Wwyd, horse sore near withers

[Lunabear1988]

So when my vet saw him in October, she estimated that he had 20 mm of sole and too much heel…this was after a few months with the pads and a change of farriers in between. But we will see what the other vet thinks on Thursday. I do know we need to change it slowly as fair as taking it down. But She just wasn’t very impressed with his feet. She did say last time I sent a photo that they were getting better. I’m not sure what she would think 6 weeks in though.

I do think distraction is part of it but I don’t know. It feels impossible to get his posture to change on the line. That’s what made me wonder if it’s physical. But maybe it’s baby brain to the extreme. Under saddle, he can be looky but he’s actually a worker bee type.

[J-Lu]

FYI, my friend used his older but young vets to do the initial radiographs. His farrier,it turns out did not like their radiographs but much preferred my vet’s radiographs and discussions. He didn’t think the sole measurements from the original radiographs were accurate.

Something to keep in mind, I’m just passing along information.

[Lunabear1988]

Oh this was just a guess on her part, not even current radiographs. She wasn’t thrilled with how he was moving on the lunge. But we discussed multiple things. It was very vague and a little frustrating.

I will definitely keep that in mind and see about new radiographs on Thursday.

[J-Lu]

Please report back!!!

[Lunabear1988]

Yesterday my dressage trainer said she did see and feel (she hopped on at beginning of lesson for about 15 minutes) a bit of stiffness in that right stifle. Minor, but there. Which is consistent with what the chiropractor felt. Same side as the ouchy withers.

To be fair he has had the least amount of work the last few weeks compared to the last 4 months. Just winter finally hit and we got lots of snow, bitter cold, hurricane force winds and raging fires nearby. And add that on top of covid in the holidays and it’s been a light few weeks for him work wise. But I’m still glad that I’m having the vet out for a recheck next week.

He still goes super happy and willing under saddle. I was thinking at least it’s not the opposite, I’m glad I have a horse that looks better under saddle versus on the ground and not the other way around!

[MsM]

Definitely get shoeing radiographs. Their feet can be deceptive from the outside. I had vet and farrier out last Spring to check my horse’s feet and shoeing. We were a bit surprised that the farrier could take even more toe from a foot that looked properly trimmed on the outside. We even tacked a shoe on after a preliminary trimming and took another picture. That led to a couple more adjustments for the final shoeing. An expensive day, but totally worth it to know what is going on inside and to be sure we are doing what is best for him.

With my previous horse with problem feet, I was frustrated trying to get vet and farrier on the same page. Eventually I asked the vet who he worked well with and was able to get him and a coherent plan executed!

[Lunabear1988]

We have radiographs from March. He didn’t have a ton of sole but nothing was really concerning at the time. But then after any extremely wet spring, we were in a very bad drought over the summer and his feet just fell apart. His feet looks so drastically different but we might have to look inside.

Unfortunately my usual vet has not been able to give me any current recommendations for any other farriers. The one she liked retired. And the other one’s recommended is booked full.

I will see what this other vet thinks of my current farrier…

[LadyB]

I’d be curious in general just to see the angle of his foot, to his pastern to his shoulder. If angles are off, it can play a huge factor into how he stands and moves.

My guy has known kissing spine, we’ve known for 7 years. I switched farriers about 2.5 years ago… farrier was injured and things started to go down hill. Foot became dished, he was pushing reset dates and causing the toes to get longer. Last March while still with this farrier my horse started showing pain signs in his back. Which ok, we thought KS was causing issues. I wholeheartedly feel that due to his feet, it caused his back to have issues, as it was maintained and working just fine prior to this.

I have now switched to a new farrier, we’re on reset #4 or #5, can’t recall. The dish is completely gone, toes are short and cute, his angles are dreamy to his pastern and shoulder. He is floating under tack, his back doesn’t flinch when being brushed. I know you’re talking withers, but the feet can make such a large difference. Sometimes we don’t see it, until its been done right.

[Lunabear1988]

I don’t have current photos but here was his last trim. He is due later this week. I’m stuck home until then because of my husband having Covid

[Lunabear1988]

[Lunabear1988]

I really don’t have great photos of him, especially recently. Not the best shoulder. But right now he’s much more upright to me as far as hoof angle.

[Lunabear1988]

Well the vet came. He spent a lot of time with us. He found no soreness near the withers (maybe the Chiropractor did the trick?) He is pretty resistant to belly lifts. But he shows no back soreness. And vet says his topline looks good overall.

He thought his feet looked okay besides a slight asymmetry between heel height on the fronts. He said to talk to my farrier about that, but could just be his conformation too. He didn’t hoof test positive anywhere.

The consensus is we are still seeing the stifle. He said he doesn’t think it’s painful, just weaker. He does have slight (very slight) muscle atrophy on that right haunch above stifle.

So just continued focus on strengthening. He suggested trying an equiband on the lunge.

Other than that he’s loosing a lot of teeth right now. He’s a bit fussy in general, poor guy. We are going to experiment with a happy mouth bit.

[SonnysMom]

I have had a lot of luck with weekly injections of Estrone for horses with weak stifles. We started with a loading dose. Estrone is relatively cheap. It might be worth discussing with the vet even if you just use it for a few months while you build strength back.

[Lunabear1988]

Yes no one has mentioned that, as I don’t think he’s very weak but something I notice anyway. But if things don’t improve in next two months, will definitely consider!

[MapleBreeze]

At first when I opened this thread I was going to say feet, but they look good.

So now its to training and hard questions.
“He is doing great at dressage”, does that mean you’re working on rounding him or that he’s moving sideways and mobilizing his shoulders and schooling leg yields to help his si joint.

If yore just rounding him amd holding him together or asking him to yield the poll - that’s where your wither pain is coming from.

Time for some outside clinic adventures and to start your lateral work.

[Lunabear1988]

He is solid in leg yield, shoulder fore, shoulder In, Haunches In at least in the walk, some in the trot. Obviously some things he can only hold for a short time. He is in partial training still and then I take 2 lessons a week. We do Dressage but also do pole work and cavaletti. We are doing a working equitation clinic this weekend.

His withers weren’t sore anymore when vet checked him this week. So maybe the Chiropractor did help.