Would bone spavin cause sudden lameness

S

supersally

Well-Known Member
Joined
31 January 2009
Messages
122
Visit site
Hi (also posted in veterinary but I know that more people view here !)
As the question asks can a horse go suddenly lame as a result of bone spavin. My mare (11 years old) has gone lame on her near hind a few days ago. There is no swelling or heat anywhere that we can find.(She has always had quite puffy hocks like bog spavin but passed a 5 stage vetting with flying colours when I bought her with the puffiness being the only comment by the grading vet who said that they were just like windgalls purely cosmetic) She has not had any previous symptoms infact only a few weeks ago she was pulling my arms out galloping on the beach. I have had both the farrier & the vet out today. my farrier was happy that she does not have an abcess and felt that she had most likely pulled a muscle somewhere above hock level. The vet that arrived was not the practices horse vet. He checked her hoof with the pincers with no result and spent a long time checking her hocks and tendons. He then performed a flexion test on both hocks and said that he felt that her lameness could be due to arthritic shanges as she trotted up lame after the flexion test on that leg. Bearing in mind that she was already trotting up lame I don't know how conclusive that was ! The lameness is not noticable in walk and she tracks up as normal. . He has promised to discuss the situation with the equine vet within the practice but any comments would be very welcome as I thought that arthritic changes were more gradual. Sorry its so long !! Many thanks in advance for any advice/comments
 
With a mare I had bone spavin made her lame quite badly BUT the yr before she had been slightly lame on that leg but vet had said to ride thru it and it did get better.Then following year was really lame on that leg after investigation and did appear to come on suddenly as day before she seemed fine, found to be bone spavin.
Suppose what mean is that tho it was a sudden lameness it had obviously been there for a while before really rearing its head!
Confused now
confused.gif
grin.gif
 
With mine, it was quite sudden! Thought to be a small paddock accident, but wasn't... Lameness was just there all of a sudden.

Loads of horses get it these days. Many competition horses do actually have it...
 
So, for those who had a horse with it, what was the prognosis? I have a mare who apparently has had it for over a year, with no improvement, on field rest. She is unlevel as opposed to outright lame, in that it is the stride length rather than weight on the leg, but she is uncomfortable. Didn't respond to a steroid injection.
 
Yes it could, my mare came in one day from the field lame at the start of march in offhind. Vet thought she pulled something high up, box rest with no improvement took to specialist xrayed her and though bone spavin at advanced stages and to ride her through it. Still not significantly better and sound in walk, uneven in trot and shes never been lame before. Happy to hack out and go crazy if she can i also turned her out 24/7 as movement helps her too! Fingers crossed for yours
 
My mare has spavin diagnosed and has had bouts of sudden lameness. Seems to be caused by mucking about in the field with the others when ground is really muddy or really hard and she doesn't seem to cope with the sharp turns in those conditions. Last lameness was sudden and severe with her on 3 legs for 3 days - anti inflammatory injection from vet + 2 bute twice a day didn't touch it but after the 3 days the recovery was quick. Other bouts only lasted a few hours. Vets have investigated stifle to rule out that locking/slipping as lameness and recovery is so sudden but stifle results came back normal. Also ruled out muscle strain from ? doing splits which is the injury your farrier seems to think your mare has. Vet concluded lameness due to spavin and insurance paid. Hope your mare's now feeling better. Let us know what your own practice vet thought.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top