Hey all,
Note: throughout the first 10 days of this infection, my horse was under the care of multiple professionals, including a vet, and I was not able to be there at all due to family obligations. I made changes to his care as soon as I became aware of the severity of the situation.
The week of Thanksgiving my horse presented with what we thought was cellulitis. Hot, swollen, lame left hind leg, no other signs of trauma. Was treated with banamine and some kind of antibiotics right away. Really not sure what occurred but a vet was looking at him daily, and he was receiving oral antibiotics. The swelling went down after a day or two and he seemed to be responding to the treatment (according to what I was told). At some point during this week they began turning him out in his regular field to keep him moving - didn’t find out this until days later.
After Thanksgiving I was told he was doing well but the vet thought he had a hoof abscess in that leg. Sent my farrier to see the next day. Farrier texted me right away and said the infection seemed pretty severe and he was concerned that it was moving down the leg into the fetlock and pastern area, maybe even all the way to the coffin bone.
Upon hearing from my farrier I immediately made arrangements to have my horse transported to the vet hospital (EMC in Leesburg) that same day. Upon arrival he seemed very lame to me. They did a bunch of imaging and discovered a tear in the lateral branch of the suspensory in the same leg. It was clearly acute and he was extremely sensitive to palpitation there. The vet was also concerned about how his fetlock joint appeared on the x-rays and was worried about joint infection. He pulled joint fluid and hadv it tested and it didn’t raise any red flags, so no surgery was performed that day. They proceeded with treating the cellulitis with a sweat wrap, several limb perfusions, and IV antibiotics for the next 4 days.
He never had a fever and never had any other sign of discomfort (continued eating normally and seemed perfectly happy).
The vet was satisfied with how well the infection responded to their treatment so on the 5th day they discharged him with 5 days of oral doxy and bute, and the instruction that he was to be kept on strict stall rest for the next week. I made an appointment to bring him back the following week to have the sports medicine vet take a closer look at the suspensory and we’d formulate a rehab plan from there.
Spent the week at a rehab barn and all seemed well. He’s had a super attitude this entire time. Fast forward to the follow-up appointment last Wednesday. The vet took x-rays and ultrasound and compared to the previous week’s images. There was “something” she saw that concerned her and her gut feeling was that something was in the fetlock joint. So, into surgery he went and she performed an arthroscopic procedure to clear out the joint and get a better look. They also pulled more joint fluid to grow a culture.
After she finished the procedure she told me that he had significant cartilage damage in that joint. Her feeling at that point was that he may not be able to be rideable ever again. She wasn’t sure yet that the infection was gone and was also concerned about irregularities in the pastern bone. Euthanasia was presented as possible option, depending on how he looked over the rest of the week.
Fast forward to today: he’s still doing really well attitude wise. He’s been handwalking every day and can bear weight on the leg without trouble- he seems fairly comfortable considering the circumstances. They were never able to grow anything at all in the culture so fingers crossed but it seems the infection is fully gone. They are talking about joint rehab options now and think he can be discharged to the rehab barn within a couple more days.
This horse has been my partner for almost ten years and he owes me nothing. I plan to let him live out his days with me as long he’s not in pain. I hope that he can be a weekend light trail horse but I think right now that’s the best I can hope for. He’s 14, a TB, and was eventing at training level before now. But the joint damage combined with the suspensory tear is a lot to overcome.
Anyway sorry for the super long post. I’m mostly looking for anyone who has dealt with joint damage from infections before, and what your experience has been. Also for jingles and positive thoughts. This has been a very tough few weeks.
