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[RC] Mystery lameness - any ideas? Help! - Jennifer ThompsonHi all, I'm hoping for some insight or encouragment! I'm sorry this is so long, but I'm trying to give all the info...I've got an Arabian gelding, 10 years old, 15.1 hh, has great bone and big size 1 feet that are nice and round with good, wide heels. He came up grade 2-3 lame in his right front 3 weeks ago. Here's some history (which may or may not be related) and the recent happenings: Seven months ago (Sept '03): Finished a 25-mile competitive ride, and was lunging him for the vet judge at check-out. Vet judge commented that she "thought" she saw a very slight lameness in his right front. She said she couldn't be sure, but she docked me 5 points anyway and advised me to lunge on a longer lead line in the future, as smaller circles can sometimes make a sound, but tired, horse appear lame. ?? Three weeks after that: I had my regular vet out to double-check the right front "lameness" because by then I was paranoid and kept thinking I was seeing something, although nobody else I asked could see anything at all. My vet came out, did a full work up (flexion tests, hoof testers, trot-outs both straight and in circles) and pronounced my horse sound and told me to stop worrying about what the ride vet had said. For the past six months, that "seed" of doubt has remained in my mind, and I have continued to think I've seen an on-again, off-again shortness in stride while he is trotting at liberty in the turn-out. Again, nobody else has agreed with me, so I've continued to train and condition, riding pretty hard. He has never come up visibly lame or anything like that. I have completed one endurance ride during this time, and the vet judge checked him in, and out and the end, as sound and "fit to continue." 3 1/2 months ago, I was injured and could not ride for 8 weeks, so I pulled his shoes and turned him out. It rained heavily during this time, then dry hot weather followed (Southern California). When the eight weeks was up, I had him reshod, and started bring him back into condition - got about four good weeks of riding in. Then... Three weekends ago, I rode him both days pretty hard, through 15 miles of technical trail each day, with lots of rocks. I mean LOTS of rocks. The next day, Monday evening, I noticed in the turn-out (good soft sandy footing) that he was a little lame when trotting in a circle towards the right. No head-bob, but definitely a choppy, shortened stride on the right front. By Wednesday evening, lameness was worse. Even had a head-bob to go along with the shortened stride. Thursday morning - somebody at the barn had a vet out, so I asked her to look at him. She pronounced him lame, with a mild digital pulse on right front. No sensitivity to palpation anywhere in the leg or foot, and not sensitive to hoof testers. Told me to follow up with my own vet to get diagnostics done. Thursday night - My vet came out, pronounced Shahtahr grade 2.5 or 3 lame in right front. He felt no digital pulse however. Noticed no reaction to palpation anywhere, nor any reaction to hoof-testers. Nerve blocked the foot with a digital palmar block, and he came 80% sound. Did a sesamoid abaxial block after that, and he came 100% sound. Vet feels problem is definitely somewhere in the foot - hopefully just a bruise. Other possibilities were ringbone, navicular syndrome or fracture, arthritis, coffin-bone lesions or fracture, to name a few. I reminded him of the ride vet's observation six months prior, since it was the same foot, and he said that since he had examined him after that and my horse was sound, he was going to dismiss that as a coincidence and treat this as a different situation altogether. Especially since we were now dealing with a very noticeable lameness that came on rather quickly. He took x-rays of pastern and foot, results of which were in the next day and the vet's words were "very good. He's got a really good-looking foot." He said that if he had to be very picky, he'd point out a very slight roughening of the anterior surface of the pastern, between two of the bones (I can't remember which ones) but nothing that would cause any lameness at this point. He also saw two very small synovial invaginations in the distal border of the navicular bone. Before I started gasping in panic at the word navicular, he said it was nowhere near enough to be considered problematic, that he was not showing typical conformation or signs of a horse with navicular syndrome, and that he wouldn't even worry about it. He has seen these on x-ray before on many sound horses and again said he did not think it had to do with the level of lameness we were seeing. (I'm still worried though) He said that we were most likely dealing with a stone bruise, an abcess, or perhaps a bruised deep digital flexor tendon. Advised two weeks rest, and then re-evaluate. Oh, and he suggested I stop having him shod with Natural Balance shoes and go back to regular shoes, that the NB shoes don't agree with all horses and can add a lot of toe pressure. Had farrier out last Monday, 1.5 weeks post-vet visit. Shahtahr is still lame on the lunge line when circling to the right. Farrier used hoof-testers and could not get any pain response anywhere. He then put a hammer on the ground, putting the wooden handled end under the frog area of his right front foot, and asked him to pick up his left front, making the frog-area of the right front bear all of his weight on top of the hammer handle. No pain response. Farrier said that in a navicular horse, that would have brought on a pain response for sure, so doesn't think that's the problem. He then tapped on the outside of the hoof wall with a hammer, all the way around, and Shahtahr just stood there looking bored. He pared away the sole as much as he could, trying to find any indication of bruising, abcessing, anything. He did say that his sole is so incredibly dry and hard right now, that if he did have a deep bruise, it might not show with the hoof testers because the sole is so hard. The only thing he did find was a slight bulge and hardening along the coronary band on the inside front of the affected foot that is not painful at all when poked or prodded. He said coronary cartilege hardening and bulging like that can be from the foot not being balanced and landing too hard on the inside. Shahtahr does tend to wing that whole leg to the outside when he moves, and even stands with the whole leg sort of pointed outward, which would put more pressure to the inside. So the farrier took the hoof wall down more on the inside today, and we left him barefoot. We trotted him out again after the "corrective" trim and he's still lame...not that it was supposed to be an instant cure. He said that he just couldn't find anything wrong with his foot at all, other than that little bulge along the coronary band - the bulge is very tiny and I'm surprised he found it - we're not even sure if it means anything. So now it's a week since the farrier visit, and 2 1/2 weeks since the vet visit, 3 weeks since I noticed the lameness...horse is still off when circling to the right. I've soaked with Epsom salts..nothing has happened if it is an abcess. Any ideas? I'm giving it another week or two and then my insurance company will be getting the dreaded claim for a bone scan or MRI. :( Thank you all, Jennifer ============================================================ Prudence and focus will carry you a long way on a horse. ~ Frank Solano ridecamp.net information: http://www.endurance.net/ridecamp/ ============================================================
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