JaysLeg1.TXT (Last Updated 7th
Nov 2006).
The following is a brief description
of the problem I am having with my horse’s leg.
I'd appreciate
any advice from anyone interested. Feel free to email me at vk4akp@yahoo.com.au
I have had
my appaloosa Jay now some 21 years. He will be 26 this year and I have had him
since he was 5.
Approximately
3-4 years ago while riding in Gatton he went down a broken Telstra cover along
the road that was covered by grass.
Although he
seemed fine for the 20 minute ride back, we soon realized that he had done
damage as he started to limp and his leg swelled up quiet bad the next day.
Unfortunalty
I was unable to get access to him for the following couple of weeks, at which
time I had him floated back closer to home where I treated his leg with a
`Uptite Poultice clay’ almost daily for some months.
Eventually
some 6+ months later he was again able to be ridden, but I found I had to use
the poultice clay especially after longer rides to reduce swelling. This
process repeated for some time but also improved with time. Within a year his
leg was once again stable.
The injury
left a slightly raised boney section on the inside of his leg about an inch and
a half long just above the fetlock.
Approximately
3 years later I started to notice a round boney growth just above but still
slightly on the fetlock on the inside of his front left white leg. (Same leg as
previously damaged).
I initially
thought nothing of it as it didn’t seem to affect him at all. Now some 3-4
months later he has started to exhibit a very slight lameness where every so
often he will drop off the leg in a walk as if something has pinched him. This
doesn’t seem to happen in either a trot or a canter. Also the lump has
increased in size.
I also
believe there is possibly some swelling in his fetlock but this is something
I’m not 100% sure of as his white leg (the damaged one) tends to look thicker
compared to the brown as the white hair seems to fluff out more.
Here are some points that might help with a diagnosis.
- For the last 3 or so shoeings I have noticed that he objects to the leg being pulled out away from the body to get access for rasping and nailing.
- When you swing his front left leg up towards his belly it tends to curve inwards more towards the opposite side of the horse. (It’s probably always been like this)
- When he stands, his front feet both point outwards slightly. This can be seen in some of the pictures.
- Today I led him down the road. I stood directly in front of him walking backwards myself as we went. I tried to sight where his feet were falling as he traveled. I believe his front left foot (The damaged one) tends to swing underneath him to the centre meeting up close to his rear right foot as he travels when the two hit the ground directly underneath him.
- Often there are blood or scab marks on the new boney growth.
You’ve possibly guessed at this point that I’m starting to wonder if he is collecting his front fetlock with the rear hoof as he runs.
It’s a question as to whether this is the problem, or whether the joint it’s self is flairing up again from the previous injury. Or possibly a newer injury.
At the moment I am doing the following.
- I have started Jay on Glucosamine.
- I have started using the Swell down poltus clay again daily. But giving him a break from it from time to time as it tends to ulcerate the skin where the damaged area is.
- I have removed his shoes and trim (round off) his hooves daily to try and slow down major breakouts of the hoof. He has very soft brittle feet. Partly from his breed, partly his age and partly the terrible dry spell we have had now for almost a year. The reason I am doing this is to see how his hooves wear naturally to try and releave any unwanted pressure on his joints by getting the flat of the hooves at their best angles that are shown to suit him through natural wear.
Things I would like to know more about. And also other idea’s.
-
An X-Ray would most likely give some good answers to
all this. But I assume they are expensive and possibly even rare in my area for
horses? (I’m located in
- I am wondering about corrective shoeing to possibly change the flight path of his feet as he run’s? If anyone can give me a quick crash course on where to trim differently to affect this I’d be interested to know more.
-
I will have to look into some sort of boot to avoid any
possible contact that may be happening. I’d be interested to know if anyone has
had anything to do with these magnetic boots that I see on EBay. Mainly from
- Any other good supplements etc that may help his joints and hoof growth.
- I’ve also wondered about extracorporeal shockwave therapy (ESWT). Does anyone have the necessary equipment near me? Also costs?
- Any other treatments that I am unaware of or other advice.
I’ve put together some pictures that can be viewed online at
http://www.qsl.net/vk4akp/photos/JayLeg/
They are compressed by 40% and in .JPG format. This still leaves them at around 200K+ each for pictures with mainly the one colour (His white leg) and around 400K+ for the ones with white and brown etc in them. Unfortunalty any further compression would cause too much loss in definition. For this reason they are a tad slow to load via dialup.
I tried to wet his leg down to show the effected area as best as possible. Unfortunatly I had to do this and take pictures at the same time and the leg tended to dry out and fluff up. The pictures that have the word `wet’ in their name show definition the best.
Here are all the files.
Directory of E:\PowerShot-A430\JayLeg
59 File(s) 21,690,066 bytes
Any advice / help appreciated.
Regards,
Ken .
[VK4AKP]
Email: vk4akp@yahoo.com.au
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