Thanksgiving lameness, now neuro (positive one-year update post 185)

[Libby2563]

Omg @Texarkana you read my mind—you posted 2 min before I opened up COTH to post an update! Thank you for asking! He is definitely not sound but there has been a relatively miraculous improvement. I still do think it’s up high, not an abscess, though I could be wrong. (And yeah I cannot explain why I’ve had everything else but only one abscess—you can see why when people say it’s just an abscess I’m like, “But it never is!” )

Anyway, back to the update…let’s see if I can post video directly:

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I postponed his horspital appointment from tomorrow to next Tuesday. The inmates are threatening to riot though…

[equinelibrium]

For your sake, I hope you’re wrong and that it is indeed an abscess! Keeping my fingers crossed for you, Prisoner Petey, and the rest of the inmates. He’s such a handsome boy and looks like a sweetheart.

[Texarkana]

Oooh, he’s fancy. And he looks a lot better! Hoping it’s on the way out the door.

About 5 years ago my problem child came in from the field hopping on 3 legs, wouldn’t even lower her left hind. I had the vet out immediately on an emergency call, since that was a leg with a prior injury and I thought she reinjured it. The vet said it was a hamstring injury and that we could image it the next week.

I was researching hamstring injuries and reading they can take months to heal. I was dreading it.

But then after the weekend she just got better. She went from non-weight bearing to sound seemingly overnight. We never did the additional diagnostics planned because she was fine.

Hoping your story ends like that!

[Lunabear1988]

I too have only dealt with one abscess. And only one colic in over 25 years. But every other weird thing that a vet has never seen happens. Lol ugh.

Keep us updated!!

[Kyrabee]

Yes, I love the miraculous recovery. The previous mare I had…I showed up to the barn to find her barely weight bearing on the right hind. She was breathing hard and really in pain. Some pretty firm swelling in the pastern. I was afraid she had fractured it kicking a corral panel?
I got a friend to help me get her In the trailer and very carefully hauled her to the vet. I had to leave her as the vet had to work her in but he quickly gave her some bute due to the amount of pain she was in. He called me a few hours later…she is cured! I told him he had some really impressive bute. No fracture. I am guessing she hit a nerve ala funny bone? I gave her a week off and put her back to work.

Horses are crazy . So glad he is doing better.

Susan

[Bluey]

@Kyrabee

Yes, I love the miraculous recovery. The previous mare I had…I showed up to the barn to find her barely weight bearing on the right hind. She was breathing hard and really in pain. Some pretty firm swelling in the pastern. I was afraid she had fractured it kicking a corral panel?
I got a friend to help me get her In the trailer and very carefully hauled her to the vet. I had to leave her as the vet had to work her in but he quickly gave her some bute due to the amount of pain she was in. He called me a few hours later…she is cured! I told him he had some really impressive bute. No fracture. I am guessing she hit a nerve ala funny bone? I gave her a week off and put her back to work.

Horses are crazy . So glad he is doing better.

Susan

Our story, I was working with a colt of two we got from the breeder.
This morning he came up from the pasture dead lame on the left front, nothing showing why, would not even put the foot down.
We hauled him to the vet as an emergency, vet examined him, got his pocket knife out, scraped around the front of the ankle and pulled a 2" mesquite thorn out of there.
Horse walked sound after that.

[Paint_Party]

Petey is adorable. He reminds me of my sister’s old (as in former) Trakehner mare.

Whatever the underlying issue, I sure hope he’s fine soon. It can be your Christmas Miracle!

[Libby2563]

@Paint_Party

Petey is adorable. He reminds me of my sister’s old (as in former) Trakehner mare.

Whatever the underlying issue, I sure hope he’s fine soon. It can be your Christmas Miracle!

Thank you! He came home a few days before Christmas last year, so that would be appropriate.

(I like your seasonal avatar BTW! My husband starts pushing the Christmas movies after Thanksgiving every year and that’s pretty much the only one I actually look forward to watching.)

[Libby2563]

More improvement!

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As you can see from the little head tosses, the stall rest is getting very old. I hope I can turn them all back out soon. Of course it’s going to rain tomorrow and then most of next week so I will have to worry about slipping.

[Lunabear1988]

Glad he’s improving. Hopefully he’ll be 100% soon.

[Libby2563]

Well I decided to take Petey to the clinic after all since he is much better but not 100%. I was hoping to come back here with an update this evening. Unfortunately I nailed a deer at 50 mph so we never made it.

Horse and trailer are okay, thank goodness. By some miracle it happened right in front of a barn where I know people, so they kindly drove him home. He did do a lot of leaping and spinning on the way from roadside to barn though. Ugh. Obviously my truck won’t be taking us to the vet anytime soon, and it makes me nervous not having a tow vehicle here in case of emergency. I’m so discouraged.

[starsandsun]

OH NO. What an ordeal … I hope he continues to improve and hauling to the clinic becomes a non-issue. Glad you and he, and the trailer, are okay.

[erinmeri]

Oh no!! I am glad everyone (well, except the deer and the truck) is okay!

[skydy]

Yikes! What a bummer. Glad you are OK.

[Texarkana]

Oh no! I’m so sorry.

Behave horses!

[Libby2563]

Thanks guys. I’m trying to count my blessings: no injuries or trailer damage plus the ridiculous good luck of being in a spot where I could get help. Plus I’m not showing right now and my TB has been on end-of-season mini-break, so the timing isn’t even the worst.

But the adjuster and a couple of repair shops say it might be out of service until January or later! I hate hate hate not to have a tow vehicle at home in case of emergency.

Plus the minor detail of getting the horse to the clinic. He does look pretty much sound jogging in hand but on the circle to the right I think there’s still something there. Since I already filed an insurance claim and almost met my deductible, it would have been nice to at least get a diagnosis. Sigh.

Now the question is do I continue the wait and see, get a ride to the clinic, or try to get a soundness vet out even if they might not be able to image up high in the field?

[skydy]

I’d try to get a ride.

[Impractical_Horsewoman]

You gotta burn some sage!

[stargzng386]

I’d try to get a ride.

For emergencies do you have a friend who can be a backup. My friend wanted to sell her trailer and buy a new trailer but was really worried about having no transportation in case of an emergency. I was her backup I had brought my trailer home and she had permission to pick it up if she couldn’t reach me and needed to haul someone to the clinic. If you could have someone as that backup it might reduce your stress.

[Gardenhorse]

Oh wow! Glad you and Petey are okay!