Posted by Vicki on October 22, 2003 at 13:17:29:
In Reply to: Intermittently Lame Draft Horse Long... posted by Vicki on October 21, 2003 at 10:43:04:
: I have a 5 1/5 year old Belgian draft mare, who is currently bred for a 2004 foal (that really has not bearing except for the use of drugs etc). I bought her as a 19 month old, where she had not received very good care before I purchased her. Since I have had her, I have basically taken her along slowly backing her as an almost 4 year old. I really only trailride this horse. You can ride down a trail if she is barefoot, if it is a nice cushy trail she is fine, if it gets rocky, she gets ouchy. I have I noticed that she has always been more forward with shoes on. For a long time, let's say over a year, very intermittently I would notice that she seemed a little off on rocky or uneven ground. I would call my vet out, she would be sound, all her leg joints etc seemed fine. She is about 17-17.1 around 1700# and wears a size 7 shoe (she is currently barefoot). I am happy with my current farrier, but, the farrier I had a couple of years ago, had her in a size 5 shoe, I told him that the shoe was too small, he told me I did not know what I was talking about, well it apparently was. I am just listing all this out because I don't know if it has any bearing on the matter. This horse has always had proper care since I have had her, she has her hooves done every 6-8 weeks. Everyone was telling me that I was paranoid that she was showing this intermittent lameness no one else ever saw. I had my farrier check for stone bruises, nothing. So, my vet came out to give her her 5 month Pneumobort shot, and says "Pearl is really off today" well, thank you finally someone else is seeing it while it is happening. I am not crazy after all, I can tell you I know every single inch of this horse better than I know myself. So, I told the vet sometimes it looks like the left, sometimes the right. First testing with hoof testers, no reaction. So, we took her onto the paved driveway, and she was walking really short strided. The vet only had to films with her, so, x raying would have to be put off. I wanted the lameness exam done of course right then because you can't do a lameness exam if she isn't lame the next time the vet comes out. So, the vet first blocks the left heal, no change. Then the vet blocks the left toe, and we get a significant head bob. So then the right hoof gets blocked and she is completely sound. It is apparently in both front toes. She has never ever gotten into grain, been worked on pavement,or had a high fever, this horse is quite frankly babied and taken care of better than many kids are. She has good conformation and really good hoof conformation. My vet will be coming out Thursday to x ray. She said it is either lamintis or could be Pedal osteitis. I have looked up this Pedal Osteitis on the internet. Some article I find are really bad, some not bad. I have purchased a set of those composite "Hoof-It" shoes, their draft sized ones will fit her perfectly. Anyone have suggestions if this could be anything else? What about shoeing if it is Pedal Osteitis? Quite frankly this really sucks, I take such good care of this horse, and I have something like this happen for a reason I can not figure out, it is really baffling to me.
: Thanks for any help you can give me.
I also wanted to post, the trail riding I do with this mare are basically walking relaxing rides, on ground that is as free of rocks as possible. My vet said that it is still good for her to go on walking trailrides to keep the blood flowing. After January, she will be fairly well along in her pregnancy, and my plan has been at that point to hand walk her to make sure she gets enough exercise. She at this point handles a rider very easily as she is just barely off when she is off. If part of the treatment is to hand walk her every single day, then that is what I am prepared to do. If she will only be comfortable as a "pet" that is fine also, as long as she is comfortable, that is all that really matters. This will be her only foal, if whatever she has is hereditary, I won't take any chances passing it along to another horse.