[Spinnaker]

I went out to the barn tonight and noticed that one of my TBs didn't come over when I arrived in the barn. He always is there to say hi when I get there. I went across the pasture and noticed that his back legs were slightly stocked up, then I saw him walk.

His back right hind - he does not want to put a lot of pressure on it and if he takes about two steps at a time, he stops, and holds his back leg up as high as he can. He rests it regularly, but will stand with both feet down for a little while, then rest it again. Now we just had a super rainy bought, and I'm wondering he slipped and fell out in the pasture.

I picked his feet and there seems to be nothing sore there, other than being a little stocked up he wasn't sore in his lower legs. I rubbed him down to try and find where the tender parts were and it seemed to be in his hindquarters and down toards the back of his leg. I gave him some bute and rubbed him down with linament. If he's not improving by the morning, I will be calling the vet.

Does anyone have any other suggestions or thoughts on this one?

[Native Winds]

Slippage can occur esp when wet and icky out. Falls from slipping can cause twisting or stressing of the sacroiliac joint. This can also result in damage to the ligaments and cause lamness bilateraly and unilateraly. This is where the sacrum and the ilium join or come together and should not be mobile or extremely little movment in the area. (in adults the sacroiliac joint should not be mobile at all, and limited in horses that are not mature (like in 2 or 3 year olds) Its the tuber sacral tip that you will see on top that begins the croup area. The sacroiliac joint is located at the top of the rump just behind the lumbar region. The area will be tender to the touch and may include muscle spasms and the horse may show lameness in flextion tests. I would get a Vet out to take a gander at the horse to find where the problem lies. It may be he has strained himself a good one from a slip and just might need rest and pain releivers.
The horse may have also twisted the spine at the lumbar region or may have dislocated a hip joint (though usualy the hip is hard to dislocate resulting in breakage of the lilium before the joint dislocates.) It is rather uncommon for this to occur.

Fracture of the pelvis can be caused by blunt for truama like a fall on thier sides, falls in trailors and basicaly "doing the splits" or "spread eagle" with the hind limbs. "sprad eagle splits" usualy lead to acetabular fractures. In other words the acaetabulum is the Socket or the socket ridge of the hip joint and it can be fractured with such truama. Usualy unilateral to bilateral lameness occurs esp if fractures occur in both acatabulums. Pain in the area or associated muscle spasms may occur and of course pain and unwillingness to walk.

I would most definatly have a Vet out and he may instruct for the horse to be taken to a specialist clinic that can do x-rays, bone scintiography, ultra sound, etc. and the equpiment needed to manuver the horse about while sedated.
Sometimes with apelvic fracture the Vet can go in rectally and palpate the regions.

It may be nothing serious and not need any special tests done or what have you. I would still get a Vet out regardless.

I say the stocking up was due to the horse's unwillingness or inabililty to move about his surroundings keeping the blood circulating well.

[Spinnaker]

Originally Posted by Native Winds

Slippage can occur esp when wet and icky out. Falls from slipping can cause twisting or stressing of the sacroiliac joint. This can also result in damage to the ligaments and cause lamness bilateraly and unilateraly. This is where the sacrum and the ilium join or come together and should not be mobile or extremely little movment in the area. (in adults the sacroiliac joint should not be mobile at all, and limited in horses that are not mature (like in 2 or 3 year olds) Its the tuber sacral tip that you will see on top that begins the croup area. The sacroiliac joint is located at the top of the rump just behind the lumbar region. The area will be tender to the touch and may include muscle spasms and the horse may show lameness in flextion tests. I would get a Vet out to take a gander at the horse to find where the problem lies. It may be he has strained himself a good one from a slip and just might need rest and pain releivers.
The horse may have also twisted the spine at the lumbar region or may have dislocated a hip joint (though usualy the hip is hard to dislocate resulting in breakage of the lilium before the joint dislocates.) It is rather uncommon for this to occur.

Fracture of the pelvis can be caused by blunt for truama like a fall on thier sides, falls in trailors and basicaly "doing the splits" or "spread eagle" with the hind limbs. "sprad eagle splits" usualy lead to acetabular fractures. In other words the acaetabulum is the Socket or the socket ridge of the hip joint and it can be fractured with such truama. Usualy unilateral to bilateral lameness occurs esp if fractures occur in both acatabulums. Pain in the area or associated muscle spasms may occur and of course pain and unwillingness to walk.

I would most definatly have a Vet out and he may instruct for the horse to be taken to a specialist clinic that can do x-rays, bone scintiography, ultra sound, etc. and the equpiment needed to manuver the horse about while sedated.
Sometimes with a pelvic fracture the Vet can go in rectally and palpate the regions.

It may be nothing serious and not need any special tests done or what have you. I would still get a Vet out regardless.

I say the stocking up was due to the horse's unwillingness or inabililty to move about his surroundings keeping the blood circulating well.

Thank you. This is exactly what I was thinking. Yes, the stocking up is most definitely due to him just standing around. I am definitely going to give the vet a call and see when they can get out.

[Native Winds]

Better safe than sorry. Hopefully its nothing major and he will heal up well with time but then again it could be something more involved and its best to get the Vet out to take a gander. Keep us posted.

