Bone scan or retire? Big decision

[NooNoo59]

So as some of you are aware I have ongoing problems with my boy arthritis, psd and possible sacro iliac pain. The next stage is a bone scan, the vet is confident we will find the cause from the scan but his gut feeling is it will not be treatable, so he will have to be retired to the field. He is 9. The insurance at this point are refusing to pay for the scan as they said it could show that one of his existing conditions is the cause of the ongoing problems, I have the money to pay for it but I am questioning if it is worth it if the outcome will be the same? Experiences please?

 

[Zoeypxo]

Is he field sound ?

 

[bonny]

I would scan, he’s too young to retire without you really knowing why and maybe you will find something that will come right given time in the field ?

 

[Errin Paddywack]

If it isn't going to suggest something curable/treatable I would retire. He has too many problems to ever come back to full work.

 

[Alibear]

I wouldn't have it done; I've been in that situation twice now with young horses, and both times, the scan showed nothing useful.
I've also ended up retiring 2 young and 1 old horses with PSD.
It's a lot of money that you could either put towards a new horse or spend on lessons to keep you riding whilst the youngster is retired.

 

[Fanatical]

I think if it will give you peace of mind for 'knowing' what you're dealing with rather than presuming then it'll be worth doing. On the contrary, if it won't change the outcome then prob not worth doing.
Sounds like you already have multiple issues which will limit his ridden future. A bone scan will likely only find further issues (partic arthritis related)/ confirm the severity of the existing ones.

 

[IrishMilo]

What are you hoping to achieve/find through the bone scan? Surely the arthritis, PSD and SI are 'enough' in a sense that you know, unfortunately, he has a lot going on there with, again, sorry, a not so great prognosis.

 

[Annagain]

Are you the sort of person who can easily live with the uncertainty or do you need to know? It may not make a difference to your boy but it might help you come to terms with the decision to retire him. The other thing is is might lead to more comfortable retirement for him as, even if he's never sound enough to ride, treatment might still help him. I was in a similar position with a 20yr old who had shown no problems at all until that point. We (he wasn't mine but I was his main rider and was paying) decided to scan and it turned out he had an arthritic elbow - very rare apparently especially in horses who haven't had a traumatic injury there. It was medicated very successfully and we had another 5 years of ridden fun with him. I'd have been happy with him being field sound so the rest was a bonus.

 

[bonny]

How much does it cost to have a bone scan ?

 

[Zoeypxo]

How much does it cost to have a bone scan ?

The last time i had one (2020) it was £1500 i assume its a fair bit higher now

 

[Esyllt]

My 4yo has been retired due to SI issues. Like you, I could have had scans done, but vet was pretty confident that it wouldn't show anything useful, so I didn't. She's field sound, comfortable and happy, so we've left it at that

 

[Fanatical]

The last time i had one (2020) it was £1500 i assume its a fair bit higher now

My recent bone scans have come out around the 4k mark - that's everything including the stabling for the duration (usually 3-4 days), bone scan and then additional scans/ xrays of the 'hot spot' areas.

 

[Julia0803]

We had a horse on loan that had issues shortly after arrival. After a work up it was discovered he had arthritis in hocks and coffin joints and SI pain. He was injected with arthramid in the joints, and steroids into the SI and a rehab plan/lots of physio. It was hoped that the SI pain was a consequence of the hocks being sore/moving badly.

At the re check the vet said the joints were much better but still had issues with SI.

We tried a further dose of steroids into the SI and gave it more time. No joy.

The vet explained we could have a bone scan… however, it we’d run out of money on our insurance and he said, like yours, that it might show us the problem but it probably wouldn’t be treatable. As the cost wasn’t covered, he said it probably wasn’t worth doing on balance, as it wasn’t going to make a difference in terms of treatment/outcomes. It was especially sad as he was only 8.

Horse was sadly retired and went back to his owner.

