If only horses could talk

[CoconutEventer25]

Hi everyone…

Not really looking for advice, moreso just in a bad spot and looking to vent/create a journal of all the things my horse has got going on. For some context, my horse is an OTTB, 12, and competing at Prelim.

1. Jan 24 -Horse orignally comes up weirdly lame in the winter, after 3 months holiday. Only seen lunging on small circle to left. Possibly an abcess, don’t xray, but it blocks to the right front foot. Give him three or so weeks off and it goes away…sorta. Vet brings up possibility of abcess, cysts or some sort of soft tissue injury. He gets better so we don’t continue care. Rest of the winter goes smoothly.

2.April- I do a preseason lameness/whole body exam. My vet notes that that foot still isnt 100% (about 80 or so). We xray the foot this time and she sees some very light touches of arthrities in the coffin bone. We discuss possibly DDFT but do injections first. He also palpates quite sore in his SI region and low lumbar so we do two rounds of accupuncture. We do the regular injections of his hocks but also inject the coffin bone and it looked like it needed to be done (by colour of fluid that came out). Give him another few weeks off but it then again clears up. She also mentions doing an MRI as the only defintiive way to know what is going on with the foot, but he needs to be more unsound to do another block and ensure that it is in the foot.

3. End of April - We do our first event of the season. A week prior to the event, I start to feel some stiffness in his hind end/back and I ice the crpa out of both front feet after the event

4. .May- Horse is very sore in his back after that event and looks off everywhere but I can see it mainly in the left hind (stabby gait, not tracking up, hind end falling out) Vet comes out and agrees with me. Front right looks very sound, hind end not so much. She does a very large chiro adjustment as his tuber sacrale are quite asymettrical (left is higher than right)

5. May - Horse is again very sore, and even worse after the chiro adjustment. I chalked it up to the major change in the body. Give him 3 weeks off with the exception of w/t lunging over caveletti (thinking to improve and strengthen his topline).

6. June, today - She does another chiro adjustment and agrees that he is still incredibly sore in his low back, SI but also glutes. We have a conversation and she thinks that with the continual tension and soreness that it’s not muscle related but high suspensory in the hind and that the SI pain is secondary to the suspensory. She palpates them and the facial expressions my horse gave indicated that they’re both quite sore but the left moreso. She also noticed for the first time mild effusion (swelling) in front right fetlock, which we haven’t noticed before. Mentions that it is possible the original nerve block travelled up and masked this. She does still think it’s soft tissue related.

At this rate, I have spent over $2,000 in diagnostics already. She just sent me a quote for another $1,000 to block the suspensory and then ultrasound it (which I will do). The point of this isn’t to complain, but i’m just frusutrated that my horse is in pain and we still can’t pinpoint as to where exactly it is, especially it being in a couple different spots and treat it. If anyone’s dealt with any of this feel free to share your experience. I’ll try to add to this as we go down this path

[big_red_thoroughbreds]

So sorry you are dealing with this, it’s awful when you don’t know how to help them! The one time I had a horse with a shifting lameness/muscle soreness that seemed to come and go and move around his body like you describe it was Lyme disease; I don’t know if that is a routine test where you are, but he had tested negative in a routine yearly test only about 6 wks before the intermittent lameness started, and was at the very bottom threshold for a positive when we caught it. Antibiotics resolved it. Good luck!

[OutsidersOpinion]

I would send for a bone scan if I were you, then MRI/ultrasound what lights up. That way you are not chasing things in diagnostics and spending extra money when you can know exactly where to look.

[GraceLikeRain]

Any chance you could be dealing with a bind suspensory or NPA? They seem to manifest in really weird diffuse pain

[ATXmom]

It may have been the front right the whole time & the SI and hinds are compensatory soreness.

The right front is effused for a reason, so I’d start with advanced diagnostics there

[CoconutEventer25]

We will most likely end up doing an MRI on the foot but he needs to be a little more unsound on it to block it so we can pinpoint where it is. We don’t think they’re related as his SI has always bothered him (always had to manage it) and they way the two are presenting is telling us they’re not related.

[4horses]

All I can say is good luck. Lameness issues are so difficult to chase down let alone diagnose properly.

I would probably do a bone scan but that won’t help if it’s soft tissue related. I would want to know what exactly is going on with his SI area that it continues to cause issues.

MRI on the foot sounds like a good first step.

[CoconutEventer25]

A bone scan would be good but we’re leaning more towards the SI being secondary to possibly high hind suspensory. Thank you for the luck, we’ll take all we can get!