I took some sick time on Tuesday afternoon and drove the hour to the barn to investigate this mystery lameness. I really wanted to see her before the vet did, so I would know what he was talking about.
She looked better to me in person than she did in my mind based on what the barn owner described. I guessed she had improved slightly from some rest and bute. The lameness was weird. No head-bobbing, but there was toe-dragging and a slight hip hike. She trotted/jigged of her own accord in the round pen (I brought her there so I could watch her walk from a distance, I had no help), but didn't seem too terribly upset when I told her she had to walk. And she trotted willingly in hand for me in the driveway -- again, no head bobbing, and hard to see a hip hike when you're the one leading the trot! And even spooked and puffed up at the pink pony ride pony outside the fence. Goof.
I felt no heat, no swelling, no squishiness of any kind in her entire right hind leg, nothing in her left front, and nowhere in her back. Other than this mystery...she was perfectly fine. Alert, bright-eyed.
My best guess was stifle or hock. I sort of thought it wasn't the hock unless it was an arthritis flair up, which I found odd, because it hasn't been that cold. She's been off glucosamine for about 2 years now, because I couldn't afford the supplements with board at the time.
With all the extra turnout in this barn, she's been 95-100% sound ALL of the time, which, my vet and I agreed awhile back was ideal and did not warrant supplements or other treatments.
Anyway, the vet was scheduled to come out yesterday to give shots to a couple of horses (Promise included), and to look at Promise's mysteriously stiff/lame right hind leg. The appointment was scheduled for 11 a.m. Apparently he didn't get there until after 2. Must have had an emergency come up. But it sure made me glad I hadn't been able to take a long lunch to go hold her and talk with him...because I would have missed him anyway.
I didn't get an update until almost 9 p.m. last night. I'd been quietly hoping no news was good news! But, I'll spare you most of the panic I went through with the update and give you the words straight from the vet's mouth about 30 minutes ago. I called the vet's office twice trying to see if he'd dropped his notes off, and he hadn't, so they paged him twice, and when he called me back initially, I was in a meeting. I finally caught him the third time he called.
She has injured her medial collateral ligament. (Located in the stifle. Based on what I've read, this is the ligament that prevents the joint from moving too far in any one direction.) She was a grade 3 lame at the trot with a hip hike. Not showing much lameness at the walk - certainly not to the degree that [barn owner] mentioned on Monday. No lameness in the lower joint. Hock flexion showed positive for lameness -- that is the arthritis. Stifle flexion shows 4 of 5 in lameness. Digital pressure test on the stifle showed lameness. No infusion in the joint, only the ligament was reactive.
I asked him to clarify whether he thought it was a sprain/strain, or a rupture or tear. He said it was absolutely *not* a rupture or a tear. (Thank god! Both would mean she would be pasture sound only.) The only horses he's seen with a rupture...one got hit by a car, the other ran into another horse sideways and went down. He was 100% confident it was not a rupture, and said he thought in a couple of weeks she would be just fine.
She is to have 10 days stall rest with 2 g of bute for 5 days and then 1 g of bute for 5 days. After the 10 days, the barn owner and I are to reevaluate her, and if I think it's necessary, call him in for a follow-up. He seemed confident that with 10-14 days stall rest, she'd be sound enough to start walking under saddle.
The barn owner said she would walk her for a few minutes each day (I LOVE this place!). She seems glad to get the chance to hang out with Promise, lol. And she has been giving her hay throughout the day, but seemed relieved that I offered to buy a couple of bales to make her life easier. It's a pain pulling enough hay for a snack out of a round bale!
So...that's it for now. I need to send her a quick update, since I'd told her I was trying to get in touch with him.
I'm so sorry about the diagnosis! My older gelding suffered a similar injury, the vet was unable to make a complete diagnosis but said it was the cruciate or collateral ligaments in the stifle. We ultrasounded, x-rayed, injected, and nothing. He was dead lame the first week, we couldn't even tell it was his stifle because he flexed the same on every joint and was actually sounder when we blocked up the leg to just past the hock!
ReplyDeleteAfter a week we were able to tell it was his stifle, he was on stall rest for around a month, with hand walking after two weeks, he improved for the first three weeks or so, and then started getting stiff again. So I sent him to my parents farm to be turned out in a small paddock for a couple of months, by himself. He started improving and we moved him to the big pasture with my sister's mare when he looked sound on straight lines (not circles). After 8 or 9 months he was better...sound again...though it sounds like he might have been worse off than your horse.
After that first week you couldn't tell he was lame at the walk or the canter...just the trot. And his first time out in the indoor after stall rest (before being sent to the farm for pasture rest) he was so springy that he wasn't even lame at the trot when loose.
Anyway, I just wanted to share my story...due to my horse's age I decided to retire him rather than bring him back into work, especially with all of the travelling and moving we do. It sounds like you have a good vet and your horse should make a good recovery. It also sounds like my horse was a lot worse off than yours! Just make sure to take it slow when you start riding again, I know my horse seemed sound after six months of pasture rest, but if I longed him on a large circle he'd drag his toe a little and hike his hip.
I was 95% sure looking at her it was her stifle. I just didn't know what/how/how severe. It sounds like he did the standard flexion tests to rule out lower limb, but was certain it was the stifle once he got there. He sounded very positive and confident about her making full recovery.
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