Birker2020
Well-Known Member
My mare who is 24 in 6 days is quite lame at the moment. She's about 17.1hh 675KG ish.
A bit of history. In Sept and Oct she went to our local vets and had both fetlocks and coffin joints medicated on her fronts - she has had coffin joint arthritis which was diagnosed in 2007 ish. Before Xmas she went lame and I stopped riding her. The vet said her coffin joint would need medicating again and we agreed we would go down the Arthramid route (booked in for Mid April when I've saved the money). She was quite lame on tarmac but only 1/10th on the surface.
She is on 1.5 sachets of bute a day.
She is out at night and in during the day (she is in from 6am - 6pm) on a deep shavings bed. She is quite active and will run around the paddock when the mood takes her and will buck and have a right old jolly at times. It's not everyday its just now and then, usually when you are in there at the same time poo picking and she gets impatient and wants to come it. During the day she has been seen to rear up to the electric fencing to play with the horses on either side of her. I like to monitor her getting down/up rolling on a weekly basis and watched last night - she has no problems with this. She has other arthritis, namely hocks (received fusion many years ago), arthritis in neck, suspensory branch calcification near fore.
She is strip grazed and fed soaked speedibeet (a mug of dry speedibeet), a mug of pasture mix, a mug of high fibre pony nuts and a sprinkle of readigrass split between two fields with joint supplement, turmeric and pink powder added. She only has hard feed to a) get extra fluid into her b) to take the supplements/bute which due to her size are quite considerable amounts
Because she is so playful in the field the vet wants to put her on a weeks box rest after she has the Arthramid as his reasoning is that you don't want to waste time and money by not letting it settle down after injecting it and letting her run around which is fine by me.
However I have noticed that she has suddenly got a lot worse with her lameness. Up until last Friday I'd been bandaging her front legs every night and staff had taken them off in the morning. Now she's not having them on at all due to it being warmer and I didn't want her legs to get too hot in the day. I mention this in case it has any bearing on things.
She is very stiff coming out of the stable as a typical arthritic horse is, but normally this wears off after a few strides. But when walking now she looks quite sore. However as soon as she goes onto a softer surface like the track up the field (harrowed so nice and soft) the difference is most noticeable and she almost looks sound. It could be she's bruised her sole but the pads she has are quite good ones so I would be surprised if she was.
The vet wants her to stay in the Avanti horse shoes for her coffin joint to be stabilised and the farrier wants her in pads as he says she is a bit thin soled. She's shod every five weeks.
I'm wondering if she may have EMS or Cushings. The vet has always ruled this out going on her history and appearance. How do I go about getting her tested (thinking of doing it when she goes in to the vets for the day). Could she have mild laminitis?? Is it possible to have laminitis but not display any signs???
Is the voucher thing for Cushings still available?
A bit of history. In Sept and Oct she went to our local vets and had both fetlocks and coffin joints medicated on her fronts - she has had coffin joint arthritis which was diagnosed in 2007 ish. Before Xmas she went lame and I stopped riding her. The vet said her coffin joint would need medicating again and we agreed we would go down the Arthramid route (booked in for Mid April when I've saved the money). She was quite lame on tarmac but only 1/10th on the surface.
She is on 1.5 sachets of bute a day.
- I'm maintaining her weight, you can just see her ribs but is prone to gas bloat so can look fat to some.
- She is eating/drinking normally and she shed her winter coat within normal parameters, if anything she was ahead of most on the yard on shredding her coat.
- She has no bounding pulses
- Her feet are not hot
- She shows no signs of laminitis, she doesn't shuffle when tied up moving weight from one foot to another, she has a normal stance.
She is out at night and in during the day (she is in from 6am - 6pm) on a deep shavings bed. She is quite active and will run around the paddock when the mood takes her and will buck and have a right old jolly at times. It's not everyday its just now and then, usually when you are in there at the same time poo picking and she gets impatient and wants to come it. During the day she has been seen to rear up to the electric fencing to play with the horses on either side of her. I like to monitor her getting down/up rolling on a weekly basis and watched last night - she has no problems with this. She has other arthritis, namely hocks (received fusion many years ago), arthritis in neck, suspensory branch calcification near fore.
She is strip grazed and fed soaked speedibeet (a mug of dry speedibeet), a mug of pasture mix, a mug of high fibre pony nuts and a sprinkle of readigrass split between two fields with joint supplement, turmeric and pink powder added. She only has hard feed to a) get extra fluid into her b) to take the supplements/bute which due to her size are quite considerable amounts
Because she is so playful in the field the vet wants to put her on a weeks box rest after she has the Arthramid as his reasoning is that you don't want to waste time and money by not letting it settle down after injecting it and letting her run around which is fine by me.
However I have noticed that she has suddenly got a lot worse with her lameness. Up until last Friday I'd been bandaging her front legs every night and staff had taken them off in the morning. Now she's not having them on at all due to it being warmer and I didn't want her legs to get too hot in the day. I mention this in case it has any bearing on things.
She is very stiff coming out of the stable as a typical arthritic horse is, but normally this wears off after a few strides. But when walking now she looks quite sore. However as soon as she goes onto a softer surface like the track up the field (harrowed so nice and soft) the difference is most noticeable and she almost looks sound. It could be she's bruised her sole but the pads she has are quite good ones so I would be surprised if she was.
The vet wants her to stay in the Avanti horse shoes for her coffin joint to be stabilised and the farrier wants her in pads as he says she is a bit thin soled. She's shod every five weeks.
I'm wondering if she may have EMS or Cushings. The vet has always ruled this out going on her history and appearance. How do I go about getting her tested (thinking of doing it when she goes in to the vets for the day). Could she have mild laminitis?? Is it possible to have laminitis but not display any signs???
Is the voucher thing for Cushings still available?
Last edited:
