Really need Advice on Horse

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Lotsoflemons

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Hi Guys I need some Advice I have an older horse and she is slightly lame In trot she has been like this for a few months now she's Fully sound in Walk Just in Trot slightly dipping lame Shes 22 now Has had vets out etc they gave her Bute and they just say its arthritis, Bute isnt doing Much she's having regular Physio and they are saying keep walking her out But I don't want to keep her in work when she's uncomfortable! we have only had her since March but considering Retiring her for her best Interests, she's a very happy girl loves running around the field and is always happy, Runs for her dinner I just don't know what to do! Shes a big Horse and used to Carriage drive so she has alot of weight on her, Sadly we have had to move our other Horse to livery due to lack of grazing and she's had to stay at our old field as she wouldnt be able to live out where our other horse is, She has lots of friends and company! But I feel so so bad keeping her not close to us, Do I retire her?, Do I find her a loan home as a Companion or get a Field close to us and get her a Companion? She's a lovely girl and Im Gutted but I really want what's Best for her..
 
Sanversera said:
Have you tried no bute or glucosamine? You could always give her the winter off and see how she is in the spring,the lameness could improve.
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We have took her shoes off and will give her Winter off so will see what shes like we have stopped bute for now as it hasn't done much and she's happy living out in the field but I feel so bad for her!
 
AdorableAlice said:
As a carriage horse she may well have done a lot on the roads. Could you xray her, that would likely find the problem and the vets could give you more help.
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Sadly the vets won't x Ray they just keep saying it's Arthiritis! In going to try again and ask if we can get one because If we went up the line X ray and travel would cost an awful lot and she's not insured sadly, I would hate to go up the line and do everything I can and they would just say put her to sleep she's so happy just don't know what it is x
 
Lotsoflemons said:
Hi Guys I need some Advice I have an older horse and she is slightly lame In trot she has been like this for a few months now she's Fully sound in Walk Just in Trot slightly dipping lame Shes 22 now Has had vets out etc they gave her Bute and they just say its arthritis, Bute isnt doing Much she's having regular Physio and they are saying keep walking her out But I don't want to keep her in work when she's uncomfortable! we have only had her since March but considering Retiring her for her best Interests, she's a very happy girl loves running around the field and is always happy, Runs for her dinner I just don't know what to do! Shes a big Horse and used to Carriage drive so she has alot of weight on her, Sadly we have had to move our other Horse to livery due to lack of grazing and she's had to stay at our old field as she wouldnt be able to live out where our other horse is, She has lots of friends and company! But I feel so so bad keeping her not close to us, Do I retire her?, Do I find her a loan home as a Companion or get a Field close to us and get her a Companion? She's a lovely girl and Im Gutted but I really want what's Best for her..
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What were the circumstances of you buying her in March? Was she bought to be a riding horse? Was she vetted? Selling a 22 year old horse is uncommon - why were the owners selling her? She sounds lucky to have you as her owner now.

If you want an x-ray and your vet won't do one, I'd personally change vet. Whilst veterinary medicine is by no means a 'customer is always right' service industry, if you would like a non-invasive investigation for your horse for lameness, then a vet should be happy to perform one.

Are you walking her in hand or are you riding? When she runs in the field is she comfortable?

You are asking (understandably!) a lot of questions and you clearly want/need to make a decision about her, but you will be much better informed about her options if you can, as you are asking, get x-rays to find (or rule out) the cause of the problem.

Ask your vet again for x-rays, and if they still refuse, go to a new vet. See what the x-rays show, listen to what the vet advises as the best course of management, and you can decide from there.

Good luck :)
 
Sanversera said:
If she seems happy I'd be leaving her barefoot and adding glucosamine and MSM to her feed along with a veteran balancer. She's lucky to have you as her owner, you sound very caring. A few months off with these additives to diet ought to help.
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I agree with this. Orbi grew new hooves in 7 months with decent feeding and a good supplement.
If your going to buy glucosamine and msm. Buy a supplement that is just that , not a small amount of that added to another supplement. ☺️
What you put in, you get back out 🥰
 
JenJ said:
What were the circumstances of you buying her in March? Was she bought to be a riding horse? Was she vetted? Selling a 22 year old horse is uncommon - why were the owners selling her? She sounds lucky to have you as her owner now.

