Sam went back to vets last Wednesday. Lame still in both front legs. They x-rayed both front hooves, pasterns and fetlocks. It showed arthritic changes, the pedal bone looks airated, motely but with out x-rays to compare it is hard to know if the bone has changed. Nothing that would have them say, yep that is why he is lame. A master farrier looked at his hooves and the x-rays and shod him. He made some pretty big changes, took him back up to a size 4, took away a lot of toe, made him wider, not so upright, basically made his hooves look a whole lot better and normal. He also has used side clips which I like. Sam was still lame both directions on a circle at the trot. The vet advised to give him more rest and we will re-evaluate Monday.
Today I put him on the lunge to see how he would travel. Pretty good to the left but slightly lame to the right though a huge improvement. We have had so much rain my, arena was like an ice skating rink so I mowed the flat area over in the reserve across the road so I could try him out over there. This afternoon on the lunge he was fine both directions. He had a wonderful time kicking up his heels and feeling exceptionally good. Even bringing him in on a smaller circle to the right at the trot he was showing no signs of lameness. I trotted him out on the road and around in circles. On the hard ground still slight lameness to the right but it had to be a pretty tight circle so I consider this a big improvement.
The vets really have no idea what it could be. I have requested x-rays that were taken in Townsville in 2007 and 2008 to see if we can compare and see if that shows anything. They are throwing around the idea of Pedal Osteitis. I am hoping not for this as there is no 'cure'.
What I am wondering is if he is mainly lame on his right fore - it is overcoming a splint, burst abscess, new shape and shoes. Also if there are arthritic changes then maybe it is time for Sam to be on some supplements.
I am going to wait for them to be able to review and compare the x-rays and then if he is still lame I will take him in again for more tests.
It was good to see him kicking up his heels today, feeling a lot better. Poor little Sam.
1 comment:
Glad that Sam is feeling better and that you've found a competent farrier (which is so difficult!). If he has arthritis, maybe a glucosamine/chondrotin/MSM/hyaluronic acid supplement would help. There are also some supplements that have boswelia & devil's claw, which are anti-inflammatory. I used all of the above on my 23-year-old Thoroughbred gelding (in addition to all kinds of other stuff, like coffin joint injections) and he really improved a lot. Best of luck!
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