Monday, June 16, 2014

The Waiting Game Continues

On the Chance Front This Time

Scott came out to shoe on Saturday.  He had consulted with Dr. Klayman on Chance's lameness and was well prepared for the shoeing job.

This was Chance's first shoeing with me....not sure if he was ever shod before. Scott does hot shoeing, so that can be a bit scary, but after an initial flinch, Chance was fine.

Not quite so for the nailing. He was clearly uncomfortable as the hammer rapped on his feet. At one point, I thought he was going to go down.  He was only being shod in the front, but he dropped down on his hind end. It was really a disturbing reaction.

But he tried hard to be a good boy. The most upsetting moment was when Scott tried to rasp his right hind foot. He finally had to give up because Chance simply could not stand comfortably long enough for him to do it.

Now why?

The change in his front feet with the shoeing and pads was quite a bit. The left hind leg is the one that's had the chronic off and on lameness. Could be.

Or is it something else?

Scott mentioned Lymes disease and I had wondered about that before. As I recall, Dr. Klayman did not think it was likely, but at this point, I think it's worth having a blood test done.

I lunged him for about a minute today and he really didn't even want to trot. But when he did he was pretty short strided. Again, there is a substantial change in both his angle and the fact that he has shoes on, so it could take a while for things to settle down. At the moment I am still worried, but again, I have to be patient.

At least on these hotter days, the Boys don't seem to want to run around too much. Just hanging out in the stalls with the fans seems to suit.

4 comments:

  1. Anonymous11:31 AM

    Use the Cornell Lyme test . . . but then you know that already I expect. Hope you get things figured out.

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  2. I guess it will take time for him to get used to having shoes. They most likely feel strange to him. Hope they help though.

    I don't think it's unlikely that he might have Lyme's. It's prevalent in the Northeast. All of our horses have had it more than once no matter where in the state they were living. I'd get the test, it can't hurt and at the very least it rules out one scenario. Good luck. Hope you're feeling better too.

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  3. that's not right, even if it's the first time he's been shod (hot or otherwise) to sink down like that... i'd be questioning the overall diagnosis, i think....

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  4. Anonymous8:19 PM

    Difficulty handling/picking hooves, I've found, is also one of the early signs of EPM, and odd lameness can be as well. You may want to consider the Pathogenes ELISA test - which is definitive, unlike the older Western blot which only indicates exposure. Also, co-infection with Lyme and EPM can happen - Pie had that.

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