Really lame horse

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Bramley

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My Standardbred went extreemly lame coming home from a quiet hack about a month ago. He was so lame i had to leave him tied to a tree and run home to get the horsebox. He was groaning in pain for no apparent reason. The vet came about an hour later and he was looking better. She could find nothing wrong with him. The next day he was fine. He has had three episodes of this and is on box rest. We still can't find any heat in the leg or hoof. Has anyone else ever had the same thing? When lame it is so extreem he looks as if he has a broken leg and cannot bear any weight on his near fore..
 
just clutching at straws here but could there possibly be a deep seated abscess which when under stress flares up on occassions? I have heard of horses getting a thorn lodged up inside their foot causing problems like this
 
When this happens does he have his head down and struggle to pick it up - or anything else like tying up type responses (lift head up, legs buckle, cant walk)? Could it be muscular like in the shoulder? Otherwise as the person said above abcess or anything? I really have no idea though sorry - hope it gets resolved soon :)
 
Yes, I have had a similar experience with my horse. We were out hacking one day last summer, and literally at the furthest point possible from the yard just as we were turning for home, my horse suddenly began hobbling so badly I jumped off expecting to find a huge stone wedged in his foot.

Nothing - so I handwalked him home (several miles). I got the vet out, and he was fine. I felt a bit silly, but the vet was very understanding! He's since done it a couple of times during lessons with my daughters, and the instructor thought it might be a coping mechanism as he was always fine when taken out of the arena. Maybe just his way of saying he'd had enough. He is a big boy, and the yard we used to be at had a small arena.

Having said all that, a year or so later he's just been diagnosed with arthritis in his hocks and I'm wondering whether there's any connection. Maybe he was getting twinges at the time?

Not sure if that's any help to you. Hope everything turns out to be OK!
 
Thanks for all your help. The farrier did find a small split in his hoof wall yesterday when he was replacing the natural balance shoes my previous farrier put on. I am hoping the split was the problem but hoof testers at the time didn't get any response. He is a very tough horse though so may just have taken the pain. I will post the answer if i find it. Hopefully normal shoes should help.
 
This happened to my old horse; he was on and off hopping lame for about 3-4 months, couldn't find out what the problem was - went through nerve blocks and everything (I even bought another horse on the basis that he was probably not going to return to full work) - turned out to be an abcess!! If he's on and off hopping lame I'd keep looking for an abcess - abcesses are fluid and therefore move around within the hoof structure, hence why the can be absolutely fine one day and acting like they've broke their leg the next. If the abcess doesn't exit the hoof either through the sole or coronet band, it may just reabsorb into the body (I think!)
 
spike123 said:
just clutching at straws here but could there possibly be a deep seated abscess which when under stress flares up on occassions? I have heard of horses getting a thorn lodged up inside their foot causing problems like this
Click to expand...

I agree with Spike

My horse went suddenly lame recently. Had the vet out, couldn't find anything. Few weeks later still lame, nothing!

Then farrier came, noticed a small amount of Pus in his sole as he was trimming. Not much there so said just keep an eye.

then I thought he had caught himself one day as he came in from field with a split on his coronet band. A horizontal split then appeared on the wall of his hoof.

He didn't react to any pinch tests but following poulticing, loads of black tarry goo cam out of his hoof! Must have been a deep rooted Abcess that suddenly exploded out of his hoof/coronet band.

Might be worth further investigation from your farrier/vet.

Good luck, nothing worse than unexplained lameness,
 
get farrrier, my vet missed abcess on my mare and vet found itwhen it just busted bad smell, he cleaned it out and i bathed twice aday in salt water and put cut and heal on it after each wash. mare is 100 % now. but it will grow out with hoof. as it was on cornet of hoof, under the hair maybe thats how vet missed. must have bruised hoof and worked its way up hoof and we where treating it for lameness and turned out to be that.
check it out, hope all will be ok
 
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