1 Year of Dealing with Mystery Hind End Lameness... Please help!

[Color_of_Light]

[QUOTE=BMan022815;n10092440]
He is a quarter horse, so the laziness is a bit expected, but that also means he could be a potential candidate for pssm

get it tested for pssm type 2 but I won’t know the results for a bit.

UFP is not something I’m completely ruling out.

I don’t believe we have tested for selenium

I had a feeling he might be a QH. Testing for any breed specific disease would be a logical next step, plus testing selenium, since both are cheaper tests that bone scans and neck x-rays. Low selenium can give the symptoms your horse has. So can PSSM. Muscles or tissue effected by selenium deficiency won’t show up on a bone scan. Not sure if PSSM would either. If PSSM 2 and selenium are negative, then go onto the more expensive tests.

If he has UPF, that should have been detected on flexions and lameness exam.

[BMan022815]

@drafting_dots I’m sorry to hear about your horse and hope it’s nothing serious. Please let me know what the outcome is from the x rays tomorrow. This definitely could be a good cost effective alternative to consider

[drafting_dots]

@BMan022815 Thank you, I also hope it’s nothing but am unfortunately prepared for the worst. I know that people tend to post things that resonate with them at the time and without seeing your horse it is obviously very hard to say what it might be, so also take my post with a grain of salt!!

[BMan022815]

@drafting_dots of course, I take everything with a grain of salt, especially because acting on my hunches and the suggestions of others has proven to be very costly. I will most likely break down and just do the bone scan for peace of mind.

[IPEsq]

FWIW, my horse’s neck arthritis did not show up at all on his bone scan. He did have some very mild uptake in the neck, but not where he has any pathology. And the places they thought looked significant on bone scan wound up being not significant to him, as treatment there did nothing, and he did need his SI treated, which didn’t show up at all (neck issues were already being maintained). Of course, I have known other horses who did light up in places like neck, hip, SI on bone scan and did have issues there that were not found otherwise.

It doesn’t take very many Xrays to get a decent look at the spine. Certainly winds up being a significantly lower cost than the bone scan. So, based on personal experience and given how far down the money pit you already are, I’d suggest starting with X-rays. You can also identify a lot on ultrasound, such as enlarged facet joints, effusion (definitely can’t see effusion on X-ray), and bony changes. What you can’t measure readily on ultrasound is if there is narrowing of the spinal column indicative of cord compression. And it’s generally best to use a clinic X-ray to see that well, given that a high degree of narrowing is unlikely based on current symptoms. You can see on field X-ray if there’s some questionable hitches in the line of the spinal column that may need further investigation.

To me, the increase in spookiness doesn’t fit in with PSSM, although that doesn’t mean he doesn’t also have something like that going on.

[ARichter10]

Hi there!

I am about a year into my OTTB hind end lameness and just discovered the issue.

I would have a very well known farrier come out and check his feet (angles, lengths, the way he walks, leg straightness) and I would also consider SI pain/kissing spines as a possibility. Even if his feet look fine, have someone who REALLY knows what they are doing check them. Just in case.

After having a new farrier do my horse’s feet for a year and noticing my horse become lamer and lamer after having a vet tell me his feet looked okay, going through kissing spines surgery, radiographs, injections, nerve blocks, and a bone scan, I had a world renowned farrier from Europe take a look at his feet, and he said he didn’t know what the hell this new farrier was doing but that it was horrible and it had effected his entire body, now making him EXTREMELY SI and overall body sore.

I now have a farrier from the hall of fame from Indiana doing my horse and after two shoeings my horse is already more sound.
Also doing shockwave for SI pain.

Just something to think about

[Escapetotjestars]

Check the SI