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 The One
Posts: 7997
    
Location: South Georgia | I bought an 8 year old mare last February. A couple weeks after purchase, she was slightly off in her cadence when loping to the right (clockwise), but she was pretty sound. She was due for a shoeing reset, and I knew her hooves needed work as it was clear they were not properly cared for and/or shod. My farrier is excellent and started to correct her underrun and contracted heels. I was working with her on a lot of collection and rounding, so I attributed this behavior possibly to the new muscle development and her hooves.
By June, she was too lame at a lope to continue riding. She was showing signs of discomfort that she hadn't exhibited before. I had a thorough lameness exam done in July and had both hocks injected. I also asked to keep her on Pentosan for maintenance. These made no change in her lameness.
In September, I had another vet look at her and he made a chiropractice adjustment to her hip. She was sound and not lame for 2 months after this. I had my horse back.
Then, in October she got bucky and cinchy and miserable and went off her grain. I had her teeth done and they suspected ulcers. I treated with a round of Abgard (generic Ulcergard) and switched her to stall board with turnout so she could have alfalfa nightly to help. Ulcers went away. I kept her on preventative meds to keep them away and kept her on stall board at night with alfalfa. During the ulcer treatment, she became lame on left and/or right front.
In January, I had our local vet out and he identified sensitivity in right front and went ahead and injected her left hind hock again.
In February I took her to a lameness specialist in Ocala and they did a 5 hour lameness exam with radiographs after blocks of front hooves. They identified navicular changes. He also said something was going on with hind left hock, but I couldn't afford to do more radiographs. We gave OsPhos for the navicular changes, had wedged shoes applied at the clinic, and waited 5 weeks.
Now, still exactly the same lameness as before, and bouncing around on her hips rather than moving independently at a lope. This is after having the last 5 months off!
This horse has been sound 5 of the 13 months I have owned her. I have spent several thousand in vet expenses. She is unregistered. What can I do? I am sure she is fixable, but I cannot continue to pour money into her. How do I go about finding her a home? I really do not want to have to put her down. If I owned my own place, I'd just turn her out and try again in a year or two, but I board and cannot afford to do that. She is absolutely stunning, fancy fancy broke (!), and in perfect shape.
Thoughts?
Edited by horsegirl 2018-05-23 10:16 AM
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 Expert
Posts: 1631
Location: Somewhere around here | That's a really tough one. I don't have any help for you but I do hope there is a way she can get better! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 534
Location: Ohio girl moved to PA | I can hear your frustration in your post and i probably dont have any good advice for you, other than i hope something changes. Im not sure when the point of giving up comes in, and im sure youve dumped a great amount into her already, but what about maybe giving her to a lesson program or a kids camp (if shes sound enough for light riding) or even a theraputic farm where it would just be walking. I honestly dont know what else i would do in this situation. |
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The One
Posts: 7997
Location: South Georgia | Ohiobarrelracer - 2018-03-12 9:18 AM I can hear your frustration in your post and i probably dont have any good advice for you, other than i hope something changes. Im not sure when the point of giving up comes in, and im sure youve dumped a great amount into her already, but what about maybe giving her to a lesson program or a kids camp (if shes sound enough for light riding) or even a theraputic farm where it would just be walking. I honestly dont know what else i would do in this situation.
Thank you. I have contacted the local theraputic riding center and she is unable to take on any more horses. She didn't know of anyone in the area either. I just don't know what to do. |
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 Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| Breed her or sell her as a brood mare if her quality of life is still good, so sorry this is happening, she sounds so nice. I have a gelding that I spent a few thousand on trying to get sound but was not successful. He has had a year off with no improvement, pretty lame at a walk, still enjoys playing with the other horses but I have made the decision to have him put down soon, it is never easy. |
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The One
Posts: 7997
Location: South Georgia | rodeomom3 - 2018-03-12 9:44 AM Breed her or sell her as a brood mare if her quality of life is still good, so sorry this is happening, she sounds so nice. I have a gelding that I spent a few thousand on trying to get sound but was not successful. He has had a year off with no improvement, pretty lame at a walk, still enjoys playing with the other horses but I have made the decision to have him put down soon, it is never easy.
She's unregistered. :( I knew the risk when I purchased her, but she was sound then and trained to the hilt, so I took the chance. Now I have no recourse. I'm afriad to put her on CL or something because I fear she'd get into the wrong hands. |
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Shelter Dog Lover
Posts: 10277
| horsegirl - 2018-03-12 8:45 AM rodeomom3 - 2018-03-12 9:44 AM Breed her or sell her as a brood mare if her quality of life is still good, so sorry this is happening, she sounds so nice. I have a gelding that I spent a few thousand on trying to get sound but was not successful. He has had a year off with no improvement, pretty lame at a walk, still enjoys playing with the other horses but I have made the decision to have him put down soon, it is never easy. She's unregistered. :( I knew the risk when I purchased her, but she was sound then and trained to the hilt, so I took the chance. Now I have no recourse. I'm afriad to put her on CL or something because I fear she'd get into the wrong hands.
Edited by rodeomom3 2018-03-12 9:01 AM
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 A Barrel Of Monkeys
Posts: 12972
Location: Texas | You might try EquiBone as one last thing. They have good information on the website on how it's helped navicular horses. It's about $250 for a big bag, but it lasts a long time. |
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 Expert
Posts: 5290
| Sometimes you do everything you can do and it still isint a fix. I have had a couple of these over the years. When they are uncomfortable and quality of life is not a happy one, I have them put down. |
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The One
Posts: 7997
Location: South Georgia | FLITASTIC - 2018-03-12 10:15 AM Sometimes you do everything you can do and it still isint a fix. I have had a couple of these over the years. When they are uncomfortable and quality of life is not a happy one, I have them put down.
