Injection site abscess
Although rare, this horse had suffered from an abscess as a result of an intravenous injection three weeks previously.
This can be a tricky area as just below this lies the jugular vein and carotid artery!
The swelling was hard initially, and we asked the owner to apply a dmso and steroid gel after hot compressing daily, to try and soften it and help bring it to a head.
Five days later, an ultrasound was performed to ensure that we had pus and not blood - blood would show up as black and pus is usually more white flecksโฆ we also need to know that a vein or artery isnโt affected as that would be a very bad decision for us to cut into one of those structures!!
Once we were satisfied that it looked like pus, we inserted some local anaesthetic and then a needle into the softest part of the swelling. We then carefully made a small incision to allow for drainage.
This lovely horse will be feeling so much better and has started a course of antibiotics to help her recover.
Thank you so much to this owner for allowing us to share and thank you so much to this sweet horse for being so well behaved throughout.
Important lesson: Always ask questions - we hadnโt been the attending vets for the colic injections three weeks previously - if we hadnโt have gotten the clinical history then we wouldnโt have necessarily put the two and two togetherโฆ
Additionally although rare, injection site abscesses can happen - so always keep an eye on the injection site for 2-3 weeks following intravenous or intramuscular injections.
Miss Molly
For those of you that follow our page, you may remember Molly that almost died from colic a few short weeks backโฆ.
Look at her now โค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ!!!
Thank you to her owners for sending us this video of her living life to the full โค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ๐ฅณ๐ฅณ๐ฅณ
Steroid injection for overriding dorsal spinous processes (kissing spine).
The simplest method for treating kissing spine is peri-lesional (around the lesion) injection of corticosteroids. It must be noted that this is used more in the milder cases.
Alice had a single space that was considered too close, with sclerosis (whiter areas on x-ray consistent with remodelling) at the touching sites. She had been displaying some behaviour under saddle and other more common causes such as lameness/teeth etc had already been ruled out.
Alice was sedated and local anaesthetic was used to numb the skin in preparation for the bigger needles.
Steroid was diluted in a saline solution, and the needle was then inserted through the skin and advanced down the side of the interspinous space, either side of the affected dorsal spinous process.
The process was relatively quick and Alice was a star patient throughout.
She will now have two days in the stable and then start long reining over poles for the next three weeks before a rider gets back on board.
Thank you so much to her owner for
allowing us to share โค๏ธโค๏ธ๐
Letโs get good at spotting lameness!!
Iโve created a short video for you to help try and spot hindlimb lameness. Itโs always good to practice, especially when hindlimb problems can be more difficult to spot as you donโt get much of a head nod like you would in a forelimb lameness.
This horse was lame right hind - I would say around 2-3/10 in a straight line (we usually grade lameness out of 10). Watch the right hip drop - usually you see more movement at the hip in a lame leg when looking at the horse from behind). Sometimes it helps to put tape on the tuber coxae (hip bones) to help train your eye, especially in more subtle cases.
We had a good case this week that we managed to nerve block (a diagnostic tool using local anaesthetic around the nerves to try and identify the source of lameness). The second part of the video shows him sound - so we can see a clear difference - no more hip drop on that right hind.
For your interest he blocked to the top of the right hind cannon and hock : )
The more we train our eye to spot lameness, the better we will be at picking up more subtle problems before they escalate into bigger ones.
Thank you so much to this horses owner for allowing me to share โค๏ธ
Good case for some juicy pus!!!!
If you come across a very lame horse and the lameness is only affecting one foot, the chances are he has a foot abscess.
This horse had extremely thin soles, which given the hard ground we have had lately, most likely predisposed him to bruising and then consequently a foot abscess.
We managed to locate the pus and let out the infection. Within a couple of days he was pretty much back to his normal self โค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ
Thank you to his owners for allowing us to share โค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ
Itโs a hard life being a tiny slob ๐
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Coming on beautifully โค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ
Thank you to our wonderful builders โค๏ธ
Thank you to one of our lovely clients for mollys new polar horse ๐
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She loves him โค๏ธ and on the plus side, he never goes lame ๐
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Iโm proud to say that this is my older boy Rummaggio
Heโs 15 years old and eligible for veteran classes now ๐
where does time go ๐คฆโโ๏ธ๐
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๐ฅ Joint supplement: No feed additives โฆ just 24.7 turn out with his cosy field shelter and shetland friend โค๏ธ
๐ฅ A bloody good farrier to keep his foot balance as close to perfect as it can be.
๐ฅ Variety of work - Lots of hacking, pole work, jumping and a small amount of schoolingโฆ horses werenโt designed to go round and round in circlesโฆ we spend once a week in the school running through tests and twice if we have shows on (show day included).
๐ฅ Regular soundness consults. I like to stick him on the lunge occasionally to see if there are any soundness issues that we can get on top of quickly.
๐ฅ Love โค๏ธ I love him and he knows it. I think thatโs why he tried so hard and feels happy doing it โค๏ธ
Celebrating our first procedure in our new clinical area here at Pocket nook!
This beautiful mare had unfortunately become lame and previously blocked to her heel (with the use of local anaesthesia) to help us localise where the pain was coming from.
