strange lameness

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Mrjacks0n

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has anyone ever seen a horse lame with a locked leg type gait, he was ridden with no incidents day before and in the morning had a filled fetlock joint ,front one , when i lead him from stable its like his front leg is in a splint, it eased a little in walk and weight bearing was not a problem alittle heat around joint and fetlock almost returned to normal size with a small walk on yard, but even a minute or two of standing and like a locked leg again, very unwilling to turn , he was checked by very qualified yo who said he didnt think shoulder was a problem and only found his chest to be a little tight , no apparent marks in stable is on equimats and shavings tidy stable no slip marks, then over night with a danilon for tea and b fast 99% sound, i have never seen a horse with a leg that was so locked on asking to walk any ideas thanks
 
That happened to my friends gelding but his hind leg. He does have lameness in other ways from time to time. His locked when he was ridden but then would free out for a few days and then happen again.The local vet was baffled and had no explanation. He was referred to veterinary hospital where he got the usual xrays, nerve blocks etc. They couldn't really offer an explanation but he was injected with cortisone and he is on a complete supplement that has bute-free,MSM etc and it hasn't happened again that was over a year ago and he is about 16 years old.
 
I'm sorry, I know this is not going to help you, but other people will be reading this thread and may think what you have done is the right way to go.

I do not think you should have medicated a horse with such a severe lameness as to have locked his leg and be very unwilling to turn without having him seen by a vet. You have now masked the pain and he may do something which will turn an injury which could have been resolved, like a crack, into a death sentence, like a full break.

I hope he recovers, but please ask your vet, not us.
 
very dificult to remember everything in a post at the time the vet was called and couldnt come out till mid morn next day i use the forum for ideas on other peoples experiences not to go off and treat without consulting a vet, he was given 1 danilon to make him comfy overnight and was almost sound the next day, am sure some people on here need to read there own replys they can make some people feel crap when only trying to get an idea of whats going on, thanks
 
Sorry I made you feel bad. I think your vet has let you down. If I rang a vet with a horse with a locked leg who would not turn on it and they would not come out as an emergency, I'd change my vet. What would your vet have done if your horse had got down in the night and been unable to get up again and hurt himself thrashing around? And how is he going to properly diagnose it now that the horse has had anti-inflammatory and pain relieving drugs before he has even seen it? If you described it to him as you have to us, and I'm sure you did, then you aren't at fault but he didn't give you the right service :(

Did your vet tell you what he thought was wrong with him, we might all learn something if you feel able to tell us?
 
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i would stop the danilon and get the vet OUT to do a lameness work out and diagnosis. the danilon is only masking the problem. i personally wouldnt ask the horse to work, nor turn him out til the vet has ben and seen him and made an appropriate diagnosis.
 
Knowing the horse, the owner, the vet and the situation (the horse is stabled on a 4* eventers yard) the horse would have been assessed to not be lame enough to need immediate attention. The OP was just interested to know if anyone had had a similar experience of this sort of lameness.

As it turns out, it is looking more and more like an absess, but I am sure OP will keep you all updated ;)
 
It is my understanding that bute is contraindicated for a foot abscess because it can cause it to "go to ground" instead of bursting out, and then it may stay around causing minor niggles for a long, long time. This is a great example of why it is so disturbing that there are recently so many postings on HHO saying "my horse was lame so I gave him a bit of bute" when the vet has not seen the horse. 4* event yard or not, I don't think this vet should have prescribed bute without seeing the horse. What if it had been a hairline fracture of the cannon bone and the horse was sound in the morning because of the bute, and turned out, ran around, and snapped it completely?? Fingers crossed it is as simple as an abscess and no harm has been done.
 
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As above.

Bute hasn't done the abscess any good; if an abscess was suspected you wouldn't give bute, 4* yard or otherwise.
 
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I wouldn't worry too much about bute masking a fracture. From my understanding it wouldn't touch the sides of that kind of pain. I know i gave bute to mine under the guidance of a vet, it turned out he had a fracture. Guess what he wasn't sound at all the bute did nothing. Pony was in too much pain.
 
Racehorses race with micro-fractures and it's not uncommon for one to break in the middle of a race, when the horse started perfectly sound. A friend of mine had a horse with a shoulder injury which came sound and when she turned it out the partial fracture that no-one had realised was there broke.

There are fractures, and fractures. They don't all cause pain.
 
hi this thread seems to be mainly people having a go at you so was/is your horse holding his leg out to the side in quite a strange way as well as appearing to have it locked cos my mare was walking with the leg straight and out to the side and was reluctant to turn it turned out to be an abscess that has burst out of the coronet band don't know what it made it eventually burst but i'm very happy that it did
 
The horse was in no danger of "running around and breaking a leg" as it was put on box rest. Therefore if it was a form of fracture, (unlikely because of the fact the horse had been stabled all night and was sound the previous day) it would have made not the slightest bit of difference other than make the horse slightly more comfortable. It was thought the stiffness/lameness was due to muscoskeletal soreness somewhere, hence the administration of the painkiller, which would have well worn off by the time the vet was due to examine him.

However, with the swelling in the fetlock, and the way the lameness is changing, it looks like it is in relation to a high up abscess. Yes the danilon may not have helped, but it won't have done any severe damage either.

Please get off your high horses, things aren't always as clean cut as they obviously are in "HHO world", and the OP did what they were advised to do by people A LOT more experienced than herself and probably most of you lot! The horse was in a very "Safe" situation and wouldn't of done anymore damage to itself as a result of the treatment it received.
 
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