I guess my fear with putting her down is that with as nice as she is (conformation and training) and as young as she is, I will wonder if there was just one simple thing that could have been done to fix her and I didn't try it. You know what I mean? Then I'd never know.
I don't know. I'm just sick.
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | So when you bought her in February she was sound, what changes have you made to her food wise, like is she on green pasture now? I have a gelding that was lame on and off for a few years had him to a few Vets trying to figure out whats going on did the xrays and all, he said that he was thin soled.. Then a year later he got worst took him to my other vet did the xrays again and found that he had just a tiny bit of rotation and he sat there and just eyed and study my gelding and asked me about him being a easy keeper, well come to find out he's IR cant be on green pasture and has to be on a low strach low sugar feed. |
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Expert
Posts: 5290
| horsegirl - 2018-03-12 7:21 AM
FLITASTIC - 2018-03-12 10:15 AM Sometimes you do everything you can do and it still isint a fix. I have had a couple of these over the years. When they are uncomfortable and quality of life is not a happy one, I have them put down.
I guess my fear with putting her down is that with as nice as she is (conformation and training) and as young as she is, I will wonder if there was just one simple thing that could have been done to fix her and I didn't try it. You know what I mean? Then I'd never know.
I don't know. I'm just sick.
Absolutely. I soooooooo get it. I had to put one down before they had tildren and osphos etc. I totally understand. |
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The One
Posts: 7997
Location: South Georgia | She has been on a low starch extruded feed, she gets coastal grass hay in the pasture and whatever grazing is available in her pasture. She is not what I'd consider to be an easy keeper. Without 2 grain feedings a day, in addition to the pasture and roundable, she will show a couple ribs, so I pay extra for 2 feedings per day. She does have thin soles, but again, this was identified after purchase because her hooves were not well maintained. A month after I got her, we put her in pads with magic kushion to help with that. |
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| Did they check her SI joint when they did the lameness stuff? Just off of what you are saying, the changes that made her sound were in the hind end, and you did stuff to the front end at the vets.
I can completely get not wanting to dump more money in, but maybe they missed something? SI joint, kissing spine, (and you said hocks) are some areas to think about. |
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The One
Posts: 7997
Location: South Georgia | Nateracer - 2018-03-12 10:56 AM Did they check her SI joint when they did the lameness stuff? Just off of what you are saying, the changes that made her sound were in the hind end, and you did stuff to the front end at the vets.
I can completely get not wanting to dump more money in, but maybe they missed something? SI joint, kissing spine, (and you said hocks) are some areas to think about. They did check the SI. His team literally spent 3 hours on the physical exam and another 2 on radiographs and evaluating those, etc. They only noted lameness in front feet (radiographs show navicular with multiple characteristics) and slight lameness in left hind. It is a specialty hospital and he is known to be a lameness expert. I travelled quite a distance to go to him to have a definitive diagnosis. I did the OsPhos for the navicular aspect and hoped the rear end lameness was perhaps due to compensation. I just can't spend anymore at this point.
Edited by horsegirl 2018-03-12 10:10 AM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 883
Location: Southern Indiana | Maybe just slap some plain shoes on her and quite trying to change her feet. Sometimes trying to correct them does more harm than good. Not sure what you did with her feet while she was laid off but it’s worth a try. If she’s broke and you can get her somewhat sound she should be ok for a trail horse. Or just pull them off and turn her out for 6 months to a year on pasture. Could also be ovaries??? Epm??? Sounds like someone pulled one over on ya.... |
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The One
Posts: 7997
Location: South Georgia | TheDutchMan01 - 2018-03-12 11:22 AM Maybe just slap some plain shoes on her and quite trying to change her feet. Sometimes trying to correct them does more harm than good. Not sure what you did with her feet while she was laid off but it’s worth a try. If she’s broke and you can get her somewhat sound she should be ok for a trail horse. Or just pull them off and turn her out for 6 months to a year on pasture. Could also be ovaries??? Epm??? Sounds like someone pulled one over on ya....
She's in wedged shoes with equipak for the navicular. This did improve slightly her front end lameness. I cannot turn her out because I board and can only afford to have one horse at a time. I'd like one I can ride at this point. |
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 Reaching for the stars....
Posts: 12704
| JMO - if this was my horse, registered or unregistered - I would find a great barefoot trimmer, pull shoes, let her feet readjust and regrow barefoot (takes about a year, sometimes under, sometimes over), take her off ALL bagged feeds (NO sugar food), and leave her alone for about a year. Dry lot would be best so she wouldn't get much grass, and I'd feed her the alfalfa and a good grass hay to complement. She will be foot sore some from foot readjustment, and that may make her sore in other areas as angles adjust and I'd treat judiciously with bute or banamine (very little, don't want an ulcer issue).
If you can afford that situation that would be giving the mare every possible chance. |
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| Plasvaac has been posting on FB that they are desperate for more horses in their donor herd. she meets the age criteria. it would likely be a better life for her than she would end up with if put on craigslist or anything like that. I think they are in CA so you would have to figure out how to get here there. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 784
Location: USA | I spent 3 years trying to figure out what was wrong with my gelding..... I Finally did a bone scan and we found the problem. I had spent thousands on him.... Can you afford to do a bone scan... one last ditch effort? |
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