arthritus

[millies]

due to the conformation of mills the vet has said thats its pretty likely that shes going to develope arthritus in her hocks, and this will probably begin to cause problems in her teens (so iv got a while yet before it becomes an issue)

how difficult are arthritic hocks to manage and how do those of you who have horses with it cope during cold winters ? did you have to retire them whilst still quite young or did you just reduce their work load and did they cope fine ?
just being curious now and doing alot of forward thinking for mills.
oreos on offer for anyone who offers advice

 

[Tobiano]

Hi - my situation is a bit different I guess but my Harry developed arthritis in both hocks aged 8. He had an operation to fuse the joints and he is now 11, and not stiff at all, though we do give him a danilon a day to keep him comfy. I doubt he will last much past late teens but he has a brilliant quality of life. sorry reading back I dont think that helps at all in your situation! - but I think the moral probably is that all horses cope differently and with careful management (including weight management) you give them the best chance. Good luck with your girl.

 

[millies]

no that does help a bit. vet said that mills would probs have to be retired in her mid to late teens or at least be demoted to quiet happy hacker, though obvs the vet couldnt be certain if the arthritus could cause problems earlier like yours or i could get lucky and shed still be fine in her late teens really.
unfortunatley im not sure an op would work in mills case as its her conformation and wonky hocks that will cause it

 

[Tilda]

My horse is 15 and whilst he hasn't officially been diagnosed with arthritis after watching him on the lunge my back lady felt he had some stiffness in his right hock probably very early stages of arthritis. This makes sense as he was ridden quite hard by a teenager in the 2 years prior to me having him and often jumping big tracks without having done much else all week. I put him on boswellia or natures bute and it made a huge difference. He is so much freer in his movement and he stopped going disunited going in to canter. After recommendations on here I am currently trialling him on suppleaze and so far he has seemed ok although perhaps a little stiffer if he has a few days off so I am going to up the dose from half to one scoop and see how he goes.

He is still perfectly able to hold his own jumping 2ft 6 tracks and is pretty quick in a jump off and yesterday I took him to a uk chasers course which is 8.5 miles with lots of cantering and we jumped 5 out of the 20 jumps (my first time x country and most of the jumps were scary!) and he was still going strong at the end. As he gets older I realise he will get stiffer and my first point of call will be to put him back on the natures bute. I will also probably look to keep him out 24/7 all year because if he is well rugged this will be better than 12+ hours in a stable stiffening up. There is also the option of having cortisone injections if it gets worse so hopefully we have a good couple of years if not more before he needs to slow down because I haven't noticed any further deterioration in the last year.

Hope that helps a bit although of course all horses are different

 

[millies]

its nice to hear there are a few options for when she gets older
iv never had a horse whos hLad arthritus before so tbh i dont know alot about it. and iv always been sceptical of supplements so interesting to hear that you are having sucess with them tilda.
does anyone know if there ae any supplements i could give he now that may help delay the arthritus or keep her joints healthy?