Seriously fed up

[RHM]

As I have posted about previously my horse has had a bad respiratory infection (must be 5 weeks ago now) and had quite a bit of time off with that. I took her in for a work up the other day as she wasn’t pushing though in canter but completely sound on a straight line.
As it turns out she has laminitis I have no idea how sound she is looking at her x-rays. Apparently this can be bought on by serve infections as all her bloods for EMS etc are completely normal. But her inflammatory markers are hugely raised.
And to make matters worse they also found a benign keratoma which will need removing once she has stabilised

Does anyone have any experience with the above? The vets are being quite cagey on prognosis and recovery times but it’s safe to say this season has been cancelled!

Any advice at all welcomed. I’m one week into box rest and have devoured all the chocolate in the house alongside ALOT of wine!

 

[Cortez]

Sounds like just horses/bad luck. Sorry for your troubles; it'll take time.

 

[RHM]

Sounds like just horses/bad luck. Sorry for your troubles; it'll take time.

Thanks! It certainly makes you question the sanity of having them! Good job she is a sweetheart!

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

As I have posted about previously my horse has had a bad respiratory infection (must be 5 weeks ago now) and had quite a bit of time off with that. I took her in for a work up the other day as she wasn’t pushing though in canter but completely sound on a straight line.
As it turns out she has laminitis I have no idea how sound she is looking at her x-rays. Apparently this can be bought on by serve infections as all her bloods for EMS etc are completely normal. But her inflammatory markers are hugely raised.
And to make matters worse they also found a benign keratoma which will need removing once she has stabilised

Does anyone have any experience with the above? The vets are being quite cagey on prognosis and recovery times but it’s safe to say this season has been cancelled!

Any advice at all welcomed. I’m one week into box rest and have devoured all the chocolate in the house alongside ALOT of wine!

My friend's horse had keratoma surgery after endless abscesses. There was quite a lot of after care (cleaning the hole, spraying with iodine) and the vet and farrier were difficult to pin down on how long box rest would be required.

It was difficult because he is messy in the stable but it was winter so keeping the hole clean wasn't going to be easy either way. Horse was a calm sort so it was actually quite an uneventful recovery but he lost some topline so is being brought back into work to try and build that back.

 

[RHM]

My friend's horse had keratoma surgery after endless abscesses. There was quite a lot of after care (cleaning the hole, spraying with iodine) and the vet and farrier were difficult to pin down on how long box rest would be required.

It was difficult because he is messy in the stable but it was winter so keeping the hole clean wasn't going to be easy either way. Horse was a calm sort so it was actually quite an uneventful recovery but he lost some topline so is being brought back into work to try and build that back.

Yes it looks a messy job to get them out, they seem to remove a fair chunk of the hoof wall!

Glad he is on the mend now though! How long was it until she could work him do you know?

 

[dreamcometrue]

One of ours had a keratoma. After surgery there was a lengthy recovery period with lots of care keeping it clean and visits and input from the vets and farrier along the way but it’s worth it as he made a full recovery.

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

Yes it looks a messy job to get them out, they seem to remove a fair chunk of the hoof wall!

Glad he is on the mend now though! How long was it until she could work him do you know?

Not that long but she was very nervous riding on it so left it for a while. Not long after they'd said turnout could go ahead.

 

[ycbm]

Keratoma surgery is fairly routine now and although I've no direct experience I've only read of one failure in many successes, and that was attributed to failing to clear it all. It will be a total pain while the foot regrows, but I have seen first hand a recovery from pedal bone infection and that's even more invasive.

Good luck!
.

 

[Supercalifragilistic]

I had one with a keratoma that was removed through the sole - no hoof resection required. From memory it was 1 month box rest (with lots of hoof wrapping and packing changes), 1 month of pen turnout then shoes on and starting walking in hand. I was back onboard 4 months post surgery for careful work. It all depends how big the keratoma is and where it is positioned.
Sorry to hear about the laminitis - in my experience if there is rotation that is more likely to be the cause of long term issues than the keratoma.

 

[Sossigpoker]

Ketatomas don't need to be removed if they don't cause a problem. And even when they are removed, they usually do very well and the keratomas don't grow back. If there's little hoof removed , the recovery won't be too long but if they have to remove a lot , they may put a hospital plate on or similar.
If you can get the laminitis under control , I honestly wouldn't worry about the keratoma. They are more common than people think because they don't always cause a problem.

