Oppinions on horse lameness

[bkreugar]

I am seeking oppinions and experiences from other horse people. I have a 19 yr old morab mare. My 12 yr pld DD's. I Have had her since she was 9. DD went to camp with her June 14-19 and they rode TONS!!! Mare went up at the end of May and kid started riding regularly. They went to a show on June 12.While getting her ready and wrapping her I notice that mare has stocked up on left hind. That was a new thing.

Then kid has a week of camp with her at trainers and they ride and jump A LOT jumps from 18"- 2'. Kid has show on 19th.Mare was very sour. Horse comes home on the 20th. Kid gives her week off. We saddle up to ride one day last week.Her mare is off.Not OMG lame just off. Kid gets off, cold hose leg for 20 minutes, give her a gram of bute for 2 days.

She isn;t stocking up any more.Today kid and friend go to saddle up and she is off. I go out and inspect and NOW I find a whopper of a splint on the outside of the cannon bone and while she isn;t stocking up, she does have more fluid around fetlock than she should, and some heat.So I cold hose and do the bute thing.

So here is the thing, mare is 19 and my first thought was arthritis, but with the stocking up a few weeks back and now a whopper of a splint, I am thinking either a splint form her being used harder than she should OR a soft tissue injury, so I am torn. This WAS to be my kids last year on her because she has sadly outgrown her in both height (14.1) and ability.She is going to go to my 7 yr old son, as she has proved she would MUCH rather just babysit at this point. SO I do NOT want to spend a fortune figuring it out with these vets that are NOT good at lameness issues.

So give me oppinions and tell me if you know of anything I may have missed.

She starts out off and gets worse if you continue.

Thanks

 

[X2Farm]

Give the splint time to set... They don't usually cause permanent lameness, thankfully. Definetly some time off, for her, until she's sound. The splint will eventually just be an eye sore!!

Something that might help ease the tension in the legs, especially while she's favoring, would be to rub them down with some rubbing alcohol. They'll dry very fast, but it helps with circulation and acts like a brace.

Good luck! Sounds like that mare is definetly a keeper

 

[bkreugar]

Thank you snow hunter.Refresh my memory, splints are usually a 6-8 wk thing yes?

Yes she is a keeper.Poor girl spent YEARS with me saying " if she could just do x she would be a keeper" mare would do x and then would say" if mare would JUST DO Y" and then she would do y.

This last year my 7 yr old son has ridden her and he has learned to canter on her.She is very careful. She (the mare) at 19 is much happier doing the w/t canter if you REALLY insist with him then the running and jumping my daughter wants to do.She IS a good girl, but has never been a fabulous show pony because she doesn't have teh confirmation to carry herself the way she should.

She has however always shined in the gymkhana stuff.

So it is a bit of a disapointment for my dd but I think it is fate helping her move forward.

 

[EweSheep]

I would let her take a break from all that events she has been doing. Let the splint heal and work her slowly but be mindful about how far and how hard she is to be ridden by the kids.

 

[hunterjumper999]

poltice, cold hose and bute her for a bit.

she did alot for you so make her as comfortable as possible.

you can also set her up with liniment if you think it helps.

 

[High Roost Ranch]

Quote:
My advice too, as well as stall rest in deep shavings, hand walking for excercise and perhaps a wrap for support while the splint heals. Could be her age is catching up with her a bit. She may have stressed that leg and then heavier than normal use aggravated it to the point that you see now. Absorbine Junior should help make it feel better as well.

Rest and time should do the trick.

 

[greathorse]

Sounds like you already know what to do and have made a good choice in retiring her from hard work. A cold water hose as often as you can do it with rest and bute for the inflamation will go a long long way. the water that comes out of my hose is nice and cold and just works wonders. If she is quiet enough to stand in an inner tube full of cold water it can save on the use of water. There is however little substitute for cold running water.

 

[babyblue]

treat the splint and then slowly get her back up to a normal level of exercise. you cant expect a young horse much less an old one to jump from little activity to tons. slow steady exercise is the only way to go and get her in good shape. once she is in better shape you slowly take it up a notch. she cant go from no ridding in early may to some ridding then straight to jumping a ton in june, that’s taking things way too fast.

I don’t believe in fully retiring horses and leaving them out to pasture. cuttting out super hard work yes, but they still ned something. my own 20yo qh gelding looks like c*rap if he sits and does nothing. his arthritis gets bad, his legs stock up and the more sore he is the less he is willing to move and thus makes him more stiff and sore. consistent steady exercise with a slow build up in progression leaves my qh looking and feeling like a much younger horse. no drugs no bute and still wins at shows and puts younger horses to shame.

 

[welsummerchicks]

If I get this right, this horse went to camp and was ridden more, and after camp, showed up with a swollen leg, an splint, and later seems to still be off. She starts out off, and she's more off as she works.

I gues the truthful answer is really that it could be anything. And I don't think that it's possible to know with out some good xrays and a good sport horse vet.

Because the horse is old, a lot of people would retire her without treating it. And for some with limited means that's all they can do. But I would suggest trying to bring her to a good sport horse vet.

A lot of the vets we call 'shots vets', they aren't very good at lameness.

But there are vets that are - very very good at diagnosing and treating lameness in horses.

She may have a splint, but that isn't necessarily what is making her lame.

If I did not have the money for a good leg vet, I would take the horse out of work, including light work, pasture her where she won't run and get too excited or re-stress the problem area, and try to keep her quiet til I could afford to take her to the good leg vet.

We have someone nearby who is just incredible, and I forget sometimes that for some a trip to the lamess vet might be a major expidition.

 

[bkreugar]

As an update mare is now back to being 100% sound. We did cold hose it 2x a day for 20 minutes.She just got better and better and was 100% sound as of friday.DD and I went off on a 2 hr trail ride and she was fine.Then saturday evening I took the 7 yr old son out on a short ride.

I will say this 7 yr old son is a stick and weighs a mere 45#. I was SOOOO impressed with the mare because she TOTALLY took care of my son. I was kinda a wreck, but he and she were happy. Mare had happy eyes and ears and held herself in a better frame for HIM than she ever does for DD.I really think she wants to gear down to the lighter side of work. I was MOST impressed that mare came BACK as quiet and slow as she went out.A CLEAR indication of a babysitter in my book.

Have been looking for DD's remount so far with no luck. I email and get no responses back.Have looked at a few no's and emailed on about 5. DS is chomping for HER to get a new horse so HE can ride the pony.

Can I just say MAre is a KEPPER!!