Suspensory ligament injury and low grade lami

So I didn't get antibiotics, going to watch it so long as it isn't bothering her and hopefully let her body take care of it. Rode out again bareback last night, she feels good, good enough to be joggy :) She is a good girl really, for her witchy bad parts she really redeems herself in other ways, 2 months 'box' rest (20x20ft pen), a few hand walks and then hop on bare back and take her out round the housing estate and she's foot perfect. A lady I know is in her 80's, keeps her horses/donks up the lane from us and worked with horses all her life, she commented on it as we passed her house :)
 
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The swelling came back a little Sunday, I started icing again yesterday and called the vet again today, got antibiotics and get there tonight and it wasn't so bad. Gave her the first dose of antibiotics but not sure I'll continue, vet thinks it could just be one of those swellings that take longer to fully resolve.
The bad bit, her feet are really sore again :( nothing has changed this week apart from starting a new bale of the same hay and I haven't walked her out since Sunday. I gave her a trim as she was due anyway, it improved her stride length and didn't make her sorer. Have left her in boots with pads tonight and shut her off the tiny scraps of grass she could reach and will see how she looks in the morning. Have again discussed shoes with the vet, I'm up for trying it if it will help, just going to give it a bit and see if another couple of things help, don't want to do too many things at once and not know what helps. I could scream or cry just now, I'm so frustrated and feeling useless.
 
Aw, lots of vibes. You are not useless, you do your best. Totally understand your frustration though. Lots of healing for her - and calm and soothing vibes for you - have a glass of wine and an early night ;)
 
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This sounds so frustrating for you.

I don’t want to start any agreement on here, so please take this as a genuine question and not the start of a fight.....but what is the theory behind shoeing her? Surely that will just mask any footiness? Can you not give her the cushioning she needs by continuing using the boots?

I hope you see a big and continuous improvement in her soon x
 
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Star the Fell said:
This sounds so frustrating for you.

I don’t want to start any agreement on here, so please take this as a genuine question and not the start of a fight.....but what is the theory behind shoeing her? Surely that will just mask any footiness? Can you not give her the cushioning she needs by continuing using the boots?

I hope you see a big and continuous improvement in her soon x
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Yep absolutely, I agree shoeing will mask the footieness, but it will also perhaps give her the chance to build some sole thickness and for us to get everything back under control. She has thin soles and some LGL (or is that just the thin soles being misrepresented, or is it actually a navicular problem?????) plus we are dealing with the need to do the rehab for the suspensory and what ever this fat leg is and it all seems to have conflicting needs o_O I could continue to use the boots, but she isn't the calmest in the field and I worry about her kicking up her heels (she is footy on hard ground but that doesn't stop her in the field) and skidding about in them especially when she has more space, and she needs more space to move for the fat leg..... it feels very much one of those 6 of one, half a dozen of the other situations so shoeing may just be a means to an end. Honestly I don't hold out much hope that shoes will help, 4 different types and 2 different farriers didn't last time, but if it does help us get over thins hump I'm happy to give it a shot if there is no improvement with the boots in the next few weeks :)
 
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Star the Fell said:
This sounds so frustrating for you.

I don’t want to start any agreement on here, so please take this as a genuine question and not the start of a fight.....but what is the theory behind shoeing her? Surely that will just mask any footiness? Can you not give her the cushioning she needs by continuing using the boots?

I hope you see a big and continuous improvement in her soon x
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Just replying from my own experience, Belle was ok in boots, fine on tarmac but footy on gravel, even with everything right for a bare foot horse, she just wouldn’t come fully sound on gravel and I couldn’t keep watching her being uncomfortable. Put shoes back on and she’s sound on every surface, now, you could argue that the shoes are masking a problem but for me without having the facilities or the time to properly rehab her barefoot and given her age and her arthritis I made the decision to shoe again at least for the summer, like @Jessey its a case of I need to keep her moving to stop her arthritis seizing her up, but to do that I need to shoe her. It was an easy decision for me, but I can totally understand why anyone would want to keep their horse barefoot.
@Jessey i hope you can find an answer, shoes even if only short term might give her chance to recover, but if she’s had lots of different ones in the past that didn’t help it’s probably not going to help. You know her and you know how she’s feeling and what you’re dealing with, fingers crossed you find a solution x
 
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Oh and just to @newforest because she was sore on gravel it was affecting her in the way she was holding herself, which in turn gave rise to muscle soreness and stiffness, another reason I put the shoes back on.
 
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I'm at a loss, fat leg significantly improving (just gave 3rd dose of ab's) and far less sore in feet today, yay (for now ;) )
 
Good news. Wonder I'd the ABs are working already or is it just coincidence? Wouldn't it be lovely if we knew the answer to these things?

BTW - not aimed at you because I know you know this already, but would just point out that it's not advisable to abandon a course of antibiotics before completion unless on medical advice - that's one of the ways AB resistance is created.

Out of interest are the ABs a type that Lyme Disease is sensitive to?
 
Bodshi said:
Good news. Wonder I'd the ABs are working already or is it just coincidence? Wouldn't it be lovely if we knew the answer to these things?

BTW - not aimed at you because I know you know this already, but would just point out that it's not advisable to abandon a course of antibiotics before completion unless on medical advice - that's one of the ways AB resistance is created.

Out of interest are the ABs a type that Lyme Disease is sensitive to?
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I've no idea but I'm going to finish out the course, it seems too convenient to be coincidence.
Sadly no, these ones won't do anything lyme, these are trimeds and lyme needs doxy or similar, that would have just been too convenient ;)
 
Fat leg again, I don't think I mentioned that the pastern on the other leg also swelled the day before yesterday, then went down with canon swelling yesterday, and has come back up with it today. All very odd, but I'll keep posting here as it's a good record :)
 
Jessey said:
Fat leg again, I don't think I mentioned that the pastern on the other leg also swelled the day before yesterday, then went down with canon swelling yesterday, and has come back up with it today. All very odd, but I'll keep posting here as it's a good record :)
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Yes good to have a record.
 
I'm not sure the antibiotics really did anything to help her leg, its still swelling mildly (25% of what the original swelling was) on and off, this morning was the last dose of the course.

I think I am going to ignore the swelling for a minute and focus on getting her feet better and hopefully once she's moving more (and in work) the swelling will sort itself out, she is currently in boots 23/7 which is keeping her comfortable and more mobile, I re-jigged the track on Saturday to give her more space without being able to get to much grass, in the hopes of helping the leg without hindering the feet.

I ordered a new balancer for her on Saturday in the hopes of improving the foot some more, and ordered Hoof Armor today to try and help protect and build more sole, and we should have the Lymes results from Cornell this week, if by this time next month she is not doing any better then I will have the farrier out again to talk shoes, but I saw him on Sunday and he still wasn't convinced it was going to be the best answer for her.
 
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Swelling stayed at 5% or less of original since the end of the antibiotics, until today :(
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Will call my vet as soon as its a reasonable hour, to find out what we do next as I can't ignore it when it's like that.
 
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