s cesnick

My wife has a 5 yr. old Morgan mare. I went out this mornign and noticed she would not come to me when I called for her. This is highly unusual. I went and found her and she wouldn't put any weight on her left rear leg. So, I checked her hoof and there isn't any problems there, nothing stuck in her hoof at all. I then tried to get her to come to her stall and she reluctantly finally put weight on it. She seems to want to keep all weight off of it.
I ran my hand all over her leg and there doesn't seem to be any sore spots that make her jumpy..
She likes to run and play with my two farm dogs, which she was doing yesterday, but it has been icy up at my place. I am thinking ( hoping) that she just fell on the ice or pulled a muscle slipping on the ice.

BTW-- yes, the vet was called and he gave my wife a anti inflamatory to give her.

Are strains common in horses. I know I slipped on the ice last year, I didn't fall but was lilmping around for a week.

Adam3291

Just make sure you don't hear no popping or anything like that when she walks, if nothing I would say she has pulled a muscle or something. I'm judging this from what I have seen in our beef cattle herd. Alot of times we will give the cattle LA200(Antibiotics) and Banamine(Liquid Tynoel) and they start to feel alot better and get around better.

annabelle

Use a hoof tester to put pressure on her sole. See if she is tender in the sole. Feel if she has any heat in her joints . May indicate inflamation and soreness. Give her some Bute for a few days to help with the soreness. If it doesn't go away. X-rays.

CD in NM

If you give your horse Bute (butazoladone/butazolidine) for a couple days, make sure you give her some gut bacteria (flora-probiotic). Bute is real hard on the stomach lining, next thing you know you will have a colic on your hands, take the time to give her a precautionary dose of flora, we use the flora for newborn foals, it has a higher percentage by volume of flora than just a probiotic-which has both flora and food for the flora. You should use this stuff after every worming, no weight loss from the chemo-like wormer.

Most horses when slipping on ice do take a fall OR pull a few muscles staying up on their feet. If you cannot feel any heat in the joints, try lifting the rear leg up by the toe, keeping it horizontal to the ground, toe forward. Once you get the leg up, about waist high to you, hold it for a minute or two. When you let it go, take it to the ground slowly as you can. If she is more lame on that leg after that, or pulls it back up from the ground, look up stringhalt in your vet book and put a poltice of clay on the mucsle where it shows the affected muscle in the pic of stringhalt. That is usually the one they pull when slipping on ice or slippery surfaces. Some times their hamstrings will also get sore when they slip a lot. We usually confine our horses when it is real icy to avoid this stuff. You can get clay poltice from just about any feed store or ag store. They work miracles on pulled muscles-yours too. It it is a wrappable area, wrap some celophane/saran wrap on top of the liquid clay, will help to heat it up more, relax the spasms, then the neuromuscular junction will quit mis-firing and reset to it's normal resting membrane potential-pain ans spasms happen when this continues to fire an electrical signal, doesn't get rest/reset, get's fatigured instead.

CD

s cesnick

CD in NM,

WOW ! most of that just went right over my head but I will try the lifting her leg thing in the morning. i did lift her leg this past evening to look at her hoof.

She seems to not to really want to bend her leg. She seems to want to keep it straight but will walk and put weight on the leg when made to do so.
( i had to get her to walk on it to get her inside and out of the cold rain)

Chrisreyn

First, if you had your vet examine it, I wouldnt try and second guess his opinion... its very hard to diagnose a lamness when you have the horse in front of you,let alone in a forum like this..

yes, sprains and pulled muscles are common, and rarely become a big issue when treated and given time to heal.

The only thing I would add is to keep her confined for two-three weeks so that the leg can rest and she doesnt excaberate the injury.. and follow your vets instructions...

s cesnick

Not second guessing my vet. But I only talked to him on the phone. he didn't examine the horse yet. She is confined in her stall now. And since the weather is supposed to turn ugly anyway, i think she wil be staying there for a few days. Hopefully you are right and all she has is a pulled muscle.

i guess we will know for sure once the vet comes to look at her.

crobtex

My paint stallion developed artheritis in the third bone in one front hoof a few years ago. We didn't figure out the problem until it was x-rayed. The hoof doesn't spread like the others due to him not putting as much weight on it and we had to stop using him for roping. Hope this is not your problem.

Spooler

She probably just sprained or pulled something. Take some linament and rub down her leg real good massaging it as you go. I have an older horse that can get really bent during a thunderstorm. After a storm I noticed he was limping on his left front leg. Took a good look and it was swollen. I wondered what in the heck happened looking around in his paddock I could see where he slipped down. I just rubbed it down 2 days in a row and he was all better. It has happend to him twice know. Hope she gets better. Just keep an eye on here and call the vet if she gets worse.

duddin10

My dad has quite a few cows and they sometimes develop hoof rot. They get some mud or other things in their hooves and it can sometimes become infected. The vet will clean out the hoof and give them some medicine. She could have also possibly cracked her hoof. In that case they would put some kind of boot on the hoof so it can try to heal but the boot will enable it to walk better. The hoof does not always heal back but it can sometimes. I may be wrong but those are 2 other possibilties.

annabelle

After speaking to the head tech for the Vet for the British Olympic Equstrian team (a "leg man"), and vets and trainers in the Western Performance area, they were all supised to hear that Bute would have any effect on the intersinal flora. While it is known to cause mouth and stomach ulcers, depending on method of administration, it does not effect the flora. Do what ever makes you feel warm and fuzzy.

halfpint23

Watch for an abscess....

Our Irish Draught stud is just getting over a sore foot - he took a slip, jumped ahead with his hinds as he was coming up, and nailed the bulb of the heel with a hind toe. Severe bruising, three-legged lame for days, and then finally it abscessed out above the coronet at the heel. I smelt it before I could ever see it!

We confined him to a (relatively) dry lot and bigger stall to get it healed up (it's mud season here!), flushing with hydrogen peroxide twice a day to keep the gunk from sealing the infection in. Once it begins to granulate out, you can use Nolvasan ointment on it to keep it from drying and cracking open again. Abscesses will sometimes recurr if they heal over too soon - something you just have to watch for.

Mule Skinner

I had a mule that did the same thing and it was his stifle, may want to see if that is not the cause of the problem. Look up at the top of the leg just below the hip area on the front of the leg compare both good and bad sides for diagnosis. Sounds like really should have the vet out. Happy New Year.

tbarbee1

This is a good thought but horses dont get foot rot like cattle


Bute really isnt any harder on horses stomachs than ibuprophin is on yours give the bute before she eats. THe food will help to get the meds into her body instead of sitting in the bottom of her stomach and eating on the lining.

It has been really icy here too I have a mare in the same situation she was farting around playing and tried to stop when she did she did the splits like a balarina and really pull her muscles possibly tore them. She is slowly regaining mobility after about a week. When she fell it sounded like she broke her leg. I imagine your mare did something very similar. Giving her bute is a great idea it will reduce inflamation and help with the soreness I would give her two grams in the morning when you feed her.

tbarbee1

S Cesnick how is she doing??