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  Discussion on Gelding with possible shoulder lameness
Author Message
Member:
lindas

Posted on Sunday, Nov 9, 2008 - 9:56 pm:

Hi Dr. O,
I have a 6 year old Paint Gelding who has been treated extensively for a left high suspensory ligament injury for the past year. He finally appears to be healed from that. It has been a long road and I was absolutely thrilled. He is still on partial stall rest, gradually spending more time in pasture while "aced" so he does not run around like an idiot and hurt himself. He has been doing well for a couple of hours a day in a 1 acre paddock, and is only interested in eating the grass. He has not been with any other horses. I have gradually been increasing his work schedule, to get him back in shape. Our work has moved from straight line trotting to working in our fairly firm arena (it's too dark in the evening now to ride by the road) We are still doing mostly slow jogs and lopes, with lots of warm up time at the walk. Practicing side passing and slow pivots, and reviewing basic training. Everything has been done trying to ensure a safe return to normal. So of course something is going wrong! About a week ago I rode him as normal and he did fine. The next day he was lame in the right foreleg. (this is the opposite limb than the one that had the suspensory injury) Just a mild head bob, nothing bad. I could not find any painful areas at all, no swelling, no pain response, no hoof pain...nothing. I figured he must have just tweaked something or strained a muscle, so I stall rested him for several days, and gave 2 grams Bute twice a day for 2 days. He was off the Bute for 3 days before I rode him again, at a walk and slow jog only...no signs of lameness. The next day he did just as well. Today he seemed to be doing well at a jog, but was reluctant to lope. He almost bucked me off when I asked for the left lead. I figured he was just feeling his oats as I had not given him any ace and it was cold outside. So I resumed the jogging work until he was a bit quieter, and then my daughter got on him and loped him. He was better behaved but was definitely not extending as well on the right as on the left. I then got on and jogged, and could finally see clearly that he was not extending as well with the right at the jog either, but no head bob. I examined him again and he is definitely stiffer in the right shoulder than in the left, but did not act like it hurt. He did not extend the shoulder as far on the right side. No other painful areas, and all other joints have normal range of motion. I gave him acepromazine IV, waited for about 15 minutes until he was good and loopy, and put him out into his little paddock to graze. The idiot took off loping and bucking (first time since we started putting him back out that he has done that), but within a few seconds had stopped and was just grazing, which he did for 2 hours. When I brought him in this evening he was definitely sore on the right fore. There is no atrophy, no swelling, no anything, and I know for sure that he has not run into anything or been kicked. I want to know if you have any ideas about what might be going on with my horse and what I should do next. The specialist that treated the suspensory injury is hard to get ahold of so I thought I would ask you about it first. Got any ideas? I have sunk a lot of money into this guy and don't know how much more I can spend, but if you think it sounds like he needs to be seen I'll make arrangements to take him back to the specialist. Thanks so much.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Nov 10, 2008 - 8:27 am:

Hello DrS,
I think you already know my reply: you need to get a diagnosis on the right front lameness before you can proceed and the majority of acute lameness problems in the front are in the foot.
DrO
Member:
lindas

Posted on Monday, Nov 10, 2008 - 6:22 pm:

Thanks DrO
I agree we need to get a diagnosis, but this seems to be an on and off lameness, as he seems to be sound at the trot until a few hours after he is worked, and even that does not always cause it...would be my luck to take a day off to get him seen and have him be completely sound! Actually I had forgotten in the 20 plus years since I worked on horses that most acute lameness problems are in the hoof. Thanks for the reminder! Linda
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Nov 11, 2008 - 8:12 am:

Unfortunately your historical information just fits too many different problems to make a stab at anything more until localized. Review that horse lower leg anatomy and carry a bottle of Carbocaine, 6 cc syringe, and a few 25 gauge needles. You can do this and start ruling out parts of the leg.
DrO
Member:
lindas

Posted on Tuesday, Nov 11, 2008 - 5:43 pm:

Okay, thanks!!!!
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