CaleruxShearer
Well-Known Member
In November my 16 year old Warmblood was diagnosed with Grade 4b arthritic changes to his C6 and C7 vetebrae, he has been eventing over the summer as has been fine, but had started to stop showjumping, especially down distances. I ended up taking him to Dickie Hepburn at Willesley who did a full neuro work up, radiographs etc. He was found to be mildly ataxic behind, with hindlimb circumduction when asked to spin on a small circle. He had steriod injections into the joints on the same day which the vet was very positive about and said should help him almost immediately. However since then he has gradually got worse and worse. He now is moving very strangely behind, not 'lame' as such but definitely not quite right. I rang the vet who said it may be that he had been in pain for a while and had been compensating behind so is now getting used to using those muscles again. I have the physio coming out on Saturday morning to check him as well.
Just wondering if anyone has any experiences with this and whether they tend to get slightly worse before they get better or whether I should be looking at retiring him? He's due another neuro exam at the end of February so was just planning on lightly hacking him until then, then making a decision. Any thoughts/ideas/suggestions etc are v welcome!
Just wondering if anyone has any experiences with this and whether they tend to get slightly worse before they get better or whether I should be looking at retiring him? He's due another neuro exam at the end of February so was just planning on lightly hacking him until then, then making a decision. Any thoughts/ideas/suggestions etc are v welcome!