New horse very lame 36 hours after arrival :( (bit long, sorry)

Empy&Treacle

Empy&Treacle

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My new 4yo, Bertie, arrived safely on Saturday and had a chill out day where he went out in the field and was a very good boy. On Sunday he had the same routine of in the field for a couple of hours and then I took him out for a hack with a friend. We just walked and met all sorts of traffic including a milk tanker and tractor with digger bucket and trailer on - he was very good with all of this and I was so pleased with him :) All was fine late afternoon when I gave him his tea, but come 9.30pm when I went to put him to bed he could hardly stand up :( He's so very sore on his off-hind, putting it down toe first. There's no swelling to be seen anywhere, but to look at his stifle looks VERY odd :( We got our neighbour to come and have a look (she is v.experienced having been round Burghley a few years back and has seen most lamenesses going) she couldn't find anything untoward. Whilst we were in the stable a bl***y hornet flew in and was buzzing around so we switched the lights out (apart from the large floodlight outside) and with that Bertie leapt about 2 foot in the air - the b**tard had stung him right on the wither :( and so with the fact he could hardly stand up and now the hornet sting we rang the vet. He thought it could be puss in the foot, but didn't feel it necessary to come out there and then. So poor boy had to endure a night of agony from the hornet as well as a very poorly leg - didn't give him any Danillon as I didn't want it to hide anything when the vet comes.

An hour ago I gave him his breakfast - he was lying down, but seemed a little worse on his leg this morning :( I managed to get a rug on him - wasn't able to last night with the hornet sting - and he is feeling so very sorry for himself.

I am just so worried, but more to the point GUTTED :( He is only on loan for me to school on with the view to buy at the end of 6 months, but to make matters worse he's not been here 48 hours yet and he was loaned to me because I lost both my mares this summer, one in July and one in August :( I am just so upset and cannot bear the thought of anything bad happening to little Bertie - and also have no idea what his owner will say (we emailed her all the details last night) We will ring the vets at 0830 and get someone out asap, I just hope he's ok

Has anyone else experienced the almost instant on set of severe lameness?? I hope it is something simple like puss in the foot, but having never had it before in the 9 years I have had horses I don't know. I just so desperately don't want anything bad to happen to him :( Will update once vet has been...
 
Oh bless you, what a worry. I know how you feel, I have a loan mare and she went lame after she had been with me only a few weeks. You feel worse almost because the horse is not your own. You have done the right thing, the vet will shed some light on it all I am sure. Could be many things that are not that serious even tough the symptoms seem alarming and I would not even like to hazard a guess at what it could be. You have done everything right, try not to worry too much, good luck and please post later as I would like to know the outcome. xxx
 
I'd be looking for a new vet. Any vet prepared to rule out a serious injury to a non weight bearing horse without an examination should be shot. Yes, it could be a foot abcess or it could be a fracture, there is no way of being sure over a telephone. My horse had two events like this, one was a fractured radius and one a fractured tibia, either could have been catasrophic had he been allowed to lie down. I hope it is good news when the vet comes out but I would be seriously considering leaving them.
 
Doesnt sound a dis-similar situation to my mare who in summer was fine I rode her at 1pm no lameness just a quite hack, went to feed at 8.30pm and she was only using her back leg for balance non-weight bearing, no swelling just small amount of heat but may of been due to the fact it was the middle of summer, got the vet out who parred her foot to find a massive abcess, they can come on like that, she was fine after 1 weeks politicing and 2 weeks rest.
Fingers crossed for your guy.
 
What a nightmare, try not to worry though as it could just be an abcess - they are really hard to identify and cause really dramatic lameness. I had mare with one, the vet diagnosed laminitis, gave me a really patronising speech about over feeding (I don't) and told me to keep her in all summer. The farrier came out next day and noticed a tiny bit of pus coming down the side of the foot, cut the abcess out and the mare was ten times better there and then.
Any-way back to your boy, let us know how things turn out. I hope he's ok x
 
i too would be very unimpressed that vet didnt come out and would be looking for a new one .sounds like possible abscess to me ,they can be very painful and sudden onset.almost act as if horse has a broken leg.
 
Another one keeping fingers crossed for you this morning.

Please let us know how you get on.

I too would be saying something though about your vet not wanting to come out to you out of hours. You are the paying customer after all and it is your horses welfare that is at stake should anything have happened over night (which thankfully it didnt).

Full complaint in order I think.

Please let us all know how it goes today.
 
Poor Bertie. I hope he makes a speedy recovery.

Whole situation sounds pretty rubbish - not what you want to have happen when you first get your boy home!
 
Was your new boy shod before he came to you? within a week or so because if that was the case then I would have the shoes off pronto and checking for abscess.

Another one who can't understand why your vet didn't come out - mine would have.
 
My mare had a similar thing. She came in from the field fracture lame. Vet came out immediately, we checked the hoof, nothing. He checked most things, nothing. Then we looked right up the inside of her thigh and OMG! Her vein was the size of a firemans hose!

Apparently it is quite rare, but after several IM steroid and antibiotic injections and me having to walk her around for ages, plus a bill for £800 she is now thankfully fine.

I would be unimpressed with your vet. Im glad my vet had the foresight to come quickly.

I hope your horse is better soon.
 
Hello everyone, thank you so much for your messages. The vet came out about 1030 and this is what we found - thankfully nothing life threatening or too serious...