[Spinnaker]

Sorry I didn't get to update sooner.

Well the vet seemed to think it was a nasty strained muscle. He is on muscle relaxants and bute for a week and stall rest until he can bare weight on it. The vet also suspected an abcess brewing at the toe of the hind foot. The pain from the possible abscess brewing could be a result of the tight muscles in his hindquarters from the way he is moving it or could be something else entirely.

If he gets worse even on all the meds and rest or is not getting better, or if anything starts to swell, then the vet will be back out.

All in all better than I expected, so I'm a little relieved.

Thanks for all of your advice NW. It's always nice to get your suspicions confirmed by another horse person.

[Native Winds]

Strained muscles do take time to heal. Just keep an eye on him, monitor any changes, do what your Vet tells you to do. The abcess could be coincidental or directly related it can be hard to tell. When the weather is fickle like it is here it can contribute to enviromental change like dry soil to wet soil and back again. Sometimes this back and forth kind of thing esp if alot of wetness can soften the hoof horn (on sole and wall) and if he stepped on a stone or other object this can create a small opening in the horn and the bacteria that entered seals off the opening and then a nice abcess.
Abcesses are funny things and can cause a horse to be sound one minute then lame a couple hours later. Gravels are just migrating abcesses usualy in the toe, they are not caused by a migrating gravel as onced believed. They are caused by a breech in the white line where bacteria has entered and closed of the crack, and the abcess occurs between the sensitive and insensitive laminae. They can be very large, painful and a pain to treat. THey usualy follow the route of least resistance. So a gravel can begin at the toe and exit on the side of the hoof at the coronet band. I treated a mare than had a horrible gravel that was not migrating and the Vet had to drill two small holes through the outer wall of the front of hoof to release the preasure caused by the abcess. Goo of various colours oozed out of the holes. The horse imediatly was able to put pressure on the hoof to stand. Treatment went on for quite sometime and then the holes where kept stuffed with iodine laiden cotton balls and a peice of tape over top. As the hoof grew the holes eventualy grew out of the hoof wall. Abcesses have been known to travel all the way around a hoof and exit at the heel.. Those can be from the tiniest "gravels" and never be a lameness issue to monster sized abcesses creating alot of pain and misery untill they finaly exit at the cornet band and usualy cause a "blow out" to occur as the section of hoof grows. Then you have your sole abcesses. They can be hatefull and extremely painfull and usualy have to be released by a good Ferrier or Vet. The are developed the same way. The horse steps on something that creates minute crack or opening that bacteria can get into. It is then sealed off by the bacteria and the body goes into response developing pus to surround the bacteria then causes pressure and pain. Many horses with bad stone bruises can end up with abcesses. A bad sole abcess can migrate into the hoof capsule and can infect the coffin bone itself and the horse is usualy in very much pain. Once the abcess gets this deep it become harder to treat and can end up with a secondary problem with the coffin bone and can become systematic or blood poisoning. I have never seen it happen (thank God) but I have dealt with some extremely difficult abcesses. I have also dealt with blood abcesses (not true abcesses) due to damage done by laminitis.

Here is a picture of a very bad gravel. Note the length of the probe going into the top of the coronet band. I say this was a rather painful abcess.


Well I may have gone on to tell you more about an abcess than you realy wanted to know. Either way keep me posted about your horse's progress and hopefully he will get better with rest and some NSAIDS.

[Spinnaker]

LOL THanks NW. I don't think anyone can ever give too much info when it comes to knowing and understanding horses, especially medical information. I LOATHE abcesses!!! My other TB had a nasty one two summers back that had us out of work the entire summer and into a little bit of the fall. I'm hoping all of that won't happen with this guy.

He seemed to be responding to the MRs last night and was standing with the foot down, but it was forward to keep the weight off of it. I'm looking at that as an improvement even though it was so small. He's not so happy being on stall rest all of the time LOL, (who would be?) but he's still in good spirits, such a trooper.

I'll definitely keep you posted as he progresses. Thanks again NW!!!

[Spinnaker]

Well, I went out to change his wraps and soak his foot tonight and found a nasty oozing abscess at his coronary band. He's still off on it though, but I'm waiting to see what tomorrow morning brings and i'm going to ring the vet and let her know where it blew.

[Native Winds]

I bet he feels at least a little better. Keep things clean and try to encourage drainage of the pus and stuff. At least it came to a head and released. I will recomend a great product......Sole Pack patties. They come in individual patties that can be used as a drawing agent and also kill bacteria. They are easy to use and less mess. Its just an idea. IF he is still very sore in the next few days and not getting better the Vet might need to open up the area larger. The abcess could also be a byproduct from a bad step that caused him to have a "Pulled" muscle or it could be coincidence.
I am glad though that the abcess has released. Now the healing process to begin.

Keep me posted.

[Spinnaker]

Yeah, I'm a little worried. He was getting a little better, putting a little more weight, now he is back to three legged lame... I'm going to see what he's like tonight when i go back down hoping either another abscess popped or this one has drained more. I'm guessing I'm probably going to be talking with the vet more tomorrow again I am really worrying about the good leg now! Ugh! Poor guy...