Thoughts on riding with lameness?

[biggingerpony]

My 19 y/o TB mare has been slightly lame for the past 6 months, since coming back from loan and being neglected whilst with her loaners (that's another story!!!). I have had it checked out by vet and spent nearly £2000 vets bills which my insurance isn't covering :'(. Being a student that's my student loan down the drain!!
Shes had ultrasound and x-ray but unfortunately she would not let the vet nerve block her as she is a complete wimp when it comes to needles!! I just cannot afford any further investigation into it, her last vet treatment was in August and shes been away at grass resting since then. I went too see her about a week ago and shes still got a slight lameness in her front right leg. I feel so guilty cause I know she enjoys her work so much, and while I know she will never be able to jump or school again what are peoples thoughts on doing some light hacking say once a fortnight??
One of my friends horse has DJD but hes on bute and she still rides him out on hacks regularly and still can go!
She is currently on superflex and I would introduce devils claw (I've heard its really good as a painkiller) any other thoughts people have??
Sorry about the long post!

 

[classicalfan]

Give her a while longer. The wet, cold weather makes it more likely she will do herself more damage if the injury is stressed by being ridden.

 

[biggingerpony]

Thanks for your thoughts, I wasn't planning on riding her till January at the earliest but may just give her the winter off. Why do these horses do this to themselves?! Makes me so worried! Its a catch 22 situation I feel guilty cause she loves being ridden! But then I don't want to make her any worse.

 

[appylass]

To me, lameness nearly always means pain so I couldn't ride a lame horse. Having said that, some horses do seem unlevel at the start of work and effectively come sound within a few minutes, in that sense, work is probably helping rather than making it worse. With undiagnosed lameness you can't be sure you are not making the situation worse by riding.

 

[Oberon]

Is she still shod?

 

[rhino]

Personally, no, I wouldn't ride a horse with an undiagnosed lameness.

 

[misst]

I think you need to ask your vet his opinion. If she is unsound in the field she will almost certainly be worse with weight on her back.

I am always a bit concerned when people ride lame horses even if they say the horse loves its work. Lame for me = pain unless otherwise proven - and I don't believe a horse in pain would enjoy its work Stiffness, on the other hand may well be helped by gentle excercise and some low level bute/devils claw etc. I think you need some professional advice from someone who knows your horses level of lameness.

 

[biggingerpony]

No shes not shod at the moment.

 

[Birker2020]

I think it depends on what the horse has wrong with it. For example a slightly unsound horse horse with arthritis - bute would help its quality of life and allow its rider to continue to ride it and the horse would be pain free. You could say that that is unfair, but its no different to people who have for example a slipped disc or arthritis themselves and take daily pain killers. I have no problem with doing that. If it ever got to the stage where he needed bute daily I wouldn't want my horse pts because I can't ride him because I 'refuse' to let him have bute to keep him comfortable. By the same token I wouldn't want to keep an expensive field ornament either.

If bute is used to disguise undiagnosed lameness in order to allow the horse to be ridden then I do not agree with that. I would not do that, I think horses that are lame are lame for a reason and that's because it hurts. My horse is a little lame when I trot him now. Only very very slightly and my vet has asked me to bring him back into trot work in order to hopefully make him better as he has been off for 4 months with a suspensory injury. Still feel a bit guilty about it.

My vet and I had a very frank discussion the other week about bute. He is in agreement that I can give my horse bute whenever I feel he needs it. He has a suspensory ligament injury at the moment and we have been discussing whether to consider giving him PRP treatment. The jury is still out on that one. We got round to discussing his various problems, being coffin joint arthritis and bone spavin. He thinks that sooner or later I will need to give Bailey one bute a day in order to continue riding him comfortably. I asked him how he felt about that and he said he has no problems with it. His attitude is 'chuck em in the field and retire them by all means, but it's an expensive way of wasting your money' or give them bute and allow them to continue to work and enjoy themselves.Sounds like a no brainer to me.

I agree with him in a way, but really hope I don't have to resort to giving him bute daily as I would feel a little uncomfortable with this. I give him bute if I take him on fun rides or do a unaffiliated ODE and think the ground will be a little hard (on vets advice) but daily is a different thing I think. But I take co-codamol myself by the bucket load in order to carry on with daily life and don't feel bad about that!! So hard to know what to do.

 

[SusieT]

She's in pain hence the lameness. The fact you haven't been able to diagnose doesn't make it any less a lameness. It could well be navicular syndrome, tendon injury within the foot. If you cannot afford to pursue it any further, retire her rather than attempt to ride her lame.

 

[biggingerpony]

Thanks for all your opinions I've come to the decision that if shes still lame come xmas i'll give her off until March/April time then I'll contact my vet and see where to go from there! Fingers crossed she'll be better. I love my girlie sooo much!

 

[fatpiggy]

She's in pain hence the lameness. The fact you haven't been able to diagnose doesn't make it any less a lameness. It could well be navicular syndrome, tendon injury within the foot. If you cannot afford to pursue it any further, retire her rather than attempt to ride her lame.

Not necessarily. My old girl has advanced carpitis and is clearly "lame" in walk in that she is short striding with one leg but when she trots she is sound. It is mechanical lameness - when she trots her stiff knees make her take equal length strides.
In the meantime though, I wouldn't ride -winter with the cold and deep going or frozen ground is hard on any old bodies and joints. You could always take her out for a walk in hand and see how she goes on with that.

 

[BigRed]

The main issue for me, is the fact that this horse is 19 years old. It's not as though she is a 7 year old that is in the field doing nothing. If my 19 year old horse was lame, I'd probably consider it was time to retire her. I would not spend thousands of pounds trying to find out why she was lame. I'd make sure she had sufficient pain relief to keep her comfortable and consider I'd had a number of happy years riding her (I assume you have ?). We all get old and stiff in the end, for some horses it comes sooner than for others.

 

[A Beary Merry Christmas]

I try to put myself in their position, so if I were getting on in years, would I enjoy a five mile walk on a sprained ankle carrying a load? Hell no. What if I were full of painkillers? I could do it but I know that pain is a protective mechanism designed to prevent further damage. So no I wouldn't do it, knowing once they wore off I'd be in more pain than before, and delaying the healing process. Makes my decisions very easy.

Couldn't your vet have Aced your mare to give her the injections? I have had injections in my spine and knee, I make a hell of a fuss. They really Bloody hurt!

Is there anyone in your area needing their horse exercised? Weekend riders or busy Mums, sick or injured owners. Check adverts or write one of your own. you have nothing to lose.

Hope all goes well for you and your dear old girl.