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  Discussion on FL lameness when turning
Author Message
Member:
klmcbri

Posted on Thursday, Jul 19, 2012 - 11:38 am:

My 23 yo trekhner has lameness in his front left leg. He began limping about 3 weeks ago. He is on full turnout. We trail ride on my farm which is flat for about 1 hour 2 x per week. I stopped riding when I noticed the lameness. I found heat, swelling, and digital pulse between the fetlock and coronet band on the lateral side of the PP. I gave bute and iced for 3 days. Went to stall rest during the day and he was 3 legged lame that night. Saturday had the vet out, as I was thinking it was an abscess. Vet used hoof testers and found mild reaction to medial heel/heel bulb. Pared the hoof in that area and a few others and found nothing remarkable. Blocked the foot and he improved. Diagnosis from vet is abscess. We have been soaking 20 minutes per night and wrapping with magnapoultice and vet wrap/duct tape. Total stall rest. No change in lameness when walking in a larger circle. I will be taking him to the vet for x-rays on Friday. Any ideas why he is fine when walking in a straight line, but lame when turning left or right?
Member:
shirl

Posted on Friday, Jul 20, 2012 - 6:56 pm:

Has anyone ruled out Nevicular? My former horse had trouble turning in circles, walked better in a straight line.

Shirley
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Sunday, Jul 22, 2012 - 11:21 am:

Hello Kathy,
Generally a foot abscess will be lame on the straight unless it is very mild, like might be seen very early in the course of the infection or late after draining and healing taking place. And while it is not unusual for a mild lameness to only be evident when circled with the hurting side on the inside it is odd to be lame both ways yet sound in a straight line however I don't consider it diagnostic for any particular disease.
DrO
Member:
klmcbri

Posted on Monday, Jul 23, 2012 - 8:05 am:

Navicular was never mentioned as a possibility so I'll have to research that to learn more. Went to the vet on Friday and had x-rays. The x-rays showed some arthritis but nothing remarkable. I had the vet pull the previous owners records as I knew she had him injected but wasn't sure which legs. Turns out she had both front coffin joints injected in 2001. So the diagnosis at the moment is arthritis flare up. He is on firocoxib(anti-inflamatory)and meclofenamate(vaso-dialator). So far there is some improvement. He is still a little lame on the turns but not as bad. I will give this a few weeks and if he's sound then start managing for arthritis. Thanks for all the replies.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Wednesday, Jul 25, 2012 - 7:35 pm:

Note that meclofenamate is not a specific vasodialator but a NSAID like firoxcib. Due to the increased possibility of GI ulceration and kidney damage it is not usually recomended they be used together.
DrO
Member:
klmcbri

Posted on Thursday, Jul 26, 2012 - 8:56 am:

Dr. O, wow thanks for letting me know. I should have looked it up. The vet also put him on Ranitidine 8cc 2x day to help protect his stomach. The Meclofenamate is only 8 days so we are almost done with it. He is doing much better. He can turn in his stall pretty well, still a little lame but definitely improved. I will monitor any change when coming off the Meclofenamate. He has a full 2 month's on the firocoxib 1 pill per day.
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