Last September I bought a 6 yr old OTTB mare in hopes of going prelim and possibly higher. We brought her along and started showing her BN in the spring. She did pretty good, superb jumper, but had a very hard time holding herself together in dressage, still hard. In june we competed at a very hot HT in northern VA, she was great and finished 6th. She was also diagnosed with a mild case of EPM, or so the vet said, in june and was treated for 60 days and apparently 100% free of that now. After the hot show I gave her a few days off, bringing her back into work she was lame in right front, we concluded she had a stone bruise from pulling her shoe a week before. Gave her a few more days off. Started back on her again, front end was fine but the back end seemed off. She was tripping a lot, wearing out her hind toes and it felt like her right side was tracking on solid ground and the left side on a slippery surface. On the ground you couldn’t see much of anything but riding her she looked and felt very lame. It didn’t get any better so I took her to get a work up at the vet. They never saw much but thought she tested positive left hind. We blocked left stifle, I didn’t notice a difference in her feel but vets thought she was tracking better and actually looked off on right hind. They ended up injecting both stifles. She had a week off. brought her back and she felt a lot more free-er in her movement but the hind end feeling was still there. A few days into that I had some chiro and acupuncture work done, she was very out in her ribcage and was sore in her lumbar area. She had another few days off, she’s now been back in solid work for a week and was quite fresh and full of herself to ride (bucking and hopping around). Shes been swishing her tail and grunting, im having a hard time deciding if she herself feels great or if she mad because something hurts. Again the hind end feeling is still there and has been since june. it just feels like something is short and not moving out. She gets worked in the field and arena. Im struggling for answers without having to get another $1500 work up done. Another vet recommended we try estrone. Im looking for any feedback or info!
I would only try Estrone if you know it’s just a muscle problem. I used it for one month with my horse who’s SI area was very weak from an injury. It helped him be looser and have less pain long enough for me to work him and build his muscle up so that he no longer needed estrone and was sound. If you’re not sure what the problem is I would hesitate to go that route. Have you had her tested for lyme? It’s very prevalent in VA.
Hummmmm…is grunting while working a sign of discomfort?
estrone is GREAT, IF it is a muscle/ligament strength issue. used it on my horse with SI as well, and only rode him on the hills for about 4 months while on estrone – the difference was stunning.
however, it sounds to me like something is more off than simple muscle weakness. if it were me, instead of just blocking, i would xray the entire hind leg from stifle to hoof… especially if the vets blocked her stifle and felt she was better… it’s not uncommon for ottbs to have stifle injuries (i have one myself).
Well FWIW hind suspensories can be sneaky. A horse that everyone swore had a back issue had a hind suspensory–once diagnosed it was described as a repeative stress injury similar to that a dressage horse would get (that is, not from a one time incident.)
Good Luck -diagnosing vague lamenesses is certainly a challenge.
I never heard estrone being used except for sticky stifles? My horse has an undiagnosed hind end lameness that is likely soft tissue in the glut/SI area. Should I talk to my vet about estrone? (Sorry to sort of hijack!).
Up until June she was a pretty quiet mare to ride, was on regumate because she had difficulty warming up around other horses, still is. So the tail swishing, grunting, bucking, hopping is all pretty new. Her left stifle was xrayed at the time they injected stifles. Saw nothing. When I purchased her last September everything was xrayed except stifles and she was clean as a whistle. Im questioning hocks? Im wondering if this EPM has done something or is currently effecting her?
[QUOTE=kcmel;7165926]
I never heard estrone being used except for sticky stifles? My horse has an undiagnosed hind end lameness that is likely soft tissue in the glut/SI area. Should I talk to my vet about estrone? (Sorry to sort of hijack!).[/QUOTE]
yes!! some vets are really persnickety about it because it is a steriod, and will be a scrooge about allowing you to have your own, but my vet (who trusted me and knew i was responsible) let me have my own vial. it lasted about three months, and it made a definite difference. in addition to saddle-fit and maybe some SI injections, estrone is very beneficial to use to strengthen muscle and topline. just be warned, you CANNOT compete while using it. i believe you need about 2 months for it to “flush out” of the system too.
onto topic - EPM may affect her but to me from what you’ve said it really sounds like she is uncomfortable… forgive me if you already said this but have you checked her back for soreness? her saddle? swishiness of tail and grunting may be signs of saddle discomfort too… how is she on the lunge?
@Beowulf, she has a custom fit county saddle that’s been checked multiple times. She’s had chiro and acupuncture work done. Her lumbar was very sore. I check her everyday, can never tell if she’s crabby or sore because shes not consistent.
Have you run a Lyme titer? We’ve had a ton of cases of it in NoVA this year, and seen horses present with similar sounding symptoms. While the titer is not completely accurate, it is fairly inexpensive. Hocks are pretty easy to diagnose - have you taken films? Might be worth checking, but frankly, given what you’ve described, if there’s nothing showing on Lyme, I’d want to ultrasound the hind suspensories as well. Again, not that expensive, but worth seeing what’s there.
I’ve had good luck with both Spurlocks and VEI (Dr. Johns) in trying to sort through the random, not-sure-what-we’ve-got lamenesses. Would probably suggest one of them (if you’re in NoVA area) - neither is cheap but I think you get really good eyes on earlier in the process which in the long run can save you some $$.
Good luck!!
The hind end can be so tough to diagnose as secondary problems often hide the primary issue and in particular if they are bilateral issues. I’ve got one that had some similar symptoms to those you describe. Did a bone scan - diagnosed and injected SI. Turned out SI was secondary to suspensories (apparently the vet missread the bone scan). He was also exploding randomly under saddle.
Bone scans can be really useful as they can cover basically the whole horse at once (though not soft tissue) but they are expensive. Personally I’d also be quite careful if you think the hoping around is pain related for your sake and hers!
For piece of mind on the money angle you could also do a bute trial before going back to the vet?? If there’s a difference then you’d really know there was something still there!
I am thinking this horse has a sore back. What happens when you palpate the back?
My OTTB had her pelvis tilted quite a bit. A couple of signs that she had were no left lead, constantly resting 1 hind foot, and wearing out the toes on her hind shoes every 5 weeks.
I had the chiropractor out summer of 2012 the first time and he couldn’t get it to move. I continued working her on dressage and trail riding and then had the chiropractor out again in July. This time he got it about 75% fixed and now I am getting a reset out of her hind shoes and the left lead is improving.
Christa
Consider ulcers - you can get free trial packets of Omeprazole from Abler.com - about a weeks worth - probably enough to see if it’s working. Having had a horse with similar issues, you may also test for Lyme’s but mine tested negative, however we treated with Doxycycline for 30 days and showed dramatic improvement. BTW, this was after bone scan, x-rays, back injection, rest, etc. with no improvement. Good luck
Did you say she had a rib out when she had chiro done? I’ve heard that if a rib is out, it is pretty likely it will slip back out after the adjustment, and could take a few tries before it is set. A horse at our barn had this; it took a handful of adjustments before it stayed in place. The first one lasted a few weeks, then second one a little more and so on. My guess is she had 4 or 5 adjustments, then it was pretty much done. She does continue with having regular chiro work.
