Hannah24
New User
Hello everyone, this is my first ever message and Im afraid its a long one as its been a 9 month problem.
I have been having difficulties with my horse since January. He became lame on his of hind as only very slight but noticeable. I left him in on weeks box rest and had his back checked before calling the vet. There was nothing wrong with his back and lameness did not improve. The vet came out and conducted flexion tests, scanned both hind legs and nerve blocked up to his hocks still no change or anything notable. He then went into the hospital for further investigation fully nerved blocked up to his pelvis. They only thing they found was a a slight improvement when blocking his hock therefore they conducted x.rays and found slight (and I mean very slight) changes in his hocks, bone spavins. He was treated for this with the cartrofen (cant spell it) injections which were recommended by the vets and have had good results with friends horses.
Unfortunately this made no difference to the lameness in the slightest after going through the long process of box rest, light turnout, full turnout and walking in hand. I then thought that he looked stiff in the near hind so the vet suggested another dose of steroids in both hocks which we did. We repeated the whole process again to find no change.
After another discussion with the vet he decided the best thing to do was to send him in for a gamma scan to highlight the area where the problem was (in case it wasnt his hocks). So Harry (the horse) went off to another hospital where they also said he was now not sound on his front legs. They carried out more nerve blocks, x.rays and the gamma scan to say they could only find a slight hotspot in his hock and sacroiliac joint but not significant enough to be causing his lameness. They suggested riding him through the lameness to see if this made a difference.
I did this but after two weeks of light exercise Harry was obviously very uncomfortable and in pain (even when on bute). The vet came back out and decided to inject steroids in to his coffin joints (both front legs) and his sacroiliac joint. Again this has made no difference to Harry; he is clearly lame on all four legs and is becoming more and more fed up of doing nothing as he is a very active horse. 9 months down the line the vets still have no answers for me and the insurance money and my money has now ran out.
The vets want to try never blocking his front legs and continue jabbing him with needles though they have admitted they doubt this will make and difference and they cannot tell me what is wrong with him and they have little options left.
I would like to know what other people would do in my situation as he is a competition horse (aged 9) and hates just being in the field all day so not sure if retirement as a field companion would work but I really dont know what to do.
Sorry for the huge message but any suggestions are greatly appreciated!!
Thanks xx
I have been having difficulties with my horse since January. He became lame on his of hind as only very slight but noticeable. I left him in on weeks box rest and had his back checked before calling the vet. There was nothing wrong with his back and lameness did not improve. The vet came out and conducted flexion tests, scanned both hind legs and nerve blocked up to his hocks still no change or anything notable. He then went into the hospital for further investigation fully nerved blocked up to his pelvis. They only thing they found was a a slight improvement when blocking his hock therefore they conducted x.rays and found slight (and I mean very slight) changes in his hocks, bone spavins. He was treated for this with the cartrofen (cant spell it) injections which were recommended by the vets and have had good results with friends horses.
Unfortunately this made no difference to the lameness in the slightest after going through the long process of box rest, light turnout, full turnout and walking in hand. I then thought that he looked stiff in the near hind so the vet suggested another dose of steroids in both hocks which we did. We repeated the whole process again to find no change.
After another discussion with the vet he decided the best thing to do was to send him in for a gamma scan to highlight the area where the problem was (in case it wasnt his hocks). So Harry (the horse) went off to another hospital where they also said he was now not sound on his front legs. They carried out more nerve blocks, x.rays and the gamma scan to say they could only find a slight hotspot in his hock and sacroiliac joint but not significant enough to be causing his lameness. They suggested riding him through the lameness to see if this made a difference.
I did this but after two weeks of light exercise Harry was obviously very uncomfortable and in pain (even when on bute). The vet came back out and decided to inject steroids in to his coffin joints (both front legs) and his sacroiliac joint. Again this has made no difference to Harry; he is clearly lame on all four legs and is becoming more and more fed up of doing nothing as he is a very active horse. 9 months down the line the vets still have no answers for me and the insurance money and my money has now ran out.
The vets want to try never blocking his front legs and continue jabbing him with needles though they have admitted they doubt this will make and difference and they cannot tell me what is wrong with him and they have little options left.
I would like to know what other people would do in my situation as he is a competition horse (aged 9) and hates just being in the field all day so not sure if retirement as a field companion would work but I really dont know what to do.
Sorry for the huge message but any suggestions are greatly appreciated!!
Thanks xx
