Update 7/2/24 Got a second opinion(s). Right shoulder injury not left fetlock. Muscle tear in Right Shoulder and atrophied shoulder about the size of a fist. You can feel the tear with your fingers. Would explain why she is so much lamer when i mount her. Spent thousands and thousands of dollars on wrong treatment and not only my horse’s pain and suffering,but mine also. Got a good idea how it happened during February Missouri’s MDC CWD deer 2 month long killing spree bait pile 150 yards from horse yard. She must have spooked and ran with the proverbial bullets going past her from a stupid neighbor. What a disgusting waste of time and money. As I write this, my horse is still quite lame. I feel nothing short of being tormented. My horse has been subjected to stress and torment. Now we are massaging the shoulder, lunging at the walk only, soon to be chiro treatement in a couple of weeks and the corrective shoeing. Feeding her Vit E supplements now, MSM, changed from Osteomax to Regen-x, and gave DMSO poultice on shoulder, along with some aromotherapy linements, stretching, and I ordered a horse Physical Therapy book since I might as well be my own doctor now. Update 6/11/24 I just want to say that it has been a month after the Noltrex injection and she is still lame We have given up. She got much worse after the noltrex injection, but is now back to where she first was, walking better tracking left, limps when i try to mount and walk her… UPDATE 5/25/24. I took my mare out and we filmed her. So to see what she was like prior to the treatments, I have a couple of older videos from early may called ‘‘very lame horse’’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cKwfJe8Fs6w I also did a DIY lameness exam for my own amusement on May 4, prior to the noltrex treatment and prior to bringing her to the vet clinic. This is at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=407nxsrQ1Dc&t=306s And before anyone says I am too fat, I know it, and i have been dieting, and now fit in all size m size 14 pants now. I am still dieting. So we took a new video this AM which is 8 days after the Noltrex injection into the left fetlock.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy1E8BXM_WU End update Update 5/23/24 After the Noltrex shot last Friday, I handwalked my mare for 5 minutes just now. She is still lame at the walk however much better. Before she was so lame she would not have made it as a companion horse. i am completely disheartened at this point. UPDATE: 5/17/24 MY MARE RECEIVED NOLTREX INJECTION ON FARM AND THE PROCEDURE WENT VERY WELL. NOW I WAIT. STALL REST 24 HRS, MOVE TO DRY LOT, NO RIDING FOR 7 DAYS, VET SAID ‘‘I WAS A LONG WAY OFF FROM DOING ANYTHING LIKE PUTTING HER DOWN’’ END UPDATE I have an 18 year old Rocky Mtn cross mare that is wonderful. My horse went lame in the 3rd week of Feb for no apparent reason. On Feb 23, the vet came out. She is brand new to the practice and young. She drew blood for a Coggins, took an xray, said my horse had arthritis and injected her fetlock and told me not to ride for 3 days. In the month of March, both shoes fell off the front within 2 weeks of each other and making a long story short, had them reset. On March 30th, i filmed for an online horse show and she seemed fine WTC. By April 15th, Princess was Lame again. I thought it was the arthritis, and wanted to walk her thru it. Princess became more lame. Lame at the walk. On May 3rd, the new young vet came out again. The older vet that had practiced for years, does not do farm calls anymore. i do not have a horse trailer. The new vet attempted to do the standard lameness exam, i guess. it took her 4 attempts to nerve bock the hoof. Trotted horse, horse still lame. She nerve blocked the fetlock, horse still lame. I have to give her credit, because she was honest with me, and told me to haul the horse in so the more experienced vet could look at it. So I could only find a cattle hauler, and he hauled my mare to the vet, and the experienced vet did the standard lameness exam, and when he got to the fetlock and nerve blocked that, she went sound. So now, the new young vet is coming out Friday to ‘‘try a different fetlock injection’’. I am very very worried about my horse. She doesn’t have an acceptable quality of life now, she walks with a bad limp. Oh, i forgot to mention when I brought the horse to the experienced vet, he took 6 xrays all around the fetlock, and near the joint, like there was a little protusion i think they call it a bone spur ? So I am very worried about my sweet beautiful mare and if the fetlock injection doesn’t work this time, and my mare is living like she is now, i may have to think about the worst. I never ever had a lame horse and i never had to face this. I grew up in the Hudson Valley region and was used to Rhinebeck Equine which are EXCELLENT. I never had a lame horse before, except for hoof abcess. Please, anyone with experience with this, I need some advice. I live in the boonies and no support system here at all. In fact, my horse became much more more more lame after the first injection, that lasted only like 30 days. PS she was put on equioxx since the last time the vet was on farm and I also have here on the first week of osteomax, getting two pumps a day.
