Stifle and or Sacral injuries q's (sorry long)

[Nikiwink]

On sunday early evening my mare was playing silly buggers in her paddock in some wildish weather and managed to hurt her left hind.

She appeared initially just stiff at walk and trot (tracking short behind with both legs) on the lunge and then went onto 3 legs when cantering left (right was fairly normal).

So we visited the vet the next morning where she presented the same. No major obvious lamness (i could see the uneveness at walk) until cantered on the lunge. And then was noticeably more uneven both ways. Vet did a lamness work up and nerve blocked her hoof to confirm nothing there (dealing with some seedy toe and retained sole). Not heat or swelling anywhere.

So end result vet feels its either a stifle or sacral injury and mare is to be confined and on bute for 2 weeks then reasess. Since she was recommending this with either joint injury we opted to not nerve block further at this stage.

Mare today after 3 days of bute is still noticeably uneven at walk.

Assuming shes still lame in 2 weeks what would be the next steps?? More nerve blocks, untrasound the stifle?? Or just more time?? Money wise i have a limit but time i can give her (kept at home).

Any suggestions on treatments that might help??

Thanks.

[kande50]

On sunday early evening my mare was playing silly buggers in her paddock in some wildish weather and managed to hurt her left hind..

I'll be following this as my sister has a mare with similar symptoms that the vet thinks may be her stifle, and I have a mare who is also lame on her left hind. Mine is older so instead of having the vet out to try to find where it is we just retired her. Her history now though, is that after a year off she was a lot better so we started trail riding her again, and she was fine for 2 or 3 rides and then regressed.

Interestingly, my mare doesn't drop the hip on the lame side, but I think just shortens her stride overall to accommodate the lame one. In fact, I wouldn't even think she was all that lame if I didn't see her out there holding her leg up sometimes. She also has a hard time getting up, and arranges herself so that she can do it without using her left hind much, and then sometimes takes a couple really lame steps on it after she gets up. But she's not noticeable lame at the walk and trot, and chooses to trot in from pasture sometimes when there's no reason she needs to trot.

My sister's mare has been out to pasture for probably 10 years now, but she's still off and on lame on that one hind.

[Hayburner]

No recommendation - but, healing vibes coming her way..

At home I'd be massaging her everywhere to see if you can find an ouchy spot. If nothing, all you can do is wait to see what the vet thinks is the next best step to take in testing.

Fingers crossed that in 2 weeks she walks out of her stall - PERFECT !

[Nikiwink]

Thanks

Well drugs at least are making her feel too good
My normally very laid back lazy girl broke out of her electric yard last night and galloped around the house yard

I was up feeding the baby so put her back in a small paddock with a mate for the night. Thankfully she doesnt seem worse for wear. I've been fixing the fences today just need to check the electrics again when my oh gets home before i lock her back up.

[Flight]

My horses have had various lameness's from whatever cause and another, and I find I give 1 to 2 weeks of rest and then I panic (unless there is anything obvious like swellings and cuts etc). So keep fingers crossed and hopefully by 2 weeks time she is fine, and judging by the gallop around the yard she's probably starting to be. Good luck!

[Moutaineer]

I am currently dealing with a stifle injury (ACL.) We tracked it definitively by blocking the stifle, whence it became entirely obvious that the stifle was the problem. Ultrasounds and Xrays were all clear, but you can't see the ACL with them.

The lameness showed up slightly in the trot, but most noticeably in the canter with that leg on the outside. One day, he just didn't want to pick up the right lead canter out of the blue, which was very out of character for him.

We have been handwalking and very small paddock turnout (nothing that he can get any speed up in) for 2.5 months now. My vet, who is a sporthorse lameness specialist, was of the opinion that it would probably come good with rest and rehab, but it has a much greater chance of doing so with some help from stem cells or IRAP.

So, we have our first stem cell treatment today, which is expensive, but at the end of the day, if it works, less expensive than retiring and replacing the horse.

Laddie is walking sound and thinks he's fine. We haven't had him out of a walk for about 6 weeks. I don't know if the vet is going to want to see him go today before he injects him, we shall see.

We are looking at roughly 6-8 months rehab. (My vet said 4-6 months, but I tend to find he is a little over-optimistic about these things. And at this point there's no rush.)

As far as SI issues go, you'll tend to see them show up most as cross-firing in the canter. Rest will certainly help this to settle down. I have an old horse whose SI we have injected several times over many years to good effect.