Saturday, October 27, 2007

Today's Observation

As I was walking Kaswyn today I noticed that his left front fetlock wasn't flexing as much as it should when he put his weight on it. It was flexing much less than the right front, which was adequately absorbing the shock and weight of his stride. This would make Kaswyn flat on the left because the pastern/fetlock joint would be stiff and less flexed than it should be, thus making it harder for him to push off and get suspension from it. Think about if you tried to jump in the air without first bending your knees. It would be pretty hard to get much upward movement.

So what could this mean? I'm thinking most probably arthritis, due to the fact that it looks like a joint problem and not a muscle issue. Or it's possible that he has always moved that way on the left front and I just never noticed it, which means that he's got some other issue. The good thing is that we have many, many x-rays from last year to compare to new ones if needed.

I know I just need to wait and see what happens, but it's hard not to over analyze. It's also hard not to worry. Keep your fingers crossed for me that this will end up being no big deal.

7 comments:

Unknown said...

So sorry to hear this! :(
Is there any swelling around the pastern joint (at the back? anywhere?)
Could it be some sort of damage to one of the branches of the superficial digital flexor tendon? strain of one of the oblique sesamoidean ligaments?

I m keeping my fingers tightly crossed that all goes well and it is just a minor strain!
W.x

Dressage Mom said...

So far I don't see any swelling or heat anywhere. I haven't had the vet out yet so I don't know what might be going on in there. Since it's the left front it could be something associated with his navicular, but he's not moving on it the same way he did before he was nerved.

And I'm not even sure it's something going on with the left front anyway. He might have always moved like that and I just never noticed it. I'm just hoping that two weeks of rest and meds will fix whatever is the problem. If not it looks like more vet bills! Whee!

Beckz said...

I really hope that this will be a very short-lived problem- like say a week. You have already had it so rough.

EquineSpirit said...

((HUGS!!)) and I hope it's not a big deal!

Lil Kate said...

I'll be hoping along with everyone else that it's nothing serious. :(

Rising Rainbow said...

Have you thought about adequan? Dandy is getting to that age too and my vet kept suggesting adequan or legend. I kinda drug my feet because it's expensive and I hate to be shoving things at them that they really don't need.

BUT I finally took the plunge when I did some research on the product and found it's geared towards arthritis. It helps keep fluid in the joints and they claim helps to stop further damage from arthritis. So I bit the bullet and tried it. It's a series of seven shots given 3 to 4 days apart. That can hold for six months to a year.

By the time I gave the third shot, I was beginning to see improvement. Dandy has that issue from the EPM that I have been working on for years. Since the adequan injections, I've made more progress that I made in two whole years. It's definitely worked for Dandy.

Dressage Mom said...

I used to have Kaswyn on Legend, but stopped it while we were trying to figure out exactly what was wrong with him. I was giving it once a month for a while, but then dropped it back to once every 6 weeks. I thought it made somewhat of a difference, but nothing dramatic. I figure I will have to go back to that at some point, but before I do I want to make sure that there isn't some other problem that I'm missing.

 
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