This message is from: Amy Goodloe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
At 6:14 AM +0000 5/18/05, Karen McCarthy wrote:
I have a very good vet clinic nearby that has a couple of excellent leg vets, and brand new state of the art equipment. Even with all of the bells and whistles, they could not detect the exact problem + location w/in her stifle and they usedÝa digital xray and then ultrasound. They concluded that it was back inside behind the (?) Ýligament
I know it's not always that easy, but at least with that kind of equipment you greatly increase your chances of finding what's wrong. Before we x-rayed my one mare's stifle, we actually did a nuclear bone scan on her (up at CSU), which in theory shows up any inflammation in the soft tissues or bone remodelling, and we learned from that test that the mare had a slightly twisted pelvis, possibly due to having torn a ligament during foaling. But the stifle problem didn't show up on that test, at least not enough for anyone to take notice, so either it didn't exist then or it just didn't show up. However, it seems likely that whatever injury was traumatic enough to injure the stifle may also be related to the twist in the pelvis; either both problems are the result of the same injury or possibly the twist in the pelvis is the result of compensating for the stifle injury. I guess we'll never know for sure.
I've had several other horses with mystery hind end problems that we never quite diagnosed, so I can relate to your frustration! One mare I bought at a sale because she was so nicely put together and had a great mind, and I figured I could retrain her "jog" into something approximating a dressage trot. Well, I came to find out that she had most likely broken her pelvis at some time in her youth and would never do more than jog. The vet could find some evidence of the fracture on a nuclear bone scan, but he also suspected some significant soft tissue damage deep inside the pelvis and that didn't show up. There is no good way, as of yet, to see really deep inside the pelvis structures, and yet they seem particularly prone to injury in horses. I had another mare who was hyper mobile in her pelvis, and the vets felt that was most likely due to a ligament injury while delivering a foal. Apparently that's fairly common.
They also sent me home w/ a tube of Surpass to apply topically to the area.
Have you found that to be effective? The mare I have with a bone spur in her stifle (and also a chronically irritated suspensory ligament) recently twisted her fetlock on the same leg. (Is it any surprise that she's part TB? I think they must be the most injury prone horses on earth!) The vet is going to inject her fetlock today and then wants me to use Surpass on the area. I haven't used it yet and am skeptical of its effectiveness, but maybe it works better than topical analgesics do in humans.
They reccomended i do a joint injection only if there was no significant improvement w/in the next 6 months. They said they would aslo like to 'scope the joint prior to an injection.
I've had great luck with having the vet I use do joint injections (without scoping them first), but I think that's his area of expertise. The mare with the bone spur in her stifle was REALLY sore in the stifle until he injected it, and the stifle pain has not returned. Now she just has a fetlock injury to contend with. Because she has three issues in the same leg, she's going to be a difficult one to ever heal. And yet she's a Second Level school master with a wonderful mind, so I'll keep trying.
I'm hoping my Fjords are less prone to injury than my other horses! --Amy
