Hollywood78
Member
Hi, looking for any words of advice, support and\or similar experiences to attempt to get to the bottom of this please!
My 10 year old TB ex racehorse had a sudden onset lameness in his right fore 5 weeks ago. I've had him for 5 years, got him straight off the track, he was very lightly raced only running 12 times over 2 years but didn't make the grade. He has the stereotypical flat soles, low heels for a TB, also his right forefoot is larger, more splayed than the left. He is prone to abscesses and pulling shoes, he wears over reach boots when ridden and turned out & is only occasionally hacked out. My farrier is one of the best in the area and has made massive improvements to my boys feet through shoeing him correctly however he's obviously limited by the actual hoof conformation itself.
So 5 weeks ago I brought him in noticing he'd managed to rip of one of his overreach boots, there was no damage to his heel or leg and he walked in from field fine, he was stabled overnight as normal however by following morning he was noticeably lame in walk and hopping lame in trot. There was no heat or swelling to his foreleg, no digital pulse and just heat in the hoof, his feet were cleaned & picked out when he came in from field, there was no obvious signs of anything having penetrated the foot. As luck would have it both my vet and farrier were due that week so he was seen by both and although he had no adverse reaction to hoof testers both agreed it was likely an abscess brewing so the shoe was removed and it was poulticed for 5 days at which point my farrier came back out and was able to put shoe on, no abscess had burst but there was a lot of bruising to the heel which was consistent with the pulled off over reach boot so we figured he'd stood hard on himself and the lameness was a result of deep bruising, given that he stood to be shod it was clear there was definitely no abscess. He was then given a 10 day course of bute and we continued with box rest although there was no improvement in his lameness even while on the bute.
At 3 weeks down the line my boy was just as lame as on day 1 - to give an indication the vet rated him 4/10 in walk although more pronounced on the turn but increasing to 8/10 in trot, he can only trot a few steps.
I took him in for lameness investigation and upon nerve blocking the foot (palmar digital block) there was a 90% improvement in lameness. Radiographs were taken with nothing obvious re fractures, bone chips etc. So my vet referred us to Weipers for MRI.
The MRI was done during the week with the consultant vet expecting to see obvious damage to the deep digital flexor tendon, collateral ligament, coffin joint, navicular etc, he said due to the degree of lameness he would likely see the damage himself although images are also sent to the radiologist for full report. MRI was done under general anaesthesia with both feet being done as a comparison and a total of 800 images were done. The consultant vet was surprised that he was unable to find a cause from his examination of the images so they are now with the radiologist awaiting his report. Next they done yet another lameness examination including drawing fluid from the joint but no success in finding a cause.
I've got my boy home waiting MRI results and I'm taking him back to hospital on Tuesday by which time they will have the results and both vet and farrier will further examine him alongside MRI, xrays and physical examination, hopefully they can come up with a plan.
I'm at the end of my tether worrying about the outcome, although I think I'm now more worried about there being nothing on the MRI to explain the lameness as where do we go from there? Any help, advice, words of encouragement etc would be much appreciated and if anyone can come up with any clues as to what's causing this I'll gladly pass it on to vet/farrier!!
My 10 year old TB ex racehorse had a sudden onset lameness in his right fore 5 weeks ago. I've had him for 5 years, got him straight off the track, he was very lightly raced only running 12 times over 2 years but didn't make the grade. He has the stereotypical flat soles, low heels for a TB, also his right forefoot is larger, more splayed than the left. He is prone to abscesses and pulling shoes, he wears over reach boots when ridden and turned out & is only occasionally hacked out. My farrier is one of the best in the area and has made massive improvements to my boys feet through shoeing him correctly however he's obviously limited by the actual hoof conformation itself.
So 5 weeks ago I brought him in noticing he'd managed to rip of one of his overreach boots, there was no damage to his heel or leg and he walked in from field fine, he was stabled overnight as normal however by following morning he was noticeably lame in walk and hopping lame in trot. There was no heat or swelling to his foreleg, no digital pulse and just heat in the hoof, his feet were cleaned & picked out when he came in from field, there was no obvious signs of anything having penetrated the foot. As luck would have it both my vet and farrier were due that week so he was seen by both and although he had no adverse reaction to hoof testers both agreed it was likely an abscess brewing so the shoe was removed and it was poulticed for 5 days at which point my farrier came back out and was able to put shoe on, no abscess had burst but there was a lot of bruising to the heel which was consistent with the pulled off over reach boot so we figured he'd stood hard on himself and the lameness was a result of deep bruising, given that he stood to be shod it was clear there was definitely no abscess. He was then given a 10 day course of bute and we continued with box rest although there was no improvement in his lameness even while on the bute.
At 3 weeks down the line my boy was just as lame as on day 1 - to give an indication the vet rated him 4/10 in walk although more pronounced on the turn but increasing to 8/10 in trot, he can only trot a few steps.
I took him in for lameness investigation and upon nerve blocking the foot (palmar digital block) there was a 90% improvement in lameness. Radiographs were taken with nothing obvious re fractures, bone chips etc. So my vet referred us to Weipers for MRI.
The MRI was done during the week with the consultant vet expecting to see obvious damage to the deep digital flexor tendon, collateral ligament, coffin joint, navicular etc, he said due to the degree of lameness he would likely see the damage himself although images are also sent to the radiologist for full report. MRI was done under general anaesthesia with both feet being done as a comparison and a total of 800 images were done. The consultant vet was surprised that he was unable to find a cause from his examination of the images so they are now with the radiologist awaiting his report. Next they done yet another lameness examination including drawing fluid from the joint but no success in finding a cause.
I've got my boy home waiting MRI results and I'm taking him back to hospital on Tuesday by which time they will have the results and both vet and farrier will further examine him alongside MRI, xrays and physical examination, hopefully they can come up with a plan.
I'm at the end of my tether worrying about the outcome, although I think I'm now more worried about there being nothing on the MRI to explain the lameness as where do we go from there? Any help, advice, words of encouragement etc would be much appreciated and if anyone can come up with any clues as to what's causing this I'll gladly pass it on to vet/farrier!!
, no evangelicalism here and certainly intended to be helpful 'positive support' as you put it rather than critical. Certainly if you decided to do it for this horse I think you would need to be totally committed (and boot a lot to start) and/or consider him going to rockley. I also suspect it won't be something your farrier or vet would suggest by the sounds of him but depending on their take on things they might talk it through with you if you suggest it. - It has become apparent that many vets will not suggest it because of owner commitment/owner might think it is a bit left field/trying to fix the horse more quickly and within insurance time frames etc but if you mention it to them they will talk pros and cons and often aren't dead against it. 
