New horse - vet finds she lame - old injury probably - want to fix...

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emmababes

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Last week i bought (a bit of a spare of a moment thing, that i knew could go wrong!!) a ex race horse 8 year old 16.1hh mare.
My friend rang me on the sunday moring and said do you want her for £650 with rugs and tack. She has not been worked for a year and before that no one really knows what happened to her but have heard she has done some polo and horse ball. I have ridden her a few times and she seems fine but green, not schooled or anything.
Thought i should get the vet out out to her to check her out and after a flexion test she was lame on her off hind. With slight puffyness around the fetlock. Vet said it could be a number of things but x ray needed and then nerveblocking. Worse case sernerio is surgery. It must be a old injury and think this will probably be hard to fix as her leg would have adapted to injury now.
Has anyone else tried to fix a old injury or have any thoughts on it?
Also any info greatly appreiciated on nerve blocking as do not know anything about it.
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Nerve blocking is basically where they work their way methodically up the leg by blocking the nerves in different sections i.e taking the feeling away. If the horse comes sound or the problem goes away when they block a certain area then it shows them that the problem is coming from that area. It enables a vet to narrow down where the problem is coming from so that further investigation can then be done on that one specific area.
 
Ok, don't want to seem hard and unfeeling, but I would think long and hard before starting a full lameness investigation as this will soon run into hundreds and thousands of pounds, especially if surgery is invloved. You need to ask youself if your new horse worth this, and try and make a rational rather than emotional decision. Not easy I know, and I have spent ridiculous amounts of money trying to restore my current horse to soundness, but I have owned him for years and we have much history together.

Did the vet have an idea what the old injury was? What do you want to do with this mare? If she was only lame after flexion, then I'm surprised the vet didn't initially suggest a course of anti-inflammatories before rushing into investigative work. Nerve blocking will just identify the site of lameness, it won't tell you what is wrong. It basically numbs a selected part eg a joint, and if the horse is sound after the block, then you know that that is the source of pain. You would normally nerve block before x raying not after - being sceptical I'm not sure your vet is giving you good impartial advice here.
 
You would always nerve block before an xray. Just because the fetlock is slightly puffy doesn't mean that is where the lameness is coming from. Do you have vet fees insurance - if not I would point out to the vet that it is your money and to do it the cheapest way.
 
Well I think that the vet said to x ray first as this will cost £150 and nerve blocking is £300-400 so starting at the cheapest with surgery at £2000-3000. I know that this will just find the cause and cost more to fix or maybe be non repairable, but at least i will know.
The vet said it could be a number of things and he did mention anti-inflammatories but as she has be out of work for a year you would think it would have gone down in that time.
I would love the mare to be a allrounder fun horse, nothing more than local shows, maybe jump 2ft6/9 but cant really say much as have not even seen her walk over a pole!!!
I agree with what everyone says and think that i'm mad buying a horse with out a vetting or looking at her properly and knew anything could be wrong with her but as she is already 8 I would i would like to give her a better life... well try my best anyway.
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Yes and well done you. What I meant was that if she is sound apart from after flexion, I'm surprised the vet didnt suggest putting her on anti-inflammatories and keeping her in light work for a while. Its not as if you are ultimately wanting to 3DE. Alternatively you could always put her on natural anti-inflammatories eg devils claw, and a joint supplment eg glucosamine.
 
If she was sound until after the flexion test I would for now ignore it and ride her gently to see what if anything happens.
Put her on a good joint supplement such as Multiplex HA or Cortaflex liquid and start by hacking, if it's just an old injury the flexion test may have aggravated it.
No way would I spend megabucks on vet's investigations, for a cheapo horse that's silly.
Even at 8 she may have some damage which has resulted in stiffness and arthritic type lamenesses, many horse like this go sound on a supplement plus occasional sachets of bute.
We have over a dozen retired or formerly lame horses here who have all improved in soundness with turning away on varied terrain, many of whom I reckon would now be classed as sound! So old injuries can improve, even after a while, but spending a fortune discovering what the problem is really doesn't add up I'm afraid...
 
Well he thought that she was lame, when I trotted her up and that is why he did the flexion test, and when i turned her out in the field after and she trotted off i could still see that she was lame.
Its a well established and popular vet, so I just think that is the cost of vets in my area!! We have used 2 other vets in the past for out horses and they are the most reasonable with there costs.
I would agree with you that you that turning her away would help but the fact she has not done anything for a year, you would think she will be sound. I'm scaried that putting her into work will make the problem worse. I did think about bute but that will just hide the problem.
 
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Vet said it could be a number of things but x ray needed and then nerveblocking. Worse case sernerio is surgery.

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must have thought you were born yesterday!
 
Did he mention spavins.I have just gone down the surgery route its very expensive.If its the hock area and its spavins my vet xrayed first then did nerve blocks .He was certain that it was arthritis which showed up as positive but nerve blocked just before surgery to make sure that there wasnt anything else going on as well as the arthritis.He is also a ex racer and 7 this year.If there is puffiness it might be bog spavins which can be helped with anti inflam.There are alternatives to surgery but there is no guarantee.Sorry for bad news but until you have proper diagnosis you wont know how to treat unless you want to rest.If it turns out to be spavins you can pm me and I will give you details on treatment and cost etc.Would it be a idea to ring the vet and ask if he thinks it could be spavins my vet was 90% sure when he did flexation test on my horse because he could feel bone spurs growing as well.
 
Its around the fetlock area though not the hock. But i have thought about arthritis.
Just looking on the iternet and osselets which is caused by excessive racing of young horses when the joints are still developing. And also found a page on horse and hound about fractures caused by lack of work at racing speed and the using sand gallops in training.
Has the surgery cured your horse now? xXx
 
Well its looking very positive.The vet came out this week and has told me one month walking one month trotting and then a revisit to give him the all clear for further work.It will take 4 to 10 months for the bone to fuse with the surgery( it can take 2 years without) Then hopefully he can go on to do jumping and dressage and all the other activities.Hope it works out with your horse let me know how you get on with the vet.
 
Basically, I agree 100% with Henryhorn's advice.

If I was you I'd just bring her back into work very gradually and take it from there. Loads of horses go lame after a flexion test, but can still live perfectly good active lives. And lots of people don't believe in flexion tests at all.

If it is arthritis related, then being in gentle regular work might actually improve her. But what your vet is suggesting is the Fully Monty with bells on - and likely to result in hundreds of pounds worth of costs. And if the nerveblocks and xrays don't show anything and it looks like being a soft tissue injury (ie. tendon or ligament) they'll recommend MRI and then you're talking mega bucks!

You might also want to get a good equine physio / chiro to look at her - case the problem is muscular.
 
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Please get another vet, a nerve block is £50. I don't believe X-Rays are £150 either.

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Ditto that!
Not helpful I know I'm sorry but there is no way a nerve block would cost what they quoted you
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