Whats to do with mum's cob? Abscess / arthritis?

dressagelove

dressagelove

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Mum cob si 17, and not ridden anymore, just a field ornament (she feels too old to ride apparently) and is slightly overweight.

About a month ago he was terribly lame, holding his hind leg up, and could hardly walk, he hopped in.

Vet came, put him on bute and declared he had an abscess, dug around for one, poulticed it up, and left.

We continued politicing and it did come right, he went out again.

However, after he finished the bute, he kept going slightly lame again. bewildered, we brought him in, and rugged him up, he went out through the day and seemed better again.

He has recently been out, unrugged, and is terribly lame AGAIN, but on the opposite hind leg. Rang vet and he said, oh it will just be another abscess....

However, not trying to know more than the vets, but I think he may be mistaken. He is happy to put weight on this lame foot, and pick the other one up, and he keeps holding his leg up at angles... and he looks generally uncomfortable in the hindquarters and hips...

I am suspecting it may be something like arthritis, what do others think? Hence why he seemed better on the bute, and why it keeps coming back when it goes cold / rain.....

Vet is coming again tomorrow, but concerned he doesn't know what it is, and is digging for abscesses when there aren't any....!

Oops, sorry this got so long, thanks for reading
 
If it's arthritic changes going on in there, the vet should pick up them. Get him to run some flexion tests and pin point where it is more if it isn't abscesses. :) Vibes all goes well.
 
A vet won't go digging for an abscess unless they have a positive reaction to hoof testers on a specific area of the hoof. If the hoof isn't the problem, the horse won't react to this :)
 
I think only you know your horse. It depends if you want to do loads of tests, spend some money or call it a day. If your horse is happy and the treatment not too aggressive I would probably have a go, but if this is going to continue to occur and horse is unhappy and depressed I would PTS. I hope your vet can find out what really is wrong etc.

I was disppointed with a vet recently who seemed to go down the route of test treat/ test treat FOREVER. I was realistic and I dont know if its the new breed of vet OR a new breed of owner who expects a cure every time. I was expecting someone to give me sensible realistic humane advice and I had to say NO for the sake of my animal. The only thing was I knew my boy had arthritis from xrays in his hind end. The first lot of bute did wonders but as it got worse(walking on tip toe, resting on tip toe and dropped hip), then miserable horse just a couple of days, increased bute and it didnt work as well as before. I called it a day. Vet agreed my horse was indeed lame!

The vet expected me to expect to find my horse DOWN unable to get up , then he said that was the right time to PTS. I didnt want to find mine in such a state.Crazy. I was lucky to have lots of experienced people who agreed with my decision to PTS.

I realise your horse isnt my horse /your vet not mine but do what you think is right at end of day. I hope it is something really simple and treatable and wish you good luck.
 
No, no heat, no swelling, I have had a prod about with hoof pick, no obvious sore areas. Think the vet struggled to find a sore spot the first time round, and dug down really deep, I'm no convinced he found one, the poultices were fairly clean when they came off...

I don't think he would cope with a flexion test at all right now, he can't even put weight on it...
 
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