my 13 year old QH injured himself I’m pretty sure. We had a huge windstorm and the next day I went out to the barn and saw a piece of wood fell and had trapped him inside the barn. Knowing him I’m sure he frantically tried to get out to get to his herd mates. The next day I noticed he was walking slightly stiff. The following day he was dead lame on his front left foot. I cold hoses him and gave him bute-less. It’s been 2 days of stall rest and he is still lame. The weird thing is there is no swelling that I can see. I feel very slight heat near the top of the hoof but it’s barely noticeable. I called the vet and they are coming out tomorrow but I’m the meantime does anyone have a clue what it could be?
How do you know the injury is specifically to the hoof? From the scenario you describe I would expect shoulder damage.
Get a vet out. The vet can block wuth freezing the hoof then the leg up and up to isolate where the pain is. Clever and effective technique.
You really want to be sure nothing is broken. Get a vet. You are a newbie horse owner with lots of good questions in your posts, but diagnosing acute injury is not something we can really do on line.
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It could be anything. If he was stressed and frantic in there he could have twisted or done something to any part of his leg / foot and it may never swell. Good thing to have the vet out like you are. He may see something you don’t.
Bute-Less doesn’t do much to help lameness, in my experience.
For a lameness exam don’t give the horse analgesics before the vet visit. You don’t want the symptoms masked and you don’t want intetference with any other meds vet needs to administet.
Googled Buteless then devils claw, the main ingredient. Devils claw may interact or interfere with NAIDs. This means if vet gives you a prescription Bute, or Banamine, you might have problems. Stop the Buteless leading up to the vet visit.
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Good point.
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That’s good advice, didn’t think about the fact bute-less could interfere with medication given by the vet. I hope it is something minor and not the dreaded tendon sprain.
My horse was dead lame on his right front when he shattered his P2. No swelling ever. He never even went into shock.
I hope it’s not a fracture
I wouldn’t panic just yet. It could still be something completely minor like an abscess. It might not even be related.
It’s just an abscess!
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Yay!
