Horse Lameness

Dr. Teskey,

I am not a vet and I know you are a very busy doctor. I live in Atlanta and have an 11 year old TWH who has been lame off and on for a year. I have read a lot of your articles this week and have not been able to find a vet in the Athens, GA area that has your philosophy.  Although holistic medicine in conjunction with traditional medicine is making some in roads here. Two and a half years ago or so Zane was being trimmed in the "natural trim " paradigm. 

A year and three months ago he almost exploded {unlike his personality} and went lame. He was diagnosed at that time with moderate intermittent upward patellar fixation {R>L} and right femoropatellar synovitis. At that time the lameness specialist convinced me to apply 3/8 " flat rim pad to thoracic shoes to improve Zane's topline with Rockers on the pelvic shoes.

His condition in my opinion has deteriorated and is now chronic with regard to his stifles. The lameness specialist has stated the only thing that will "fix" him at this point is cutting his inside ligaments on the stifle joints.  Honestly, I am horrified by this assessment.  He will never again be able to rest while standing.  I currently changed from full board {stall} to paddock board 24/7 with both my TWH's and I can't imagine Zane would be relaxed enough to lie down and sleep much at night even with Mac, the sentinel, with him. 

Zane all the while has been getting hill-work, exercise, chiropractic sessions, massage therapy, hock injections with HA/steroid combo and had three acupuncture sessions. In the end he is tripping more, forges with each step and there seems to be a complete disconnect between his feet and legs and his brain. Pete Ramey has agreed to take over hoof trimming.  As for the stifle issue, am I being overly dramatic to think think of this procedure {cutting ligaments} as being too radical with negative "side effects"?

Exchanging one group of problems for another possible group {exhaustion, possible arthritis, anxiety} seems counter productive.  I've made mistakes with Zane and I sure would hate to make another one.  Do you have any articles about stifle problems and subsequent pelvic issues?  I am still searching the net.

Many regards and Admiration for your resolute philosophy, despite some fallout you may get from those not ready to contemplate a new way.

Looking for Answers, Renee


Hi Renee,

 

This patellar problem you're describing is most often due to poor conditioning/poor muscular tone and function in the upper hind limbs (quadriceps muscles especially).  Allowing the horse freedom of movement in a pasture situation and/or increasing conditioning exercise to strengthen these muscles (and the whole body) has been curative in every horse I've dealt with that had this problem.

 

The surgery is a temporary and wholly inadequate fix for these horses.  They develop arthritis and patellar (knee cap) fractures later on due to the instability in the joint caused by cutting this important tendon.

 

There could be a neurologic problem as you hint at.  If this is causing loss of muscle tone and development, I suspect you may be unable to get reasonable healing.

 

How fortunate for you to have Pete work with you on this horse.

Dr. Tom