What on earth shall i do now? Bloody horse!

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paddywak

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OK god... My horse Finn has now been off since sept ... initially with suspected PSD that which turned out to be discrepancy on the scan .... so back to square one.....

He went back to vets about a month ago (different vets this time Willesley in glos ) now and turned out to be bilaterally lame in both front legs but bit worse in left fore... after numerous nerve blocks all the way up to the knee the vet was convinced that it was below knee so we started again and it blocked out in the foot....

and it blocked out..... on both front feet.....

so we took x rays and there was nothing to see except bad foot balance and slight reverse rotation of pedal bone..... he has had his toes shortened drastically and feet rebalanced as john thinks this is the prob and were now 4 weeks on..... hes still lame on circle?....... any ideas!? Its sounding like back to vets for more stuff... god its a nightmare....

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give him more time.. if he's had poor foot balence it is possible that he is also experiencing some sompensatory muscle aches and pains, tendons and ligaments have to reajust...

Keep smiling and give him time.
Lou x
 
If insurance will pay then possibly MRI? If x-rays show nothing but he nerve blocks sound to the foot then it suggests soft tissue within the foot which will only show on MRI. My horse's x-rays showed minor changes of the coffin joint but not enough to account for his lameness. An MRI revealed ligament damage. I'd be pushing for a diagnosis as early diagnosis is key in the treatment of soft tissue injuries.
 
hes been like this since oct now its a nightmare and tbh its his behaviour that mad eus get vet we didnt even think he was unsound... vet couldnt find nething for ages but he behaved perfectly buted up so we looked further... but now like vet thinks its the foot balance that means his feet hurt which is why he bolts off on landing head flinging etc which i guess is defo not a bad outcome as ob we were worried about naivcular etc ....

I am also thinking MRI will have to be nxt step but insurracne only pay half and i will prob have to pay half of that as he has cost us sooo much in vet bills and with 6 others atm that need food and shoeing we will prob turn himout for longer first....

If he still unsound from foot balance would things rectify themselves if she stripped his shoes off and left him from now till next spring or wud it get worse? i have so many different ppl saying different thinfgs? x x

Thanks for the advice peeps....
 
Ditto Marchtime. My horse and my old horse both had foot problems, lame on hard ground on a circle etc... Both had OK feet on x-rays and to the eye after surgical shoeing. MRI showed up severe injuries and degenerative damage not visible on x-rays. However thats not to say I would hold out much hope of the vets actually fixing what they find with MRI. If you have LOU insurance an MRI diagnosis can help you make a claim. I hope your horse gets better.
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We had a mare with something similar and we did the same, went for nerve blocks / x rays. We remedially shod her with heart bar shoes after lopping the toes right back, she was lame for approx 3 wks after this. She then became much more sound. We were back at the farrier earlier this week and she's 98% sound, she's had another set of remedials and can start being worked again from the weekend (just walking for a few weeks). Don't give up hope yet - get your vet and your farrier together - farrier needs to see xrays so he can shoe appropriately. Alternatively, you can take shoes off and trim them back slowly but it will take months for him to come sound that way - again your farrier will be able to advise you. Good luck
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What signs did your horse show for this lameness.
I have a real problem with mine hes had scans and xrays done on his front legs ,we found a splint so he has had nearly 5 weeks off.He is also recovering from hock spavin surgery this helped cause concussion on front legs .Hes short in front and nodding on the lunge but improves so the spavin is having a big impact on lameness issues.I darent give him a proper lameness workout on lunge until next week when hes had 6 weeks off.I feel after two lots of concussion that there is something going on in his front feet.He bruises easily and his feet are very flat .Hes in natural balance to get his heels up and toes back.The vet said that if thing s dont improve he will look into navicular.This horse hasnt got one good leg in four I just dont know where to turn with him.The other thing Im looking into is his back having someone out on tuesday to see if that helps.If hes been adjusting for pain for so long it must have had a effect on his back.
He was nerve blocked for the spavin so you would have thought that if he came back positive with that then the feet at front would have been ok.
 
paddywak - just a quick thought - don't know whether your insurance is the same but most will only pay out for the first year after diagnosis. This means that if you want them to pay half for an MRI you have to have it done before a year after the first vets visit.
cellie - i know how you feel, mine has one hind leg left only! It can be so difficult when they present with a number of issues. When mine went lame it was initially diagnosed as bruised soles for a period of time as he had such flat feet and low lying pedal bones. He was then diagnosed with arthritis as xrays showed minor changes in the coffin joint but when he didn't respond to treatment we went down the MRI route which showed ligament damage. Nine months on and he's back in work. If he has flat feet have you tried silicone pads under the natural balance shoes? This combination keeps my horse sound.
 
marchtime
The farrier showed me the pads about 6 weeks ago .He had stood on a 4inch nail that went in vertically and just missed the laminae.Fortunately he healed very quickly so we didnt need them but it might be the answer to his bruising issues.Farrier is out friday so I will speak to him about them I have also heard about another type of gel equi .... that can be poured into the sole and sets .We had xrays on front legs done about 5 weeks ago and scans so I know I can include on the latest claim.The insurance company are going to hate me £6000 vets bills in 2 years plus its everybodys favourite ins co. lol
 
Your story seems a bit similar to what i had with one of my ponies who was very slightly lame intermittently for a few months, after this time we decided that we needed to do more than give him bute and rest him! So off to the vets we went, after nerve blocks and x-rays it was discovered that he had very slight low ringbone of his right fore. We had initially thought it may have been navicular. He had a monthly course of a drug that i think was called 'Adaquan' and some cortisone injections into the joint. He has been sound for 18 months and is now hopefully coming back into work! (He could have started work after 6 months, but youngster was going very well so decided to concentrate on him for a while).
Hope Finn is feeling better soon!!
((((Healing Vibes))))
 
Am having similar with my horsey, he is going for remedial farriery and funky shoes tomorrow.

I have been told it will take at least several shoeings before we know if it is successful.

Give him a bit longer.

What does the vet say?
 
those equi gel type of pads that go in as a runny sticky gel and set in a few mins are very expensive, i was paying £95 every 5 weeks for 4 shoes with the pads on fronts and i found my mare very prone to pulling shoes wearing them. she now has a kinda plasticy pad thing that slots under her shoe and is trimmed to size, seems to work just as well and is a lot cheaper. She also only has one good leg so to speak, she has navicular in both front and arthritis on one coffin joint and one of her back legs has arthritis in her hock
 
Your not going to believe this -after our post -not one good leg in four -I had the all clear to ride yesterday. lunged and he was sound just a little short with spavin ,so I went for my first ride tonight in school and discovered daughters horse has kicked him in the knee a inch to the side of the splint.Back to box rest danilon and cold hosing. I can only pray she hasnt opened the fracture up. [ QUOTE ]


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