Opinions Wanted !

[Horseback Rider]

Horse has splints on both front legs,and also seems to be knocking the inside of his near fore withe the off fore and now it is a bit lumpy and he is slightly lame although not that noticable but has been going on for 2 weeks on and off.

Vet came out today ( not my normal one a locum) and after 2 set of flection testing, seeing him lunged and trotted up a million time she said " give him some bute for a week and see how he is" She doesn't even think the lump on his leg is of any significance and then rolled off a list of other ailments it could be including arthritis ( he's only 8) sacral part of the back ( he saw th eback man 2 weeks ago).

I just didn't feel very confident in her diagnosis, and if after the bute he isn't any better I have to call the vet again! Should I ask for someone different ?????

 

[JenTaz]

yeah i would ask for someone different im realli bad for that i phone up the vet and say when is the soonest chris can come out i dont trust my horse with any other vet he's been there all the way to when he could have died with blood poisoning by his previous owners but i would definately get another vets opinion idont have much knowledge with spplints etc

 

[DaveS]

I would use the bute and then if he doesn't seem better, ask for another vet. A week of bute will hopefully rule out any bumps/whacks/small injuries which will heal spontaneously; thereby saving you money on unnecessary expensive tests. If he is still lame then you can look into more in-depth tests such as x-rays etc. which should show up what could be going on - at this stage it really could be anything, including arthritis.

As your horse has splints on both front legs this quite strongly indicates that some serious knock occurred in the past, he has been put through intensive training or there is a conformational fault which is causing the knocking you mentioned etc. etc. This would lead many vets to suspect other wear-and-tear injuries or conditions such as arthritis also going on; which they would investigate once they are happy that they aren't wasting your time and money on unnecessary tests.