[1rish]

Scenerio:
1. we know the horse has arthritis but up until this point glucosamine IM has managed it.

2 weeks ago mare comes in from pasture and left front shoe is gone. (very strange as she is done every 4 weeks and has NEVER thrown a shoe.)
The next day about 20 minutes into our dressage lesson she takes 2-3 off steps on her Right front. We don't push it and decide not to jump her that day but it doesn't seem like a big deal.
She goes sound and I ride her all week as normal on the trails and even jump her during our lesson. 2 weeks later while doing arena work after about 20 minutes of warmup she once again takes 2-3 off steps on her Right front (remember she threw her left shoe)
Trying to be safe than sorry I take her to the vet. She is is flexing HOT in the right fetlock. We start blocking at the navicular and work our way up and it is presenting in the fetlock joint. Do 6 xrays and the vet seems to think it is arthritis progressing.
We inject steroid into the fetlock joint to reduce inflamation.
I return for a follow up visit 3 days later. She flexes negative in the joint but is still off at the trott in a circle but but warms almost completely out of it. (this is strange because up until 3 weeks ago we never had front end issues) There was about a 33% improvement over three days. Vet seems to think that there may be some corrosponding soft tissue damage as the joint capsol is now flexing pain free. We start her on Legend IV and he says to hand walk for 3 weeks to be on the safe side. He also starts her on accupuncture.
I have dropped a ton of money into this mare and we are trying to do this the most economical way we can. I think that because the lameness came on so swiftly and acutely that it may have something to do with how she pulled her front shoe.
Would you pay the additional money to have the leg ultrasounded or would you wait it out and see.
As of Friday the mare was serviceably sound and only presented in a 10 meter circle.

What would you do?

[Ryle]

Yes, I would recommend having an ultrasound. In the long run it may very well turn out to be the most economical way to handle the situation because without a thorough evaluation of the amount of soft tissue damage there is you could waste alot of time with stalling, hand-walking etc and think it had been long enough only to find that she goes lame again as soon as she is returned to work and you have to start the rest and rehab all over again.