Help for Barbie Please

Question
I am taking in a rescue quarter horse. She 3 years of age, and such a beautiful animal.
She was injured some time ago, she was tangled up in barber wire and seems to have pulled tendons or ligaments. The first response from a vet was to state put her down. After much love and care she has been nursed back to good health. The thing is she has a hoof that seems to have stopped growing and she favors her left hind leg. This happens when she is standing or walking. She runs, jumps and plays in the pasture as if nothing is wrong at all. But when standing or walking she will tip toe so to speak and she will hold the leg up during the time in a stall. I am wondering if this is memorized behavior from the time she was in so much pain??
She is very tame and gentle. She will allow you to hold up her leg, rub it, look at it, apply pressure with no sign of pain.
Is there anything out there that can help her. We do not care if she can never be ridden, but we would like to see where she is not favoring the leg and where her hoof is the way it should be.
I can e-mail photos and get you more information on Barbie if it will assist. Barbie is new to us and will not be here a her new home for at least another week or so. Please help, if you can not please direct me in the right direction.
I am learning and becoming more versed in the equine world, but I have never had to deal with a problem of this nature and desire help. The only answers I can get so far is put her down she will never be good for anything. I am not going to listen to that. I feel there should be something and someone out there who is willing to take a little time and help me help her. I just have to find them.
Sincerely,
Maxine
Maxine L. Brown
Owner/Editor

Common Interest Publications

Bryan L. Brown/Publisher
Carolina Outdoors
544 Vanderford Rd.
Union S.C. 29379
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Answer
Maxine:

you cannot institute any treatment or therapy until you know what the problem is. You do not have that defined as yet. You need a good equine vet to evaluate the affected leg for the cause of the problem. Only once you know the cause can someone determine if there is an appropriate management or therapy for this. However, you must also realize that it is also possible that there has been an injury to leg structures that will render the horse permanently lame. Though it doe not sound like it now, if she becomes painful in a way that cannot be managed or controlled, putting her down may be the most appropriate thing to do- again- this does not seem to be the case at this time, and this leg has never been evaluated- so there may very well be some things you can do for her to keep her happy and comfortable. If she becomes lame enough though, she can develop laminitis (founder) in the opposite leg, a catastrophic disease that will usually be ultimately fatal too.

Based on the injury you describe and how she holds the leg, I might be suspicious that the deep flexor tendon and the superficial flexor tendons may have been severed or severely damaged. She may hold her leg and exhibit a lameness due to the healing that has tried to correct the injury. the tendon may suffer from scar tissue adhesions to the sheath around it and/or the tendon may be effectively too short now to allow the foot to be set flat on the ground. this is a very serious problem if that is the problem and it needs to be evaluated by hand and by an ultrasound exam of the leg. X rays may also be necessary to help rule out bone injury or infected bone from the injury. Overall, there are no diagnostics on this horse and they need to be done to assess the situation completely to formulate an approach. If the tendon has adhesions or is "shortened" a farrier and your vet will need to work together to decide if there is a way to help her by shoeing changes with an elevated shoe and medical and possibly surgical interventions.

I know this is alot, but the injury she suffered has the potential to be severely debilitating to her and severely impair her quality of life if she remains painful. feel free to contact me again with any other questions. Ill be out of town for a few days, but i will resopnd to any follow-up you need as soon as I get back on Friday 19th. good luck and start this by getting in touch with a good lameness vet with xray and ultrasound capabilities and expertise.