Strange lameness/pain episodes.

[TinseLeneHorse]

My elderly horse is having strange episodes of lameness and pain after being in the field overnight. Last Saturday she came in visibly distressed, her walk looked uncomfortable and she was dragging a front toe on her offside. in her box she couldn't bend her neck down to reach her feed bowl on the floor. I got the emergency vet out. He arrived within half an hour but by the time he arrived she was moving better and could eat normally. He did various neurological checks and all came up fine. He found that her neck was sore when turning towards her nearside. She got a painkiller and anti inflammatory injection and a course of Bute and was kept in for a few days and seemed fine after that.
I then tried turning her out again and the same thing happened. Vet said it might be arthritis in her neck affecting her spinal column so she was x-rayed, but this only showed minor changes consistent with her age.
Vet said to try putting her out again in a few days. If it happens again we will look at other possibilities but he says it could be very difficult to diagnose without extensive tests in a horspital. At her age and uninsured I don't know if I want to go down that road.

Has anyone experienced symptoms like this and what was the diagnosis/outcome? I just feel we are missing something somewhere with this

Sorry for the long saga but I really will appreciate any replies I get.

 

[Tiddlypom]

Um, my recent experience with my 13yo mare earlier this year was not good, I’m afraid. It turned out that she was having seizures. I found her wobbly and distressed in the field, looking uncoordinated and lame, but by the time the OOH vet came out less than an hour later she was neurologically normal, albeit very battered.

Three weeks later I witnessed her having a seizure almost from the off. I won’t post the footage as it is distressing, though we can but hope that she felt no more than confusion. She was again neurologically normal within half an hour, but I was already making arrangements for her to be PTS later that same day.

No PM done, but vet strongly suspected a frontal lobe tumour.

 

[TinseLeneHorse]

Thanks Tiddlypom. Don't worry about sharing bad outcomes. I need to know the worst case scenarios and am realistic about her long term prospects.
There was no sign that she had been down and thrashing around. No earth or grass marks on her. No sweat marks either. She's a grey so easy to see dirt etc on her.
I think they can have minor seizures before a big one though so definitely something to consider.
She does have Cushing's so could be linked to that too.

Sorry for the loss of your mare, that must have been hard, especially with her being so young