New pony lame - vet / farrier conflicting views... Advice please

Well, what a story. If the vet nerve-blocked and there was no reaction then clearly the source of the pain can't be below the point of the nerve block so not clear what x-rays is going to solve unless I have missed something :) . IMHO, the pony has a muscular problem in its shoulder/pectoral muscles. Palpation of the muscles would clearly show this/rule this out. Is he OK when girthing up? Is his trot 'short'? Do you have another sound horse to compare your pony too? Does he find turning tight circles on HARD ground at walk and trot noticeably uncomfortable?
 
Goody - the vet nerve blocked the foot so if the pain was in the foot then she wouldn't feel it and so would be sound. after nerve blocking to the foot she was sound. so we concluded that the pain is coming from the foot area. Prior to this, the vet also did flexi on tests both low in the knee/fetlock and high to see if shoulder elbow was affected and she didn't show any significant worsening in her lameness indicating that it's not high up. Her trot on that leg is short because she is lame - there is a difference between the two legs. Fine when girthing and was sound turning circles, tight or otherwise and on hard ground until she went lame... All my other horses are sound so in comparison to them she is lame
 
Another update for those interested. Bad news I am afraid - X-rays showed nothing wrong with bones, no arthiritis, fractures, abscesses, navicular changes, laminitis changes so without further diagnostics which would include blocking the coffin joint and the navicular area the vet cannot give a definitive answer. Suggested soft tissue damage ( which again would mean further diagnostics inc an MRI ) Sadly pony not insured for vet bills - so having spent £500 on vet bills already , the cost of more nerve blocking and treatment is likely to run into well over another £1000 which sadly isn't feasible when the pony didn't cost much more than that and may still not conclude anything. Our only alternative is as suggested by vet 2-3 months box rest and then see...
interesting, the vet took another X-ray of the non lame foot and noticed that the tip of the navicular had cracked - suggesting previous trauma of that soft tissue ripping around that area ie the muscle has been stretched to the extent that is cracked the nav bone. Possibility that the same has happened now in this hoof. The only upside is that that hoof has mended so this one might.
Blooming horses!
 
At least you have at least eliminated some causes, although I know that we all prefer to know exactly what is going on.

With regards to diagnosing soft tissue issues I think it's great but doesn't always change the treatment outcome so perhaps not of huge amounts of benefit overall.

I can't remember if you said whether pony is shod or not?

I can only really go off my own experience (pony about 3/10 lame so similar to yours) - x rays showed pedal bones in both feet were flat - but as this was in both feet although not helping it wasn't causing the lameness. We did block the coffin joint which worked and therefore treated with steroid/HA injection twice in 3 months with v. limited success.
What was most telling with him was getting a slow motion video of his movement - he landed laterally on both front feet but much worse on the lame foot and I highly suspect if we had MRId we would have found some collateral ligament strain. As he was older (19) at the time I took his shoes off and did lots of walking figuring he'd either come right or retire. He hasn't looked back and has been sound ever since (the last 18 odd months).
 
Thanks for all your support. Ester - I am a big barefoot advocate and follow Rockley etc. I questioned the vet about keeping her shod and he was adamant to keep her shod to avoid complications with bruising, thin soles, not being able to condition the feet etc but I feel like if she is off work for three months I have nothing to lose at this stage and it will only help her? Did you have any complications with taking your boys shoes off? did you do anything to help the transition for a non working horse? Unsure what to do really - might start another post...
 
Introduce your vet to the concept of boots ;)

fwiw he had very flat soles (a result of the pedal bone position) and we didn't get any bruising. I probably took it slower than necessary but after 7 years of fun I felt I owed it to him to be super patient!

When shoes came off we started walking out for 10 mins in hand/on long reins and he was pretty comfortable on the road. I think I increased this about 5 mins per week and some work was done off road as we have good access, started riding a bit after week 4 ish I think. After about 8 weeks he did become uncomfortable on the road and he was booted for all road work for prob about 3 months. - still working off road without (we have easyboot gloves and I was pro at taking them on and off!) and started trotting and went on from there, was back in full work after about 7 months - but as I said did take it super slowly! Only other thing was we set up a track round the edge of our field (just grass) mostly to stop him piling on the pounds but it didn't do his feet any harm either! I'd at least give it some consideration.
 
We have had a similar nightmare situation. Our pony lame behind one leg, for a month vets thought it was his hoof. It turns out soft tissue & ligament damage . We are on box rest / walking out/ back shoes removed although farrier didn't want to remove fronts but if i get my vets backing I will push for fronts off as well as he seems to have managed OK without backs and has a very good diet.
 
Let you know the story of my lad
He was slightly iffy on tight turns, and just a bit off going forward. Semi retired, happy to hack out, but not lame enough to run full workup
After showing vets and getting told its probably a touch of arthritus, dont worry. Farrier couldnt find anything. MONTHS later, in february, he starts sweating buckets, looking colicky. Gets rushed into vets, and lo and behold abscesses burst in both front feet. I get an earful from vets for having wet ground (thanks guys its feb and my only mud is round gate, and find me someone who turns out who doesnt have that) Long and short of it, he is now back to himself, no ouchies on turns, and full of beans at 18.
 
If the pony needs to be off work for 3 months then I would definitely take off the shoes. I'm also not sure I would box rest, personally. I'd be inclined to remove shoes then chuck pony out in the field for 3 months (on a small paddock/patch if possible) maybe...
 
Thought I would do an update as some many people took the time to offer advice and support. Well, contrary to vets advice I took all her shoes off and chucked her out in the field and added some extra biotin to her feed. About 2 weeks ago I watched her trotting and have a bit of a hooley in the field and thought she was looking much better, certainly sound in a straight line so I started to take her for 10 min walk in hand round the farm on the concrete a couple of times a week and then trotted her on her on the hard surface - still sound but a little tiny tiny bit lame when turning. I also started walking her round for 10 mins a day in some deep pea gravel we have on our drive to start getting her feet really circulating and conditioned to cope with the hard surfaces. She is footy on the sharp stones at the moment but her feet are really growing well and are looking lovely, the nail holes after less than 5 weeks are nearly out already.

Over the weekend I was convinced there was no lameness when I saw her trotting in field around corners so yesterday I put her on the lunge and very lightly asked for some trot on a circle and she was sound!!!! Today I did a bit more, about 10mins walk and trot and canter on each rein with saddle on and still sound. Now I know to take it very slowly and will continue with in hand walks this week and will let my daughter have a little sit on and walk round at the weekend - she is so excited she can actually ride her pony again!! So we never found out what it is, I am £500 lighter and none the wiser and I went against vets advise. Horses - pah!! Who knows whether it was the shoes coming off but I am convinced that it helped massively.
Thanks all for your advice and if you could keep your fingers crossed a little longer for us so that she stays sound as the work increases that would be great! I know I will forever more watching her like a hawk!!
 
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