it was £170 odd to set the machine up, then £20 per shot
 

Leo Walker

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And this sorry situation is one of the many reasons that people wont loan horses. Who on earth takes on a horse and doent insure it properly when they cant or wont pay the vet bills?
 

AmyMay

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Yes, that's the vet that I use, provided I can get the vet to agree to x-rays and transport her there that would work.

Ah, well that’s sounds good.

You just need to have a conversation with the vet telling them that you’d like the mare xrayed asap so that you and the owner can discuss the next step. It’s as simple as that really.

Let us know how you get on.
 

Pearlsasinger

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The insurance situation makes me wonder if the horse is an older one. If so, I would tell the vet I wanted a Cushings test. My 22 yr old had a recurrent abscess that kept seeming to clear without her being quite sound. Once we got her on Prascend, it cleared up properly.
 

Surbie

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The insurance situation makes me wonder if the horse is an older one. If so, I would tell the vet I wanted a Cushings test. My 22 yr old had a recurrent abscess that kept seeming to clear without her being quite sound. Once we got her on Prascend, it cleared up properly.

The first post says she's 10. :)
 

AstonishedTrowel

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The insurance situation makes me wonder if the horse is an older one. If so, I would tell the vet I wanted a Cushings test. My 22 yr old had a recurrent abscess that kept seeming to clear without her being quite sound. Once we got her on Prascend, it cleared up properly.

Dentist and owner both say 9-10 yrs old. If she were older I would certainly be looking at EMS/Cushing's.
 

ester

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Suggesting nerve blocks first is not an unusual, or a daft way to go. It enables you to target the xrays to the right area.
Granted it may well be in her hoof but it is higher up then you've spent money xraying the wrong bit.
I've always found nerve blocking and xrays to be pretty reasonable in the grand scheme of things.

Personally I would point out that as the one paying I wanted hoof radiographs to start ;).
 

AstonishedTrowel

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Hello everyone, I just thought I'd give you an update:
As we expected the course of Danilon has done nothing and she was still lame in trot on 2 sachets/day.
I've spoken to the vet who, despite being able to carry out x-rays would refer me to Cotts (our nearest equine specialists) as he honestly admitted that they don't have the facilities or expertise to investigate this sort of lameness.
I am contractually obliged to pay vet bills up to £1000, but this would almost definitely exceed that.
I have sat down and spoken to the owner, and we agreed that I was happy to do all the leg work, keep taking care of her, take her to appointments/treatments, pay her livery etc if she were to pay the vets bills.
We have a 5-day course of antibiotics, box rest and poulticing as a last ditch attempt before we travel to Cott's for nerve blocks and x-rays.
I've been in floods of tears and have barely slept this past week at the thought of having to say goodbye, so I'm feeling relieved that we have a plan in place to get to the bottom of what's causing her pain.
 

AstonishedTrowel

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Hi guys,
Thought you might like to hear the resolution.
We've been up to the specialist equine vets for blocks and x-rays which revealed changes in her navicular bone.
The vet felt confident it could be managed with remedial shoeing for now but I'm still absolutely gutted.
I will be keeping her this summer and will be keeping on top of everything she needs, then will make a decision from there about whether I keep her.
Hopefully if someone else is having the same trouble they will stumble across this thread and find it useful.
Again, thanks everyone for your input.
 

ycbm

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Did the vet make you aware that changes to the navicular bone are common in sound horses, and rarely responsible for lameness in the front feet, which is almost always caused by soft tissue damage?

Did they tell you how infrequently remedial shoes provide a long term solution to the problems and how often a barefoot rehab does?

Does your horse land toe first, heel first, or flat? You may need a video, run back at slow motion, taken from floor level, to tell. If toe first, your horse will not recover into you get that landing flat or heel first. That is very difficult to achieve in shoes.


..
 

AstonishedTrowel

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Decision on whether to keep her??

What does that mean?
Uhh no... He wrote out specifically what sort of shoes she needs. I will have a look at a video actually, thank you. My farrier is also a barefoot trimmer so I will talk it over with him too before I do anything.
 

AstonishedTrowel

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Uhh no... He wrote out specifically what sort of shoes she needs. I will have a look at a video actually, thank you. My farrier is also a barefoot trimmer so I will talk it over with him too before I do anything.
Oops sorry, replied to the wrong one. Whether to keep her on loan, if she's not going to be comfortable in work it's probably better she goes back and gets ridden less.
 
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