 

[spacefaer]

Many years ago, I had a TB with a keratoma in a hind pedal bone. It was found on x-ray because he was lame on that leg. He had a lot of sole removed and a hospital plate which I had to remove daily to replace the iodine soaked swabs filling the hole.
Took some time to regrow the hoof - I remember him being on double dose Farriers formula to try to speed up the process.
He was box rested for ( I think) 6-8 weeks in a pen in the barn so enough room to move about. He came sound and had no further issues subsequently.

 

[SO1]

They won't be able to remove the keratoma until the laminitis has stablised so you may have a very long period of box rest ahead of you and then controlled exercise and rehabilitation because of the amount of time resting.

I think prognosis depends on the size and shape of the keratoma and how easy it is to remove.

My friend's horse got laminitis and then a keratoma unfortunately it was a very difficult shape and tricky to remove. The problem is if you don't remove them they can grow and cause accesses. After several operations to remove the keratoma and over a year of box rest she decided to call it a day when a second keratoma was found which lead to an infection. Her horse was very good on box rest but to do a 3rd operation and another 6 months of box rest after nearly a year of box rest already and a guarded prognosis she felt it would not have been fair on the horse.

What happened to her was very unlucky and unexpected as most horses do not get multiple keratomas. When they started the treatment plan they fully expected the horse to make a full recovery to be a competition horse again.

It sounds like you caught the laminitis early before she was noticibly lame. When she had the respiratory infection was she treated using steroids as that can bring on laminitis.

From what happened to my friend you are possibly looking at 6-8 weeks to stabilise the laminitis enough to have the operation and then a month before controlled walking can start. As your horse will have had a minimum of 3 months of box rest you will probably have to be careful about fitness and tendons before introducing turnout and due to the laminitis you probably will have to careful about grass anyway in future.

 

[RHM]

Thanks so much for all the encouraging comments it seems like the theme is long box rest but generally good recovery

 

[RHM]

They won't be able to remove the keratoma until the laminitis has stablised so you may have a very long period of box rest ahead of you and then controlled exercise and rehabilitation because of the amount of time resting.

I think prognosis depends on the size and shape of the keratoma and how easy it is to remove.

My friend's horse got laminitis and then a keratoma unfortunately it was a very difficult shape and tricky to remove. The problem is if you don't remove them they can grow and cause accesses. After several operations to remove the keratoma and over a year of box rest she decided to call it a day when a second keratoma was found which lead to an infection. Her horse was very good on box rest but to do a 3rd operation and another 6 months of box rest after nearly a year of box rest already and a guarded prognosis she felt it would not have been fair on the horse.

What happened to her was very unlucky and unexpected as most horses do not get multiple keratomas. When they started the treatment plan they fully expected the horse to make a full recovery to be a competition horse again.

It sounds like you caught the laminitis early before she was noticibly lame. When she had the respiratory infection was she treated using steroids as that can bring on laminitis.

From what happened to my friend you are possibly looking at 6-8 weeks to stabilise the laminitis enough to have the operation and then a month before controlled walking can start. As your horse will have had a minimum of 3 months of box rest you will probably have to be careful about fitness and tendons before introducing turnout and due to the laminitis you probably will have to careful about grass anyway in future.

Thanks for sharing this. Good to get an idea of timelines etc.

No she wasn’t given steroids, looking at her bloods in hindsight I wish I asked for them! Rather it’s the inflammation from the infection which has caused it. Although she isn’t very lame at all and pretty perky in herself there has been some degree of rotation in her left fore

The keratoma itself has just started to impinge on the pedal bone so will unfortunately definitely have to come out. But, looking at the crappy imagery we had of it it did look quite close to the sole so they might go in that way

 

[RHM]

Many years ago, I had a TB with a keratoma in a hind pedal bone. It was found on x-ray because he was lame on that leg. He had a lot of sole removed and a hospital plate which I had to remove daily to replace the iodine soaked swabs filling the hole.
Took some time to regrow the hoof - I remember him being on double dose Farriers formula to try to speed up the process.
He was box rested for ( I think) 6-8 weeks in a pen in the barn so enough room to move about. He came sound and had no further issues subsequently.

That’s encouraging to hear thank you!