Arthritis Advice

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TheoryX1

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My 21 year old cob has just been diagnosed with arthritis. He had a hard life before I bought him 10 years ago, as had been used in a riding school. We have had fun, done dressage, showing, hunted, he;s been on holiday with me several times and has pony clubbed with my daughter, including camp. He is my horse of a lifetime and I guess at his age it could be thought of being inevitable.

About 2 weeks ago I got on him to hack (it was during that very hot period), he walked out of the yard with his head down, well shuffled out of the yard. I got off and took him back and decided to see if a bit of turn out would help. He refused to walk out of his stable and I called the vet. He had also dehydrated himself as his neck was so painful he could not bend down to drink.

He;s been on bute for 2 weeks now and is living out anyway. My vet said that I am able to hack him as he is evidently in no pain, in fact he seems younger than ever. My vet has diagnosed arthritis in his left knee, which also swelled up to start with. Its now gone down, in the neck on the left hand side and in his right hock. I have the vet coming out on Monday afternoon to start treatment for him, and thank god for insurance, as I had kept my full cover and had now dropped it down to veteran cover, so we are going to really throw everything we can at getting him more comfortable.

I am aware I may need to retire him and his is not a problem as I had planned to semi retire him anyway and buy another horse to compete on. I know every horse is different, but do any of you have any tips on looking after and caring for an arthritic horse, and before anyone asks, yes we can turn out 24/7 at our yard.
 
I found Boswellia really helpful. Its also cheap and easy too feed! I was debating at the time between turmeric and boswellia but decided on reading about all the faff with oils and peppers used with turmeric to give the boswellia a try first. Its also stomach soothing which is something no one seems to agree on with turmeric but being a spice and fed along side pepper it concerned me a bit that it may not be ideal to give my horse who has a sensitive gut.
 
Sorry to hear about your horse, one of mine was diagnosed with arthritis 2 years ago when she was 13 and it's heartbreaking. She has arthritis in each hock and ringbone in the off fore and she has good and bad days so she's now semi retired and we just do what she feels like doing.

I've found that riding her regularly helps even though there are days I get on and she doesn't feel right, if she's feeling a bit stiff I walk her gently for about 15 minutes and she normally improves and starts to walk on and asks to trot. If she hasn't improved much after the first 15 minutes I get off and bring her back although this has only happened a handful of times since diagnosis. I never trot her on the roads anymore and I don't ask her to canter anymore - often she will offer one or the other or both but it's always on her terms these days.

As advised by my vet I don't give her long periods of time off as she does seem to be worse after this, it really seems gentle walking out 4 or 5 times a week is the key to keeping her going. I keep her out 24/7 and if I have to bring her in for any reason I try not to have her in for more than 4 hours. During this time I put thermatex leg warmers on and magnetic hock boots whatever the weather/temperature and I always try to keep her warm in bad weather.

As well as her daily bute she is on Cosequin joint supplement - I have tried a lot of others and this has been a huge improvement. It's expensive but I genuinely believe it's helped her a lot.

I did have a steroid injection in the pastern which was against my better judgement ( hence I didn't have the hocks done ) and it made no difference at all, in fact I think she was worse after all the prodding & poking. I had looked into it beforehand and decided not to have it done but my vet felt it was worth a try for her so I took his advice. Your vet may chat it through with you and I know some people have had very good results so that may be an option for you to consider.

I hope you get some advice on here that helps, good luck.

ETA: I know we are led to believe arthritis is worse in cold, damp weather but I find my girl can suffer badly during hot, dry periods. I'm not sure if it's down to hard ground but I know she will be sore if we've had a few really hot, dry days.
 
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sonjafoers said:
ETA: I know we are led to believe arthritis is worse in cold, damp weather but I find my girl can suffer badly during hot, dry periods. I'm not sure if it's down to hard ground but I know she will be sore if we've had a few really hot, dry days.
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Interesting, sonjafoers, I have found exactly the same. Interestingly, this was also mentioned in the last Trinity Consultants newsletter: 'Dehydration causes shrinkage which exacerbates arthritis as waste voidance from the cells slows down resulting in congestion and free radical build up'. Like you, I'd always thought it was cold/changeable weather that would produce most marked effects but I too was aching away in the hot dry weather!!
 
You might well find that he's actually better kept in work rather than retired. I had an older arthritic horse and he really stiffened up when I tried to retire him, he was far better worked regularly. Lots of hacking and straight lines. As you are insured, I found Adequan really helpful so could be worth a try. Also at his age, there shouldn't be any issue keeping him on bute daily. Mine had it as it helps with the stiffness, so he was then able to work, which in itself was beneficial.

I generally found he was stiffer in the cold, damp weather but he also suffered on hard ground in summer. He liked to come in during the day in summer (rubber mats at front of stable, big thick deep litter bed at the back) for a lie down if the ground was hard. Make sure you keep the weight off as excess weight is bad for the joints.
 
TheoryX1 said:
My 21 year old cob has just been diagnosed with arthritis. He had a hard life before I bought him 10 years ago, as had been used in a riding school. We have had fun, done dressage, showing, hunted, he;s been on holiday with me several times and has pony clubbed with my daughter, including camp. He is my horse of a lifetime and I guess at his age it could be thought of being inevitable.

About 2 weeks ago I got on him to hack (it was during that very hot period), he walked out of the yard with his head down, well shuffled out of the yard. I got off and took him back and decided to see if a bit of turn out would help. He refused to walk out of his stable and I called the vet. He had also dehydrated himself as his neck was so painful he could not bend down to drink.

He;s been on bute for 2 weeks now and is living out anyway. My vet said that I am able to hack him as he is evidently in no pain, in fact he seems younger than ever. My vet has diagnosed arthritis in his left knee, which also swelled up to start with. Its now gone down, in the neck on the left hand side and in his right hock. I have the vet coming out on Monday afternoon to start treatment for him, and thank god for insurance, as I had kept my full cover and had now dropped it down to veteran cover, so we are going to really throw everything we can at getting him more comfortable.

I am aware I may need to retire him and his is not a problem as I had planned to semi retire him anyway and buy another horse to compete on. I know every horse is different, but do any of you have any tips on looking after and caring for an arthritic horse, and before anyone asks, yes we can turn out 24/7 at our yard.
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