what to do? advice needed might be a long one! sorry!

[loopylucifer]

ok, had few lamness issues started last year with intermittent forelimb lamness seemed to keep changeing legs too. would be out hacking absolutly finr then go hopping lame for up to 15 stepd then be absolutly fine again would do this once a wk to evry two wks. vet saw her for this end of last summer nothing obvious so went on to senequin thought poss artheritis due to age 16/17 ish. was fine all winter even started jumping again. did have feet xrayed for insurance company as she has crap feet didnt show much up amazingly poss start of ringbone on RF and imbalnces on both manliy conformational her shoeing was altered a little to try and help. come spring went lame again in front same as before but also in field just few steps here and there had vet out stright away. when seen was intermittanly lame infront but also lame behind!! cant do nerve blocking as to badly behaved! so took her in for xrays behind and some more on feet. hocks showed spavin on lame leg also bony lump form previous injury (last year). feet same as before. lame hock injected with steroid and hyonate. front feet reshod with pads impression stuff. was reassed by vet 3/4wks later. was better behind but still little lame and in front low grade lamness positve to knee flextion on one legs. went on to danilon one a day. seemed quite improved when first on danilon. didnt do much work over nxt 3wks as was away alot but when ridden felt great. after some disscution with vet and farrier decided to have knees xrayed. went to vets and saw different vet my vet coulnt be there. no sign of front lameness wot so eva (think he thought i was over parinoid owner!!) but did show up lame again behind (!). knee x rays were clear. vet said continue on current work load she how she goes especially now ground softer didnt say much about hindlimb except she was lame! continued on work load and went lame at weekend behind after hill work so rested her for few days stared working her again when got to hill work went lame. struggles comeing down hill. on trot up slight low grade lameness sometimes visable but this does seem to increase with work load. in trot is toe draging quite a bit on lame side and toe draging coming down big ish hills. prolem is at bottem of downs all our hacking involes hill work! so do i phone vets again (!) and talk to my vet about is there any other opitons do i continue on very easy 40 min hacking walk trot reasonably flat for another week then try hills again if all is well or just ahve vet out any way and insist she is not right?!! by the way is looking gd in front not sure if its the shoes ground or danilon but im not complaning!! sorry its sooo long just at a lost as to what to do nxt!!

 

[Kelly1982]

I think i would phone and speak to the vet who has been treating her and insist she is still not right and get him to look at the x-rays the other vet has taken.

Then ask him where do you go from here and if there is anything else you can try?? If not then ask if there is somewhere else that you can be referred to like a specialist or something??

 

[AmyMay]

If you can inject the hock with a steroid not sure why you can't nerve block - she can' be that badly behaved.

However she sounds like my mare - who has non articular ring bone. I turned her away and she has not been ridden for well over a year now and is now totally sound.

Sometimes time is the only thing that we can give our horses. So regardless of what may or may not show up on x-rays and scans it sounds as if there is no overnight solution for your horse.

Maybe turning away for a significant period of time would be your best option.

 

[miamibear]

Amymay, is it right that with ringbone the horses come sound once the bones have fused?

If so would it be a good idea to leave alone for a year or so until this process has happened?

 

[AmyMay]

[ QUOTE ]
Amymay, is it right that with ringbone the horses come sound once the bones have fused

[/ QUOTE ]
I think so - but not 100% sure to be honest. Although like you am sure that that is what I have read.

Amy was turned because I knew it would be a long time before she was sound so just took the decision to do it rather than faff around with bringing back in work - out of work - back in work - etc.

 

[miamibear]

In that case i would turn out and leave for a few months maybe winter out. See what happens when he comes back from his holiday. Its better than shoving money down the vets throats trying to get an answer when they have done all those investigations and still dont really know.

Unfortunately i dont know if i would be following my own advice!! Its easy to say when its not your horse!

I hope you find the solution, i would keep on with the joint supplement anyway, it cant do any harm!

 

[Kelly1982]

I would be inclined to carry on if the insurance are paying out (if she is insured?) coz once the year is over you will have massive exclusions as a diagnosis was not found.

If she is still no better by the time the insurance has run out or the time period has run out then i would turn her away.

You pay for insurance, you may as wll make the most of it.

Thats just my opinion though

 

[miamibear]

I agree about the insurance Kelly, hadnt thought of that!!

I should have said when insurance runs out!!

 

[MrsMagoo]

Yup as Kelly said - carry on investigating through insurance while you still can. Im haveing the same sort of problem and my mare is currently at RVC, and they still dont know - I'm letting them do everything they can while shes there cause next year I wont afford to..

 

[loopylucifer]

thanks for that. had to be very sedated for hock injections so wouldn't be able to trot (yes she really is that bad!!), wish there was some way at least then we might know were the prolems are!. insurance ran out end of august they have been very good and paid out lots.
the ringbone isn't developed in front it was only slight changes on one of the surfaces which may be normal for her (!) or beginings of ringbone.
had thought of turning away for awhile just unsure how it will help as the lameness seems to get more obvious when ridden so could i be in same situation in three months? i think my thoughts at the mo are to try low grade work see how she goes and see if i can talk to our vet about options and her thoughts on turning away for a few months. she will prorably go lame infront again when get backend sorted!! thanks for advice any other advice welcomed.

 

[Bess]

It seems a bit of a shame that they didn't do xrays from the knee down on the forelegs. It sounds a bit like my first horse who had intermittent lameness and very uncomfortable going downhill. He had nerve blocks done which showed up that the lameness was on both front legs, and xrays revealed djd in the lower joints of both legs.

 

[loopylucifer]

thats intresting thanks. we do have down hill issues had thought it was mostly due to her back legs guess it could be the front ones too. when feet were first xrayed did manage to get fetlocks into athough obviously not as clearly as if just them and did nt look too suspisous. guess its gona be a waiting game with the fronts legs to see if it appers again.