This message is from: Amy Goodloe <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
At 12:04 AM -0300 5/17/05, Susan Harrison wrote:
Hello all...thought I would attempt to write the "list" again. The last time, my posts did not go through (for some reason). I need some advice..... I have a friend with a three year old quarter horse gelding that got kicked in the area of his stifle. He is lame by times and the injury occured at least two months ago...maybe longer. What could have happened in there and has anyone had any experience in treating this injury? From what I can gather in an online search, it is very difficult for even a vet to decipher just what the injury might be. Suggestions anyone? She has tried to ride him and he pulls up lame, he seems to be ok for awhile and then gimpy for awhile.
She should have a lameness expert x-ray the area. It's not that hard to x-ray a stifle, if the vet has the right equipment. The lameness expert I use has a digital x-ray machine and he's done several stifles for me, very easily. One mare had a bone spur in her stifle and the other has evidence of the soft tissue being pulled away from the joint. They can also use ultrasound to look at the soft tissues. Use a lameness expert, not a regular everyday vet.
The treatment for both of mine was to inject the joint with anti-inflammatories and analgesics and then to start a process of stall rest for a few weeks, then hand walking ten minutes a day, working up to twenty to thirty minutes a day, then walking under saddle, and so on, all on a flat surface. The treatment will depend on the nature of the injury, however, and how long ago it occurred.
Probably the worst thing to do is to keep riding the horse without knowing for sure what type of injury it is, as that could just make it harder and harder to heal. If it were my horse I would confine him in a fairly small pen with a flat surface until I could have a lameness expert evaluate him, in the hopes of keeping it from getting worse. Being on pasture, esp. if it has hills, is probably not the best idea. I might also give the horse some herbal anti-inflammatories, like the powdered product called "Bute Substitute" or the liquid "BL Solution," as well as some MSM.
--Amy (who knows way too much about soundness problems, unfortunately)
