my horse is quite lame on his rear right. he was running loose in the arena and all of a sudden he kind of bunny hopped and then pulled up holding his leg in the air. then he hobbled over to me. i didn't really see anything happen, but, i think he might have hit his cannon bone with his front hoof. or stepped wrong and twisted his ankle a bit. i was watching him and he was flying but i didn't really see him stumble or anything specific occur. there's no heat or swelling anywhere. his hooves are clean and i don't see any bruising in there. there might be the merest bump on the front of his leg halfway down. but, it's been a week and he is still lame. he walks ok, but, very lame at a trot. i've called a vet, but, we don't have a local horse vet and i don't know how long they will take to come out or if i'll have to borrow a trailer to go to the vet. in the meantime, i am wondering if i should restrict his movement and keep him stalled or still let him out daily in his paddock. he's alone in it and his neighbor is an elderly mare, so, they don't get running. should i give him bute? the only problem with his paddock is it's very muddy around the gate and i was concerned that the difficulty of walking through the sucking mud would be too much work, otherwise i lean toward letting him be able to move around and not stiffen up. i could probably put him in the round pen in the day and that has firmer ground and easy to walk on. any thoughts on caring for him til we can see a vet.

Even if you don't know when you'll see the vet, get on the phone tomorrow morning and TALK to the vet with your questions. We're not vets, nor do we know your horse. I do not advise Bute-ing a horse without a vet's go-ahead. Don't let a receptionist at the vet clinic tell you your horse will be fine until the vet gets to you. For that matter, tell the vet clinic that you need to know when the vet can get to you, and if it's not soon enough, ask for a referral to someone else.

I would opt for the firmer footing in the round pen because mud is more difficult to walk in and may worsen whatever is wrong. You can stall him if you need to shelter him from bad weather, but I wouldn't stall him for extended periods, maybe just overnignt. Bute would help ease his discomfort, but be cautious in using it. It will mask the pain, which is nature's way of telling him to take it easy and not to overuse the injured part. Also, when you do get a vet to come out, the bute would mask a symptom which the vet will need to make an accurate diagnosis.

Gailforce:

there might be the merest bump on the front of his leg halfway down. but, it's been a week and he is still lame. he walks ok, but, very lame at a trot.

I just re-read your post before closing the screen and had another thought. If there's a slight bump, it is possible that he kicked himself. I'm not a vet, but I remember reading in a horse mag that if there is a very slight hairline fracture, there may not be any heat. If this was the case, moving around too much could make it worse. If he'll stay stalled without becoming too upset, that may be an option. I hope that's not it and don't mean to scare you.

 I would say, if you can stall him without blowing his mind, that might be the best thing to do until the vet can see him.  Hopefully that way he won't make anything worse.  And if he's stalled, maybe giving him some bute overnight to keep him comfortable wouldn't be so bad.  Then you can turn him into the round pen in the a.m. and let him walk around and loosen up.

it is very possible that your horses' stifle locked up, hence the bunny hop to unlock it. If that is the case you really need to call a veterinarian that is a lameness expert. If indeed that did happen, he will give you a 'prescription' for your farrier to shoe his back feet at a special angle and even add a small 2 degree wedge pad to relieve the pain. Good luck

Hmm, I would say definitely talk to the vet. A few winters ago, my horse went three legged lame in the right hind. no heat, no swelling, no blood, nothing. no idea what he did. called the vet, vet asked "what is the horse willing to do on his own?" So, I put him in an arena and the horse galloped, bucked, walked, rolled etc with no asking or encouragement from me. Since the lameness was caused by something unknown, vet said go ahead and turn out, bute 2X per day for 5 days, if he's not better I'll come out. Horse was better, but, I gave him another week before I started riding and he was fine.

some other things to consider, does the horse have shoes? Or recently have shoes pulled? have a farrier visit? not my horse, but, another in the barn went lame about 3 days after the farrier was out - didn't trim properly.

