Bone spavin help needed please

[charlie55]

Ok after my 'update on jack' post, what is to be expected if he has got a bone spavin in his hock?

I always think of the worst (coz thats what normally happens to me) ive already been having a nose a some lovely retirement homes for the poor bugger....

Has any one got a good story to tell?

How long does it take to heal/fuse?

What treatment did you have?

What is the operation some people talk of? Is that the last option?

Any help please?? x

 

[Flicker]

Hi - don't panic!
My 12 year old mare was diagnosed with fairly advanced spavin. The vet prescribed a course of bute for about 6 months, during which time I was to ride her as normal but not jump and allow a good 20 minutes warm up of walk, trot and loopy circles before asking her to collect in any meaningful way.
The spavin 'fused' in about 9 months and she could come off the bute and remained very comfortable.
After the spavin fused, I entered her in some prelim dressage competitions and always had good remarks on the test sheet for the quality of her trot and canter work. I always gave her loads of time to warm up.
To hack, she was spot on, sound as a pound and would happily go out for hours at a time.
The vet advised me not to jump anything bigger than about 55cm and not to jump regularly - his reasoning being that, although she would cope with bigger fences for a short time, it did not make sense to 'knacker' her for the long term.
I had about 3 years with her as a fun, general purpose horse and have now sold her on as a companion / hack.
She now lives out, in a flat field, which has helped considerably, and as far as I'm aware the spavin has not given her new owner any problems.
Spavin is a more common problem than a lot of people realise, and many, many horses go on to live very productive lives with the condition, as long as it is properly managed. Put it this way, there are a lot of worse things that can go wrong!
Feel free to PM me if you want to ask any specific questions x

 

[R2R]

Depends on the severity.

My 8 year old warmblood was PTS last year as he had the worst case of spavin/DJD my vet had ever seen. His joints basically crumbled.

HOWEVER, you can manage it, ironically you should do as much work as they will stay sound for, and lots of fittening work etc. My horse at the end was ultra fit, and despite his joints disintegrating, he was actually only slightly lame, and his movement changed slightly (he began crossing his legs underneath him) so I called the vet and that was the diagnosis. If he wasnt ultra fit, he would have been hopping, on his right hind, he had 2 bits of the hock bones floating around in his leg.