Bone spavin op?

SNORKEY

SNORKEY

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Hi, I have a 5 yr old cob and he was just starting to go really well and start his ridden showing carer and all of a sudden he couldn't canter on the correct leg, then not at all. He went to Liphook and had bone scans and xrays and he has quite bad arthritis in both hocks.
He's had quaterzone injections in his hocks and he seemed to react very well to them when he was trotted up, and he didn't swing his hind legs out any more. Unfortunately due to weather he wasn't ridden infront of the vet.
Since he's been home, a month now, hes been reluctant to work and still wont canter on the right leg on one rein and when he does canter he can only manage a few paces, and he has started to nap a little bit on hacks and finds it hard standing on 3 legs for the farrier, his hock was shacking the other day whilst being shod.
Ive called the vets today explaining all this and they have recommended puting him on bute and seeing if he will work properly then, and if he does then we knows its pain related and to perform an operation to fuse his hocks costing me around £3k as ive already spent my insurance limit.
If he is still not behaving then my vet thinks he has learnt some bad behaviour related to when he was in pain and to try and work him through it.
Its really hard what to know is best as he's only 5. I feel mean pushing him to work incase he is in pain. Has anyone else been through this and had the operation done?
 
If he has "quite bad arthritis" then he will be in pain, I cannot understand how the vet can consider it possibly due to bad behaviour that he finds it hard standing on 3 legs for the farrier or that his hock is shaking when put under strain, arthritis is painful, it is degenerative, it may be helped by cortisone injections which reduce the inflammation in the surrounding soft tissue but it will not be cured only slowed down in it's progress.
Try him on bute but if he is still unwilling to work do not assume he is being naughty the bute will reduce the pain, it may make a vast difference but it may not reduce it enough for him to be completely pain free from a condition that is affecting two major joints that are working hard to push him along every time he moves.

It is a shame he is so young to be suffering, you may find the joints may fuse over time, I have no experience of arthritis in young horses but it seems to be becoming more common and the op to fuse the hock joints seems to be a popular and successful option, I would probably give him a chance, it is a shame all your insurance money was spent on the diagnostics, I cannot think a bone scan was essential if his joints are that bad a few blocks and xrays would have been enough.
 
Thanks, I agree I dont think the bute can compleately make him pain free for two such large joints that are baring all his weight. Ive had him since he was 18 months and he's always been such a good horse, so for him to nap i know somethings up, and by nap i mean he just stops on his hacks out like he wants a break and then walks on after I ask him a few times, nothing nasty.
I will pay for the op if its needed as its the only way I can see him being comfortable and getting to a good age, wether he's ridden or not. The vet has said that the joints never fuse by themselves unfortunately so the op is the only way.
 
Applecart14 would comes on a lot has a horse who has had this OP.
I would PM her if I where you .
It's a sad place to be you need a good talk with a sensible vet about what the future holds for such a young horse with a severe arthritis .
 
SNORKEY said:
Hi, I have a 5 yr old cob and he was just starting to go really well and start his ridden showing carer and all of a sudden he couldn't canter on the correct leg, then not at all. He went to Liphook and had bone scans and xrays and he has quite bad arthritis in both hocks.
He's had quaterzone injections in his hocks and he seemed to react very well to them when he was trotted up, and he didn't swing his hind legs out any more. Unfortunately due to weather he wasn't ridden infront of the vet.
Since he's been home, a month now, hes been reluctant to work and still wont canter on the right leg on one rein and when he does canter he can only manage a few paces, and he has started to nap a little bit on hacks and finds it hard standing on 3 legs for the farrier, his hock was shacking the other day whilst being shod.
Ive called the vets today explaining all this and they have recommended puting him on bute and seeing if he will work properly then, and if he does then we knows its pain related and to perform an operation to fuse his hocks costing me around £3k as ive already spent my insurance limit.
If he is still not behaving then my vet thinks he has learnt some bad behaviour related to when he was in pain and to try and work him through it.
Its really hard what to know is best as he's only 5. I feel mean pushing him to work incase he is in pain. Has anyone else been through this and had the operation done?
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Hi Snorkey, Golden Star is right, I have been through fusion with my horse, but non surgery.

My horse was diagnosed with spavin aged about 9. He had the intra articular injections for a while and then we went down the Tildren line and he had three lots of Tildren in a year for the insurance, before it ran out. It was great for a few years and then in about 2013 ish he had fusion with ethanol better known as chemical arthrodesis. Its not a surgical operation, the procedure is done under standing sedation. What they do is inject a contrast dye into the hock and then take an xray of the hock. If the dye goes straight or downwards then its a good sign and they can have the procedure, if the dye goes upwards (which it does in some horses due to the layout of their joint) then they cannot have the procedure. The xray takes seconds to look at, and if all is okay then very pure alcohol called its chemical name (ethanol) is injected into the joint space. This gives immediate relief for the horse and all pain is taken away as the alcohol kills the nerves. The horse still feels the outside of the hock so loses no sensation. Then the other hock is contrast dyed and again, if all is well the procedure is done on that hock.

Its cheaper than surgery, less risky than surgery, and better for the horse as it can go back to work and have no box rest.

Here is the best information. One link is a quick description of the procedure, another is a paper about it.

It cost me £300 to have both hocks done (not covered on insurance as it had run out years ago on the hocks). The horse has to be stabled for the rest of the day then can be turned out as normal. I think rehab was a week or two of walk, then trot, then canter, then on a surface, circles etc over a period of a few weeks -can't really remember the details. It was very effective and xrays about a year after the procedure showed complete fusion in the one hock and almost complete fusion in the other (fusion can take up to 18 months). The horse continued its competitions and did very well, although hasn't been out very much lately, due to transport issues.

He has been jumping courses of 3ft and dressage up to elem and fun rides and one day events and has never looked back.

I certainly wouldn't have gone down the surgical route, that is a whole other kettle of fish, very expensive and not really necessary in my horses case. Just so you know as this wasn't explained to me at the time, once this procedure is performed there is no going back to steroid injections as there is no more room in the joint to inject anything. This is why this procedure is a last resort after all other procedures (steroid injections and tildren) has been done.

Here are the articles for you.


http://www.horseandrideruk.com/article.php?id=2414
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1751-0813.2004.tb14636.x/abstract

This link will take you to loads of other information about chemical arthrodesis.
http://www.bing.com/search?q=ethanol+fusion,+horse&src=ie9tr
 
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Here is a quick video showing my horse being ridden by my friend last night. Unfortunately its come out a bit dark, just waiting for the other videos to be loaded up. As you can see he looks fine, the vet is extremely pleased with him.

https://youtu.be/BV0YvouNeA0
 
That's great info applecart14 thank you. Il be riding my boy tomorrow for the first time since he's been on bute so we'l see how that goes. Did your horse stop cantering or refusing to work at all before he was treated?
 
SNORKEY said:
That's great info applecart14 thank you. Il be riding my boy tomorrow for the first time since he's been on bute so we'l see how that goes. Did your horse stop cantering or refusing to work at all before he was treated?
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Hi Snorkey, no he didn't but it was clear that something was wrong. He was vetted for a second time when he was 10 for insurance as he was undervalued and I increased his insurance as he was going being turned out with new horses. At the vetting a vet thought he could possibly have spavin but it was very mild symptoms and she wasn't sure so passed him. Then the spavin symptoms appeared, slight toe dragging, worse on concrete, and constantly changing behind in canter on a straight line on the short side of the arena. I had the vet out and he was diagnosed with spavin and treated accordingly first with steroids and later with Tildren before finishing treatment with ethanol fusion.
 
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