Arthritic horses on bute - what are yours doing?

sophiebailey said:
A horse on either medicine that's left unworked in the field will quickly stiffen and decline to the point where PTS is the only option.

A working horse on danilon/bute can have many happy years hacking + competing. A retired horse in the field will probably only last until the next cold winter.
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What a load of old cobblers. An arthritic horse will NOT "stiffen and decline to the point where PTS is the only option" if they are retired to the field, rather than ridden. I don't know about your horse, but mine moves constantly when she's in the field, which I tend to think is pretty healthy. If I can't keep her sound and in work I will happily retire her to the field - she loves being turned out and she loves her companion. I would still give her plenty of attention, lots of grooming and walking out in hand, to keep her mentally stimulated. Arthritic horses don't NEED to be ridden - they do NEED exercise, but the one doesn't necessarily equal the other. We don't ride them for their sake, we ride them because we want to :rolleyes:

Note I'm not saying we shouldn't ride arthritic horses - I fully intend to ride mine if I can get her back into work. I just think it's stupid to suggest that once we stop riding them we might as well give up on them, because they will "probably only last until the next cold winter". Seriously, what a load of rubbish. I rarely get annoyed by things people post on here, but those comments have really annoyed me!
 
RaYandFinn said:
What a load of old tosh to say buting on the longer term is wrong. It depends entirely on the horse, the circumstances, and the dose required to keep them comfy.

My boy has bi lateral bone spavins, which can't be injected as have started to fuse. He's on half a bute every other day. Some days he is stiff when first ridden, but as long as we take things gently, it soon works off.

He loves his work, and will out walk any other horse on the yard. Worst thing I could do would be to stop riding him. He does hacking and light schooling to help strengthen his back and learn to carry himself better. Crikey, if everyone retired when they start to creak a bit, I'd have been out to grass at 18! :)
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You and me too. The hunter I mentioned earlier in this thread lived life to the full, the fitter I kept him the less bute he needed. My vet of the time, said use him or lose him. We did full days until he was 21 and then the odd half day. Him on bute, me on paracetamol. He is hunting in the sky now and I am hobbling around the yard and hacking out in my old age on an awful lot of paracetamol nowadays. There should a rule that humans need not work if they need pain relief - I would have been retired decades ago !
 
Hashrouge I'm speaking from my experiences with retired arthritics. I've personally known 4 horses (seperate owners) that have been fully retired after an arthritis diagnosis and in all 4 cases through lack of regular exercise the owners decided to PTS as buting without regular exercise wasn't enough to manage their pain and keep them sound in the field.

I'm very glad this is not the case for your horse and hope they're sound in the field for years to come. But from personal experience what I've said isn't rubbish as I've seen it happen four times over. My vet (and other owners of arthritics) have advised me that even if riding's not an option they should be walked out a few times a week as the activity they get in the field (grazing, occasional play etc) is not always sufficient to keep the stiffness from 'setting in' unless they're a very active horse! And then winter comes, and if they're not worked during the colder months the pain is worse.

As I said, glad its not the case for your horse. :)
 
P.s I'm not referring to 'retirement' as not riding, I'm talking about turning out to pasture and leaving them with no exercise at all (in-hand or ridden) so full retirement so to speak. In-hand work is great exercise too.
 
Ohh dear what have i started!? :o

At the moment i am hacking my girl, while it's cold and damp she still doesn't seem right to school so we aren't doing any at the mo. Had her back checked, getting her saddle done so that all other paths are okayed.

She is on Maxaflex and cider vinegar, gets as much turn out as poss and i keep her fetlocks (where the arthritis is) and legs warm.
If all we can do is hacking then fine at least i can still ride my girlie, I'm wondering of in the spring when weather picks up and gets warmer if she will be happier and maybe able to school lightly, time will tell. If not the will ask my vet of course and maybe have to try bute or danilon.
The purpose of the post was to clarify if life is over for us if he is put on any and clearly it isn't. She will tell me when she has had enough and at the moment she certainly loves to get out and about and zip about her field so we both should enjoy it, esp as she is heartbreakingly too young to just leave in a field unless really needed. If i can get her to a small show in the future then brilliant but isn't the be all!
 
I'm with JFTD on this. Buting a horse for the sole purpose of working it simply hides the lameness to make the rider / owner feel better about working said horse... IMO.

Arthritic benefit from as much turnout as possible, to keep mobile. They do not need to be ridden. There are several supplements out there designed to help make arthritic horses more comfortable. I have no issues with riding an arthritic but sound horse, but for me to feel comfortable the horse would need to be sound without bute.
 
Well I'm afraid people will never agree on this one; you should do what you think is best for your horse.

I had my old horse for 30 year, from the age of 4. I noticed arthritis was having a small impact in his early 20s and started using devil's claw, which helped. As he got older he had bute to keep him comfortable, regularly in his latter years. His last day out hunting was at 29. He loved it but I gave him a bute that night. I stopped riding him at 32 - he went downhill quite quickly. He had never fretted being left in the field, but got increasingly anxious and called when the horsebox left the yard. He really missed the routine of going out hacking. He didn't like walking out in hand - may be if I could have run with him he would have liked it! It would have been a miserable life for him if he'd been fully retired at 20.
 
Just wondering why so many people are anti bute? It helps to stop the inflammation that causes pain. My vet said that the side effects only come from large doses long term and that she had never seen a horse with side effects from bute. I'm all for trying other remedies but why is it so wrong to give your horse a pain killer to make its life more comfortable and I don't mean for riding. My vet said that the horse would be pts due to arthritis before the bute caused any harm, same for my mum's elderly retired horse and she uses a different vet.
 
My horse got the start of arthritic hocks last July at the age of 20. I retired him to the field to wait for them to fuse (my job wouldn't allow me to keep walking him out every day as I was on a 4* event yard).

6 months later and I ended up back on him. He cannot be turned out due to mud fever which has developed in to some kind of bacterial infection (vet not sure - he's never had it before!) and I thought it was cruel to walker him twice a day and keep him in 24/7.

He's now ridden 6 days a week, only for 20 minutes once he has had 10 minutes on the walker to warm up. It keeps him (and me!) happy and sane.

If I have to bute him on the days where it's mega cold and he's a bit stiff so be it. If I get a sore leg I take ibuprofen to make myself comfortable, why can't I help him?

He doesn't live on it, but if that's what it takes for him to be COMFORTABLE so be it. He is not lame, just stiff, and it's the aches not the pains that I'm targeting.
 
Another vote for equimins - trying to avoid using bute for health reasons but not against it.
Anyone got a horse with back issues caused by the difference in gait caused by the spavins?
 
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