Sudden lameness - not abscess - any ideas?

[Pleasedontdothat]

DD’s 12 year old mare has gone suddenly very lame on her right hind. She was absolutely fine last Saturday afternoon but that evening we noticed she had a very minor scrape along the inside of her right hind - she didn’t seem bothered by it and as she’d literally just taken the hair off we didn’t think much of it. However the next day as soon as DD picked up trot she was obviously very lame. The vet came out, did flexions (very very lame after whole leg flexion but not bothered by fetlock flexion), no signs of abscess, no heat, no swelling, she’s fine with the leg being handled just doing this really odd gait on that leg in trot. The vet thought she’d probably just tweaked it during a field hooley and to give her a couple of weeks off then reassess. However she’s no better at all after a week and dd is beside herself with worry - she’s booked in to see the specialists on Thursday but I was wondering if anyone had had something similar so that we could try to narrow down what to investigate. For background dmare is an eventer and occasional showjumper - since coming back from her winter holiday she’s been going brilliantly - she did her first event this season last month and felt fabulous (good dressage and double clear) and they were supposed to be stepping up to intermediate this weekend.

Tendon?
Unfortunately it's one of those where only scans/xrays will tell you. Fingers crossed!

We wondered about a tendon injury but wouldn’t there normally be heat and swelling?

Friend's pony just had surgery on annular ligament as he had thickening on it which was then constricting the manneka tendon. Zero heat or swelling, just lame. MRI in the end picked it up.

Could still be an abscess. Vets are not the best at finding them, worth soaking and poulticeing just to see.

It won't do any harm

The farrier is here anyway tomorrow so will get him to have a look. I’d love it to be an abscess but when we had a horse who was prone to them he’d look like he’d broken a leg just in walk, whereas she looks fairly normal in walk but awful in trot..

Could be grumbling abscess but I would personally be requesting xrays + scans anyway. Also remember lameness tracks down so could actually be something higher up in skeletal system

The farrier was here today and she’s not showing any signs of an abscess and no signs of discomfort when he was lifting up her feet etc she was as beautifully behaved as always. So it’s off to horsepital on Thursday and I’ll ask the vets to throw the diagnostic sink at her 😬

Fingers crossed 🤞🏻

One of my daughter's pony's was suddenly very lame in trot as well with no warning or real explanation but after some weeks of box rest the pony fully recovered and has had no lameness since (this was over two years ago now and the pony has since been sold and still sound with no issues) but we did an x-ray and full vet investigation just in case

Good luck, hope they find something easily fixable - I wonder if it might be her hock? Arthritic changes don't typically present as sudden severe lameness but it would explain the lack of heat and swelling anywhere in the lower limbs or feet?

Hopefully not that but suspensory injuries often don't show swelling. Could also be something like a bone bruise. Nerve blocks should give a better picture

She’s staying in overnight for an MRI - so far x-rays, ultrasound and nerve blocks haven’t shown anything that could be a definitive cause of such severe lameness, although there’s an area on the side of her fetlock that they want to invest further as she may have fractured the joint. Suspensories, stifle, hocks, canon bone, pastern, navicular all good which is something at least - and really, who wants to go on holiday anyway 😬😳

Hope you find something on the MRI

Hoping for something quick and easily fixed for you! Having just send my vet more than my monthly mortgage payment, I feel your pain!

Not good news - there’s extensive damage to the fetlock joint on that leg (other leg is perfect). She won’t ever be able to event again so trying to work out if it’s going to be possible to get her sound enough to retire ..

Oh dear that is very disappointing @Pleasedontdothat , does she have loss of use cover on her insurance ? .

Oh no 😢 I'm so so sorry

Ah no, sorry to hear this

So sorry to hear 😞

So sorry to read this. Your poor dd must be brokenhearted. Rotten luck.

Came on to suggest it could still be an abcess (had one that took 6 months to pop and one very sorry mare). But I see you have had it diagnosed. So very sorry @Pleasedontdothat it is so heartbreaking. Your DD must be devastated.

Thank you - it is utterly heartbreaking - she’s such a fabulous horse, she’s a real force of nature. You’re never in any doubt about what she thinks about any given situation. She was so happy to get out for her first event this season - ironically dd had planned to start later this year as her first 8 events last year got cancelled, Sod’s Law that the ground was pretty much perfect in March and the start of April so she’d have been fine. She’s still in hospital as she’s having a CT scan on Monday to see if they can rule micro fractures on the side of the joint in or out as that will make a difference to the plan going forward.

Hope you get some better news on Monday @Pleasedontdothat

Finally got the CT results - no fracture (phew) which means there are treatment options. She has a lesion in the cartilage but it’s relatively easy to get to and it’s completely away from the suspensory which is apparently good. The surgeon is happy that she’s a good candidate for surgery and there’s an outside chance she could get back to full work, no guarantees though as the injury is quite severe. We can’t leave her as she is and the other treatment options have nearly as many downsides but no real upside so she’s having surgery on Thursday - please send all the vibes you can

Good vibes being transmitted from here @Pleasedontdothat . My friends horse had stem cell treatment on a tendon is the injury something that that type of thing could work on ? At least it’s not a fracture and there are some options and a bit of hope .

Sending good vibes for a full recovery xxx