On going Mild hind lameness update (in NL also) (Long)

[kellyanglin]

After posting a week or so ago I’d thought id give an update, in the hope of some similar experiences or thoughts on my problem.

Fi has been slightly lame on the hind for ages, not tracking up correctly and slight swelling the morning after work. – we had tried resting, tried controlled work etc so vets finally decided we needed to do a proper lameness work up.

Unfortunately silly horse went very foot sore on the fronts after being shod before we took her up there (particularly on right fore). Vet suggested we take her anyway and he’ll work around it. He blocked out the areas where she was clearly foot sore, and showed up she was also a little lame on the left fore. For the time being I have said to put this aside as I expect it just to be sore feet rather than anything else and we should just concentrate on the problem I have been looking at for the past 3 months.

Initially after the first lot of nerve blocks we were lead to believe it was a high suspensory problem. However, after the final set of blocks we have found that 90% of her problem is coming from the foot and only 10% coming from the suspensory which is probably a by product of the problem in the foot. The X-rays have showed that from a horse which is only slightly lame she has got awful confirmation in the hoof. The pedal bone is very dropped towards the heel, she has always had visibly low heels but nothing like the degree which is seen on the X-ray. Unfortunately she does not grow much heel at all and now even if we could encourage the growth she does not have the strength in her walls or actually in the foot to give her enough support. We have not yet had an MRI as going to try remedial shoeing to see if that is enough to ‘fix’ the issue. If there is not already damage to the DDFT/navicular then without these corrective measures then it will be highly likely in the near future.

So, for now she has wedges on her hinds with support pads, the instant difference in the way she is standing is amazing, although this was only yesterday so as yet I don’t know how the new position of foot and leg is feeling for her through muscles etc. I need to keep her in for the next 5 weeks until shoeing is due again, when she will also have another full lameness evaluation and additional blocks and x-rays if necessary. They think it is likely that she will also need the corrective shoeing on the fronts but the x-rays on these were no where near as incorrect as the hinds so I thought it best to focus on those for the next few weeks to see if we can see an improvement there first. I am allowed to turn out in a small pen and hand walk for grass etc if I can, she is being so mad in the stable the vets are aware that I will only be doing these things when she is calm enough to be handled safely for both me and her.

I am now making a list of all the things I need to ask which I will save until Monday after I’ve had the weekend to digest all the info I’ve been given, but would really appreciate any input, good stories, bad stories and questions to ask my vet that I may not have thought of yet. Although I am stressed out of my mind as she is clearly not happy being kept in her stable, it is nice to have some progress and a start to what I hope can be a road to recovery, fingers crossed.

Sorry this is so long, thanks for reading.
xx

 

[AandK]

sounds like you have made some progress with your girl.

i had a similar problem with my TB. he went lame behind early Jan 2005, at first vet thought it was an SI problem, as he was very sore in this area. he had a course of physio to see if that would help, it did mildly but vet and physio said he was still 1/10 lame behind and it would likely get worse as his work was upped again. so off he went to Liphook for a full investigation, including bone scan. the results of the scan were inconclusive, SI looked fine, ligaments were even, no hotspots present which was good but still needed to find what was causing his lameness/muscle soreness.. stifles and hocks were xrayed and nothing there to worry about.. then they blocked out his right hind foot and hey presto - a sound horse who moved totally differently. so they xrayed his feet and found the problem your girl has, present in both hinds but more pronounced in his RH.. so he was shod with wedges and support pads, and given a course of intense physio to sort out the associated muscle problems he had.
we have never looked back in terms of his foot problem, he was back eventing in July that year, had to change his pads to less bulky ones as he kept pulling them off but aside from that he had wedges behind until he did a suspensory mid 2008. he had his hind shoes off while in rehab/rest due to injury in hind leg, which really helped his feet and he hasn't needed wedges since.. he made another return to event at the beginning of Aug last year he does have regular physio now though, generally every 3 months.

so in a rather long winded way, i am saying it may not be doom and gloom for your girl. it may take a while but she may come sound again! i couldn't find much around about this condition when Andy went lame and what i could find didn't look that promising.. i think in simple terms it is all about the structure and balance of the horses feet. once this had been addressed, my boy came sound and no longer needed the wedges.

good luck. keep us posted on her progress!

 

[loopylucifer]

I know how frustrating it is. mine did a tendon in fetlock then when coming back into work went slightly lame on same leg but tendon was fine on further investigation showed her pedal bone had droped back as you had discribed but only in the one. was put in pads but could not walk in them so had to have them taken off. So back to being 1/10th lame and not sure of the best way forwards!