 

[LEC]

So as some of you are aware I have ongoing problems with my boy arthritis, psd and possible sacro iliac pain. The next stage is a bone scan, the vet is confident we will find the cause from the scan but his gut feeling is it will not be treatable, so he will have to be retired to the field. He is 9. The insurance at this point are refusing to pay for the scan as they said it could show that one of his existing conditions is the cause of the ongoing problems, I have the money to pay for it but I am questioning if it is worth it if the outcome will be the same? Experiences please?

They are a stab in the dark. Had a few done on horses and only once did it work, and that horse was doomed as developed chronic arthritis from a field accident in neck (5yo) and became neurological (which wasn’t picked up on bone scan but the Trecanter was)
One was suspensorys but also had bone bruising which did get picked up on scan so had time off but ultimately suspensorys was the issue and has now been downgraded to a happy hacker from eventing at Novice level. The final one was a horse who slipped doing fitness work up a hill but the big concern was whether she had done Sacroiliac damage so had a scan and it highlighted stifle but after extensive x rays and scanning had no issue with her stifle and it was a pulled muscle so time off sorted her and now at 3* level eventing.

In your case I wouldn’t bother. Your catalogue of issues is huge and a bone scan isn’t going to help you anyway. With the sacroiliac issues, you will only end up injecting and tbh it’s always secondary to another primary issue and not the primary issue.

 

[ihatework]

A 9yo with the pattern you describe is, in my experience, a dud and they just never come right enough to do a proper/comfortable job.

Everyone is generally happier and less stressed in the long run if you just pop them in the field and let them be a horse.

 

[SEL]

I dithered over that with my PSSM mare but we knew hocks, suspensory and navicular bone were all problems anyway so went for field retirement. Her SI responded to steroids but we couldn't see anything on the scan showing a specific issue.

I haven't had a saddle on her in about 3 years now and it was just a walk around the block before then. She's paddock sound and looking at her earlier today is moving a lot better than she ever has. No idea if she'd stand up to any ridden work but time in the field has certainly helped.

I do have land though so its easy to turn away.

 

[j1ffy]

I had the same choice 5 years ago with my then 12yo. The vet felt a bone scan would throw up a load of red herrings and I had pretty much already decided to retire him from dressage (we were competing BD Medium at the time), so I decided against it. Horse is now fully retired and very happy and sounds in the field.

Sorry to hear about all the issues your 9yo has Personally I'd accept that there are too many to realistically come right and save the ££ for a future horse.

 

[Patterdale]

Rubbish situation, sorry you’re going through it.
I would not do the bone scan. I would retire and start again with another horse. This one has lots of problems and it’s almost certainly going to be an expensive, depressing, joyless and ultimately unsuccessful road to try and make it a riding horse leading a fun and useful ridden life.

Do you have the facilities to retire?

 

[LJF0664]

My mare had a bone scan last March and the cost was around £1500 including stabling. The vet had already identified a hole in her suspensory and some mild arthritis in her hocks and wanted to do the scan to see if there were any other issues before making a treatment plan. Luckily it didn't flag anything else, so potentially wasn't worth it, but at least we knew what we were dealing with.

 

[poiuytrewq]

I was in a similar position two years ago. We had done, tried so much and got no where so a bone scan or to call it a day were my choices.
My insurance company said fairly similar, in that they didn’t say they wouldn’t pay but if any pre existing find showed up as the issue they wouldn’t.
This left me, at the time really quite stressed out as I didn’t want to retire if there was any possibility of treating something, but I didn’t have the spare money incase the Ins refused to pay.
My vet said her gut instinct was to do it but she couldn’t guarantee anything was treatable.

I decided at the time to go for it. I didn’t want to write him off without being sure and if that cost me then I had credit cards

The bone scan highlighted a completely new area so thank god the insurance company paid. The new area turned out not to be the problem on closer inspection (more X-rays)
We turned away for 6 months, problem still there so he retired.

So for me the scan was worth it for peace of mine that nothing huge was going on but I’d have been gutted had I ended up paying because we still didn’t really have a definitive answer.

It’s not a decision I envy you but in hindsight I am glad I did it with mine.

