Lameness Stumping Everyone… 🤔

No rads of the neck though I did speak with the vet today, Conrad was decently sound minus stiffness. Vets initial concern was any infection at injection site. Which there isn’t any thank goodness.

He suggested to give a week to see if the hocks improve since it was only 8 days ago they were injected, get him the red light blanket and dorning this weekend and then we are going to reevaluate and get some pictures of the shoulder, neck and see what’s actually going on.

He noted that the ‘offness’ up front appears to begin when he comes above the bit and tightens in the neck, shoulder and back. He’s thinking it’s a symptom of something else and exasperating the old injury which wasn’t properly rehabbed. Which this does make some sense based on what it feels like in the tack.

Let’s hope in a week we have some answers.

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Fingers crossed for you guys. Time off can do wonders too. Sending good vibes :purple_heart::purple_heart:

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Consider X-raying the back as well.

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I won’t speculate on the lameness because that’s not something I have a lot of experience with (thankfully!), but your vet’s unwillingness to X-ray the shoulder leaves me befuddled.

If a client requests a noninvasive test like an X-ray, then the vet should do it—period. They can point out that they don’t feel that it’s where the issue is, but they ultimately need to do what the client requests as long as the client is a reliable bill-payer.

If I call my vet tomorrow and ask him to come out and X-ray a random body part, he would ask me some questions about my reasoning, but the X-ray would be done, regardless, if I still wanted it.

Not the same level of treatment, but when my 23-y-o easy keeper was losing weight, I requested a fecal and complete blood work up as part of the comprehensive exam. My vet pointed out that she had clean clean fecals and bloodwork about three months ago, but did them again willingly (despite the fact that Rosie objected strenuously to taking the fecal sample and had to be sedated :rofl:). I’m pretty sure he was offering to save me money by stating that he thought the previous tests were probably still valid, which is one of the reasons he’s the best vet ever!

Both came back negative but having them done relieved my worry that I wasn’t covering every single base.

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To what does the vet attribute the shoulder muscle atrophy?

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Wonder if there was damage to the suprascapular nerve when the horse fell previously.

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Who’s the the super good lameness vet in Ottawa?

Agreed. My vet has ultrasounded several suspensories for me, knowing it was not the issue, but did it because I asked and wanted peace of mind.

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We really are not sure to be honest… we had the vet work with the dorning lady this Saturday.

Together they thought there was some weakness in the left hindquarter in the gluteal medius muscle about a hand width from the hip (apologies if that’s the wrong term, it was all a different language to me).

The body worker did accupressure, dorning and red light therapy here and she noticed his right pectoral muscle is split into two where it should be one… (she’s thinking maybe he did the splits?).

Anyways he actually did a wtc in the arena without a gimp today.

Vet is going to come back end of week to see what we can tell. Over the weekend they were speculating that the problem could be between the front legs and soreness from the hock that has the most arthritic changes.

Ugh :expressionless:

At least he appears to be feeling a little better, he’s running about the fields with his buddies just fine again…

I cannot help the nagging feeling that he will be a light riding horse in his future. Appears better after having a full day without any work. Whether it’s just lunge work, hand walking hills, etc.

I did get suckered into buying a red light therapy machine. Though I made the excuse to DH that it’s for my shin splints from running :rofl:

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A little update…

I’ve now been giving Conrad a day of work and two days off and he’s been oddly sound. Vet is a bit stumped still though we haven’t done anything further than the wait and see.

The body worker thinks it’s the red light therapy he gets every three days …:woman_shrugging:t2:

He actually had a full ride today w/t/c, lateral work and a couple changes and stayed sound (my mind is totally boggled).

We shall see if it continues …

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Wow that’s amazing he’s sound already after looking so sore. So happy for you guys.

Horses :upside_down_face:

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I have a feeling it will be reoccurring, I’ll keep an update going… light work may end up being the rest of his life sadly.

Off topic but I went to, and graduated, HS with Sean Finnucan!! Small world! Last I heard he was practicing in Florida; I guess he decided to come back (close to) home.

Also, no ideas or help, but your fellow is gorgeous and I hope you are able to pinpoint exactly what’s wrong and develop a rehab plan that will get him to 100% for you.

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I’m a huge proponent of alternative therapies. Bodywork, chiro, lasers, etc etc etc are fabulous and definitely help keep these athletes comfortable.

However, when they are used on an undiagnosed lameness, they can delay and confuse a diagnosis which could cause the lameness to become worse than it would have otherwise.

I recommend that you immediately stop all therapies and supplements. This will allow the lameness to resurface and then the horse can be taken to a reputable clinic for a full evaluation.

Going to a good clinic is often more cost effective that using several local vets.

I won’t even speculate on what this could be, there are too many things it could be. Once you have a diagnosis, then you will know which alternative modalities will really help the horse.

This is a lovely, lovely horse and I hope you find the answer to this and that it is manageable.

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Sean is a wonderful vet. We use him when possible, but it involves hauling to Lansdowne, since he doesn’t normally travel to Ottawa anymore.

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I am unfamiliar with Landsdowne- I stayed primarily west of Toronto when I lived there, when I wasn’t living in northern Ontario.
What is in Landsdowne that makes it a spot for a vet like Sean to be based there? Standardbreds? (He grew up on a Standardbred farm, so I could see something like that being a draw)

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Lansdowne is a small town near the 417. There’s a track there that a STB trainer works out of, so Sean tends to have people haul in there for him to work on their horses.

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Ahh, but he’s not actually based in Landsdowne…
Go it!

No he isn’t. Google shows him in Napanee and Kingston. LOL

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Ahh
Quite a range. I can see why he might choose to no longer consult in Ottawa- quite a trek!

Thanks for the update on an alumnus- interesting, but not surprising, to find out he’s one of 3 successful classmates that I know of, lol (out of a graduating G13 class of about 48 [small, rural HS])
Oh, and I spelled his name wrong: it’s Shaun (unless he changed his spelling since HS roll call)

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