Soft tissue injury??

[Gwenno Jones]

Can anyone tell me what this is? and could it be related to a soft tissue injury? Horse went ever so slightly lame couple of weeks ago, got vet out nothing really to see, no heat or swelling, bute and box rested for a week and now out in a small field with an old mare, not planning to ride for a few months to make sure whatever was causing the lameness has time to heal, yesterday I noticed this bump, it’s soft and can be pushed in and it just bulges back out, makes me think it could be soft tissue?

The other bump to the right is a split from a small injury last year.

 

[Hormonal Filly]

Did the vet scan? Could be a check ligament sprain/tear, a friend at the had a very similar situation. Horse sound, nothing really noticeable but scanned to be sure and he had a hole in his check ligament.

 

[Gwenno Jones]

Did the vet scan? Could be a check ligament sprain/tear, a friend at the had a very similar situation. Horse sound, nothing really noticeable but scanned to be sure and he had a hole in his check ligament.

No didn’t scan, as didn’t think it was anything big, just been a silly bugger in the field and pulled something, she was happy to try bute and rest and see how it goes, now I’m thinking maybe we do need to have it scanned, although the outcome will probably be rest, Hard to know what to do!

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Is the horse sound?

 

[Gwenno Jones]

Is the horse sound?

Not 100% still ever so slight lameness but only in trot, it’s definitely improved since the vet was out so it’s getting better not worse, i’ve read that soft tissue can take months and months to recover

 

[thatsnotmyname]

scan.

Yes the outcome will be rest but for how long and depending on what it is, will dictate how you bring them back into work.

Field rest, restricted turn out, box rest. It’s not one and the same.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I would scan it then so you know what's wrong.

 

[MissTyc]

scan.

Yes the outcome will be rest but for how long and depending on what it is, will dictate how you bring them back into work.

Field rest, restricted turn out, box rest. It’s not one and the same.

This. My beloved gelding was fractionally intermittently lame. He was previously the sounded horse in the world so I immediately had him scanned. I assumed a small tear in some soft tissue. Turned out to be an almost 80% hole in medial collateral ligament. What I assumed to be a hard-grounded related strain was in fact a serious acute injury. As it was still in inflammation phase we were able to start treatment very early and the outcome was positive.

 

[Gwenno Jones]

Thanks for your replies, he’s booked in for a scan tomorrow

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

Let us know how you get on, we'll all have our fingers crossed it's not serious

 

[Gwenno Jones]

They started with nerve blocking and soon realised it was his foot, so obviously no point scanning his foot, vet recons it’s probably soft tissue in his foot and would need MRI to find out for sure, which is very costly and unfortunately he’s not insured she did say there is not a lot that could be done anyway only time and rest, so i’m just going to take time to think where we go from here, it’s a lot of money to just hear all I need to do is rest him, i’m very temped to not have MRI and just treat it like worse case scenario and box rest / limited turnout for 12 months and see how we get on, Bloody horses!!

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

They started with nerve blocking and soon realised it was his foot, so obviously no point scanning his foot, vet recons it’s probably soft tissue in his foot and would need MRI to find out for sure, which is very costly and unfortunately he’s not insured she did say there is not a lot that could be done anyway only time and rest, so i’m just going to take time to think where we go from here, it’s a lot of money to just hear all I need to do is rest him, i’m very temped to not have MRI and just treat it like worse case scenario and box rest / limited turnout for 12 months and see how we get on, Bloody horses!!

Having paid for an MRI out of pocket before I completely understand that the cost is prohibitive, but this seems a very broad instruction considering how many structures and possible causes there are in the foot. It could be anything from a fractured pedal bone (I saw one rear around it's box and trot up 2/10ths lame with this injury so it's possible) to a significant stone bruise, to navicular (mine was on/off lame in the beginning of his navicular) to a DDFT tear.... all of which have very different prognosis, pain levels and management requirements.

I am ofc not a vet, but I'm fairly certain you can ultrasound a hoof - and an ultrasound isn't all that expensive, and you can definitely x-ray one. It would at least tell you if soft tissue or bone.