Any idea what they intend to inject with the second time? Sounds like you might need a biologic or one of the hydrogel products. And possibly consider hauling to the other vet to have them do it…given how the blocking went, maybe new vet didn’t really get the first injection in the joint properly? Was there ever any swelling? Did they test for infection? Progressing to lame at the walk following a joint injection with some OA in there that sounds like it has been developing for some time…this gives me pause about your available vet care and maybe something else is going on.
Wow….small world. I just got this diagnosis a few hours ago on my horse. His bone spur is very large and ultrasound confirmed irritation in the ligaments.
Unfortunately my vet, at a well respected sport horse clinic, did not give a good prognosis. It is not fixable and anti-inflammatories are really the only management to be had until it can’t be managed anymore.
Sorry, but I would not be letting the young inexperienced vet inject this horse again. What was the treatment recommendation by the specialist? I would take the horse back there and also place her on Equioxx. I’m very sorry you are having this experience.
If the horse isn’t on anti-inflamatories, such as equioxx, or bute if she will tolerate it, I’d get her on them right away.
Can you get the x-rays sent out for a second opinion and treatment/management plan?
Not all joint injections work for all things. If she was ok for a month and then went downhill it sounds like the analgesic properties of the injection may have covered up something else.
I think I’d like a better idea of what was going on if I were you. Don’t panic until you do. It may well be something entirely manageable.
I see you have her on equioxx. Is it helping?
This. Don’t panic just yet. I’m not downplaying your horse’s pain levels, OP, but I think you should slow down for a second. Make sure you have all the information available, and make sure you understand what the vets are doing. It would be wise to call the clinic vet and ask to talk about prognosis and treatment options (you may have to pay a small fee for their time, this is normal IME so don’t freak out).
Start asking questions, and get specifics on what the vets are wanting to do to help your horse as well as what your other options may be. Take notes. You can also write down everything you can remember and then organize this into a coherent list to look back on. These things will serve you well in every situation where you are working with vets.
Meanwhile, I have some questions (the wall of text and jumping around was a bit hard to understand so apologies if some of this is answered in the OP):
- how long have you had this horse? What was her workload like before she came up lame?
- do you have an actual diagnosis? Bone spur, chip, etc? It is usually on your discharge paperwork from the clinic. Or you can call.
- what did the first vet inject, and what is she planning to inject next?
- any improvement on the Equioxx?
I suggest taking her to a more experienced lameness vet. These kinds of things are generally manageable with appropriate treatment. Usually a steroid injections and / or oral anti inflammatories help significantly and if not you could try Pro Stride/ PRP / Irap etc or Noltrex . I think there are many things to try before a person would think " the worst" but you definitely need an experienced equine / lameness vet
So sorry to hear this. Hugs to both of you.
This diagnosis does seem like something that should not come out of nowhere.
Are there any options for you to take your horse to a vet clinic that might be further away for a second opinion? Or heck, just to have a vet do the injections that has more experience than the new vet?
I know not having your own trailer makes this much more difficult, but from my experience, finding someone to truck you to a vet is far easier than lots of other things horse people do. We generally know how important good vet care is.
Jingles for you and your horse!
For the sake of your own peace of mind, one option would be to send the images to a radiologist (or even your old vet at Rhinebeck) for a consultation. It is fairly inexpensive.
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And possibly consider hauling to the other vet to have them do it…given how the blocking went, maybe new vet didn’t really get the first injection in the joint properly? Was there ever any swelling? Did they test for infection? Progressing to lame at the walk following a joint injection with some OA in there that sounds like it has been developing for some time…this gives me pause about your available vet care and maybe something else is going on.
[/quote] Yes, that crossed my mind, considering how the blocking went and the first try the juice skirted out of the syringe on the floor. I did not see any swelling, no they did not test for infectin.
I am sorry to hear this.
It costs me 200.00 in a small stock trailer to bring the horse to the vet, which was only 15 miles away to the next town, so bringing her back there is out of the question for an injection. if i had my own horse trailer, you BET i would take her back.
There isn’t any more around here. I live in the ozarks in missouri and it is an absolute desert for anything. I am crying about it all, and we are considering now to move to a better area. It depends on what happens.
New injections tomorrow
yes, I will do that if the 2nd injection fails
no
Here is my beautiful horse. Tomorrow Friday is her new injection in the fetlock. Her eyes have a sadness to them that is not there normally. 
I am at the edge of the Ozarks… Without getting too specific can you say what county are you located in?
There might be a better vet who would service your area that others might know of?
Oregon Co
