Would you be worried and what would you do?

redredruby

redredruby

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Any advice would be greatly appreciated: was lunging my horse 2 weeks ago and he was being a bit fresh, bronking etc and the ground was quite hard.

Lunged him again 2 days later and towards the end he didn't look right so put him on box rest for a couple of days.

After 2 days boxrest put him on horsewalker but he came off dog lame so back on boxrest. Was getting better until his was shod and farrier cut his feet back way too short (which is a whole other post!)

Trotted him up yesterday (after near enough 1 week on boxrest) and he was 1/10 lame so big improvement. Walked him in hand yesterday and today he is lame again!!

Obviously something isn't right - box rest seems to help, there isn't any swelling. He is back on boxrest and will see how he is tomorrow and will get vet out if not improved but I am just so worried.....he is normally such a sound horse.

Sorry - should say it is his front left that he is lame on.
 
I'd be a bit worried and I would have the vet out. You have tried short box rest and it seems there is rather a lack of clues! Did you discuss it with your farrier and have you spoken to him since? He may be able to shed some light on things? Dog lame isn't good so I'd get an expert on the case.
 
ohh that is not good poor you!!! I would unfortunately call the vet you have done loads and have completed the first step of what they would tell you to do by doing the box rest. Ned could just be suffering still from the farrier but to be honest I would want to know
 
I had the same thing - Farrier took a lot of foot off before Christmas ! after ruling out nail bind I had xrays which highlighted a problem the vets say she could have had all her life - Its now nearly March and I still have a lame horse :-(

Get the vet
 
Hello, just wanted to update:

vet came out and couldn't find any heat and / or swelling or signs of pain.

walked and trotted him up and was equally lame in both.

did flexion tests - when doing flexion test on his sound leg, this made him significantly worse on his lame leg, as though bearing the weight on his lame leg for the minute had made the lameness worse.

course of action is: boxrest with danilon for 14 days, followed by a further 5 days boxrest without danilon and the vet to come out and do another check.

If sound - great.

If not sound he has been pre booked into hospital to do tests such as nerve blocks etc.

If sound and then becomes lame again when introduced back into work then will go into hospital for tests.

Vet did mention the possibilty of navicular :(:(

But, fingers crossed - a prolonged period of rest will do the trick.
 
marydoll said:
Does your vet not do lameness work ups on your yard ?
Click to expand...

They said that they would do two of the lower nerve blocks at the yard but not any of the higher ones.

Am not sure what is usual practice with work ups but that is what they suggested. Am hoping it doesn't get to that stage though!
 
If he is at vets, I would think an X-ray of feet would be considered, or higher, it seems pointless to just do nerve blocks, and go no further. Lets hope it all settles down, I assume you are looking for another farrier, are you happy with this one, or have talked to him?
 
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He is not at the vets at the moment, he is on boxrest but will be taken to the vets if still not sound afterwards.

When at the vets, yes, he will have everything done including all the nerve blocks, xrays etc.

Hope this makes sense, not had a lame horse before (he is my first!)
 
OK, may I suggest that you educate yourself on FEET!
Buy Feet First, and read it several times, this is your "O" Grade.
Examine your own boy's feet in detail, every day, ask someone, maybe farrier to run over all the parts and their functions, and their form, watch farrier at work, ask intelligent questions. What you need is an understanding of what makes a good foot.
Moving upwards, every day you need to run hands lightly down the lower legs, you are looking for damage.......... heat can be minimal, or it can be hot and swollen.
Running hands down front lower legs, get as much practice as you can on different horses.
Filled legs, that's different, occurs when horses [often older] stand in stable.
Hind legs, I do this as well, just in a different way.
You can't become an expert, but you can become educated, enough to know what questions to ask.
There are loads of videos.
http://www.ehow.com/video_4954578_horse-anatomy-front-legs.html
It takes years of experience of hundreds of legs, so normal people can only develop enough education to be aware of their understanding of legs.
 
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Miss L Toe said:
OK, may I suggest that you educate yourself on FEET!
Buy Feet First, and read it several times, this is your "O" Grade.
Examine your own boy's feet in detail, every day, ask someone, maybe farrier to run over all the parts and their functions, and their form, watch farrier at work, ask intelligent questions. What you need is an understanding of what makes a good foot.
Moving upwards, every day you need to run hands lightly down the lower legs, you are looking for damage.......... heat can be minimal, or it can be hot and swollen.
Running hands down front lower legs, get as much practice as you can on different horses.
Filled legs, that's different, occurs when horses [often older] stand in stable.
Hind legs, I do this as well, just in a different way.
You can't become an expert, but you can become educated, enough to know what questions to ask.
There are loads of videos.
http://www.ehow.com/video_4954578_horse-anatomy-front-legs.html
It takes years of experience of hundreds of legs, so normal people can only develop enough education to be aware of their understanding of legs.
Click to expand...

Thank you! Yes, I am currently reading as much as I can. I am lucky because I keep him on a very good livery yard and there are lots of extremely knowledgable people who are more than willing to help no matter how many questions I ask!
 
Good one, now walk round the yard, look over stable doors and assess their feet [say nothing]
Small native ponies who are not shod usually have good feet.
Unshod feet tend to look rather shorter than shod feet.
 
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