Just wanted to get some opinions here since I'm grounded. A few days
ago my horse had a slight lameness in his RF. It had been 3-4 weeks since
his last ride and he seemed fine before but I hadn't had time to ride much after
his last ride. Anyway, he was shod on a Wednesday and showed up lame on
Friday. I thought maybe a "hot nail" or a freshly uncovered stone bruise
(last ride was rocky). Banged on the nails and he didn't care, had to take
daughter to horse show so made appointment with vet ASAP (Monday). After
my explanation vet thought it was probably a hot nail, stone bruise or abscess
even though hoof testers didn't show much. He blocked the hoof to make
sure, and horse was still lame. Blocked the ankle, still lame.
Blocked from just below the knee down, still lame. Off to x-ray we
go. Knee looks fine on x-ray but is ever so slightly puffy, and horse
consistently slightly lame. The vet ended up taking some fluid from the
knee and said it looked fine. After some deliberation we ended up deciding
to inject some cortisone in the knee. I know cortisone can be good
and bad depending on what exactly you do with it. The horse is 10 years
old and the knee always seemed slightly puffy compared to the other one
(hindsight being 20/20 and all) though he was never lame. Also there's a
very large old splint in that leg just below the knee on the inside. We
x-rayed that to make sure it wasn't doing anything and it wasn't. It's
weird that this lameness showed up right after the shoeing
but neither I or the vet could make a logical connection with that.
It's Wednesday and the knee is no longer puffy at all (horse looks
great in fact) but I'm not supposed to do anything like trotting him in hand for
at least 2 weeks (of course no riding). I guess we'll see if he's
lame then. The vet said if he's still lame to bring him right back
and to call him even if he's sound. Could this have been connected with
the large splint injury just below it and just not showed up till I rode
this horse for a year or so? Probably too much time between, who
knows. Not sure if I did the right thing with the cortisone but I've
always been able to depend on this vet and he recommended it. Can
just one injection damage a joint? I don't plan making a habit of using
cortisone injections. I really don't know that much about it and need
to learn more. I know there are other therapies out there.
My favorite has always been "enough time off to heal". (I lean toward
the simple.) Any opinions or thoughts appreciated.
Sincerely, Horse ever so slightly lame and owner ever so slightly
bummed out,
