Pectoral muscle strain in horse....

[L&M]

My cob has been mildly lame for the last few weeks. I noticed it initially after a farriers visit, so assumed it was a bind, but on a consequent hoof search by my farrier nothing at all showed up. The only thing he could think is that maybe he had shod a little tight so repositioned the shoe, but my cob remained unlevel.

I called my vet who had a good look at him and decided he was not lame, more moving oddly and on a series of muscle manipulations found he was very sore over his right pectoral muscle between his front legs. My cob reacted quite violently to the area being touched (turning to bite the vet with his ears pinned back!), despite no heat or swelling, but definitely pointed to why he was so uncomfortable. He didn't react to the left side of his chest being manipulated. The vet didn't feel a scan was necessary as from what he could feel it was a strain rather than a full tear.

On the advice of my vet he has had 2 weeks field rest with bute that he is now weaned off. I tentatively put him back into some gentle walk work this week but he seems no better. I am going to have a quick chat with my vet and suspect he will just say more rest, and hoping this is all that is needed but have a niggling feeling there may be more to it.

Anyone else experienced a pectoral strain, and if so was your horse lame, and how long was the recovery period?

Thanks for reading.

 

[AandK]

No experience with that type of strain, but I’d definitely be getting a physio or osteo out to look at him, as well as speaking to the vet again.

 

[L&M]

Thanks, I did wonder on physio.

 

[Zoeypxo]

My horse was slightly lame once but more choppy than lame infront. Physio came out and she had pulled her pectoral muscles, both sides. I think she did this slipping down a muddy hill out hacking with her front feet, nothing else out of the ordinary happened at the time!
She was fine after a physio appointment and no problems there since.

 

[L&M]

My horse was slightly lame once but more choppy than lame infront. Physio came out and she had pulled her pectoral muscles, both sides. I think she did this slipping down a muddy hill out hacking with her front feet, nothing else out of the ordinary happened at the time!
She was fine after a physio appointment and no problems there since.

Thank you - I will speak to our physio tomorrow and get her opinion. He is possibly too sore for her to treat atm, considering the way he reacted with the vet.

There were no skid marks on signs of a drama in his paddock and he is generally quiet and sensible, but he did have a dramatic spook a few weeks ago when bringing in as my neighbour had put a dog agility tunnel adjacent to his paddock and the wind blew it towards him as I was bringing him in! He pulled back sharply and reversed at speed up a slight bank......

I am concerned he is still lame though, as most people I have spoken too have not had lameness with this type of muscle injury, so just worried it is a red herring and something else is also going on, or in addition too.

 

[Flowerofthefen]

A friends horse did the front leg splits in the field and tore that muscle. Unfortunately after a lot of rehab she lost him to it. I'm assuming it's quite a big muscle so I would say it will take a fair while to come right. My old lad got spooked in the field and sat down. He damaged some muscles in his backside. It took a good 6 weeks rest to start coming right, then lots of walk work. Good luck.

 

[lozzles]

Mine also pulled his pec muscle. We scanned to confirm and his was very swollen compared to the surrounding muscles. It took a surprisingly long time to heal as I guess it takes a fair bit of strain even when resting. He did make a full recovery but it was from memory something like 6 weeks

 

[L&M]

Mine also pulled his pec muscle. We scanned to confirm and his was very swollen compared to the surrounding muscles. It took a surprisingly long time to heal as I guess it takes a fair bit of strain even when resting. He did make a full recovery but it was from memory something like 6 weeks

Thanks for the encouraging story - was your lad lame?

 

[L&M]

A friends horse did the front leg splits in the field and tore that muscle. Unfortunately after a lot of rehab she lost him to it. I'm assuming it's quite a big muscle so I would say it will take a fair while to come right. My old lad got spooked in the field and sat down. He damaged some muscles in his backside. It took a good 6 weeks rest to start coming right, then lots of walk work. Good luck.

Thanks - my vet is convinced it is strain rather than a tear. Waiting to hear back from the physio and hoping she will have a better idea of how much damage has been done, and therefore recovery time...

 

[scats]

We suspect this is what my mare injured recently when she had an accident in the stable. We didn’t witness what happened but it looks like she did the splits and went head first into the wall. We are 5 weeks down the line now and she is sound in walk and trot, but is still tender when you pick that leg up to do her feet or stretch her leg forward. She was absolutely hopping lame in walk for the first week. She’s on light walking work at the moment, just 10 minutes every other day and will be doing this for the next month at least.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

I wonder if this is what a pony at the RS I worked for did. He has been lame and kept in and was then put out in the field for a short while. He was found a short time later unable to put weight on one front leg. He had to shuffle his back legs forward, put the weight on his good leg and then rear and swing the bad leg forward while he hoped on the sound leg. Took ages to get him in. My boss didn't get a vet just rested him and he did eventually come right but die to other things was never ridden again. The front leg issue never seemed to cause any problems going forward.

 

[lozzles]

Thanks for the encouraging story - was your lad lame?

Yes mine was lame with it and thinking back we did do a steroid injection to settle the inflammation down as it was quite significant

 

[L&M]

Thank you all for your replies, the physio is booked for next tues. He now appears field sound so hopefully this bodes well and the physio can offer further guidance on his recovery.

He is a tough old bugger and has only had 2 minor injuries in the 10 yrs I have owned him, and bounced back very quickly each time. But now as an older, and higher mileage horse, may have to accept that recovery times are not as quick!

Thanks again.