Posted by bsg on September 19, 2003 at 19:28:49:
11 yr old TB off the track came up pretty suddenly slightly off behind- vaguely high up. Feet were overdue for a trim ( goes in four regualr shoes) so called out farrier. Had just switched barns so this was a new farrier. New farrier says old angles were WAY off and corrects the feet- feet look short but correct. Horse is worse for 3 days then back to the same weird off-ness.
Horse is still off. Call vet. Vet says its a hock problem and to work at walk and trot in straight lines for a week.
Nothing changes. Bute for a week. Nothing changes.
Vet injects the hocks and the butt ( steriod in butt? not sure)
No change. Some days are fine- all you feel is a mild lamness in corners as one might expect from a horse in intermeitant work for a month)
X-ray the hocks. The hocks have no problems ( what a shock )
Vet rides the horse feels nothing except weakness. For the record it was a good day. Vet does nothing else says ride the horse 5-6 days a week and put on some type of supportive shoes ants a more upright foot. Horse has *slightly* low heels.
Horse is if anything worse with hard work- wants to just shuffle in the trot, actually goes BETTER with good strong contact as if the rider is holding him together, seems uncomfortable in turns, rdier feels "weird' motion in the hind end, still not a leg problem as seen from the ground or flex tests.
It's now been 6 weeks since the new farrier was out. Horse's back shoe is twisted slightly so farrier will be out monday to do support shoeing etc. Chirporactor will be out wed. at owners insistance (it's not leg maybe back?)
Any thoughts at all? The horse has always been sensitive in his back so palpating reveals nothing new. The feet look really good, except for slightly low heel.
Also during the onset of the lameness he was interfering but it seems to have stopped (put bell boots on behind because he was cutting up his cornoet bands kicking at flies)
Thank you!
-bsg-