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  Discussion on Suspected stifle lameness
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New Member:
india99

Posted on Wednesday, Aug 27, 2008 - 12:23 pm:

I've owned my 10 yr old tbxcb gelding since a foal, when he was a three year old, in walk he use to sometimes feel like he was hitching his shoulder slightly when ridden but this seemed to go away. He then went onto competing at eventing and working hunter with success however five years ago he resisted being cantered on a right circle the vet noticed a injury that had heeled in his stifle and gave him adequan. He came sound again but three years ago he started stopping at jumps and had problems circling in canter again. The vet started nerve blocks low down tand worked up to the suspensory ligament and it showed up sound however I always thought there was more than one thing going on because he always held his right hind leg crooked with his hock inwards and toe pointing outwards as though that stifle still caused him problems and still stands like that now. after shock wave therapy, box rest, hand walking a year off and now brought slowly back into work he has starting this hopping action like he use to do in walk but now it's in trot and feels like its coming from behind and he does it circling to the right or left but worse mainly when circling on soft ground but does occassionally do it on straight,hard ground, also when cantering he feels as stiff as an iron board rocking back and forth but after a while this gets better and prefers to be in canter than trot. The insurance company will not pay for any investigation now on his hind end unless it's a recent accident With regards to his suspensory he had shock wave therapy but my local vet said it did not look that bad as it was diagnosed by a vet I was referred to and not himself. Sorry this is a long drawn out message but I just want to be as accurate as possible to see if there's something that jumps out at you that will help me get him onto the road of recovery. Do you think injecting his stifle with a steroid injection to see if this helps, I feel a nerve block would not be much use when he is not lame as such on it all the time. In the past I've thought it was his back but he holds his tail up nicely and has good flexion in his neck and his tail hangs central but he does hold his head to left in canter and if it's his poll could this still be the right stifle causing this. This is very distressing for me because my other horse whom I've had since a foal has just had a freak accident in the field and torn her ddft and has just had an operation to remove the dead fibres and has herself been given a poor prognosis, she's also had her sinus drained at the same time as operation and is now suffering with paralysis of the face and slipping into depression, she's not the only one I do hope someone can give me some hope on all of this.
New Member:
india99

Posted on Wednesday, Aug 27, 2008 - 3:53 pm:

Just to add to the above he wears his back shoes down evenly, trots downhill with ease but struggles a little going uphill yet he has a lot of stamina, and on the rare occassions that I try him out at jumping again he still rounds nice over a jump but will not do a spread, yet once over he excelled over them and also he can no longer jump over 80cm whereas before, he was jumping 110cm solid jumps. Could this all still indicate its his suspensory ligaments but the injury was on the upper part of the cannon bone if I remember correctly. I hope this makes a bit clearer picture.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Aug 28, 2008 - 7:21 am:

Welcome india99,
I disagree that a intra-articular block of the suspected stifle joint compartments would not answer your question about is it the stifle: if the problem's you describe does not go away then it is some place else. This is described in the article on Stifle Lameness.
DrO
New Member:
india99

Posted on Thursday, Aug 28, 2008 - 11:23 am:

Thankyou Dr O for your reply, so do you think that it sounds typical of stifle lameness or do a lot of problems have similar symptoms
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Aug 29, 2008 - 8:52 am:

It is a diagnostic bummer that a lot of problems have similar symptoms. I do not see anything in your post that localizes it to the stifle. For more on this see, Diseases of Horses » Lameness » Localizing Lameness in the Horse.
DrO
Member:
india99

Posted on Friday, Aug 29, 2008 - 4:33 pm:

Thanks Dr O I have just read what you suggested and although I don't think his symptoms represent pssm or epsm the vet once gave him tablets to take that was 10 a day of tablets that where for human spastisity so see if that helped. The vet watched him ridden and couldn't conclude wether it was his back or his shoulder but did say he had very good hock action so didn't agree it was his hind legs but his stance is very tight behind with him looking a little tight in his groin. looking at all his symptoms do you think it could be a possibility it is something like this and is there bloods test that he could take.
Member:
india99

Posted on Friday, Aug 29, 2008 - 4:37 pm:

Thanks Dr O I have just read what you suggested and although I don't think his symptoms represent pssm or epsm the vet once gave him tablets to take that was 10 a day of tablets that where for human spastisity so see if that helped. The vet watched him ridden and couldn't conclude wether it was his back or his shoulder but did say he had very good hock action so didn't agree it was his hind legs but his stance is very tight behind with him looking a little tight in his groin. looking at all his symptoms do you think it could be a possibility it is something like this and is there bloods test that he could take.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Aug 30, 2008 - 8:24 am:

Yes this is possible india99 and you will find out how to go about diagnosing PSSM and related diseases at Diseases of Horses » Lameness » Muscle & Tendon Diseases » Rhabdomyolysis: Tying Up, Shivers, PSSM, EPSM.
DrO
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