Bone Spavin Help

[Rose-Bud]

The person we loan our horse to was due to have a lesson last sunday, but when warming him up, he was hopping with his right hind leg in trot. Instructor said he was lame and was unhappy to continue the lesson.

My horse is 11 and has never been lame in his life (apart from when he was kicked in the field on his front left leg as a youngster)

If it was me, i wouldn't have called the vet straight away and would have waited to see if he came sound. However the vet was called and the result has completely shocked and confused me.

The vet says he has a long term lameness in his right hind leg, and that he requires remedial shoeing, a spavin shoe on hind hoof and roll toe and heart bar shoes at front and only light work on a soft surface and no jumping. After some investigating this sound to me as if he has bone spavin.

However I'm confused, as he has never been lame before, or shown signs of any pain or problems while being ridden or in the stable. He has always clicked in his hind legs, but this has never caused him any stiffness or problems either.

Up until now, he has been hacking out, galloping along the beach, schooling and jumping without any problems. He has always enjoyed being ridden and loves to jump.

As you can understand i am confused, as in the space of a few days I have gone from being able to do anything on my horse, with him showing no signs of pain or lameness, to being told he can hardly be worked.

Sorry for the long post, at the moment my head is completely muddled, so any advice or insight would be hugely appreciated.

Thanks

 

[Birker2020]

Ok first of all try not to panic. Secondly ask the vet for more details or book him in for a lameness work up, if the vet supsects bone spavin he will need to have xrays to ascertain how badly affected he is and to decide what course of treatment to give him. Sometimes all that may be necessary is a couple of injections into the hock joint of hyonate/steroid or he may be an ideal candidate for a tildren infusion. You need to establish that bone spavin is his problem before knowing how to treat it. My horse has it and has the odd day when he is unsound, but on the whole he is comfortable without pain relief enough to compete showjumping/dressage on a surface or needs to be buted up to do a one day event for instance. Remedial shoeing will help, wide web hind shoes are usually the best for this. The vet is only talking short term about working on a surface or not jumping your horse, he cant possibly give a long term diagnosis without xrays or lameness evaluation. I do hope for your sake your horse is insured, tildren is about £500 a time, and injections are about £70 + vat.

 

[HappyHorses:)]

Agree 100% with Applecart14. My old boy has it and was on the Tildren trial a few years back (he actually jumped for a another year after having tildren). It's not the of the line even if it is spavin. Managed correctly you might be suprised at what you can do.
My boy went on to competing in and winning Elementry's up until last year, six years after tildren and only stopped as he had arthritis in his shoulders.
PM me if you need any more info.

 

[galaxy]

Is the horse on part loan or full loan? Were you there to speak to the vet? What tests/examinations has the vet done?

There are things that can be done even for bone spavins, I don't know why he would be written off this quickly. Maybe the vet didn't like the way he was being shod conformation wise and that's why he suggested the roll toes etc?

 

[brucea]

Have a horse who had spavins. You probably won't like the suggestion below....

Log into the UKNHCP forum and ask there

Get the shoes off the horse and don't go down the therapeuic shoeing route - they do that becuase it is the only thing they can do. It does no good really, and they are often hard to keep on if the extensions are large.

If your horse needs support on the inside, then the shoes can;t do this.

Bare, removes concussion, and helps the horse to move in a way that is comfortable for him

Add in som linseed meal - it helps as an antinflamatory

Stop any circles - none. Just hack

Keep him warm and dry - any arthritis is worse if your body is cold and wet.

Don;t inject - it is a short term fix and delays the body's natural healing

Yes - I am non interventionist - but I got a good result and my horse is sound.

 

[sally2]

First of all dont panick secondly to work out any sort of treatment you have to know what the problem is which will require xrays. Spavin is not the end of the world as it depends where it is exactly. Sometimes it can be managed by bute or injections. It can also come right over time and by working the horse in straight lines to encourage the bones to fuse. Lots of horses have come sound after being diagnosed with spavin but it can take up to 12 to 18 months. If a recovery is possible the horses way of going can some time look a bit stiff and winning dressage competitions would be unlikely but they can go on to live long and productive lifes just so long as you remember their limitations.