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10 year old Hanoverian won't block clean

4K views 21 replies 8 participants last post by  sbetts21 
#1 ·
I have a 10 year old, 18h Hanoverian gelding who about 5 months ago became lame. We do hunter/jumper and regularly jump up 3 ft. He gets walked out every time and lineament too. But he just became off one day, on the front left leg. We put him on stall rest for a few weeks and he got no better. So our vet came out and blocked him everywhere in that leg, from shoulder to hoof and he couldnt get him to block clean. So we took my horse to a university where they gave him a bone scan that showed some heat in the injured leg. We gave him an HLA shot to get the fluid back in the joints and gave him time to heal; with limited drugged turnout and hand walking only. But after a few weeks there was no improvement. So we blocked different areas of the leg again, only to find when we blocked the inferior check ligament he was sound. SO we gave him a treatment similar to the IRAP procedure and waited while he recovered. Its been about a month and a half now and he is still off, worse than before. Same leg, same everything. And now, we can't get him to block clean at all. He's been xrayed, ultrasounded, you name it. We cant get an MRI without knowing exactly where he's hurt. Which we dont know. My vet along with the university vets are completely confused, and dont know what could be wrong with him. He's on Smartpack, with a daily wormer, glucosamine, and RecoveryEQ. He also gets Adequan injections for the arthritis. He's only 10, and there's no history of sudden lameness in his family. I'm running out of ideas and so are my vets.
 
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#2 ·
I'm not entirely sure why your vets first port of call was nerve blocks? very very strange to me. First port of call overhere is always a physical manipulation of a leg and then either an xray or an ultra sound, once those are inconclusive then you start with nerve blocks.

When my pony went lame at a show The first thing my vet did was an ultra sound as he had slipped, it picked up a hole in both his suspensory (the size of a 2 pence coin) and his check ligament. No need for nerve blocks or anything so invasive.

After that my pony had stem cell treatment (that didnt work because the cells refused to divide) and he had 18 months of rest but he did come sound again.

I also don't know why you don't know where the injury it. If you've blocked the ligament and he went sound then there is your answer! Ultra sound his tendons, find the tear or hole and treat it.

Alternatively turn him away for 18 months with a quiet companion and let time heal him. After the failed stem cell treatement my vet very much doubted that my pony would ever be sound again however on her advise (even though she said it was a longshot) we box rested him for 6 months, then popped him in the field for 12 months with aincient ponies, then it took me 6 months to get him fit again but I got him back into the show ring under saddle!
I am a great believer that healing needs time!
 
#3 ·
He did go sound on the check ligament before, and we gave him the IRAP treatment and he is still off. My vet just blocked the check ligament again and this time he didn't block clean. So if he injured that then the ligaments all healed up and there's something else wrong. And he had everything all x-rayed and ultra sounded before the blocking, sorry i didn't mention that. He's also had multiple hoof tests and all were clean. The problem with turning him out for months on end is that he's... rambunctious and likes to jump the fence to go for swims. Also he hasn't been turned out in months. Shouldn't i worry about him injuring himself more?
 
#4 ·
When I turned stan out for the first time in 6 months I practicaly had to be sedated myself.
Stan was the most precious thing in the world to me, my best friend and worth a fortune.

Anyway he was sedated lighly then turned out with my 30 yearold pony. He just put his head down to eat. It probably helped that he hadn't had hay for 12 hours before hand on my vets advice.
Even so I had several G&T's to cope as he did do some spectacular aerobatics
Turn him out in a good pasture with good fencing and a nice sedate older horse, he should stay put. You will have to turn him out eventally

BTW swimming is good for tendon injuries, I used to take stan to the beach and wim him in the sea!
 
#5 ·
If he's been stall bound for 5 months, his muscles could very well be atrophied, giving the appearance of lameness. There was an Arab at one of my work barns that tore a suspensory, and was on stall rest and various treatments including wedge shoes and poultices and meds, and I don't know what else, as he wasn't mine at the time, for roughly 6 months, and when he was finally turned out (sedated in a small paddock) he was so atrophied that he looked horribly lame. He needed the turnout to get the elasticity back in his muscles and ligaments. The owner and the BO were convinced after seeing him turned out a couple times that he would be lame for life, so the owner gave him to me. It was that or auction, as she was getting divorced and could no longer afford his care. We brought him home, pulled the shoes, gave him bute as needed, and let him have limited turnout. Another three months and he was sound as a buck, and being ridden W/T/C. He was never lame another day in his life. Faye is right, sometimes they just need time.
 
