Very lame pony

GGTowers

New User
Joined
22 February 2018
Messages
6
Visit site
Hi there, I was wondering if any of you out there could shed any light on my pony who is hopping lame.
Brief (ish) history .... 22 days ago said pony was not showing any signs of lameness when I gave him his morning feed. We have had him since September and he has always been sound. Went about my day and was just going out to get my son from nursery when I noticed pony was lying down, which he never does. Mild panic (it's what I do), picked up son, pony still down. Went to check him and he was properly lame. Got him in somehow, major panic by now, phoned vet. Kept pony in overnight. Gut feeling was abscess and treated it as such but wanted to keep him in, just in case.
Vet came out next morning. Diagnosed as textbook abscess, slight relief for me, she did a bit of digging round his sole (nothing) gave me danilon and told me to keep tubbing/poulticing. I did this, no change after 5 days so got my farrier out. Pony didn't react to hoof testers (panic overload), the pain seemed to be in his heel, so farrier wouldn't dig any further.
Vet out again, X-rays (nothing), too lame for tendons, gave him a nerve block in his foot and he went sound. Keep poulticing I was told.
Then, we had 2-3 days of improvement, and he managed a trot to the gate. Whoopeee I thought, but then he was hopping again and has been since.
Routine is as follows: a.m bring in (he really does try to get to the gate before me bless him but can't always manage), breakfast while he has his soaking boot on (warm water, Epsom salts, filled to the top of the boot, 30 mins), then hot poultice on his whole foot (animalintex or epsom salt paste .. I fear there will be a world shortage of animalintex if this goes on for much longer) nappy, then poultice boot and back out in field. He's not on danilon any more, I really couldn't see any difference.
When he's 4 legged he favours his toe to bear weight. Hoof is warm, heel and fetlock are warm and swollen. He's a chunky 11.2 wpb, 18 years old, so I've been very careful with his weight since he arrived. He gets 1 meal a day, hifi lite and a lite balancer. He's not fat. Spoke to his previous owners and he's never been lame with them.
Sorry for the long post. I'm kind of hoping that someone out there knows of a similar scenario, and the outcome (good or bad). The more I google the more I worry. And now I'm worrying about how much soaking a hoof can actually take before it turns into a sponge. He does have exceptionally hard feet though.
Please help if you can. I hate to see him in pain but really don't know what to do next !!
 

Finlib

Well-Known Member
Joined
23 October 2008
Messages
1,009
Visit site
Is the pony still seen g the vet and or farrier regularly. Abscesses can be a nightmare and run on and on.One of my horses presented lame on October 28th he was pawing the ground had a strong digital pulse standing with foot forward and sweating vet out straightaway as might be colic!!Not colic but pain.Poultice and tub and pain relief given Farrier out the next day found nothing much in foot carry on tub and poultice horse broken leg lame.1 week later vet and farrier out full set of digital xrays on both front feet for comparison nothing much showing up.Carry on tub and poultice 3 days later very very lame vet and farrier out again together. Horse sedated and after parring the foot in a suspect area all of a sudden there was a massive pop and thick smelly puss poured out!.Carry on poultice and tub finally sound and shod on January 12th.Total time frame about 12 weeks.Horse is now absolutely fine he has now shed a lot of the sole a new sole has formed underneath where the abscess had under run the foot. Keep going involve the vet and farrier if possible together abscesses are dreadful.Fingers crossed you sort it soon. I practicaly had shares in animal lintex nappies and cohesive bandages!!!
 
Last edited:

Pinkvboots

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 August 2010
Messages
24,257
Location
Hertfordshire
Visit site
It could still be an abscess they can drag on I would keep putting a hot poultice on but only cut a tiny bit of animalintex to cover the hole don't cover the whole sole with it, I would also cover with a nappy and a waterproof cover like a feed bag and tape and turnout it does help if they can move around, hopefully it will surface!
 

Pinkvboots

Well-Known Member
Joined
25 August 2010
Messages
24,257
Location
Hertfordshire
Visit site
Just a thought but could he just have sore heels ? its been so wet lately the heels can get sore and cracked it might be worth letting him stay in for a bit and letting theme dry out? failing that I know you say his too lame for tendon but my mare cane in hoping and she had torn her ddft tendon near the pastern so was very near the foot no swelling at all.
 

