What is wrong with her?!

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

Guys, really hoping someone can help me. I have posted three videos here.

1 - This was my mare at the start of summer. I immediately put her on a lami diet and had her at the vets. He, without touching her body at all, said its laminitis and tested for cushings (negative). I was not 100% sure but..they are the professionals. After a while with zero improvement i sought a second opinion.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v714/heatcomm/th_88496413-26B3-4D7C-B50C-AEC500CCD6DB_zpswblqmnad.mp4

2 - This is the mare after a visit with the second vet who just did flexion tests and ruled out lami (no pules, no hoof pain or heat, no other symptoms) I personally think she looks marginally better. They said that the pain is in her hips, and that it is more than likely arthritis or something like a trapped nerve.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v714/heatcomm/th_61DD5571-404B-4BAD-A544-9C8A3EBF8E52_zpsetwehanp.mp4

3 - This is after a professional chiropractor had a go at her. He said she was very tense all over her body and really would not relax her back end at all. He said her hips need to be stretched out with walks and her pasterns need to be strengthened with backing her up and hills etc.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v714/heatcomm/th_D636D44F-44DE-4350-85AA-6CDE7DFE5C0D_zps7ydvf2s2.mp4

Personally i think she looks just as sore but walking in a different way. Running out of ideas? I also notice that she seems very reluctant to bend her hocks, at all. Even when picking up her feet she will stretch the leg out straight. Maybe the issue is actually the hock?

 

[Minimor]

First one'-could be laminitis, though it is hard to tell at that angle. Video really need to be directly from the side, with her walking a straight line, not constantly on a turn and from such an upward angle.

Noq--please realize that laminitis, or any pain in the front legs, will lead to stiffness in the whole body --it can even make the horse look sore on the back end. Of course with a bad bout of it they may actually be sore in the hind feet as well as the front.

I am not convinced that stocky built minis respond to flexion tests the same way a full size horse usually does. Some minis (not saying all so dont junp on that) tend to be stiff/lack flexion in their hocks anyway, without there being anything actually wrong. It is just the way they are made.

Can you turn her out in a corral and get some videos there, walk and trot? Right from the side, more at her level.

 

[chandab]

Unfortunately, all I got were thumbnail pics that wouldn't open. She looked like she had lost a little weight in the last picture. Hard to tell anything else with pictures looking down on them, it tends to make them all look awkward (at least to me).

Minis are prone to IR (insulin resistance, similar to Type 2 diabetes), so while she may have tested negative for Cushing's she could still have IR, which is managed with a low carb balanced diet (probably about what your lami diet is). Unfortunately, many professionals lump Cushing's and IR together, and while they are both metabolic diseases, they are not the same and are not treated exactly the same. Cushing's is managed with medication and a low carb diet can help; IR is managed with diet, and the diet is a must.

 

[Marsha Cassada]

How old is she? There was a recent post about a mare with problems during her cycle. Do you notice anything cyclic about her movement?

Did the chiropractor have any explanation why she was tense in the hind end? That seems to me to indicate physical discomfort of some kind. Do the hooves tell you anything, such as uneven wear? Separation?

My boy has arthritis and bone spurs, found by xray. He was wearing his back toes off. The chiropractor had commented on the arthritis earlier. After he had been on Adequan and getting relief of the arthritis, the chirpractor said his hips were way off, due to a change in his gait.

 

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

Minimor - This is her on sand:http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v714/heatcomm/th_FF1EDB0C-3BB6-4715-812E-A81F9B26453A_zps7n7vwgp6.mp4

Chandab - have been ringing my vet every week or so to get an insulin test booked. He doesnt pick up or respond to texts (other vet in the area is race horses and wouldn't entertain a mini)

Marsha - When she is in season she DOES tend to walk a little more like a constipated duck as i say (and she is due in or already in season now which would be the 3rd video) shes 16 now. i havent seen the farrier in ages, he is the type who shows up and leaves a bill lol the chiro said she just would not let him exteend her legs out - she just fights it. even hoof picking, she will either fight it or put the leg out straight like a cat stretch.

 

[Bess Kelly]

So -- I just want to comment that one issue CAN create another. Laminitis they walk differently and compensate their gait with use of other body parts/muscles.

Since they cannot "talk" to all of us here's a perfect example from one who can talk -- me

Not long ago I injured my knee, pulled/ripped tendons, maybe more. Anyway, in stabilizing that injury, I did walk differently to compensate for possible pain & possible additional injury. Soon my ankle & upper foot was sore -- compensation for different gait -- and after a couple weeks, even my back on that side -- core compensation for balance.

SEE.......so many times we have several issues due to the first. Apply this personal listing of feelings to your horse. Often healing of the initial issue will then allow better movement, slowly to retrain those compensating muscles, etc, will eventually lead to full recovery. And, I'm still very cautious of my knee as some movement does bring it to my attention!! Slow, careful movement is helping to rebuild those sore, healing areas -- including the one in the brain.

We animals are all the same.

 

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

Yeah I agree but it's hard to know now if she's in pain from lami or just memory of pain from lami.

 

[lucky seven]

Did your vet do exrays? They would rule out rotation with the laminitis. On the pavement she looks ouchy and stiff to me.

 

[Ridgerunner]

Does anybody know if Bonnie Fogg is still doing readings? If she is, that'd be my first call. Many times Bonnie can tell exactly what the horse is feeling. She's helped me out a few times in the past. Love her!

 

[chandab]

Bonnie's website is still up, so I'll guess she's still at it.

 

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

Is she a communicator or soemthing?

No no xrays were done cause the vet was sure it was lami and it would be expensive way of telling me that is what it was. I'm looking into them now though, but i can potentially only afford one hoof lol

 

[lkblazin]

Could she be navicular????.. Ask your vet about the possibility.

 

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

I really hope not, i just had to retire my riding horse for that

and he was nowhere near as bad as this. if that is the diagnosis i would not let her suffer this but the mere thought of THAT outcome is too much to think about!

 

[lkblazin]

I had a quarter mare with it. We did shots every month or so. And she did great. Moved just like your girl. Before we got her she was a brood mare/ all around show girl. But she had a long healthy happy career.

 

[Rocklone Miniature Horses]

Update, two weeks after the chiro and pretty much turn out as much as possible and she seems a heap better. Farrier was out today and said she had a lot of stones in her hoof and to clean them out better (as in they are getting up into the white line and i need to get a nail or something and really dig them out) but there is ZERO indication of laminitis and no real foot pain apart from the stones causing discomfort.

also had some thermal imaging done on her, and showing heat in the hips and shoulder which would back up the old age/arthritis diagnoses. So that is what i'm going with cause its what i have felt most of the time is wrong!

video from yesterday:http://vidmg.photobucket.com/albums/...psyelm29pg.mp4

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