If you want an x-ray and your vet won't do one, I'd personally change vet. Whilst veterinary medicine is by no means a 'customer is always right' service industry, if you would like a non-invasive investigation for your horse for lameness, then a vet should be happy to perform one.

Are you walking her in hand or are you riding? When she runs in the field is she comfortable?

You are asking (understandably!) a lot of questions and you clearly want/need to make a decision about her, but you will be much better informed about her options if you can, as you are asking, get x-rays to find (or rule out) the cause of the problem.

Ask your vet again for x-rays, and if they still refuse, go to a new vet. See what the x-rays show, listen to what the vet advises as the best course of management, and you can decide from there.

Good luck :)
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Thank you! So we bought her from a lady in March as a "light hack" she was her first horse and she didn't really know much about horses but it was her dream to have one and due to health decided she was best suited to somewhere more knowledgeable.. when I rode her we walked out hacking on a busy A road lots of lorries and trucks and she was bombproof so we bought her 🙈 we should have done alot of research but the lady seemed really lovely and due to her health she needed a home for her we only bought her to go around the lanes once a week and to be a Companion so nothing crazy! But we started noticing she dips her shoulder in Trot she's very eager out hacking jogs etc ears forward loves it but she's just not right in Trot, she's not uncomfortable in the field just ridden, Im going to ring the vet tomorrow and ask for an x ray we've left it a few months and took her shoes off because the vet said the bute would make her "sound" to be ridden but it's not fair on her x
 
Lotsoflemons said:
Thank you! So we bought her from a lady in March as a "light hack" she was her first horse and she didn't really know much about horses but it was her dream to have one and due to health decided she was best suited to somewhere more knowledgeable.. when I rode her we walked out hacking on a busy A road lots of lorries and trucks and she was bombproof so we bought her 🙈 we should have done alot of research but the lady seemed really lovely and due to her health she needed a home for her we only bought her to go around the lanes once a week and to be a Companion so nothing crazy! But we started noticing she dips her shoulder in Trot she's very eager out hacking jogs etc ears forward loves it but she's just not right in Trot, she's not uncomfortable in the field just ridden, Im going to ring the vet tomorrow and ask for an x ray we've left it a few months and took her shoes off because the vet said it would make her "sound" to be ridden but it's not fair on her x
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She's a very lucky girl to have you 🥰
 
My friend has a wee horse. I tried it out when she bought her. Lame in trot, she was 16 at the time. 5 years later she is still going strong. She will gallop all day long, walk all day long but is lame in trot occasionally. But since she walks everywhere. Amber is the best confidence giver ever. Vet said it is probably to do with her confirmation, i said take the shoes off and fix the pigeon toe and she is super now
 
Lotsoflemons said:
She always has! We thought it was to do with her shoulder so had physio out incase of tightness etc but we also had 2 vets out to do trot ups full health checks etc and they said its Arthiritis of the pedal bone or something
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So you will really need to concentrate on the feet. Get a good barefoot farrier that can advise whats best 😊
 
Barton Bounty said:
My friend has a wee horse. I tried it out when she bought her. Lame in trot, she was 16 at the time. 5 years later she is still going strong. She will gallop all day long, walk all day long but is lame in trot occasionally. But since she walks everywhere. Amber is the best confidence giver ever. Vet said it is probably to do with her confirmation, i said take the shoes off and fix the pigeon toe and she is super now
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Exactly what she has!! She walks pigeon toed and her conformation isnt great, she's fully sound in Walk really forward, but farrier said to put a full set of shoes on as her hoofs werent great so we did but we took them off 2 weeks ago and she's been alot happier! So strange
 
Lotsoflemons said:
Exactly what she has!! She walks pigeon toed she's fully sound in Walk, farrier said to put a full set of shoes on as her hoofs werent great so we did but we took them off 2 weeks ago and she's been alot happier! So strange
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Try a different farrier to correct it 🙂
 
Lotsoflemons said:
Thank you! She really is so sweet and we want the best for her! It's just so gutting that if she was fully well we could have moved her with us to our new yard but becuase of her injury she needs to be out as much as possible and our new yard can't accommodate that x
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All horses need as much turnout as possible, we don't make healthy bodies or minds when they are stabled. We may not see the ill effects so easily with a horse that doesn't have an obvious issue like hers but I would always prioritise turnout when choosing a yard.