 

[poiuytrewq]

I just re read my reply and It made me think, would I have been gutted if I’d had to pay- actually maybe not because if it hadn’t been done I think even at this point 2 years later I’d now be thinking should I have done it but I’m not, I’m happy I did everything I was recommended by my vet.

 

[Zoeypxo]

If it helps, when i sent mine for a bone scan it showed one treatable area which ive not had any issues with since. Needs some maintenance of course but no lameness since.

The transport company i used to take her there said i got off lightly the majority of horses she collects after bone scan are broken/retired due to it showing something nasty.

 

[NooNoo59]

How much does it cost to have a bone scan ?

2600 approx!

 

[ycbm]

I'm another who would go with your vet and retire without the scan. It's heartbreaking when they are so young, I'm sorry you're in this situation.
.

 

[NooNoo59]

Rubbish situation, sorry you’re going through it.
I would not do the bone scan. I would retire and start again with another horse. This one has lots of problems and it’s almost certainly going to be an expensive, depressing, joyless and ultimately unsuccessful road to try and make it a riding horse leading a fun and useful ridden life.

Do you have the facilities to retire?

No horse on livery which if I then want one to ride means 2 on livery which is double the expense. I am not sure I can even be bothered to get another one he was going to see me out as it were as I am 65 this year. But what would I do instead sit home and knit?!

 

[Birker2020]

No horse on livery which if I then want one to ride means 2 on livery which is double the expense. I am not sure I can even be bothered to get another one he was going to see me out as it were as I am 65 this year. But what would I do instead sit home and knit?!

I was in the same situation, not having my own place. I was very fortunate that Mum agreed to pay for some of the monthly retirement costs for Lari, even though he has cost me on top an average of between £100 and £150 a month over the last two or three months with vets visits to dig out abscesses and for treatment of said abscesses.

I don't mind paying for him at the moment but think I might find it a struggle when I get my next horse so I need to make sure I have enough contingency for the winter.

I don't want to get shot down in flames at this suggestion but if your horse can live out drug free and is a suitable candidate height/weight/build wise then he may be suitable for the blood bank. The Editor in Chief of H&S magazine said she will contact the guy at the Milton Keynes blood bank to do an interview with him and ascertain the facts as there is no much rumour and speculation. I believe the intakes are April and October although I may be wrong about that.

However, if you feel that you don't want to get another horse maybe it would be nice to offer your horse a nice retirement if he is suitable (I do realise not all horses are) and don't blame anyone in a similar situation to pts.

 

[criso]

I had a bone scan on a horse that was lame but couldn't work out why/where. The bone scan was useful as it pinpointed the area however that area was then X rayed to see the problem (bone cyst in shoulder).

Your case is different as you already have identified issues so if the bone scan shows up something new, you have to treat this and the other issues. If the existing issues don't have a good prognosis, then it doesn't matter if you find anything else.

 

[dapple_grey]

Mine went for a bone scan in February 2023 and the cost was about £3k, including stabling for 3 days. We spent months investigating and trying to pinpoint the lameness. I followed my vet's advice and got a bone scan, as he felt the issue was higher up. In hindsight the insurance money would have been better spent on an MRI but vet said he had a gut feeling. It showed nothing. He'd already had circa £10k spent on him in vets bills so I decided to turn him away in the field. He came sound 6 months later, I starting doing in-hand walks in an attempt to build him up again and he fell apart. Ended up lame on all 4 legs and had to PTS aged 5 I never did find out what the original cause was. I feel for you OP, it's especially hard when they're so young.

 

[w1bbler]

Personally, after chasing 'the main issue' with one that had several smallish issues I would retire / pts now.
If you decide to retire, you may find 12 months in a field will help to fix things. Gentle in hand postural work alongside may be enough to get him rideable again.
My story is chasing a diagnosis, lots of treatments, a fortune in insurance companies money & some of my own. The result was pts age 10.
I absolutely wouldn't do it again. I have also decided I won't buy another ( I've still got one currently though), I've had a couple go wrong in recent years & can't cope with the emotions of it again.

 

[poiuytrewq]

2600 approx!

Blimey! That’s gone up in the past 2 years!