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  Discussion on Chronic rear leg stiffness after colic surgery/casting event
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New Member:
ynotgold

Posted on Thursday, Nov 1, 2007 - 1:30 pm:

My three year old Paint gelding severely coliced back at the end of May 2007. From rolling violently he casted himself in the pipe corral fence which left a large gash on his left rear cannon bone. He ended up having to have surgery and was then hung by all four legs on the crane like mechanism to get him on the operating table. It was torsion colic and it saved his life but now he is not sound. About a week after he came home from the hospital I noticed that he would occasionally stop and rest his left rear leg. He had a month of complete stall rest & daily hand walking twice a day. Months 2-3 consisted of daily hand walking and the occasional turnout in a small paddock after month two. The whole three months he still would stop and rest his left rear leg mostly at the beginning of our walks and always if we had to go up any type of slight incline. After month three post operative I started to slowly increase his exercise by larger turnout area 40 X 60, and easy lungeing. It only made him more sore so I had my regular vet out. They flexed him, lunged him, nerve blocked his left stifle and found no conclusive evidence that anything was wrong. She suggested that it was probably muscular and a scan could localize the problem but the therapy would be the same. More rest. After another month of rest and no change in his leg resting episodes I had a vet chiropractor out. He said that he had a tipped pelvis, his left hip was definately sore, lower back out of adjustment, withers were out of adjustment and his right side of his neck was sore. He did some accupuncture therapy on him, adjusted his neck and hips and gave him B12 shots. The horse has never been "lame" by normal terms, no head bobbing or obvious gait faults just "off". I have only tried riding a few times at the walk and he was very good, no behavioral problems but the next day he would be very reluctant to walk and consistanly rests his left rear leg. I am at the point now where I don't know what to do, who to turn to and what therapy is right to get this young horse back in shape, pain free and normal again. I am reluctant to give him bute because of his colic predisposition. HELP!
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Nov 2, 2007 - 5:57 am:

Welcome Christine,
By definition "off" is lame but without a diagnosis, treatment is hit or miss. In turn without localizing where the pain is a diagnosis is equally hit or miss. Yes the left rear is suspicious but we need more. We have to find someone who has a good enough eye to see what is happening that makes your horse feel lame under saddle. Is there a close by well respected referral institution to take your horse to for evaluation?

For more information on how to go about localizing the lameness in a step wise manner see Diseases of Horses » Lameness » Localizing Lameness in the Horse. For treatment/management suggestions until a diagnosis is made see Diseases of Horses » Lameness » First Aid for the Lame Horse.
DrO
Member:
frances

Posted on Friday, Nov 2, 2007 - 10:36 am:

DrO, Christine mentions the way that horses are moved to the operating table, slung upside down with their entire weight borne by their fetlocks. This has always horrified me (especially when I saw my own mare being hung like this for an eye operation).

It seems to me that it would almost inevitably lead to musculoskeletal problems. Is that not so? Do all equine clinics use this method?
New Member:
ynotgold

Posted on Friday, Nov 2, 2007 - 12:02 pm:

At this point I am not really in the position to spend any more money on diagnosis because he used all his insurance benefits on the surgery. I have gone into considerable credit card debt due to all his extra needs, therapies and he was recently sick and racked up a hefty vet bill. My husband doesn't even want to talk about this issue anymore. There is only the hospital where he had the surgery and a well known teaching hospital 2 hours away. I don't have a trailer and my regular vet told me that a scan would cost around $2,000. Definately more than I could spend. I've had trainers look at his gait and everyone just says he seems stiff and relates it to being laid up for five months and not moving around that much. My regular vet actually said that she only saw a slight hip hike on his right rear and I knew that already from my pre-purchase exam in April 07 that he has mild arthritis in his hock due to the X-rays that were taken. His left hock was clear of any changes. So we've ruled out his hock and his stifle and he's negative on the hoof testers. Going to a clinic for evaluation sounds really expensive but I could ask the advice of the clinic where he had his surgery what they suggest.
Member:
octavius

Posted on Friday, Nov 2, 2007 - 1:28 pm:

Christine - I've had the exact same problem with my horse who had abdominal surgery in January 2007. I don't have a clue as to why they choose to rest the left foot, maybe it makes their bellies feel better. Anyone who has ever had abdominal surgery can tell you it's a long haul back. Add that to 5 months hanging out in the stall and/or pasture and it's going to take a while to come back into condition. Since horses use their abdominal muscles to support our weight in the saddle it's not surprising that they show signs of being sore and stiff after being ridden even at a walk. I'm having the same problem. On the days that I ride I hand walk my horse for about 10 minutes and then trot him in hand for another 5 minutes, then I get on. This seems to work a lot better than just mounting right away. I really think the problem we are dealing with is in the healing and restrenghening of the abdominal muscles. I do give bute occasionally but you can also try the new Equioxx but get it in the dog pill Previcox and you'll save $$$$.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Nov 3, 2007 - 8:07 am:

LL, this is a common practice though not universal. If done carefully it does not result in injury that I am aware of or seen reported in the literature.

Christine, I do not see evidence from your post where a systematic and thorough lameness exam has been done to localize the lameness in the RR and the observation of overall stiffness. Refer to the localization article for explanation of this procedure. However if I had a horse with the history you outline above, had vague unexplained symptoms of lameness, did not desire to use bute, and did not want to pursue any further diagnostics Denise's suggestions above are as good as any. With the potential arthritis issues consider some of the other therapies outlined in the article on Overview of Arthritis. I do want to ask: has muscle enzymes been run on this horse?
DrO
New Member:
ynotgold

Posted on Saturday, Nov 3, 2007 - 6:25 pm:

I have him on Corta-Flex, extra MSM and Red Cell because his recent blood tests six weeks ago revealed that he was anemic. Six weeks ago he had a high fever for a week ranging from 104-106. There were no other signs os sickness other than the fever. The vet ran a full panel blood test and the only abnormal levels was the anemia. I've seen first hand a horse that was tying up and this doesn't seem to be the case unless there was an episode which I wasn't aware of and now he just has muscle damage. I don't have a problem using bute if it seems safe for his history. I just have to explain to my vet why I need it because as far as they are concerned nothing is wrong with him.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Nov 4, 2007 - 9:03 am:

Sorry to keep throwing new stuff at you Christine but often when folks first join they have lots of notions on equine health that are not well supported by veterinary or equine husbandry science. We try to educate you in the latest in these fields.

There are forms of myopathy that present themselves as little more than a generalized stiffness or decreased performance. We have many members who have been through these episodes. They are described in the same article as tying up and you will find it at Diseases of Horses » Lameness » Muscle & Tendon Diseases » Rhabdomyolysis: Tying Up, Shivers, PSSM, EPSM.

The diagnosis of anemia in horses is not as straight forward as you might think and when present is not due to iron deficiency. Red Cell is designed to treat iron deficiency anemia. For more on these subjects see Diseases of Horses » Cardiovascular, Blood, and Immune System » The Diagnosis of Anemia.

You should speak with the surgeon about the safety of the use of bute in your horse but I do endorse a trial period to see if you can see objective improvement supporting your idea something is not quite right.
DrO
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