So, my horse has been having ongoing lameness issues for about 8 weeks now and I finally got x-rays done on her. It wasn’t good news.
The vet took her out and lunged her, she was sound, they lunged her for about 10 minutes, varying in direction. Sound, then they stopped her for a minute while the vet felt over her legs, they went to walk her back up to the barn…dead lame. They then flexed her and found signifigant soreness in both front fetlocks. Took her up and x-rayed her and they found signifigant arthritic changes in both front fetlocks, a bone spur on her pastern…and her one sesamoid in her left front was severely degenerated, not a good thing.
If anyone knows anything about sesamoid degeneration and the prognosis for it I would be extremely grateful. I haven’t spoken to the vet yet, but what I’ve heard from my mother, who works for the vet is that Melody’s jumping days are over. This was an extreme blow since jumping is where her talent lies…she was bred to be a steeplechaser, obviously she didn’t get there seeing as I’ve owned her since she was four years old. She was supposed to get injections in her fetlock today but I haven’t heard anything so don’t know if the medication even arrived.
I brought the x-rays to work with me today where my boss, an equibe orthopedic surgeon took a look. He didn’t tell me much, I’ll have to ask him more tomorrow, but he did say that the sesamoid degeneration was from an old injury…most likely from her racing career. He said that the injury had been exacerbated and told me that if it was up to him he would put her in a stall for a minimum of eight weeks and then see how sound she is. I didn’t ask him what he thought of her future as a jumping horse but it sounds like he’ s thinking, rest her and then we’ll see what happens. I’ll have to ask him tomorrow what he thinks of her future career.
So I’m trying not to count my chickens before they are hatched but as I’m sure you all know that when it comes to your own horse it is almost impossible not to. I’m already thinking of how I’m going to have to find a place to put her…I’m not spending $500/month to have my horse SIT in a stall. I’m also looking for some way that I can afford a new horse…I’d still go the ex-racehorse route, I’ll most likely go through canter and get one off the track for $1000 or under and go from there. Now I just have to wait…I hate waiting.
Poor Melody. I hope she recovers well, and can be happy jumping again.
On the plus side, it’s good that you know now, rather than finding out later when she breaks something, or is 3-legged lame for 6 months. Good luck finding cheap stall board (something I’ve been hunting for for ages), and a new pony! I’d sell you mine, but I need to recoup some of the money I’ve spent on her. (She does love jumping, though)
That’s awful… I know how frustrating it is when stuff like that happens. My first TB had been off the track for probably 4 or 5 years when I bought him as a 8 or 9 year old and a year or so before I sold him he started doing the same thing. He’d warm up fine but as soon as we went to do any “real” work he’d come up lame and I’d have to get off and put him up. That went on for a month or so and then we did the whole full work-up. Luckily, it was just arthritis for him. We put him on glucosamine (sp?) and he went right back to being a 3’ hunter/jumper. Last I heard a couple of years ago he was still a successful hunter school horse at age 16. So there’s hope that with proper management Melody can go back to doing what she and you love. Even if she can’t jump as high, maybe there’s a possibility she could be a school horse and teach new riders how to jump over small jumps or something?
Good luck with her and finding a new horse. I’m pretty sure my next horse will be my 3rd off-the-track TB (though the first one was totally retrained when I got him, so I’m not sure that counts). I don’t know if I’ll be gutsy enough to go the Canter route, but I guess we’ll see once I can afford board. I totally got spoiled with my parents having a barn on our property growing up.
Well I found out a bit more about Melody’s injury, the news is a bit more encouraging than it has been.
Apparently the vet student who told me that her sesamoid is degenerated to the point of not being there was mistaken, the reason the sesamoid was missing was because of her toed in state, the angle of her legs made part of the sesamoid not appear on the x-ray, so that is better news.
I talked to my boss who is also a vet, most importantly his specialty is in orthopedics. I asked him about her future career and he said that it depends on how well she responds to the stall rest. The vet who took the x-rays also told my mother that her jumping again is not out of the question.
I asked my boss and he said that what happened was she had old injuries to her sesamoids from her racing career that obviously were then predisposed to arthritis which has developed, but along with it she re-aggravated the injury which is why the lameness has become more prevalent.
I’m going to see the vet who actually took the x-rays and have her show me everything since I have yet to SPEAK to HER about Melody, all the information I have gotten from this vet has been through other people.
So it looks like there is some light at the end of the tunnel. I am also going to see if the BO at my barn would be willing to let me do self care board i.e. I buy grain, hay and bedding and do her stall in exchange for a smaller fee for board, I’d rather not spend $500/month just to have my horse sit in a stall.
So my boss told me to take her out and jog her in 4 weeks and see how she is, if she’s sound, it will be a very GOOD sign.
That sounds great! Hopefully she’ll handle the stall rest well and come out of everything like a champ. Seems like there’s quite a bit they can do to keep our ponies more comfortable and productive these days. Good luck reaching the actual vet for information… I can imagine that’s frustrating (especially if it were my parents… my dad would remember what the vet said, but not understand what he was repeating, my mom would be sort of half-making it up to hide that she doesn’t remember what the vet actually said verbatim ).
I hope she recovers well, and can be happy jumping again.
(She does love jumping, though)
Hopefully she’ll handle the stall rest well and come out of everything like a champ. Seems like there’s quite a bit they can do to keep our ponies more comfortable and productive these days. Good luck reaching the actual vet for information… I can imagine that’s frustrating (especially if it were my parents… my dad would remember what the vet said, but not understand what he was repeating, my mom would be sort of half-making it up to hide that she doesn’t remember what the vet actually said verbatim