Thursday, June 9, 2011

Situation: Much More than Slightly Lame

Tommy's last dose of Bute was Monday morning.  On Tuesday evening he was stiff, but worked out of it in the barn.  I wasn't able to get out Wednesday night.  Today the Bute must be fully out of his system, because he was undeniably limping.

When I went into his stall he was not bearing much weight on it, and turned very slowly and painfully to limp out of the stall.  I walked him down to the cross ties and he wasn't working out of it.  He was obviously more uncomfortable on the concrete in the tie area, and kept lifting his hoof and re-adjusting his weight.  Anita and Bill observed while we did an up and back in the barn aisle.  Normally Tommy would have worked out of it by now, but no such luck.  There is some heat in both front legs, but I couldn't feel anything in the hoof.  His legs are so lumpy and bumpy, that I'm not confident that I could pinpoint a new bump unless it was very dramatic.

I put him back in the ties and we all stood around and stared at him for awhile, hoping for an epiphany, but none came.  So outside he went to see if he'd work out of it again by evening.  Looks like there's another vet appointment in our future.  I can't stop obsessing over what the problem is.

1.  Is it the ring bone/side bone?  If so, why is it flaring up now?  He's been stalled practically all winter and I've never noticed anything other than the occasional stiffness until this.

2.  Is it the new reset of his shoes?  I noticed the lameness 7-8 days after he was re-shod.

3.  He was moved to a larger pasture, but I don't recall the date.  Maybe he was goofing off and injured himself?  

4.  Is it the light riding we've been doing?  Truly it hasn't been much, just walking around for 20-30 minutes.

5.  Is he re-abscessing?  I've cleared out the original abscess hole and there is nothing there to indicate infection again, but could he have a new one?  I can't see the bottoms of the hoof to check since the shoes and pads are on.

6.  Is the thrush causing that much pain?  I've been using a syringe to put the Koppertox into his heels and under the pads of his shoes.

Or....is it Aliens?




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