Radiographs showed some coffin joint arthritis in both front feet. Some excellent corrective shoeing was carried out by assessing the angles from the radiographs, and today I injected Syn-vet 50 (a high molecular weight hyaluronic acid which mimics joint fluid), to add lubrication back into the joints, and a small amount of steroid to calm down any inflammation. This horse tolerated the procedure very well under standing sedation.
She will now have a couple of duvet days and then be brought back into work slowly for us to reassess her progress in three weeks time.
Good luck princess ๐ We hope to see you back out enjoying yourself under saddle again soon โค๏ธโค๏ธ
I wanted to share a success story about Bob โค๏ธ
Bob was consistently lame on the hard ground, his right foot being the most affected. The pain was localised to his heel by the use of local anaesthesia.
Radiographs showed him to be very flat footed and slightly reverse rotated (the back of the pedal bone was closer to the floor than the front), which predisposed him to bruising very easily, in addition to increased pressures on the caudal (back) structures of the foot/limb.
We improved this with the use of 3D impression pads, raising the heels slightly and giving more support to the back of the foot.
We did NOT medicate him with any other treatments. Shoeing and careful trimming alone has been enough to improve him by over 90%!
Also the first half of the video is a great example of a right forelimb lameness - watch how the head lifts as the right forelimb hits the ground. Most of the time it is easier to notice the โdropโ of the head as the sound leg hits the floor.
Thank you to Neil our farrier for his hard work and thank you again to Bob for sharing his story โค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ
Renovation for the new x-ray and clinical procedure room has finally begun ๐๐๐๐Matthew Leigh you are the best!
#lameness
#performance
#familybusiness
#pocketnookequinevets
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Not veterinary related but I think super sweet ๐
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My own horse Bob enjoying his rich tea biscuits ๐ช
Sits staring through the kitchen window for these to surface from out of the cupboard ๐ช๐ช๐ฅฐ๐ฅฐ
Dr Pimple Popper timeโฆ
This horse presented with small, firm, non-painful nodules on his back which resembled collagen bumps. A small incision was made into each one and the contents of what I can only describe as yellow toothpaste with lots and lots of hair came out!!
Likely Epidermoid cysts and will probably need the cyst capsule shelling out in the future to prevent reoccurrence.
Epidermoid cysts look like sebaceous cysts, but they're different. True epidermoid cysts result from damage to hair follicles or the outer layer of skin (epidermis).
Yuk but Cool ๐
Suspensory branch strain
Here is a quick look at a medial suspensory branch strain that I discovered earlier this week.
The horse was 2-3/10 lame only on the soft ground. This is important to note as most soft tissue (tendon/ligament) injuries look worse on soft ground such as in an arena. This is due to the added stretch on these structures as the foot sinks into the surface.
I used nerve blocks to identify the area of pain. This involves injecting local anaesthetic around the nerves at the back of the leg, each time going a bit higher until the lameness disappears - important as our horses canโt speak.
It is always so important to use nerve blocking where possible as you can have horrible looking scans/x-rays that arenโt actually causing the horse a problem!
The black area within the suspensory branch (branch = triangular white area) is fluid within the ligament itself. We shouldnโt see fluid within a tendon or ligament unless inflammation is present.
Additionally the opposite branch of the same foot and both branches of the opposite limb were scanned as a comparison. All were completely normal with no fluid present.
Radiographs of the fetlock were taken to look at the sesamoid bones (the suspensory branches attach to these), just to make sure they hadnโt been damaged as well. Additionally foot balance x-rays were also taken - A lot of the time injuries higher up the limb are a consequence of uneven load and we love to help to address any hoof issues where possible. A good friend of mine once told me โthereโs no point in keep fixing the roof when theres a problem with the foundationsโ.
This horse will have a period of rest and should make a full recovery. Laser would be an option for this case, as the area of damage is quite superficial.
Thank you to this horses owner for allowing us to share the footage.
Get well soon handsome lad โค๏ธ
Gotta love a great farrier โค๏ธ
Appreciation where itโs due! Thanks Neil Webster - beautiful job as always!!
Early start in paradise โค๏ธ
When you love your job then you never have to work a day in your life โค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ
Foot x-ray tutorial
Why we do them and how helpful they can be for horse, owner, vet and farrier.
Heel pain in horses is one of the biggest issues that we come across as lameness vets - this is so important to
address.
If you would like foot x-rays then just give me a call or send me a pm to book in. Absolute bargain price of ยฃ150 per horse for all four feet ๐ฆถThese are as recommended within a week prior to shoeing to allow your farrier to make any recommended adjustments.
**** Normally horses tolerate this quite well, however sometimes sedation will be required at an extra cost. Visit cost will apply unless you bring them down to us at pocket nook, Lowton ****
Last night was a little different - all nighter to check these little guys were still alive after a scary start. As you can see, the heart โค๏ธ was working just adorably fine โค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ
Oh I love equine work๐ด โฆ. but this night was extra rewarding and extra cute ๐ฅฐ
Thank you to the fabulous owners for allowing me to share โค๏ธโค๏ธโค๏ธ And great work to mum ๐ถ - you were fantastic โค๏ธโค๏ธ
And nope as much as I love them, Iโm only equine - this was a one off ๐
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Ever wonder what us equine vets get up to on a night off?
Pyjama visits to our own beautiful angels because we love them just as much as you love yours ๐ ๐
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