Completely gutted: a lameness story

[kwpn_01]

This is more of a rant/vent than a post asking for advice, just needing to put this somewhere and maybe hear about similar situations and the outcomes that you faced.

For those who may have followed some of my other topics/posts, you may know that I had purchased a 2-year old filly in the summer of 2019. She was fully vetted, no vices and exactly what I was looking for. She was started in November of 2019 (under saddle for ~3 weeks) and went a little off behind. No biggie (or so we thought), since she was young and still growing. Re-started as a 3 year old in the spring of 2020, had her going under saddle for ~2 months (and it was blissful, might I add) and went off behind again. After extensive diagnostics including radiographs, an ultrasound and a bone scan, we located a cyst-like structure in her neck on C6/7. Was treated with injections, shockwave therapy (October 2020) and Osphos (December 2020). Sport horse vet recommended we give her the entire winter off again to let the cyst heal. Update radiographs in December of 2020 revealed that the cyst was healing. She was also supplemented with Bonekare (vitamin K1) during the entire healing process.

Fast forward to today, sport horse vet is due to come up again mid April and gave me the green light to re-start her under saddle. The most devastating news? After putting her on the lunge line (ended up giving her some Ace to calm her nerves, as per my last post on re-starting my youngster) she is still off behind. Almost worse than how she looked last July prior to her diagnostics. I am absolutely gutted, emotionally and financially.

We are still awaiting the vet’s arrival and path forward, but I can only help but think the worst. After 2 winters off and extensive treatment (insurance did NOT pull through, bone cysts are not covered in my policy) I still have a lame, if not lame®, horse. She is 4 years old, green broke and not sound for work.

I am at a complete loss. I know I should wait for my vet’s opinion, as I will, but I’m posting this in hopes of grasping some straws of hope, or reality. My barn mates and trainer are also gutted for me and no one has much to say.

Thanks in advance for reading if you made it this far. My apologies for the novel.

[Gardenhorse]

No real advice, just sympathy. Was there anything else in her bone scan that showed any concern or just the neck?

[kwpn_01]

There was nothing else significant found on the bone scan, surprisingly. So we treated the only thing that we found. In addition to that, just to make sure, we x-rayed/ultrasounded both stifles and further down the leg. We also did a soft tissue phase of the bone scan from the knee/hocks down.

[GrayCatFarm]

So sorry that you are facing this. When you say nothing else found on the bone scan, do you mean the cyst is gone/healed or that it is still there?

[kwpn_01]

No, the cyst was the only “hot spot” we found in the bone scan. Nothing else significant was found. After the scan we performed cervical x-rays to confirm the location of the cyst to treat.

[Wicky]

Was the cyst in a location that would cause pain or weakness in the limb, where you see the lameness? Just want to make sure that the cyst is the likely cause of the lameness.

[lenapesadie]

That’s terrible. I’m so sorry to hear that you and horsie are in such a tough place

[RedHorses]

Could fitness be a factor?

My WB cross was tough to get going consistently in part because he just wasn’t fit enough for his body to handle his big movement when he played. He bounced and bucked and slipped and carried on and his skeleton took the burden of keeping all his pieces attached. It didn’t help that his back changed so much in two months of exercise and he was a nightmare to fit, with no tolerance for poor saddle fit. Without regular chiropractic care he would never have been rideable.

At one point I quit riding him because he was so unhappy carrying weight. I spent almost six months working on his fitness through longeing, free longeing, in hand work, and ponying him off my other horse. I even moved him to another stable that had a hilly pasture. When I started riding again he did very well, and had been holding his chiropractic adjustments longer.

Fitness was a big factor and still is to some extent. He gets a bit tight in places when I’m not working him much.

I hope things. work out for you.

[No1]

All I can say, is make sure you block her this time around. Just because she was off because of the neck the last time, doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a hot nail or some sort of tweaked soft tissue this time. I know it’s frustrating, but if the neck is better and she’s done some other silly thing in turnout, or whatever, the prognosis may still be good.

Good luck.

[NaturallyHappy]

This is a very nice and very wise post. Thank you.

[Melissa.Van_Doren]

I’m sending you a PM.

[kwpn_01]

Yes it is. Confirmed by 3 separate sport horse vets and home vet.

[kwpn_01]

Thank you for your kind post! I sure hope that this isn’t the end of the line for her but I am truly hopeless. We’ve performed every treatment and rehab option available to us with little to no results. I suppose there is always a grim chance with horses but with her being my first horse, I was hoping to have quite a few years with her.

[She_s_Pure_Gold]

Oh OP, I feel for you. I have no advice, just crossing my fingers for you that the recent lameness is minir and unrelated. Horses, especially babies, are a crap shoot. Hope additional doagnostics will point to something minor and concrete to address. Good luck and update us in a couple weeks.

[Foggy]

What a tough situation to be in. Hopefully you get more answers when the vet it back out. Don’t rule out a new injury resulting in similar lameness.
We have a lovely mare at our farm that was given to us as they just couldn’t figure out what was going on. Original injury seemed to have healed but still had inconsistent lameness.
We started her with light work and she worked through the intermittent slight lameness as she was still happy to work and we thought maybe just getting some good muscle tone would help.
We had the vet out to look at her for something else and just the way she was standing we noticed that something wasn’t right at her shoulder, not where near where we figured the lameness was coming from.
Xrays determined a fracture at her withers that was long healed but looked like resulted with some nerve damage. Now that we have finally figured out the issue she is happily working away.
So … long way to say it is possible something else has happened. She is young, they do like to mess with us.

[xeroxchick]

Ugh. Hugs to you. I’ve been through lameness issues that seemed just impossible quite a few times. The only thing I can offer is that one horse responded really well to a couple of acupuncture sessions to relieve pain that allowed us to build up the muscle to get sound, with adiquan, hock injections, then he hunted several more years just fine.

[kwpn_01]

Thank you! I am hoping the current state of lameness is unrelated as well, but I feel as though it would be too much of a coincidence as it is the same limb and “hitch” we were dealing with prior, on the same rein (off to the right). I will definitely post an update once sport horse vet arrives in 2 weeks.

@Foggy thank you for your response! I can only dream that I end up with a similar outcome.

@xeroxchick thank you for your response as well. I really appreciate everyone’s posts. My trainer is trying to remain optimistic and wants to attempt to build some muscle in order on her to help alleviate some of her pain, but I am preparing for the worst.

[kwpn_01]

An update on this thread: sport horse vet came up today. Mare was still significantly lame in the hind end. After taking more rads, it was found that another bone cyst had developed on the neck between C6/7, which leaves us to believe this is a developmental condition.

Maresy will be retired at 4. Gutted. Unsure of where we go from there. Thank you everyone for your replies and jingles of hope.

[Gardenhorse]

So sorry to hear this update. My sympathies.

[She_s_Pure_Gold]

I’m so sorry, I was truly hoping it would be something else minor. Can’t even imagine what you are feeling right now, what devastating news.

Is she pasture sound? Is the condition hereditary or is she nice enough to be a potential broodmare? I’m sure you’re going through all the options in your head. Good luck as you consider all possibilities.