Still nothing!

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cheekywelshie

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Three week's lameness - no improvement. Paddock rest. Had scan and today x-ray. Still nothing! Not sure what to do. Trying box rest! Sound on hard trot up, sound on soft trot up, lame on outside of circle, outside fore (right) 2 10ths. Not sure if he did it after we did BE - but surely would have improved if been a strain, or something else. Hoping a splint would show - but nothing! I don't know what to do next!!!
 
Did the vet nerve block before doing x-rays and scans, where was he scanned etc.

If it is showing lame when the leg is on the outside of a circle only it usually indicates somewhere higher up the leg, possibly shoulder due to the area having to stretch further causing pain, if it is low down or in the foot it hurts most when the weight is fully on it. Shoulder lameness is not as common as lower down the leg but he could have stretched over a jump or landed awkwardly.

A pulled muscle or strain usually improves with rest but often they just hold themselves and it tightens up so as soon as they start to use it again it hurts so you are back to square one. Box rest will usually not help either for the same reason, they may appear to be better but can stiffen up even more.
 
Yes sorry should have said that first - nerve blocked and below the knee an above fetlock blocked out - then after that it was scan and x ray - but nothing obvious! I'm not sure whether he could have done it as a result of the BE?

Vet is now reviewing images with another vet at the practice! They have said they will review...and let me know. At the time she said there is nothing obvious on either. I am not sure what to do but given he jumped the 3ft water drinker in his tiny paddock (he was on field rest) at the sight of a tractor i have decided to box rest him for bit
 
not sure if this is of any help but we have a TB that as just come back from hospital for lameness check up--
(i'll keep it brief as its rather a long story with this mare)

she became lame a while back thought abcess at first as she came sound after 5 days rest then lame again a week later

did not block out ,x rays and scans showed nothing going on in feet or lower leg so was booked in to leahurst

while waiting for date to go we had 2 lots of accupunture to the shoulder and wither area-- she improved but we kept the leahurst appointment

full work up on hard and soft surface when we got there but nothing major showing apart from 2/10ths lame on right fore while lunged

they did a bone scan the next day

the only hot spot that showed anything was her inside forearm

they xrayed this area and found bony changes in the upper forearm they told us that the findings were consistant with a compressive lesion/trauma involving the nerve outflow to the forearm close to the shoulder armpit region
they did say the findings were very unusual but are consistant with damage to focal nerve outflow

she is now having physio and controlled exercise

if youre insured maybe a bonescan will help with a diagnosis

i don't think we would of found out the real problem had we not gone down this route
 
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Forgot to mention - we did have him nerveblocked before the scan - he blocked out at below the knee and above the fetlock. Then scan - but not much there. Nothing on x ray. So could it be a small strain? Vet has said box rest for two weeks and she'll come out again..now she thinks it might be PSD? But would this not show on the scan???? i can see this going on and on and the bills escalating. Meanwhile my livery billsare around 400 a month...not including shoes. I am wondering how long to leave it before making a decisoin on whether to turn away or move ?
 
I think you have to continue with the investigation until you know what you are dealing with then you can make a decision as to whether you move yards or not. I am having a check up next week, livery is £35 per week plus bedding etc, but at the moment not using any of the facilities, but I dont like moving horses without a very valid reason therefore he will stay where he is until the vet says its hopeless and then decide what to do. Fingers crossed it wont be that but i cannot let myself get too positive.
 
We did scan the other front leg as well and it looked identical to the lame one, ie nothing obvious. I love my yard and don't want to move it's just the escalating costs. Ibam wondering at the very least whether to take shoes off. Ps if nerve blocked to above fetlock then is it not that area or could it be shoulder?
 
Has your farrier had a really good look at his foot, if sound with blocking of the fetlock down it should mean the lameness originates from the area blocked but as yours is not lame except on a circle it will be more difficult to get a true picture.
I would start by looking at his feet now, foot balance being out can give some unusual responses further up the leg as the horse tries to compensate, more lameness originates in the feet than anywhere else, it could also be something as simple as a corn causing him to try and put the weight to the other part of his foot.
The fact that he is only lame when you circle and it is the outside leg still suggests shoulder to me though. It is a case of ruling things out to get to the bottom of it and if your vet cannot find the problem, either get in farrier/ physio or possibly a second opinion or referral if you are insured, it is a long while to see no improvement.
 
