Hummy came up lame on his left hind originally with a little filling at the fetlock and a slight lump on the S ligament. He was confined but within a week he hd further injured himself by getting cast under the gate! Grr he had ripped up his front legs lots of skin missing and swelling but all treatable without a vet. However he was also now lame on the R hind. Vet called rather inconclusive diagnosis but settled on either ligament or tendon damage and we would have to confine him in a smaller area and treat for the above. At hgue expense we now have a lovely field shelter/ 2 stables and a very small paddock we can fence off. This was Hummys confinement for the next 5 months. He hated, it and we had enormous problems keeping him from rearing and spinning and all the things he wasn't supposed to be doing. I kept him on calmers etc, legs in support bandages and was hand grazing him daily, tried lazer treatment on both ligaments since the right one had come up as well. However, the L ligament was still going up and down depending on how active he was. Time for a second oppinion and further investigation. He went in for a full leg work up, resulting in the right hock being xrayed and both ligaments scanned. He had damaged both ligaments, although the right one was well on the way to being healed but more serious he had damaged the right hock joint with a compression injury. There had never been any heat or swelling in the hock! He had lost a lot of cartilage between the joints of the bones which was causing him pain and was in danger of fracturing the bones. Not a good prognosis and I was left not knowing if I would ever have a rideable horse back at the end or just a paddock ornament. David the vet was fantastic and said he would get a second opinion on the prognosis and possible treatments. The best prognosis being that the bones would eventually fuse so we would lose some mobility in the joint but he may be able to be ridden. The outcome was that we should inject the joints with Tildren and something else that would slow the cartilage growth, kill the nerve endings to stop the pain and help speed up bone fusion.
the diag show arrows where the joint was injected and the shaded bits are where the cartilage was damaged.
Hummy was turned out into the main paddock to rest and be a horse again (much better for his mind) and he actually is resting much more than he was in confinement. The left ligament is healing now that he is no lnger favouring the right hock. We are now waiting for him to be exrayed again at the end of January to see what progress has been made. In the meantime I am limited to just checking out his yields in walk and hand grazing him whilst the others get worked to prevent him from belting around the field when he is left behind. His attitude has gone through a huge adjustment and he just has to bite and chew on everything and everyone, he is so bored. The grazing out helps him but at the moment everything is about food. I want my old Hummy back!
