Lameness-Next step?

[Encourage]

Just hoping for a little guidance from some knowledgeable parties!

My horse (8 year old TB gelding) is a bit of a mess right now. I got him back from a lease last October in less than ideal condition. Spent the winter packing on the weight, treating some of the worst rain rot on his back I had ever seen, and getting him just mentally back and letting him be a horse. Brought him back into work late February and he was going great.

Mid March I noticed an increase in back pain, to the point that light currying was making him flinch. I called out my regular vet who diagnosed loose stifles, gave him an estrogen shot (plus one for me to do 2 weeks later) and recommended changes to his feet which were implemented (4 shoes and front pads).

He wasn’t quite the same after, I could feel the his hind end slip when before under saddle I hadn’t, but the back pain vanished and he seemed happier. I also put him on a magnesium supplement for his muscles and a joint supplement.

End of June the back pain started to creep back in, as well as him being completely uncomfortable picking up his hind feet. Called the vet out again who watched him go, didn’t notice anything unusual in the hind but he worked into a 4/8 lameness LF. He was due for being shod so vet said get him reshod and re-evaluate the following week. We hoof tested him and he was fine, plan was to do flexions and blocking when able.

Farrier couldn’t come out until mid-July, so we waited on him, Well of course horse pulled the front left shoe, stepped on the clip, and is now recovering from an abscess (which didn’t present until a week and a bit after stepping on the clip). 2 weeks out and he’s still lame, farriers out tomorrow for my other horse and is going to hoof test him to see if it’s still foot soreness from the abscess or if it’s to LF lameness from before.
Back soreness not as present now (I did check saddle fit, it isn’t perfect but it’s not something I can point at and say it’s 100% the cause).

Basically, if it was your horse what would be your next steps? We haven’t x-rayed which I think I would like to do as well as the blocking. I’m not made of money but this horse deserves a thorough and good check into his issues. I owe it to him

[drider]

I hate leases, we leased a horse last year and when we go him back we had the same story. UGG… It can be a costly endeavor to try to pin point this type of issue. Have you considered having a professional Thermographer do a complete set of thermal scans of you horse? Its a cost effective way to get the total picture of how your horse is feeling at that given time and day. Thermal Imaging is a fraction of the cost of a Bone Scan. TI usually is about $175 Bone Scan $2200.
If you’d like further info check out our Business page on FB
Mid Atlantic Equine Rehab Center lots of valuable info on Thermal Scans and Cold Laser therapies.

[Encourage]

I’ve never heard of thermal imaging for horses! I’ll look into it for sure. I have been thinking a bone scan might be the way to go because there’s so many areas of issue with him. I’ll never lease another horse again, we’re also trying to correct his feet still that were left for months with no care. I wish I could go back and time and stop myself from ever leasing him, the money I saved in his board is now going into correcting issues from it

[TWH_Girl]

I’d start with a teaching hospital or equine surgery center work up by a lameness expert first. X-rays of the back would be on my list, as well as the left front- and actually, hind too, especially right hind, as horses can show lameness in one leg when diagonal leg is actually the problem one. Back pain and even hock pain can cause secondary lameness in front. But, also important to rule out front. After a good flexion test, vet will know best bets for x-rays and ultimately, blocking.

While I appreciate drider’s input, if you search his/her posts you will find thermal imaging is recommended for horse every problem. I have never used it so I cannot speak to it, but I also don’t know that it provides any more information to the vet than what he/she sees with their own eyes.

Can’t speak to treatment recommendations until you firm up your diagnosis. Good luck. Working on my 6 yr old for over a year now with a stifle issue. Sometimes it can take a long time just to figure out what’s wrong, much less how to fix it.

[Encourage]

Thank you TWH Girl- I feel like x-rays are the way to go. I’m going to reach out to the equine hospitals in my area and talk to them. I’ll look into x-raying and the bone scan and just do what ever is more cost effective. I know I’ll be spending a pretty penny either way but like I say, I owe it to him as scared as I am to find something major (or nothing, I can’t decide what would be worse!).

[EmilyM]

Because of the back pain, it might also be worth pulling blood for Lyme’s as well as EPM. A lot of the EPM stories I have heard describe weak hind ends. And Lyme’s can involve back pain and multiple limb lameness. I would of course do this in conjunction with your above described plan.

Hope your boy recovers!

[Encourage]

Thank you EmilyM!- I did a quick symptom search on google, he doesn’t fit many EPM symptoms but Lyme could be something to consider. It said its hard to diagnose but some markers are stiffness in large joints, shifting lameness, and personality changes. He’s definitely got the first two! He’s always been a calm, cool guy. He came back a little sensitive to changes and sudden movements (like raising my hand to un clip from the cross ties would make he jerk.) He gained weight and got a little more anxious/high energy which I thought was feeling good, but the BO even commented he went from a solid guy to quite spooky on turn in/out for some reason.

We did blood work to test for a vitamin E deficiency last time which came back normal, I’ll have him do a full blood panel and see about everything else.

[Encourage]

I lunged last night- He’s definitely still NQR but it’s not the LF lameness to the degree it was before! His soles have also gotten very soft (which I started another thread about). The back pain is 10x better, but right where his “hunters bump” is he still dips away from any sort of pressure. There’s not swelling or heat in any of the 4 legs.

I actually can’t even decide where I see the lameness anymore, or if I’m even looking for the issues in the right spot. I know it doesn’t take the place of my vets eye, but if I post videos would anyone mind taking a look and letting me know what they see with him?