Question - any of you had experience with this? (sorry, a bit long!)

Kellys Heroes

Kellys Heroes

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Hi all,
I am slightly nervous about posting this and the replies I'll get, I think I might be edging on the side of overworried??

Bit of background....
My p/l mare is 14.2hh and (a very young!) 16 y/o. However probably about 14 weeks ago we put her on box rest as she was lame and we couldn't put our finger on what it was...to cut a long story short, the vets blamed it on arthritis and told us to limit what we did with her (gentle hacking until she got rid of the lameness) and see how she went. She was on bute for 2 weeks and still lame through that.
She then suffered two seizures in a fortnight (touch wood, she has never had one since) and the vets had no idea what caused them only that as she recovered herself quite quickly they didn't want to take it any further.
She was very quiet, docile and miserable which wasn't like her at all. She then started with lami - we think brought on by the stress of the seizures - and we quickly treated this as appropriate, and after a few more weeks of box rest (nightmare!!), the vet said she was clear and to have heart bars fitted and turn her out, begin to hack her again. (Just to add, we had a feeling it wasn't just lami that was causing a problem :( )
So, we proceeded to follow this advice, and for one week she was fantastic, sound, happy, alert etc and then after a week (I hasten to add, we hacked out and ONLY walked) she went lame again. :rolleyes:
The vet has come down again today and said there is mild rotation in one front leg, but he's not overly worried. We are getting the farrier out a.s.a.p to give her more support under her frog, and the vet said we are able to start riding her again and turning out as soon as we want to.
I am just wondering what "the prognosis" (without that sounding so pessimistic :eek: ) is and if anyone has or has had a horse with very mild rotation? She is still very happy and vocal, she loves going out to play in the field (with her muzzle on :D), she still thinks about her belly constantly (she has one handful of Happy Hoof, 1 scoop of Lamintech and 2 soaked hay nets a day), she loves her baths, fusses and days out to shows and the beach etc and is, in general, a very contented (and spoilt) horse.

Wine and choccies for whoever made it through!! :)

btw, I love her to pieces and if it means we can only lightly hack her and no more schooling or jumping, so be it! :)
 
Sorry, I really don't know, you could try posting in New Lounge, it gets a lot more visitors than the veterinary forum!
 
If the mare has a recently rotated pedal bone, then I would think she needs months of box rest.. My girl had mild rotation in late May and under vet guidance I box rested till about August then a small paddock and didn't ride her again until October/November time. Maybe get a second opinion? BTW my mare has been sound and in normal work siince the laminitis touch wood. Good luck.
 
Dogstar said:
If the mare has a recently rotated pedal bone, then I would think she needs months of box rest.. My girl had mild rotation in late May and under vet guidance I box rested till about August then a small paddock and didn't ride her again until October/November time. Maybe get a second opinion? BTW my mare has been sound and in normal work siince the laminitis touch wood. Good luck.
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Thanks :) she's been on box rest now since the first week of Easter we had a feeling it wasn't just lami. The vet said our farrier needs to put more support on her and the heart bars are **** - yet the farrier said the heart bars are the best he's got!
Having her x-rayed next week so the farrier's got more to go on but its awkward being a second messenger between them both.
I'm glad to hear your mare recovered - I just wanted an idea of what to expect :)
 
Oh I am sorry to hear this and am glad to hear from another member that their horse came sound again.

I havent experienced this but have the arthritis and use a herbalist for this which has brought my to be retired horse sound in 6 weeks -she also des lami mixes so maybe you could contact a herbalist and ask for a mix for both??

Good luck xx
 
mja said:
Oh I am sorry to hear this and am glad to hear from another member that their horse came sound again.

I havent experienced this but have the arthritis and use a herbalist for this which has brought my to be retired horse sound in 6 weeks -she also des lami mixes so maybe you could contact a herbalist and ask for a mix for both??

Good luck xx
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Thank you! Anything's certainly worth a try atm.
However we walked her today on advice from the vet and farrier (one thing they did agree on!) and had trouble keeping up with her! x
 
Interesting mix of symptoms there.

Has this rotation been confirmed by Xray so far or are the ones next week the first? You didn't go into much detail about what kind of lameness workup has been done.

If you took everything together it would, in my opinion, point towards a neurological condition, possibly as a consequence of injury.

Taken separately it could be lameness is your vet has suggested and the fitting could maybe be a high temperature response to an acute allergy or local inflammation.

Hope she makes a good recovery for you, no reason why she shouldn't
 
the watcher said:
Interesting mix of symptoms there.

Has this rotation been confirmed by Xray so far or are the ones next week the first? You didn't go into much detail about what kind of lameness workup has been done.

If you took everything together it would, in my opinion, point towards a neurological condition, possibly as a consequence of injury.

Taken separately it could be lameness is your vet has suggested and the fitting could maybe be a high temperature response to an acute allergy or local inflammation.

Hope she makes a good recovery for you, no reason why she shouldn't
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Hi sorry for the delay I've been away.
Yeah the X-rays from last week were the first - they've confirmed NO arthritis (one thing) but rotation in both feet - the vet keeps stressing not to worry but is fuming that the farrier did not do as he asked.
The farrier is now coming back out to trim her toes right back, drop her heel and move her heart bars for more support...(and once he has rectified this we will be asking the vet for a recommendation for a different farrier :mad:)
He said we may have to be careful with what we do until she is completely right (obviously) but we didn't ask any further about the future prognosis...
He thinks the lami did arise from the seizures, and does not want us to change any one part of her routine in order to reduce the risk of another seizure. (Which may be a completely different problem..?? One they don't want to (her being the ned she is) inspect any further into while its not causing problems)

Hoping once Friday is over, she comes sound and things start to look up????? :confused: (she is still the same as ever character wise!)
 
Get yourself on to the UKNHCP forum and ask your question there - you will get a very informed answer from people who are very clued up on managing LGL and recovering horses with this kind of problem

Quite how shoes help with laminitis I am at a total loss to understand - you need to support the whole hoof - when the bond between the pedal bone and wall and sole is stressed the last thing that will help is peripheral support and "hanging" the hoof by the wall, and adding concussion to an already compromised hoof. It's just simply counterintuitive.

But if the only tool you have in your box is a hammer then every problem....
 
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