Horse is stiff after long lay-up...how best to proceed?
My 17 year old horse tore his superficial tendon two summers ago, and has been in recovery for a long time...at first it was diagnosed incorrectly by one vet, we got a second opinion from a different vet and said that the tendon was in the healing process and would be good as of the first of last January.
He was turned out to pasture and has been recovering there.
I was away at school and the barn owner didn't tell me just how lame he was. When I came back over the summer he looked terrible, I pulled out the vet again, and she ultrasounded his leg. Apparently the tendon had healed, so the lameness was a mystery....we did a full lameness exam on him and through a nerve block test he seemed to have navicular pain. She didn't have a mobile radiograph machine so we couldn't see the extent, but she prescribed isoxsuprine, and some Pentosan just in case some arthritis has set in.
I just started the isox yesterday (I waited a few weeks because I was in the process of moving him to a different barn, as after the past year I don't think he was getting quality care at the old barn) and today he was walking better than he had in forever.
Out of curiosity I tried trotting him, and he was lazy, but sound. He was very stiff though, it almost seemed like he didn't trust that he was sound. Which is leading to my current question.
What is the best way to help with the stiffness, without working him too hard? I guess I'm a bit surprised since he's been turned out, it's not like he's been in a stall for two years, but I guess he has some sense of self-preservation there. i'm terrified of re-injuring him though the vet said anything he would do, would be a new injury.
I was going to start carrot stretches with him, but is there anything else I can do?
Submitted August 25, 2017 at 08:43AM by Al-Capony
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