I have a horse that has the vets and my trainer stumped. About six weeks ago, he went lame in the left front. We brought him in and within 24 hours his legs had swelled up, starting in the right front and progressing to back. Seriously lame to the point of looking like he had foundered. No fever, good appetite, no heat in his hooves, but a slight pulse. We cold hosed and kept him in and had the vet out. Within 24 hours he was fine - all symptoms gone. Bloodwork came back negative for Lyme (we're in the northeast). Since then, we thought perhaps he got a stone bruise, did some soaking for abcess with no results, and finally put pads on his front feet. He has demonstrated intermittent lameness, but nothing conclusive.
This week the same thing, only starting behind. It seemed that his left front was the worst. Similar results - seemed to go almost crippled and after 36 hours in his stall with 2x a day cold hosing, he looks like nothing ever happened. Blood work is negative as is the Lyme titre. I think it's some kind of allergy. The reason I think this is that he has been extremely itchy for the past two weeks. The itchiness seems to be around the top of his tail, his belly, his groin, and the front of his neck. He has a hivey patch at the top of his shoulders. I had been treating these areas with Microtech shampoo and cortizone cream. He was perfectly quiet after his stall rest and after 20 minutes of hand grazing, extremely itchy again. It has been very humid and very buggy the last two weeks.
One last piece of info - he's a New Zealand Tbred that has only been in the country two years and I'm the second owner. The first owner in MD said nothing like this had ever happened with her.
Any thoughts would be appreciated!