Over night he had developed a small, but obvious localise swelling in the sesamoid joint region which was a little sore, but the main thing was he found a crack and a block hole in his white line just under his heel - he dug it out and it has been plugged with cotton wool and antibiotic spray. We caught it all early so there was no puss and he is hopeful that the fetlock is as a result of the foot. There are no other explanations for the fetlock as he was absolutely fine and wears boots all round when exercised and in the field.

The hornet sting is very swollen, but he is a lot lot better than last night - he tried to killed you when we put cream on it last night, but this morning he would let you touch it, albeit with a slightly concerned look on his face.

Hopefully things will settle during the week.

Here's a picture of him - he is so lovely, he can be very opinionated, but it's quite nice really, means there's something to work on... the second picture is after the vet this morning - he's not too upset about life at the moment, but possibly feeling a little sorry for himself :) Fingers and toes crossed he gets better quickly. Xxx

PS. the next hornet I see near his stable gets it... :p

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Pleased you are getting sorted. Echo what others have said. Your vet is not psychic and should have comes out. Anyway, its not like they do it for free.

Have to say though - what a bonny horse. Lovely face. Onwards and upwards for you both.
 
Agree with the rest about vet. If he couldn't come out he should know other practices that do have vets for out of hours that could have come out and your boy could have had painkillers much sooner.
 
Gorgeous horse. I'd have a look for another vet if I was you though. There is no excuse for them not coming out. Who knows what *might* have been the problem with such a reluctance to put any weight on that leg.
 
Jess1 said:
Hello everyone, thank you so much for your messages. The vet came out about 1030 and this is what we found - thankfully nothing life threatening or too serious...

Over night he had developed a small, but obvious localise swelling in the sesamoid joint region which was a little sore, but the main thing was he found a crack and a block hole in his white line just under his heel - he dug it out and it has been plugged with cotton wool and antibiotic spray. We caught it all early so there was no puss and he is hopeful that the fetlock is as a result of the foot. There are no other explanations for the fetlock as he was absolutely fine and wears boots all round when exercised and in the field.

The hornet sting is very swollen, but he is a lot lot better than last night - he tried to killed you when we put cream on it last night, but this morning he would let you touch it, albeit with a slightly concerned look on his face.

Hopefully things will settle during the week.

Here's a picture of him - he is so lovely, he can be very opinionated, but it's quite nice really, means there's something to work on... the second picture is after the vet this morning - he's not too upset about life at the moment, but possibly feeling a little sorry for himself :) Fingers and toes crossed he gets better quickly. Xxx

PS. the next hornet I see near his stable gets it... :p

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Really Really pleased it nothing serious. Hope he has a speedy recovery. He very handsome :D xx
 
agree your vet should have come out .. he is being paid for it after all. i was gob smacked that you e mailed the owner. if i was the owner i would expect direct contact by phone to let me know of horses condition. sounds like you have got it sorted by now, but e mails and texts to owners on serious matters to me is unacceptable.
 
your vet ought to have come out of hours, after all he is being paid! but emailing the owner (on your part) i find unacceptable. the owner of the horse deserves a direct phone call to update her on her horse. emails/texts are not really a good way of conveying your concerns! glad you have now had the vet and have found the route of the cause.
 
Ditto ofcourseyoucan, YOU are paying HIM for a service even if hes out for 5 min or a hour!!! At the end of the day you dont ring the vet to come out for a laugh do you!!!!

I wish him a speedy recovery. Hes got the most lovely eyes
 
ofcourseyoucan said:
your vet ought to have come out of hours, after all he is being paid! but emailing the owner (on your part) i find unacceptable. the owner of the horse deserves a direct phone call to update her on her horse. emails/texts are not really a good way of conveying your concerns! glad you have now had the vet and have found the route of the cause.
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Ofcourseyoucan, we text the owner at 1100 Sunday night asking her to ring if she was still up, but we didn't hear back, so we sent her a second text (didn't heart back again) telling the owner we had put all the information in an email for her to read in the morning. By the time we'd spoken to the vet and made Bertie comfortable it was gone midnight - there was nothing she could do during the night for him!!

I am not being rude, but we have an agreement in writing re vet issues and communicate a lot via email - and reply instantly to each other - and she has never requested otherwise! I would of course ring if it was during normal hours of the day and if there was something urgent.
On a happy note, Bertie is feeling a lot better today!
 
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Jess1 said:
Ofcourseyoucan, we text the owner at 1100 Sunday night asking her to ring if she was still up, but we didn't hear back, so we sent her a second text telling her we had put all the information in an email for her to read in the morning. By the time we'd spoken to the vet and made Bertie comfortable it was gone midnight - there was nothing she could do during the night for him!!

I am not being rude, but we have an agreement in writing re vet issues and communicate a lot via email - and reply instantly to each other - and she has never requested otherwise! I would of course ring if it was during normal hours of the day and if there was something urgent.

On a happy note, Bertie is feeling a lot better today!
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Yay, glad Bertie feeling better. :D x
 
Glad hes better the owner knew something and didnt tell you ...hole plugged up ? Why would she not mention this ?.......................
 
thinlizzy said:
Glad hes better the owner knew something and didnt tell you ...hole plugged up ? Why would she not mention this ?.......................
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Apologies - just re-read what I put and it was meant to say Black hole, not block hole, sorry! But still you'd hope that his farrier would have noticed the crack and black hole when he was shod a few days before arriving. He's on the mend now which is the main thing :)
 
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