Arthritis in the articular facets T16 to T18

[Queen Dotty]

So in addition to my horses stifle problem (see other thread), the bone scan found that he also had arthritis in the articular facets on his back from T16 to T18. This is directly under where the saddle sits.

He has had a very sore back for months now and has had intensive physio under sedation and regular sessions of physio and equine massage are ongoing. The vet thinks (or hopes) that the stifle problem was causing the back issues and that once it is resolved then the back soreness should disappear. However, it is also possible that the arthritis is causing the back to be sore. If this turns out to be the case he will have injections into his back and hopefully this will mean that we can continue ridden work.

Has anyone had experience of arthritis in the back and how was is treated/managed? He will continue to have 3 monthly physio sessions and 3 monthly equine massage (so basically one treatment every 6 weeks). He will be well rugged in winter to keep his back warm and I am looking into any joint supplements which might help him. If and when he can return to work I will make sure he lifts through his back. So lots of long reining, pole work etc.

He is only 14 so is very young to face retirement. I have owned him for 7 years and he is my whole world so I want to do anything and everything I can to help him.

 

[cobwithattitude]

My horse, 13yrs, has arthritis under her saddle - her spine is fused together in the xrays with arthritis. She also has arthritis in her hocks, SI, knee and both coffin joints. She has been medicated in the saddle area but no change. Mesotherapy did work, or seemed to, as she was much softer. She also has her joints medicated, as and when required and is on Danilon for some of the week. She is sound for hacking and low level schooling-we keep her musculature in shape and she has a regular massage. She is happy and we aim to keep her this way as long as possible. Good luck with your boy!

 

[Caramac71]

My daughter’s mare was diagnosed with the same 3 years ago following a bone scan. She had Tilden and lots of physio and initially seemed to do well but her main issue was in canter and this never resolved.

We tried pretty everything - chiropractic, acupuncture, more physio, but the improvements we made never lasted long.

Last year she had intermittent lameness in her left hind and we ended up resting her for a good 9 months or so.

Earlier this year we got an Osteovet to give his opinion as to whether it would be worth trying to bring her back into work. He’s treated her twice now and she’s made improvements each time but it’s very early days to say if she will return to any reasonable level of work.

I do think in her case the arthritis was as a result of something else that we’ve never quite got to the bottom of. Current vet feels the problems stem from si which makes sense with her symptoms but was disregarded during diagnosis as it didn’t show up on bone scan.

Interesting she’s not shown any signs of pain in the thoracic region of her back since we treated it.

I really hope once you have sorted out your horses stifle problems, the back problems resolve too. Our mare was only 6 and very low mileage when she was diagnosed and the arthritis as the only diagnosis didn’t make much sense really.