neighsays
Member
Pt 2 to my last thread, I’m at a loss of what to do at this point… dealing with lameness of unknown specific cause in 13 y/o gelding, presenting low grade LF lameness (worse on hard ground) for a year now. We’ve injected coffin joint, done remedial shoeing and have him on daily equioxx. X-rays indicative of navicular (which is why we injected), but no response to nerve blocks anywhere in the hoof/leg as of 3 months ago when we last did them.
He has had positive response to chiropractic treatment in combination with increased exercise, we got him sound on the lunge without equioxx but went lame again after introducing riding. 3 weeks ago injected the navicular bursa and put back on equioxx. He’s not come completely sound from it, but the lameness is now showing worse when the LF is on the outside of a circle instead of it previously showing worse on the inside. Vet now thinks it could be neck related because of this change. We haven’t really investigated the neck at all beyond chiro.
The vet has essentially given me two options:
- redo a full lameness work up to see if the issue is still in the feet or not, then move to neck, etc, and treat accordingly (I would likely take him to a bigger clinic for a work up with a lameness specialist and whatever advanced imaging they would recommend)
Or
- pull shoes and put to pasture for a year (so not really a barefoot rehab, just more time off. I haven’t asked about a barefoot rehab specifically). My hesitation with this is that we don’t have a definitive diagnosis, so it sort of feels like giving up…
I’m planning on having a call with my vet before deciding, but ignoring the financial burdens that come with further testing, would you move forward with more vet work or just let him take some time?
He has had positive response to chiropractic treatment in combination with increased exercise, we got him sound on the lunge without equioxx but went lame again after introducing riding. 3 weeks ago injected the navicular bursa and put back on equioxx. He’s not come completely sound from it, but the lameness is now showing worse when the LF is on the outside of a circle instead of it previously showing worse on the inside. Vet now thinks it could be neck related because of this change. We haven’t really investigated the neck at all beyond chiro.
The vet has essentially given me two options:
- redo a full lameness work up to see if the issue is still in the feet or not, then move to neck, etc, and treat accordingly (I would likely take him to a bigger clinic for a work up with a lameness specialist and whatever advanced imaging they would recommend)
Or
- pull shoes and put to pasture for a year (so not really a barefoot rehab, just more time off. I haven’t asked about a barefoot rehab specifically). My hesitation with this is that we don’t have a definitive diagnosis, so it sort of feels like giving up…
I’m planning on having a call with my vet before deciding, but ignoring the financial burdens that come with further testing, would you move forward with more vet work or just let him take some time?