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HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Lameness » Diseases of the Hoof » Navicular Disease / Chronic Heel Pain SynDrOme »
  Discussion on Lameness in RF
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New Member:
alana767

Posted on Thursday, Jan 29, 2009 - 12:14 am:

hi. okay Ill try to some this. I have a 4 yr old ottb. About 6 weeks ago he became lame in his RF. (has never had any issues in the front before) Didnt look so bad inside on decent footing but as soon as he was turned out or walked outdside he would stumble alittle and head bob slightly at the trot. alittle heat around the inside top part of the hoof under and around cornet band. thought he was going to absess. soaked everyday, polticed and turned out for a few hours every couple days. a couple weeks passed. no improvement. called the vet. She came out thursday (2weeks ago) and did a nerve block and soundness improved 90% took xrays. xrays showed what she thought could be a chipped navicular. called back a few days later and said she had another vet look over the xrays and she really doesnt think its a fracture and that the xray showed calcification meaning probably soft tissue trama. She said her best guess would be the impar ligament. Natural balance shoes were put on alittle over a week ago now with a wedge to raise the heel. Stall rest for another 2 weeks atleast preferably 3. and 20 minutes a day hand walking. Went to see him last night and the heat on the hoof seems almost twice as much as before. I called and left a message hopefully Ill get a call back tomorrow. this worries me. Does that mean its getting worse? Also, would you think 3 wks rest is enough for this kind of injury? Last year a friends horse had something simmilar happen and was inside for months. Just wouldnt want to turn him out too soon and have him reinjure it. I dont really know too much about this so Im sorry if im giving you information that is hard to understand. but any suggestions and advice would be sooo much appriciated. thanks so much
Alana
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jan 29, 2009 - 8:49 am:

Welcome Alana,
To answer your direct questions: Increase heat without increase lameness is probably not significant. How long it takes for injury to a ligament to get well will depend on the severity but it is always important to remember this is a conjectured diagnosis and not all that firm. If waiting to see if this is going to get better is not where you want to be my best advice at this time is to get a second opinion from someone capable of further diagnostics so that you can nail down the diagnosis a bit. For more on this see Diseases of Horses » Lameness » Localizing Lameness in the Horse.
DrO
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