rodeolife - 2018-03-12 8:30 AM

 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. 

lilpeppy - 2018-03-12 12:43 PM Sorry to hear what you are going thru. We try to hard and put so much into our horses. Do you have any relatives or friends that has a big open pasture that you could turn her out? Pull shoes and just let her be a horse for a while and hope her body heals itself. That way you could possible get another horse to ride in the mean time.

moapajetrider - 2018-03-12 12:38 PM Ive only got two suggestions if your hitting the point to let her go. Call some repro clinics and see if they need recipient mares. They dont pay alot only 500-750.00 but she'd get to raise a papered baby for someone else and they're generally well taken care of. Also could she work for a walk/trot horse for youth to show? Try tuning her up for that direction. Or just a walk/trot trail horse with full disclosure of her issues. There are always a few folks looking for slow and steady broke trail horses.  

RunNitroRun - 2018-03-12 12:00 PM Have you spoken to the previous owners about how she was with them and her lameness? I agree with a previous poster that sometimes (not always) when we try to change their feet for the better it actually makes things worse long term. If she's been sore and hasn't been moving have you tried massage and stretching to see if it loosens her up. You mentioned she got cinchy and so you changed her to indoor board with turnout and after that she got worse. Some horses simply do not do well inside for any length of time can you try having her on 24/7 turnout. Have you discussed with your vet giving her mild pain/muscle meds for 15 to 30 days to see if it helps to loosen her up at all? It sounds like the more things you try to change (for the better) the worse it's getting so I'd see if you can go back to keeping it as simple as possible.

horsegirl - 2018-03-12 6:52 AM  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. She is absolutely stunning, fancy fancy broke (!), and in perfect shape.



Thoughts?



 

TBone - 2018-03-12 11:18 AM

I have had a similar experience with my 12 year old gelding that I raised and trained.  He had never gone a full year without some type of mystery lameness.  I finally did all I could financially for him as far as shoeing & vet procedures.  I put him on Equioxx and started legging him up.  He feels reasonably sound on the straights, but lame in tight circles.  But this horse LOVES working a barrel.  So I do very little circle work with him, and keep him in the best shape I can with lots of long trotting and galloping.  Be darned if this horse doesn't feel better the more in shape he gets.  If I don't ride him for a day or two, he doesn't feel as good.  But rode every day he feels awesome.  I made the first run on him this past weekend in a year and he out ran my good horse!  But if he shows me the slightest bit that he doesn't want to continue then I will retire him.  But I had to give it one final try to see if he will hold up.  I feel your pain.  And I am sure you will do what you feel is best for both you and the horse.

fulltiltfilly - 2018-03-12 1:01 PM Have you tried more chiropractic adjustments? Some horses need regular adjustments. Not saying this will cure anything but you said she was sound for 2 months before showing sore again. 

horsegirl - 2018-03-12 11:44 AM

Thank you all for your suggestions. I tried to ride her yesterday and within 5 steps, I knew it wasn't good. I have always been able to feel it better than I can see it. I made it about 50 feet and then got off and lunged her instead to see her movement. At this time, she is barely walking sound under saddle. Now, on the ground with no rider, you cant really tell anything. 

TheDutchMan01 - 2018-03-12 1:19 PM What are you considering not sound at a walk? Does she just bobble isn’t it full out obviously lame? If she just bobbles some at a trot she could still make a trail horse. We have a mare that I tried to make a barrel horse out of...came up lame eventually and my grandpa took her as a trail horse. After a couple years she doesn’t limp anymore at a trot like she used to. He rides pretty regularly but nothing hard. Only goes camping a few times a year. Hopefully you can find some that could get some use out of her....