well I seem to have cursed it...

J

JenHunt

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.... my sisters horse (Tom) who hasn't been lame in the last 7 or so years has come in lame the very day I had explained to someone on here about his recovery from sidebone and spavin....

He's not hopping lame, he's barely unlevel. my sister noticed when she went to turn him out after a ride and thought he seemed a bit stiff behind. He seemed a bit better after he'd been out in the field walking it off. When he came in we trotted him up and he's definitely unlevel on his near hind. there's no heat or swelling to be found. There's nothing to be felt, and he doesn't react to you doing anything (well, apart from to try to turn around to see what you're looking at! :rolleyes:). We thought he looked worse just as he moves off and just as you bring him back to walk again, but that's about it. we wondered if that meant hock or fetlock but couldn't decide.

my sister had the vet out this morning, and pretty as the man is, he cou;dn't find anything in particular either. He thinks, as we did that the hock was probably the area to be looking at. Has recommended box rest and bute to see if that helps, and thinks it might be a pulled muscle in the gaskin...

anybody else got any ideas?
 
Sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, but if its a suspected pulled muscle why would he be on box rest? I'm not a fan of it and think horses are better off moving if at all possible. And I certainly wouldn't box rest a horse with pulled muscles - its just likely to seize up even more.

Other than that no idea what it could be unfortunately. Hope he's back to his normal healthy self soon.
 
I'm no use I'm afraid, I get paranoid when anything looks remotely lame, especially in the back end.

Tweaked it in the field no doubt. There, said with great conviction, but I'm not vet lol.

My vet is always keen to have the horses moving, likes a fenced off flat area. When we don't have access to that, it depends on the individual horse as to whether box or field works best.
 
well, tbh I'd rather he was out, and he definitely would rather be out - he's a complete pain in the backside on boxrest... but the vet doesn't want him tearing around in case its something more serious or he does more damage. and seeing as he's a horse who spends half of his time out of a stable in trot or canter, that isn't going to happen. He also jumps for fun, so even putting him in a restricted area isn't going to work!
 
Hi, if i called my vet and he couldnt diagnose the lameness, i wouldnt be happy if he treated it with bute and box rest how can you treat something when you dont know what it is? I completely understand that its not always obvious what lameness is caused by but box rest should be given as a last resort for serious lameness. Also bute would hide the lameness as its seems to be slight which is fine if you know what your treating for but he didnt. Very peculeier. I would ask for a 2nd opinion if that was my horse.
 
my sister says that he wanted to see if there was any inflammation that could be reduced by the bute (1 sachet per day for 4 days, so hardly a high dose). He'd like to see him again on monday to see how it's changed, and to see if there's any difference in the visible inflammation or his gait to help to narrow down the cause.

I realise its not an ideal situation, but given our circumstances, and this horse's history, its what the vet we trust has advised and we will be following that. I'm sorry if i didn't make it clear enough, but I wasn't really asking for comments on how it's being dealt with, but for ideas on what it could be.

(i'm sorry if I sound stroppy, i'm just worried)
 
thanks MrsM. he's seriously peed off about being in, threw all his toys out this morning... literally! we came onto the yard to find two horseballs and a himalayan salt lick outside his stable and 1 very bored horse beating the door down.

Ron, bless him, is being quite good and just standing on the yard to keep Tom company!
 
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