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Amy,
I'm not a vet, but I would question his recommendation to start your mare back to work while she's still hurting.  My husband's Paso Fino had a similar injury a couple of years ago.  He knows the exact step it occurred, when the horse caught his foot on a root.  Lameness in a front leg (I think it was the left). Pretty easy to see at first, but within a couple weeks it "appeared" almost healed.  However, we'd taken him in for an ultrasound...nothing was seen, but the vet suggested a check ligament injury, which he said is sometimes difficult to see on ultrasound. 

Here's what he suggested for the best healing (this was Texas A&M).  Confine the horse for 3 or 4 weeks (I can't remember which).  Then start back with a week or two of handwalking.  Then very short rides at a walk (15 min) for a week.  Increase to 30 minutes.  Add in a bit of trotting/gaiting.  Gradually continue to increase work load.  If all went well, look to try an LD perhaps in February at the soonest.  The horse was injured in mid-October, and Ross did his first comeback LD on him in April.  That was a couple months more conservative than the vet recommended, but we missed a ride the previous month...and Ross wanted to add a month to the vet's recommendation.  The horse has been fine since. 

I guess what I'm trying to say is, time spent now will reap you years of benefit down the road.  If you try to bring your mare back too soon, you risk having a nagging lameness that may keep cropping up.  You just can't beat a good dose of Tincture of Time.

Dawn in East Texas
 

On 10/16/06, Amy Martin <amymartin@xxxxxxx> wrote:

My mare was pulled from a CTR 3 weeks ago from a sudden onset lameness
several miles from the end.  She was going along great then after resting at
a stopping point was quite lame.  Ride vet thought stone bruise but when
back to the trailer she swelled up with heat at the top inside right below
the knee of her right front.  Started ice and hosing and wrapping and when
my vet saw her Tuesday she could find no evidence of tendon or ligament
damage but said to lay her off 3 weeks then start back slowly.

It is now 3 weeks later and she seems sound walking around the pasture so I
took her in for a recheck. She was still grade one lame with the front right
leg on the outside of a circle. He said this plus my description of where
the swelling had been may indicate suspensory or check ligament issue. He
also said my description of how she was most sore after standing still and
resting and worked out of the soreness when moving at the CTR also suggested
soft tissue issues rather than joint or bone. Her X-rays looked good except
for mild bone spurs in her knees that he said were not the problem today but
something to keep an eye on. Her ultrasounds were clear too, everything the
proper size and no lesions or swelling. She also did well with flexion tests
and hoof testers and manual manipulation.

Sooooooo, and this kills me, he said to take her home and start her back to
work. He said there was nothing definitive to suggest a cause to her pain,
that she may be stiff and sore in that soft tissue area from the time off.
That healing the area would take movement and gradual loading to keep it
stretched and limber. He said that if I started her slowly back under saddle
her lameness should get better. If it got worse to bring her back in and
keep working her until my appt so that she would be hurting when she came in
and then maybe we could diagnose her.

Has anyone had a similar experience, I don't want to break my horse, am
hoping to ride her for years to come.  She is a 6 yo paso fino in her first
year of competition.  At the ride she was a flatland Houston horse at a
rocky and mountainous Oklahoma ride (and it was rainy).


amy





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