Aubrey: Health Update

Dr. McCracken came to examine Aubrey and check her soundness to see if she could be a light riding horse. After palpating the front leg she determined that the bow tendon is very old, so there is no point in ultrasounding it. Dr. McCracken confirmed that Aubrey has Fibrotic Myopathy in left hind but also noted another possible underlining lameness issues. Both her hocks and fetlocks tested positive after being flexed. Most likely this lameness is being caused by arthritic pain or other old injuries.

Fibrotic Myopathy is a mechanical lameness of the hind limb, caused by an accident that results in the loss of muscle tissue “stretchability.” This is usually due to the scar tissue that is laid down as the injury heals. This results in a gait that makes it look like Aubrey is slapping her left hind hoof to the ground as she brings it forward. For the most part, Fibrotic Myopathy is thought to be pain free however there may be some discomfort in other parts of her body from compensating to this irregular gait. It only shows up only when she trots. Overall Dr. McCracken said that she is pasture sound.

To determine if her lameness is pain related, Dr. McCracken gave Aubrey 2 grams of Bute and waited 15 minutes to recheck. We saw significant improvement, proving that she does have more going on than just Fibrotic Myopathy. We could block and search for the problem but it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack. It would take quite a lot of tests to come up with a diagnosis and we have a slim chance of finding just one root cause. It’s unlikely that anything we find would be treatable. Given her racing career, it is likely she has some degree of arthritis. Because we are dealing with an older, chronic lameness, Dr. McCracken agreed that we can continue to turn Aubrey out without having to worry about making things worse.

Dr. McCracken floated Aubrey’s teeth today as well. We found some very sharp points to the back on the right top and an overbite in the front that needed some correction. She will need to be redone in 6 months and possibly every six months going forward. But this will be determined after we see how she looks on the recheck.

I gave her an antifungal bath to clean up all of her rain rot and treated it with Skin Care X — a product that seems to do a very good job of clearing this up quickly. She was an angel for everything. She’s going to be a very easy going companion and a lovely family pet. Aubrey is now available for adoption as a companion.