Lady&Zo
New User
Hi everyone.
Basically, I have a mare on full loan with view to buy in a years time, she is a 16hh ISH, 10 years old. I bought her ''from the field'' as she is a project horse and hasn't been worked for a considerable amount of time, & on top of that, I was just recovering from a back injury when I went to view her so could not ride her, even though the offer was there.
Lady turned up and seemed fine, however the next day I lunged her and she was sound at first in walk, but once trotting was considerably lame, I put her in her stable for boxrest and decided I would leave her there whilst I thought what the best move with it would be. So the next day I got her back out with a view to ride, tacked her up, walked her to the school, but again once in trot was considerably lame, so this time I decided I wanted the vet out.
Before getting the vet out I checked her over myself, no heat, no swelling, and no discomfort when having feet picked up, the only thing that gave away her lameness was the lump on her left hind leg, halfway between her bum and start of hind leg, this lump is fairly hard, and when pressed causes no pain whatsoever, she looks to me as if she doesn't even know I am pressing on it. When the vet came out she said when standing, she is 2/10ths lame, but when flexed and held for a period of 20-30 seconds she is 4/10ths lame. She suggested Bute for a week, then reassessing her, but said she was 90% sure she would need bone scans, xrays and nerve testing. I disagreed with this, because Lady has only been lame for a week in total, and the reason I know this is because after having a chat with the owner, she assumed Lady had got into a fight of some sort as apparently she picks out fights, so even though she saw her limping she thought nothing of it as this is quite common for Lady after picking a fight with the wrong horse. I have kept on with the bute even though I don't like using it, as it masks the problem, but I don't know where to turn next. The vet I used does have a good name with some people, and others say they are really bad, they did suggest a friend of mines horse needed an emergency operation costing in the region of £8000 and she refused and after a couple of weeks boxrest, the horse was fine and is still being ridden to this very day with no lameness. I had a friend out, who knows her stuff and she had a look over Lady and rode her to see if she could get to the bottom of the problem, and she said she thinks that because Lady has been out of work for a considerable amount of time, when someone came to view her a couple of days before I picked her up, they apparently rode her, and threw her straight into canter, so she could be stiff from having no exercise, then her body has been exerted at a fast pace, so she is either stiff or has pulled a muscle of a mixture of both. She suggested having perhaps 10 minutes light exercise per day, with the rest being boxrest per month, it should clear up? The more exercise Lady is having, she does seem better for it, and can trot for longer periods without limping. But is this the right thing to do?
Basically, I have a mare on full loan with view to buy in a years time, she is a 16hh ISH, 10 years old. I bought her ''from the field'' as she is a project horse and hasn't been worked for a considerable amount of time, & on top of that, I was just recovering from a back injury when I went to view her so could not ride her, even though the offer was there.
Lady turned up and seemed fine, however the next day I lunged her and she was sound at first in walk, but once trotting was considerably lame, I put her in her stable for boxrest and decided I would leave her there whilst I thought what the best move with it would be. So the next day I got her back out with a view to ride, tacked her up, walked her to the school, but again once in trot was considerably lame, so this time I decided I wanted the vet out.
Before getting the vet out I checked her over myself, no heat, no swelling, and no discomfort when having feet picked up, the only thing that gave away her lameness was the lump on her left hind leg, halfway between her bum and start of hind leg, this lump is fairly hard, and when pressed causes no pain whatsoever, she looks to me as if she doesn't even know I am pressing on it. When the vet came out she said when standing, she is 2/10ths lame, but when flexed and held for a period of 20-30 seconds she is 4/10ths lame. She suggested Bute for a week, then reassessing her, but said she was 90% sure she would need bone scans, xrays and nerve testing. I disagreed with this, because Lady has only been lame for a week in total, and the reason I know this is because after having a chat with the owner, she assumed Lady had got into a fight of some sort as apparently she picks out fights, so even though she saw her limping she thought nothing of it as this is quite common for Lady after picking a fight with the wrong horse. I have kept on with the bute even though I don't like using it, as it masks the problem, but I don't know where to turn next. The vet I used does have a good name with some people, and others say they are really bad, they did suggest a friend of mines horse needed an emergency operation costing in the region of £8000 and she refused and after a couple of weeks boxrest, the horse was fine and is still being ridden to this very day with no lameness. I had a friend out, who knows her stuff and she had a look over Lady and rode her to see if she could get to the bottom of the problem, and she said she thinks that because Lady has been out of work for a considerable amount of time, when someone came to view her a couple of days before I picked her up, they apparently rode her, and threw her straight into canter, so she could be stiff from having no exercise, then her body has been exerted at a fast pace, so she is either stiff or has pulled a muscle of a mixture of both. She suggested having perhaps 10 minutes light exercise per day, with the rest being boxrest per month, it should clear up? The more exercise Lady is having, she does seem better for it, and can trot for longer periods without limping. But is this the right thing to do?