It took a little while to find out what the problem was as he was coming sound for a couple of days then lame again etc, never really hopping lame but when his left fore was on the outside of a circle always worse, sometimes it looked like it was his shoulder as he was almost swinging his leg round:confused:

The vets decided in the end to scan his leg and found a hole in the suspensory ligament, he had shockwave treatment on that area straight away, then 2 further treaments 2 weeks apart. After another 2 weeks we had another scan which showed the hole to be closed but the fibers of the ligament needed to knit together more, our vet said at this scan that sometimes holes can be missed if you don't look carefully enough.
Luckly for us the injury was on a front leg and high up where the ligament starts, which with what I've read is the best place if you have to have one, and he was only 5!

We kept Bob on box rest for 4 months in total, we were suppose to be leading him out in hand daily but he was too dangerous to walk, he was fine in his box but once outside he would rear etc.
We then tried to turn him out in a small paddock but again he was really unsettled, running around and looking like he was going to jump the fence so we had the vet out to sedate him and we turned him back out in his normal field with his friends.
About 2 weeks after this we started ridden walking which he took to well and then we set about bringing him back into work slowly, scanning the leg to check progress,which showed the ligament to be good with the fibers all joining together well.

The injury happened in late July/August 2011, we started walk work in Nov 2011, jumped for the first time April/May 2012 and now back in normal work having just done pony club camp !
If I had to do it again I would just turn away and let nature take it course, I hated the box rest.
We also used magnetic wraps for the leg as well.

Good luck for the future,hope your vets can get to the bottom of the problem, just ask if I can help with anything:)
 
That's interesting - I have had him scanned and there were no holes in the area but I did notice The fibres were not closely as knitted together as they should be. I am
Not finding the vets most helpful although they thought it could be PSD but it seems in conclusive, I will ring them tomorrow. I have box rested him for now but small turnout would be better. His injury is top on right fore. Perhaps they missed a hole first time round - I asked at the time and they said nothing too abnormal, scanned the other leg and that looked identical
 
Sorry to hear you still haven't got a firm diagnosis. My old horse (we're going back a good few years) had similar symptoms and it turned out to be a neck problem (bone scan identified it) but that one had the vets baffled until the bone scan.

Am still keeping my fingers crossed that it's nothing too serious.
xx
 
I went though a very similar thing in the end I box rested and the vet saw the horse trotted up every ten days or so he slowly improved all the time on box rest after twelve weeks weeks he was sound I gave him an extra month then stared walking in staight lines and small paddock turn out he's been fine ever since.
We wherenot going to get an answer without an MRI scan so I opted to save the money and box rest.
 
BeckyD said:
Sorry to hear you still haven't got a firm diagnosis. My old horse (we're going back a good few years) had similar symptoms and it turned out to be a neck problem (bone scan identified it) but that one had the vets baffled until the bone scan.

Am still keeping my fingers crossed that it's nothing too serious.
xx
Click to expand...

What happened with the neck problem once it was identified what did you do?

Thing is the nerve block identified it was in the leg below knee above fetlock

The farrier came up and said he felt sore a bit on the affected leg ...but then he said he felt like that the last time (6 weeks ago, 2 weeks before the injury!) He didn't see anything iodd on the trot up but noted he looked lame on the circle

He was still lame tonight - i can't tell if it is any less because i have seen it too many times! It looked the same to me. He's been box rested a week. I am thinking of letting him do an hour of stabled sized paddock turnout for an hour a day.

I am going to ring one o the other vets tomorrow to see if they can look at the scan!
 
cheekywelshie said:
What happened with the neck problem once it was identified what did you do?

Thing is the nerve block identified it was in the leg below knee above fetlock

The farrier came up and said he felt sore a bit on the affected leg ...but then he said he felt like that the last time (6 weeks ago, 2 weeks before the injury!) He didn't see anything iodd on the trot up but noted he looked lame on the circle

He was still lame tonight - i can't tell if it is any less because i have seen it too many times! It looked the same to me. He's been box rested a week. I am thinking of letting him do an hour of stabled sized paddock turnout for an hour a day.

I am going to ring one o the other vets tomorrow to see if they can look at the scan!
Click to expand...
Cass was never lame enough to nerve block, so we didn't have a similar blocking response that you've had, but the other symptoms were all similar. It turned out to be ostearthritic changes between C6/C7/C8 - so was effectively wobblers sydrome but presenting in an unusual way. This was 1996 and they weren't very hopeful back then, but it was at the same time that chondriotin (sp?) first came on the market and so we started importing it from the USA, and she came sound and never had another problem with it! I retired her anyway, I don't know why really :confused: - I think because the vets were so doom and gloom and frightened us. But she never took another lame step with that problem :) (and she could hare about the field with the best of them!)

The chances are very very slim that it's the same problem as you're experiencing, but I was using it as a demonstration that sometimes the answer is far from obvious...

Good luck and fingers crossed xx
 
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