Bone spavin experiences?

[huskydamage]

It's likely my horse has this and shes only 12. I got her to have fun with as my pony is very old now. Im no way big into competing, but do enjoy local xc/sj and bit of hunting. Id be pretty gutted to give it all up and she's such a lovely fun horse. I can't afford a third horse and have no idea what mine will be able to do now, ill be hanging up my boots if she can't ?

Just looking for anyone's experiences with this? good or bad
Was your horse able to carry on the same work with treatment?
Was it a career ending thing?

 

[Michen]

It's very common. My horse has been better than ever since diagnoses. I'm careful- long warm up and cool down. Don't really trot on roads. Injections in hocks as and when needed and very regular vet check every 3 months minimum (hasn't needed jabs for nearly a year). I'm careful on ground eventing but then I would be regardless.

Oh and monthly physio which is probably overkill but makes me happy

Before I shipped him to the states he was fitter than ever, jumping better than ever! And would have passed a vetting inc post flexion.

 

[huskydamage]

It's very common. My horse has been better than ever since diagnoses. I'm careful- long warm up and cool down. Don't really trot on roads. Injections in hocks as and when needed and very regular vet check every 3 months minimum (hasn't needed jabs for nearly a year). I'm careful on ground eventing but then I would be regardless.

Oh and monthly physio which is probably overkill but makes me happy

Before I shipped him to the states he was fitter than ever, jumping better than ever! And would have passed a vetting inc post flexion.

View attachment 101848

Thats awsome! Good to hear its not all doom and gloom.

 

[Birker2020]

You don't need to give up anything. It came as a hell of a shock to me when my 10 year old WB was diagnosed with it, and I thought that was it, I'd have to stop jumping and doing dressage, the vet laughed at me because I was so upset when my horse was first diagnosed, said it was really easy to treat.

A lot of spavin is to do with management. You need to select the surfaces you ride on, don't trot too much on the road if at all, stop lunging, see if your horse would benefit from remedial shoeing if their foot placement is altered because of the spavin - my horse was placing her hind limbs mid line so benefited from lateral extensions to prevent her doing so.

Spavin horses need as much turnout as possible.
Also a good joint supplement.
Low level bute can ward off stiffness.
A good warm up/cool down regime.

My horse turned out not to be the easiest horse to treat! She started with steroid injections, but when they didn't work we moved on to Tildren. She had three infusions of Tildren. That had a limited effect so eventually we tried chemical arthrodesis (ethanol fusion) as a last resort. This entails injecting pure alcohol into the joint to encourage fusion. This did the trick and I was able to compete for another 7 or 8 years due to this treatment. I used to compete unaffilated SJ, dressage and fun rides.

Its not the end of the world by any means.

 

[Abacus]

Definitely not all doom and gloom. There is much that can be done with management, treatment and supplements. It’s common for the bones to fuse eventually which limits mobility slightly but at that point the pain is gone. The mobility reduction wouldn’t stop you doing general RC activities and jumping - might limit things for high level dressage or bigger jumping. My lovely old boy of 24 is still going long after he was diagnosed, as was my younger boy who was diagnosed at about 10 and continued eventing for another few years (died for other reasons).

Presumably you are waiting for x-rays and those will tell you where the spavins are and what to expect. There is every reason to be hopeful.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

My pony had hock spavin when about 5 or 6. Long rest then back into work, came sound and stayed sound if a little stiff in that hock. He was a livewire to ride and stayed that way till I lost him at 23 to stomach issues. His hock fused and he had no treatment, not sure what was even available back then, early 80's.

 

[Gloi]

Had a similar experience back when there was no treatment. Turned away until hock fused then he was okay again though stiff in the hocks but still a good ride.