Any advice? new treatments? for hock arthritis... wits end

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Leanne1980

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I have a welsh sec d x Tb, who is 16. For the last few years he has been on and offer with hock arthritis to the point he is now quite uncomfortable. The problems is his hocks have causes suspensory ligament damage which has now been treated and he wear bar shoes all the time. However we got to the point where due to hocks he was having the chiro pretty much every month to straighten him back out as he rotates his pelvis. He was treat with HA, Steroids and Tildren. In May 2014 I decided to have his hocks fused with Ethanol and has advised he went sound for 3-4 months as it initially destroys the nerve endings. In September he started going lame again and was put on bute as at this time he had flared up the arthritis in his coffin joints :/ he spent two weeks on 2 bute a day, but was 2/10 lame on RF and LH. His front has settled down but he is really struggling behind. He is out 24/7 from May-Oct, but back in at night. The vet advising to keep him moving every day. He does warm out of it after about 10 mins but I am back to having the chiro one a month and he is on bute once a day. He wears magnetic boots at night, on turmeric and joint supplement. The vet suggests increase his bute to 2 a day which seems to much for a horse of his age - where do I go when the problem gets worse? He is so happy in himself and looks so well. You would not know he is 16.

Does anyone use anything any different? Has any one tried Previcox? any thing I have not tried??
 
What are you trying to do with him?
Is he still in work?

Personally if he was mine i would be looking at retirement as you will just be masking the pain and causing more damage.
 
dianchi said:
What are you trying to do with him?
Is he still in work?

Personally if he was mine i would be looking at retirement as you will just be masking the pain and causing more damage.
Click to expand...

I agree if his not comfortable on one bute a day I would not be riding him, I know its hard but sometimes you just have to accept they cant be ridden, I know how if feels I have just had to retire my 14 year old mare and am heartbroken at the thought of not riding her again:( vets advice or not it just wouldnt sit right with me to keep carrying on.
 
My horse has a similar tale, he is only 14 though and is retired. In fact, we nearly had him pts at the end of the summer because nothing we did seem to make him more comfortable. However, over the intervening weeks he became a lot more comfortable with regular bute and retirement so, rightly or wrongly, we have kept him going. He's also on Turmeric, I don't want to go against accepted thinking, but I don't think it's made that much of a difference tbh.
 
Frankly I'd go with the vets advice re the bute. He's with you for as long as he's with you and I really wouldn't let his age affect your judgement re pain relief if the vet feels that's an appropriate dose. You can always try reducing the dose again in the Spring when he's getting more turnout. Whilst he's on the higher bute dose I'd personally be doing either walk work in straight lines or inhand work (although i do agree that keeping him moving is best if you can) That said it may also benefit him more to have the bute dose split into two feeds (ie morning and evening) so there's not such a big gap between doses (may help, may not... no harm trying). Also are you feeding the tumeric along with oil and black pepper? If not these need giving alongside for maximum effect. (Could also look at increasing tumeric amount maybe, not the most knowledgeable in the world about it so don't know much about fiddling with the dose of it). Unfortunately there is no miracle cure and if you can't find a way to keep him comfortable when ridden then retirement or inhand walking only may be options you might need to consider. Really really do feel for you as you sound like you've tried everything out there. Made the very difficult decision to have my own horse PTS a few years ago due to pain from arthritis that couldn't be controlled on 2 bute daily (previously had tried tildren and steroid injections and every joint supp out there more or less and pony had been happy for several years on a low dose of bute daily). He went from being rideable if a little stiff sometimes to being lame in walk in the field within about 3 months. He was only 18 and I still play through the what ifs to this day
 
My horse was treated with Ethanol fusion and it worked a treat. It can take up to 18 months for the hocks to stabilise and fuse so don't dispair if he is still not sound yet. Yes it is meant to kill the nerve endings so they feel no pain but I do know that nerves can regrow.However I woudl have said that this is quite unusual given the stuff I have heard about it and read up about it and the questions I have asked of my vet and other professionals. It is a very succesful procedure on the whole.

What you do need I think is follow up xrays to determine whehter your horses hocks have fused yet or not. If they have not fused then they should do given time.

My horse had his hocks fused as he was continually overloading his suspensory branch injury on his near fore with his off hind spavin. This was obviously not ideal especially as he had just undergone PRP on his suspensory injury. Prior to the chemical arthrodesis he had three lots of Tildren in 12 months and joint injections.

I wish I'd gone for the fusion in the first place, but you can't possibly know these things at the time.

My horse was also hclassed with 'moderate to severe' arrthitis in his coffin joints but after only receiving two injections in this joint in the ten years I've had him I do wonder whether the xrays show more than the pain he felt in them!He did have an active splint at the time and I wonder if the xrays of his coffin joint was just co-incidental at the time.

Sometimes as in the case of my boy, they can be worse on bute than off it. My horse was more lame on three bute a day than he was on 1/2 bute a day and the vet said that he felt this was due to mechanical lameness and calcification in the ligament which showed on xray. I find the whole thing very confusing.

My horse is also on joint supplement and has magno boots on overnight. Luckily I never had to increase his bute (the vet had suggested putting him on one a day four years ago and I refused to go down that line as I didn't think it was necessary. Eventually he went on 1/2 sachet a day until he went on buteless).

My horse is fine now. He is stiff when first trotted but comes out of it within a few strides and jumps and dressages without a problem although I watch his legs like a hawk and warm up/cool down carefully and don't trot on the roads.

I'd ask your vet to xray the hocks and see what if any fusion has taken place and go from there. You do need to turn him out every day and ride as much as you can - my vet said 20 mins every day is better than two hours once a week.

Also I think tumeric is best fed with oil as a carrier and a twist of black pepper (don't ask me why!).
 
Thank you everyone for your responses. If he is happy to walk out 20/30 mins a day I will continue to do so, until he tells me otherwise. Which he will do hes very good at letting me know.

Currently he is on one bute a day in teatime feed which will split into two. One tablespoon of turmeric in morning feed and one at night. I will try upping it. He has this with 8 twists of pepper and one tablespoon of olive oil.

He has his hocks fused 6 months a go so am hoping it will just take time. His worse hock was partially fused so they could not get as much alcohol in it as they would like.

I am going to purchase him so back on track hock boots to try. I will hold off the bute increase as long as I can but I am not willing to let him struggle.

Poor boy I just feel so helpless for him.
 
its not easy with older horses who have problems, my horse is very similar and knowing what to do it just not easy. Hope you can find some sort of solution
 
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