posting for a chatter Hi chatters, can you please put yourself in my position for a minute and please tell me honestly what you would do. I have had my beautiful 13yo TB gelding for 4 years now and a few months ago he went lame for the first time after a bash to his leg/hip area with a strange swelling on the hock which seemed to cause no pain, I called the vet out had him box rested on bute and then field rested on bute and without and he was still lame. The lameness was narrowed down to the hock joint on his near hind so the next step was ultrasound scans and x-rays. The scans showed no soft tissue damage but the x-rays showed an unusual jagged area on the hock below the unusual swelling. The vet spoke to a surgeon who was prepared to perform what was described as experimental surgery on the hock (for his interest mainly to see what the outcome would be) but stated it was highly unlikely to mean a full recovery and obviously would incur a lot of box rest etc. The surgeon confirmed what the vet said, the swelling is from the tendon fluid he also said that in effect what the jagged bone is doing is fraying the tendon which runs directly over the top. He described the pain of it to be like wearing a pair of sharp shoes with a blister, it is unlikely to rupture the tendon beneath but will cause discomfort every time you move. Obviously no amount of pain killers will fix this as the area of tendon will deteriorate even while being masked by pan relief meaning he will need more and more to stay out of pain, and will never appear sound. This is obviously not a decision I am taking lightly, this boy has been my pride and joy for 4 years and I want to do right by him but I suppose I want reassurance that what I am doing is correct. Thankyou for reading.
Posted on: Tue, 30 Sep 2014 17:53:57 +0000