Pls be gentle, this is really hard. Username changed as I don’t want to forever look back on these days. I have the most lovely 3, rising 4, year old Appaloosa filly. She’s been with me for 9 months having arrived in the dealers yard in quite a sorry state - thin, rain scald, dropped fetlocks. I knew I was taking a risk and I don’t regret that one but. She’s put weight on, her coat gleams, she looks absolutely amazing…until you get below the top of her legs. Her left hind is the worst, when she walks the fetlock is almost kissing the ground. The right isn’t quite as bad but still drops around 50% below where it should.
Theres been behavioural changes too. Over the summer she didn’t want to leave the herd, resorting to rearing and running. I’ve over 30 years experience, mainly with TB’s, so rearing is nothing new but I’ve genuinely never seen anything quite like hers. Since October they’re in at night out during the day. The path to our field goes down a steep incline. As soon as she gets near the top she explodes. Some days it’s just a strike with her foreleg, other days it’s full blown rearing. Obviously, she will be putting the bulk of her weight through her hind legs going down here.
for the last month she’s been increasingly grumpy. When asked to back up in the stable she has bitten me 3x now, twice on the shoulder once on the face. There is little to no warning of this. She’s started being difficult to lead in from the field, again striking out and threats to rear. Over the last 2 weeks I’ve noticed her hock in the worst leg looks “dropped” and is beginning to rotate. Yesterday I noticed signs her front fetlocks are beginning to lower too. She lays down a lot, doesn’t struggle to get up and is happy to rear and tank around the field with her mates though. I’ve got a fantastic farrier, he’s an experienced remedial farrier (I don’t use him for that, I started using him for my old boy with navicular and never stopped). He’s been doing her feet for the entire nine months and has already said there’s nothing he can do for her. I’m an experienced equestrian, I worked as an EVN for a few years, I’ve tried everything in my toolkit and am running out of ideas. Her lips are pursed almost all the time when she isn’t eating. She dislikes backing up or turning on tight circles immensely. She yawns a LOT. There’s no history of injury and all four limbs are affected. She’s constantly hyper alert. I’ve given her bute every day for a week and while the lip pursing has gone she’s still very hyper alert and yawning, still reluctant to lead sensibly especially on inclines.
I know if I was advising anyone else I would say this is an absolute text book example of degenerative suspending ligament disease. It isn’t curable. It’s about managing pain until the balance of quality of life tips.
AIBU that I don’t see a value in spending thousands to get a diagnosis? It would mean travelling her to a clinic for scans, x-rays, possibly nerve blocks, to tell me that her joints are dropped. I know that, I can see it. That her behaviour indicates pain. I know that. And AIBU I’m thinking about letting her go to sleep. Even with bute her manner is still hyper, she’s still laying down a lot. But she’s only 3 years old and in every other way she looks amazing. Honest opinions but gently delivered would be much appreciated