I have a really nice younger gelding that i really like and can't figure out why he's limping on the front left foot. He's been to a really nice vet clinic and it's down to a mri to find out or maybe not find out when its done. My farrier who i really look up to has suggested starting him on Legend and see if it helps and if it doesn't switch to Osphos. He had laminitis and white line disease when i got him. I didn't have him vet checked (stupid stupid stupid!!!!). I thought the founder line was a stress line. It has grown completely out and the white line disease has grown out also. This has been a year ago. His limp is just barely noticable when your riding him. I've had him chiro'd. His laminitis did not make his coffin bone rotate. What is everyones opinion on Legend and Osphos? Does anyone have anything to say possibly about my horse without seeing him? 

Osphos is for boney changes of navicular syndrome. It is a Bisphosphonate, it helps with bone density. I would not see any vet recommending it for laminitis and if they do, run.  I would only give it if there no other options.  I would first get ba second opinion to see if you can get an actual diagnosis. His lameness could be anything. Have you tried previcox?

What type of diet is he on? 

Sounds like you need to get a second opinion or get the MRI done. Shots in the dark rarely work. Is the horse worth it to you? 

At this time, he's on crimped oats and coastal hay. At this time, i haven't been riding him so i haven't been feeding him an expensive diet. No, i haven't tried Previcox. What is Previcox? The horse has been a great fit for me in the barrels. That's why i just can't let him go. That is why i have already spent alot of money at the vet. However, when it came to the mri i didn't do it because he said we may or may not find what's wrong for $2500. 

He is on Equioxx. It hasn't seem to make a difference that i can tell. 

The reason why I asked about his diet is sometimes if fed to much sugar or a real rich diet sometimes it will cause a health issues as in laminits, I have a gelding that is IR and I have to really watch what I feed him, even Oats would cause him to get sore and to much green pasture or rich hay that was high in sugar levels.. Glad to hear that he had no rotating of the coffin bone, my gelding did. He was always off and on with being sore in his left hoof, I had him to a few different vets that missed this in him, and finally found the right vet that knew right off what I was dealing with.  Good luck with helping your boy..

Laminitis is generally something thats going to keep coming back over & over. Especially if you're feeding a diet high in starch or sugar, as stated above. Oats is one of the worst things you could be feeding a horse with a history of laminitis. I have one, his laminitis comes from a low starch/sugar tolerance. I would suggest getting a ration balancer type feed, such as Renew Gold or whatever option is available to you at your location. Ration balancers are super bank account friendly. Its possible his laminitis is back to a lesser degree than before, it might be a chronic thing you'll deal with for the rest of his life. As far as Osphos as stated above it's only going to help a bone issue, like navicular. Has he been xrayed for navicular? They can have it in one foot, one of my others has navicular in just his left foot. Legend is just going to lubricate joints, so unless its a sore joint it won't help. Legend also only lasts for a few days. The problem could be elsewhere besides his foot too, what have you had x-rayed or looked at above the hoof on that leg? That might help others come up with ideas, having a greater idea of what has been checked and ruled out up to this point 

Southtxponygirl --- if i gave you  my email would you please give me the vet you went to? also, if you don't mind in the message would you tell me what you feed your horse with problems? thanks for your input!   jennifer@centex.net

The vet blocked him starting down going up on on his left from foot. He couldn't find where he started limping. He xrayed just the foot. He told me we where down to a mri. 

How young is the horse? Legend is a waste of money for you situation, IMO. And I wouldn't give osphos or tildren to anything younger than 5 unless there was a serious career threatening lameness.  

So was he able to block out the lameness or no?  If you are doing an MRI, you are looking at a specific area, like 10" window. So, you need to have an anatomic location to focus the MRI. If the vet recommended an MRI I feel like he is confident in the region of the body the horse is hurting in. 

Personally I would get a second opinion before doing an MRI, if you are even planning on forking that money over in the future. You need to have a good idea of where its at before doing the MRI anyway. I would find the best lameness vet around where you're located. They might pick up on something this other one missed or have a better eye of where the lamness is at just doing a basic eval. I've had my local vet not even notice a lameness that another vet picked up immediately and knew exactly what part of the leg it was coming from. I had one on another horse tell me she looked like she had a tendon injury and it ended up being fractured vertebrae and kissing spine, you just never know. If he didn't take xrays of all angles of the foot then he could have missed something there too. It took us 7 shots to get the right image to show my geldings navilcular on that foot 

I cant click onto your email so I will just give you some info here, I use Dr Keith Huffman in Selma at the Retama Equine Hospital, this man hung the moon I think. I feed Triple Crown Lite, just a pound and a half twice a day if its that much it may be less and I have to really watch the hay I feed him also and during spring and summer he cant go out in his pasture he can when all the grass is dead like now, lol.. When I do let him out it might be for a hour or so maybe once a week during when the grass is green and growing. We had a bad set back about 6 months ago, he got an abess from heck that the infection went into his coffin bone, that was a battle of its own. I'm so happy that my mystery lameness was solved. Hope you can get yours solved as well.