quick update:  there was a vet in our area sunday (they only come a couple times a year for shots and the annual checkups, if you need to, you usually have to haul 2 hrs to their office).  but, occasionally when they take a weekend to the ski hill, they'll let us know they are in the area and will see horses if needed....anyhooo.  i called hoping he could come by, but, his friend ended up getting a concussion on sunday and they had to go to the hospital, so, he couldn't come by.

so, called my farrier to look at him (better than nobody, and he is a very experienced horseman).  he had no idea what might be wrong.  he also couldn't find any swelling, heat, etc.  checked his hoof for bruising or tenderness. 

he suggested like elfless says--bute him for 5 days and if he's not better than see about getting him to the vet.  so that's what i am going to do right now. and we'll wait and see.

 

well, minor update:  got a vet to come out on saturday.  he was on holidays nearby and stopped on his way home.  which is what was supposed to happen the week before with another vet.  it's so nice that they'll do that.

he thinks it is his stifle area, a pulled muscle or ligament.  some soft tissue type of injury.

anyway, he said what the farrier said, bute him for 5 days with total stall rest and see how he is doing at the end of the week.  so, it's day 3 of stall rest.  my poor horse is going to be crazed when he finally gets to go out again. 

he is so bored, he is snapping and trying to bite like crazy.  when i take him out of the stall to clean it, i crosstie him and he paws the whole time and rears up and down.  i feel sorry for the big dope. 

hopefully rest and time will heal him, otherwise the next step would be to get him to the vet for an ultrasound.

 well, had the vet out to do an ultrasound and the news is not good.  he has a tendon injury and the vet says it'll take 8 months to heal.  she says it will heal though, thank god.  in about 3 months i can take him for a 20 minute walk daily.

i am waiting for an email from the vet to give me a rehab itinerary.  and also tell me again exactly what the injury is called.  i should have had a pen when she was here and wrote it down.  when i find out the exact name, i will update here again, so, if anyone else has dealt with this injury they might share their experience.

anyway, such a drag, especially when we are just going into spring and the nice weather.

if anyone has any ideas to share on what to do with my horse during his recovery, i'd love to hear about it.  any tricks or games i can teach him that don't require him to use his legs.  toys for his stall that you have found your horse enjoys.  anything.

he is allowed to go out to his paddock, because otherwise he kicks the stall walls and that'll just hurt him more, but, otherwise there's not much he can do, and since he's getting a bit crazed already, it's going to be a long recovery for him.

 

Juno had a suspensory ligament pull. Is that what he has?

 well, i got the report today.  my horse has a core lesion in the deep digital flexor tendon.  the vet has advised 4 more weeks of paddock and stall only, then a 6 mth rehab program that starts with week 1 -- 20 min walk, 1 min trot, 5 min walk.  then each week the exercise is upped a bit.

i always feed him in a hay net, but, i've been thinking about getting a nibble net so he has all day snacks and i got a jolly ball for him.  i will probably buy one of those treat balls too.  it's going to be a long month for him.  and a boring summer for me with no riding =^(

I feel for you - I went through a winter like that many years ago when Annapolis re-bowed his tendon and got consigned to a similar rehab program.

One lesson I learned -- when hand walking a hyper horse who has been on stall rest, it's best not to use one of those halters with the breakaway crown.

I'll never forget the helpless feeling, standing then with the halter and rope dangling from my hand, watching my horse, you know, the one with the bowed tendon, GALLOP down the lane to the pasture gate.

Hang in there.  It will work out okay in the end.

Jayne-Admin:

One lesson I learned -- when hand walking a hyper horse who has been on stall rest, it's best not to use one of those halters with the breakaway crown.

 

that's funny jayne.  i hope he didn't do any damage when he galloped away.  silly horse 

I think he probably had a moment or two of "uh oh, I shouldn't have done that" but I don't think it lengthened the rehab period. He was pretty much ready for some gentle (ha!) turnout at that point anyway.