Sound but back end issues! Help!

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Mgeorgeg

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Had the farrier today and my boy has started getting worse with his back legs. He has always been a bit fidgety but he is allot worse now to the point where I had to distract him today as much as possible just to get shoes on.
I hadn't thought about it but I feel like it could be linked to the fact that over the past few months he had started travelling badly. He now has to travel with the partitions out the trailer so he can spread his legs or he scrambles the walls.
Also his showjumping has taken a drastic down turn and we have barely been getting around the course never mind getting placed like we normally do. He is sound, eating well, drinking well, normal droppings and still running around the field.
I'm going to call vet on Monday for advice but just wondering if anyone has experienced anything like this?
Thanks
 
He may appear sound but if it is bilateral then he will seem level until you get a vet to run through the tests, poor performance, bad traveling and issues with the farrier doing hind shoes would make me immediately think spavins in both hocks, not the end of the world but the sooner diagnosed and treated the better the likelyhood of him continuing to lead a useful life.

I would get the vet to come out, or arrange to go in, so you can get on with a diagnosis rather than wasting time resting, bute trials etc., insurance, if you have it, starts from day 1 of the issue and you only have 12 months to claim, wasting a month or two could prove expensive.
 
I've posted in tack room about my mare who went from fine travelling to scrabbling the walls, she went down on the trailer and has severed an artery in doing so. I've had a nagging feeling about this since now, after a month box rest for the artery, she is still lame, actually in front where the wound is but the vet is concerned that she should be sound by now. I wonder if should start looking at back end issues as in the journey home I went in the back of the lorry with her from the hospital (she was lightly sedated) and she appeared not to be able to spread her legs or 'lock them out'.
Sorry to hijack but interested, do spavins present as this?
 
PollyP99 said:
I've posted in tack room about my mare who went from fine travelling to scrabbling the walls, she went down on the trailer and has severed an artery in doing so. I've had a nagging feeling about this since now, after a month box rest for the artery, she is still lame, actually in front where the wound is but the vet is concerned that she should be sound by now. I wonder if should start looking at back end issues as in the journey home I went in the back of the lorry with her from the hospital (she was lightly sedated) and she appeared not to be able to spread her legs or 'lock them out'.
Sorry to hijack but interested, do spavins present as this?
Click to expand...

I am not surprised she is still lame, I read your post about the accident and expect she has at least some serious deep bruising which can take longer to resolve than the more obvious injury, I would think 6 weeks would be a more realistic time for the front end to recover and she may benefit from physio when allowed.
I have known two that went from traveling well to scrambling about, both were diagnosed with spavin, it is probably the first place to look, is usually easy enough to diagnose and treat, it can present as back pain before being clear where the issue is when physio does not get a good response.
 
That's reassuring thanks, vet is saying its potentially too long and we are xraying again tomorrow to make sure nothing else is going on, she was xrayed on the day so I'm hopeful that there is no bone chip or ligament issues that were missed, just a Woosey mare who has a low pain threshold.

Bless her she's been a gem on box rest too, vet calling me yesterday saying it was a long time to still be lame and talking bone and ligament issues did give me a fright though he is a worse case scenario kind of guy and did say it is a very deep wound so could just be still healing.

You made me feel better, fingers crossed for the X-ray!
 
I've no experience in OPs scenario, but in reference to PollyP's query, we had a 5yo mare go from a good trailer traveller to a 'going down on her knees the minute we turned out of the yard' traveller.... This was almost immediate due to one bad twisty journey, and she didn't have any physical problems. We still have her 12 years later. She just wanted a lorry rather than a trailer to travel in lol... Hope this reassures..

Fiona
 
OP. You need to get a Full lameness work up asap. Sounds like hind bilateral problems that are also causing a back issue. I hope you get is sorted
 
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