Thank you everyone for all the good information. I am probably going to take him for another opinion and i need to get him on a better diet. He is only 7. 

Previcox is the same thing as equioxx. They just recently started selling equioxx in the pill form for horses. Before they did we gave the dog pill version, previcox... Paste equioxx was too expensive.  Try a second opinion first. If you still don't get anywhere I'd recommend the MRI if it's in your budget. Hope you find some answers.

This is a great point. I actually had a 12 year old Thoroughbred that had recurring laminitis in one front foot.  When there was no other reason for it to be occuring we tested for Cushings and insulin resistance. She was positive for both. She was not over weight or old! So trust me its a possibility. I changed her to triple crown lite and kept her noff pasture and she never had a bout of laminitis again! Diet is everything especially with metabolic horses. Talk to your vet about it! 

I also agree about getting a second opinion before doing an MRI. A vet I know recommended an MRI for a lame horse and they ended up finding an abscess... could have just found that with some radiographs, but he insisted on the MRI and the owners followed like the Pied Piper's rats

If there were no bony changes present on xrays of his front feet (such as navicular-type changes), then NO I would not do Ophos especially in a younger horse. JMO.

You could try Legend or Adequan, but those things (to me) are more for joint lubrication and/or arthritis.

Your horse probably has some sort of foot pain left over from the laminitis that's in the soft tissue. Yes, an MRI might tell you what's going on but my question to you is: WHAT WOULD IT CHANGE WITH YOUR TREATMENT PLAN?

I agree with everyone's suggestion of a 2nd opinion vet first, before MRI.

Did the vet nerve block him to isolate where the limp is coming from? Sounds like it is left front only that seems to be bothering him?

Does he switch whem the vet blocks the left foot?

Some more details would be helpful! And yes, I would NOT be feeding oats to a horse that has foundered. Ask your next vet for tips on his nutrition.

This happened to me too! I was referred for the MRI by the original diagnosing vet... I'll never forget walking into the exam room and seeing the look on the referral vet's face that did the MRI right before he told me! I was happy but sick I spent 2400 dollars on an abcsess.

Most expensive abscess of your life, right? At least you ended up with a diagnosis, and luckily a super easy fix compared to what it could have been! But I still feel your pain!! I'm hoping the vet you're referring to made some changes to his lameness diagnostic protocol, sadly I don't think the vet I'm referring to was even mildly concerned about gouging his client's pocketbooks or his diagnostic abilities 

Actually, radiographs only show abscesses if they produce gas. A Lot of them are only fluid filled, which will make them disguise in the bone around them.  Of all the abscesses I diagnose, I would say less than 50% actually have a gas pocket on an x ray.  

ETA- while yall think its just so easy and how dumb that vet could possibly be, if the horse presented lik a typical hoof abscess, most of the time you wouldn't even need to take an x ray because you would find a focal spot on the foot thats super responsive to hoof testers. So, something had to be off with that patient.  But hey yall can come do our job any day and see how much fun you'd have.  

Two things I would never be.............a equine vet or farrier..............Js

Oh it was horrible.  The frustrating thing was my horse was very ever so slightly off for 3 months. Lightly sensitive to hoof testers in the heel. Off mostly in a tight circle. Nothing showed up on the x rays. Blocked sore in foot.  His diagnosis was caudle heel pain. Recommend MRI to see how to go forward for shoeing ect... Well... It it ended up being a deep subsolar abscess. The referral vet re x rayed before the MRI and nothing showed up so in Their defense LOL

My husband is a vet, I was a technician before starting a new career so I understand how tough it is and not every case presents so easily. There are obviously exceptions to everything and the case I am referring to would have been solved with a simple set of radiographs (which were taken after the MRI and showed the abscess). By no means am I referring to ALL vets, I didn't mean to come across that way and I probably shouldn't have sounded so bitter, so for those things I apologize. The vet I was referring to is one I would never trust to treat my horses, and should have had his license suspended on more than one occasion.

Exactly my point. 

I completely agree with you! I highly respect both vets and I was so relieved in the end it was what it ended up being! Like the vet that did the MRI said, my horse is young and we know for sure he has healthy front feet from the pastern down. He was 7 at the time. It was a tough case that showed no typical symptoms of an abscess! Before the MRI I had no doubt from the conclusion of the diagnosis that it was for sure navicular syndrome. His symptoms pointed right to it! Thats why it's amazing if some people could afford something like a MRI more often because look what you can find out... It may change the whole inical diagnosis.  But unfortunately since its so expensive...