#6 ·
Stan was sound in walk when I turned him out but still had swelling over the tendon.
He didnt atrophise thank god. He lost a bit of his top line but a good amount of strapping and stretching kept him in half decent shape.
 
#7 ·
That may be what happened. When he first became off he was barely off, i mean hardly a head bob. But just 2 days ago when he was blocked again in the fetlock he was SO off. The poor guy could hardly trot at all and struggled to keep trotting. I know he'll have to be turned out eventually but he's so crazy right now and even with drugs he's rearing in the stall. We had him turned out for about a month, for a couple of hours with a calm older horse and on drugs. Didn't make a difference. He went insane, running, bucking, rearing; you name it he did it. He all but climbed over the fence. Im worried about him doing that again. And he's a big guy, 18h, around 1600 lbs. But I know there is only so much i can do to keep him sane.
 
#8 ·
turn him out and leave him out!
He will have a hooley but he will settle down eventually! It is stressful for you but it is far better if you leave him out as then you don't have to go through it every day!
Stan went a bit mad in his stable as well, that was the reason we turned him out, the vet said idealy she would keep him on anouther 6 months of box rest but that just wasnt an option for us as he was climbing the walls!
 
#9 ·
well a different horse at my barn was on stall rest for about 10-11 months, almost a year. I made sure to be clear to my vet that will NOT work with my horse since he is so big and acts like a 2 year old rather than a 10 year old. If it does turn out that he's just going to be off for a long time, then i will just pasture board him till he's sound.
 
#15 ·
He could have injured his shoulder after a jump.
Before stopping your horse for months at a time, or spending a bunch of money on expensive tests, call a chiropractor. If he can't help, then stop your horse.
 
#18 ·
Well recently we decided that since he was going to be in the stall for so long that we could at least take him out for a walk and grass everyday while drugged. So at least he's getting out. I'm currently at school so i'm not able to see him but every 2 weeks, when i drive back home.
 
#19 ·
I second the chiro idea. A good chiro can give great insight. From your description it sounds like it's preimarily a check ligament issue. Have you tought about trying magnets? They can work wonders. Also considder swimming him. It's a great way to get them safe exercise and can help keep them sane while not in work. We have a few horses that we race out of the pool. No track time at all...just swim, race, repeat!
 
#20 ·
well the chiropractor came out and spent hours working on him. a bunch of things were out of alignment but his scapula was the worst apparently. It didn't fix his lameness, but the chiropractor agrees with me- My horse's muscles are extremely atrophied. The chiropractor also thinks that my horse also may have a nerve entrapment in the leg.
 
#21 ·
OMG - I have a similiar situation. My 4 year old pony has been lame for 5 months. Front left shoulder. He had 4 weeks of bute and stall rest. he was then sound on the lunge line and put out to pasture for another 2 weeks. looked fine. But not quite right under saddle. So, we walked him a lot under saddle. No improvement. A few weeks later he was practially crippled under saddle, but still ok on a lunge line. Brought him to large university and got $2.5K worth of xrays, sonograms, hole body nuclear scans, etc. and they FOUND NOTHING....ZILCH, except that he was practically crippled! He was lame both in the right hind and the left front now! Go figure. Vets are all scratching their heads.

I hope Faye is right - he is now turned out with 3 other other older gentleman in a lovely pasture. He runs around like a lunatic, through the snow, sound as can be.

He has been lame for 5 months now. This is so frustrating.
 
#22 ·
I feel you. Try a chiropractor for sure. He managed to locate all these little details about my horse that I had no idea about. It'll help your pony, if anything. But with my horse apparently its a neck and shoulder problem, on the left side. It's hard to tell with my guy when he's hurting and when he's stiff since he's been in the stall for so long his muscles have atrophied- severely. So what i've been instructed to do is a series of handwalking exercises including serpentines and circles to stretch his muscles and gain some muscle back. Also, call a lameness expert. It took me about 4 different vets and a whole bunch of university vets before I spent the money on a lameness expert and I wish I had done that from the start.
 
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