This message is from: Amy Goodloe [EMAIL PROTECTED]
At 6:14 AM + 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
