I had to take a couple of our horses to the Arizona Equine Clinic in Gilbert today. It is a three hour drive so we don't do this often. Three of our horses have unusual physical problems that needed an expert opinion on so we got copies of their x-rays and made the trip up north. Of course, neither the Troop or the vet clinic on post could afford the cost of the examinations and treatment so we got the funds from the Fort Huachuca Cavalry Association. I do not know what we'd do without the generosity of this organization. The total cost for the examination and treatment was $1,410.
One of the horses, named Bob, is a recent acquisition for the Troop but has had lameness problems off and on since we got him. Our Army vet diagnosed him on Friday with bilateral navicular so we decided to take him up for examination and possible treatment. They confirmed that he had sore heels but not necessarily navicular. The x-rays didn't show any obvious signs of navicular disease but perhaps the beginnings of it. However, they went ahead and gave him steroid injections in the naviucular bursa on both front legs and we will see if it fixes his lameness issues. We will also have the angle of his hooves changed to get him off his heels. We hope he recovers as he has great potential as a cavalry horse.
The other horse, Charlie, has a strange swelling on the front of his front right cannon bone. He has an old injury there from 2006 which he re-injured in 2008. In the past few months he has developed this strange swelling on the old injury site but has had no lameness. The vet could not figure it out so we thought we have the horse experts check it out. They, however, don't understand it either but gave Charlie a steroid injection and wrapped the leg to see if that causes the swelling to go away. We will see if a couple weeks. If not, he will just have to live with this strange, squishy lump on his leg.
The third horse, Journey, who we did not take up there, has a knot of his right hock. Again, it is a mystery. The post vet cut it open last week to look at it and took some biopsy samples but doesn't know what it is. We took the x-rays to the horse clinic but it isn't clear what it is. We will have to wait for the biopsy results but it may just be old scar tissue that has calcified. Journey isn't lame but the knot is pronounced and recently became bigger. Hopefully, it will not get worse and cause him to become lame.
Good God! And I thought my vet bills were expensive! Its always an issue, when something goes awry, vets dont always have the answers either. I have just had to have a horse PTS, she was with me for a year, and unfortunately, last month she damaged her nearside cannon bone. At first I thought it was just a knock with bruising,but after a couple of days, we made the trip to the vet.
ReplyDeleteSeveral x-rays later we could clearly see a fracture line down the bone. She was on box rest, but after another vet visit, we found the injury was not responding. For some unknown reason, the bone had begun to crumble. Why we dont know, but in view of this a sad decision was made. It has always struck me as rather odd, that human Doctors only get 5 years training her in the uk, but vets do 7 years! So I undertand the problems of "weird" illnesses and injuries, hope they sort themselves out and good luck.
I'm sorry to hear about your mare. I have buried five horses here in the past decade and it never gets any easier.
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