Pearlsasinger

Up in the clouds
Joined
20 February 2009
Messages
47,260
Location
W. Yorks
Visit site
At 18, I would ask for a Cushings test for him. My mare had an intermittent abscess for 3 months until her Prascend kicked in. I have to say that part of the problem is probably the Danilon, which is an anti-inflammatory, so all the time you have been encouraging the abscess to burst, you have also been supressing it. I wish vets wouldn't do that, my vet did the same. I wouldn't bother with the Animalintex, tbh, Epsom salts on a damp nappy will be just as good.
 

GGTowers

New User
Joined
22 February 2018
Messages
6
Visit site
Hi there. He's not seen the vet for a week now, was going to schedule another visit tomorrow. I will phone the farrier too. Highly unlikely I'll get them both together but you never know !!
Thanks for giving me the reassurance that it still could be an abscess. I was beginning to doubt myself and all the advice I've been given. And you're right, abscesses are evil things. I've managed to get away without using cohesive bandage though ��
 

GGTowers

New User
Joined
22 February 2018
Messages
6
Visit site
The problem is there has never been a visible hole. Hence the whole foot gets a poultice. Saying that though when I checked him this afternoon there was a small horizontal crack on his coronet band. I did a little dance at this point, and did as you suggested and used a piece of animalintex (my last little piece which I have been saving for a special occasion just like this). I'm really hoping to find something disgusting tomorrow morning. Ah, did I really just say that ... ???
 

GGTowers

New User
Joined
22 February 2018
Messages
6
Visit site
Hi Pinkvboots, I don't think it's sore heels. Our fields are surprisingly dry, just a few puddles at the gate. I'm not going to rule it out though, thanks for the suggestion.
And maybe it is his tendon. Gaaaah.
 

GGTowers

New User
Joined
22 February 2018
Messages
6
Visit site
He has tested negative for Cushings Pearlsasinger. And I have just used my last piece of animalintex and will not be buying any more. I've been soaking the nappy in epsom salt water before it goes on his foot. Glad I bought such a huge bucket of it now.
And that's interesting about the Danilon ...
 

ihatework

Well-Known Member
Joined
7 September 2004
Messages
22,506
Visit site
On the theory of probabilities it is most likely to be an abcess still and if you have a coronet crack hopefully it’s working it’s way out.

How long after lameness did you X-ray? Only asking as occasionally things become clearer a little later on, so worth bearing in mind if still in this position in a few days.
The other possible is a significant soft tissue tear in the foot, usually they wouldn’t be abcess lame but they don’t always read the book. You might be able to see something using a decent ultrasound.

It sounds like you are on the right track though.
 

GGTowers

New User
Joined
22 February 2018
Messages
6
Visit site
Hi, around 10 days between him going lame and the X-rays from memory. I don't know much about soft tissue tears. Will ask the vet though.
No improvement today, and no gunk ......
Anyone know if an abscess shows up on an X-ray ?
 
Last edited:

Pearlsasinger

Up in the clouds
Joined
20 February 2009
Messages
47,260
Location
W. Yorks
Visit site
We usually put neat Epsom salts on the dry nappy and sprinkle a bit ow water on it to activate the ES, then tape the nappy in place, cover with a substantial plastic bag and pop on a Horzcrocz, which if you haven't much mud should be fine for your pony. The more exercise they can get with an abscess the better.
 

Finlib

Well-Known Member
Joined
23 October 2008
Messages
1,009
Visit site
Hi, around 10 days between him going lame and the X-rays from memory. I don't know much about soft tissue tears. Will ask the vet though.
No improvement today, and no gunk ......
Anyone know if an abscess shows up on an X-ray ?

Abscesses can show up on x-ray but not always depending on how deep they are.Still favourite for an abscess for me .My horse was x rayed between 2 and 3 weeks from original lameness .The x ray machine was a state of the art digital machine took shots all around the foot and one up through the sole processed on site and put up an a laptop screen with the ability to zoom in and pin point areas of interest.I was really impressed the images produced and the vet and farrier where able to pin point a suspect area though it did take two different visits to actually release the puss.
 
Top