Soft tissue damage in young event horse

[sassyequine]

Also in Veterinary section

Having lost my 5 year old last year to stifle and PSD injuries I bought another lovely 4yr old mare in October. Full clean vetting inc 52 x-rays and bloods. She went chronically suddenly lame on her left fore on boxing day, we suspected an absess. Unfortuately its not and she remained 3/5 lame, her heels have since collapsed and so we have had her natural balance shod to bring her toes back. Last week when we blocked the foot out the lameness swapped to the right fore.

She is now lame 2/5 right fore, worse when it is on the outside on the lunge. X rays today show no significant changes except for some vascular activity under her pedal bone caused by her dropped heels. Next steps are a build up using nerve blocks on her right fore to narrow down the lameness followed by a newmarket MRI.

What I am interested in is anyones experience of youngsters with soft tissue damage in the feet, their recovery and prognosis, particularly in competition horses. Having lost 2 horses in 2 years I cant bear to think what may happen. However I am also not prepared to put her through surgery if there is only a small chance of recovery to hacking activity.
All experience appreciated.

 

[smirnoff_ice]

I have no experience of this in youngesters, but Molly (black mare in my sig) is 9 years old and first went lame at the beginning of September 07. We also thought abscess, but it turned out to be soft tissue. Lots of boxrest, then small paddock rest, then walking for 10, then 30mins a day (all the while, still a bit lame). We got the all-clear from the vet the other day to start introducing trot work, and after 4 weeks, some canter work. She expects we'll have a few lame days, but it's looking good at the moment **touches lots of wood**. If she relapses she's off for an MRI too, but at the moment the vet just wanted to treat for soft tissue damage and see what happened.

Good luck with your baby. I hope it all works out ok.

Lou. x

 

[CateMMH]

My boy also has soft tissue damage, after having had a fractured knee and when he went back to work went lame with the soft tissue damage. He had box rest for three weeks, then out in the paddock in a 12 by 12 bit sectioned off, then out in the field for a few months (non ridden) and after 6 months off totally he was brought back to work very very slowly and he is fitter and stronger than ever. it was an entire year off in total and it wasn't as hard as I thought it would be. Good luck,