[maggiemay29]

Help!! I just bought a four year old mare. She's a warmblood throughbred cross, real cutie!! But she's been lame for the past three months with no signs of getting better. I've gone through extensive lameness tests and nothing has been found.

Her lameness started in her front left and then moved to her hind left. Shes dragging her toe, shows a resistance to lift it and has shown sensitivity in her sacral area. Its not stringhalt. I'm trying not to go through expensive diagnostics for fear that I'm just going to end up spending a ton of money. But this is weird to me, its a unilateral lameness that has been somewhat isolated to the upper limb area...

There were no injuries of note, and went well for about the first two months I had her.

Has anyone ever had similar experience? Any advice of what I should look into? It makes me sad to see her not going at 100%. Any help is appreciated...

 

[LetAGrlShowU]

Have you had both a farrier and a vet look at her? What are they saying?

 

[farmpony84]

How close are you to a race track? If there is one near by then it would be worth hauling to their vet because they are not real expensive and they are experts in lameness. I would actually wonder if it was up in the pelvis area. If it is then you need to put the horse in a small paddock so it doesn't race around like a fool and then give it time to heal (could be as long as 6 months to a year)

Has the vet blocked?

 

[Masquerade]

How long have you had her? From what you have said it is possible that she has a chronic lameness issue (potentially stifle lameness) that her previous owners were getting injected and now the injection has worn off so she is lame again.

 

[dipper]

I would look into getting a lymes tider pulled. Im not sure if you are in an area where lyme is a problem, but the symptoms sound similar to a mare i had with this issue. Its fairly easy and inexpensive to diagnose. Its worth a try anyway, when caught early enough it can be fixed. Good luck!

 

[bubba13]

^ Yes. Lyme? Neurological? Arthritis? Back trouble? Need a very thorough work-up done with a specialist.

 

[IquitosARG10]

Have you talked to the people you purchased her from? I would ask them if she had that problem before.

 

[maggiemay29]

I've had the vet looking at her every couple of weeks. We took her back shoes off to help her out a little and it seemed to work at first until the lameness came back.

I've only had her for about 3 months right now. It is very possible that her previous owners could have injected her but I don't think that I will find out for sure. The people who sold her to me ended up being the worst people to deal with. I have asked them about her soundness and she apparently was sound when they had her... I wouldn't be surprised if they had been injecting her tho.

I definitely live in a Lyme area, so I will definitely look into a tider...Thank you for the suggestion!!