Lotsoflemons said:
Exactly what she has!! She walks pigeon toed and her conformation isnt great, she's fully sound in Walk really forward, but farrier said to put a full set of shoes on as her hoofs werent great so we did but we took them off 2 weeks ago and she's been alot happier! So strange
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Not at all, barefoot can be so much better even for horses with obvious issues, and again, like turnout, it's overall better for them as long as we keep an eye on diet etc.

I would insist on x-rays and I'd want to assess her overall posture and movement patterns, good resources for this on equitopiacenter.com including I think webinars on top line syndrome etc.
 
Lotsoflemons said:
She always has! We thought it was to do with her shoulder so had physio out incase of tightness etc but we also had 2 vets out to do trot ups full health checks etc and they said its Arthiritis of the pedal bone or something
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How did the vets arrive at the conclusion that she has arthritis in the pedal bone? What diagnostics did they undertake?

Mild arthritis usually improves on bute.

Tbh, at her age she might have a number of issue all contributing to her lameness. You could go for a full lameness workup to try and pin point which bits hurt, but there’s no guarantee that what is found is fixable at her age. You might find something that can be helped, though
 
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Unless the vets have x ray vision how on earth do they know it's arthritis in the hoof, coffin joint arthritis is probably the most common in the hoof but can only be diagnosed with an xray.

One of mine has it and he can't wear shoes he trips in them, I recently had his x rayed as he wasn't as comfortable they were just under £500 so not a fortune.

Find a vet that will do x rays most have a portable machine now so do it at the yard.
 
Tiddlypom said:
How did the vets arrive at the conclusion that she has arthritis in the pedal bone? What diagnostics did they undertake?

Mild arthritis usually improves on bute.

Tbh, at her age she might have a number of issue all contributing to her lameness. You could go for a full lameness workup to try and pin point which bits hurt, but there’s no guarantee that what is found is fixable at her age. You might find something that can be helped, though
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She had 2 vets out and they did full trot ups, Flexion tests etc turning on circles, backing up she got put on bute but it's not done an awful lot
 
So no nerve blocks, x rays, or scans?

It could be anything, but I wouldn’t waste any more money on superficial assessments like that. Bute should have made her comfortable if she is mildly arthritic.

Would I do a full work up on a 22 year old horse? Probably not as long as I could retire the horse comfortably to the field. She’d have to be pasture sound for that, though.
 
Lotsoflemons said:
She had 2 vets out and they did full trot ups, Flexion tests etc turning on circles, backing up she got put on bute but it's not done an awful lot
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Find a vet that will do some x rays if she is pigeon toed chances are it is some kind of arthritis or soft tissue dame in the foot.

Or even if the feet are not balanced properly they can go lame my horse with the coffin joint arthritis has to have very short toes and balanced feet or he looks off, so he is trimmed every 4 weeks and I tidy them up in-between he only does hacking now.
 
I had the same problem with my mare, slightly lame in trot but ok in walk, I used bioflow boots and they really helped and I kept hacking her out gently until she just before she died at age of 22. Didn’t X-ray just assumed at her age after lots of hunting and an active life it would be arthritis..
 
I'd agree xrays are a good next step if they have an area in mind, there are also more general treatments for arthritis (cartrophen) but if she's a big horse that might be a very expensive route to go down.
 
Lotsoflemons said:
Sadly the vets won't x Ray they just keep saying it's Arthiritis! In going to try again and ask if we can get one because If we went up the line X ray and travel would cost an awful lot and she's not insured sadly, I would hate to go up the line and do everything I can and they would just say put her to sleep she's so happy just don't know what it is x
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Without scanning and or xrays it is an assumption that her pain is arthritis. She can be xrayed at home with a portable machine and you are not looking at a huge bill.
 
I think I’d x-ray. Could be arthritis, could be side bone, could be navicular….could be none of those and a ligament strain? Might make a shoeing/ not shoeing type of decision easier if you know what you’re dealing with.
 
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