Bone Spavin

[matchbox]

I've offered a horse as a companion for my boy, and a hacker for me (which is what I've been looking for).

However, he was diagnosed through x-ray as having a spavin in his near hock last year. Have seen him, and he's sound in work. He's had cortisone injections last year at the onset, and at the minute is receiving no treatment for the spavin and still sound in work.

What do I have to worry about if I were to take him on?

 

[brucea]

Nothing to worry about - I have a spavined horse (bilateral)

I never used the injections - once they are in there.....well if there is a reaction it's hard to reverse.

I got the shoes off to reduce concussion, let the feet grow the way they needed to, and changed his diet - I don't feed expensive joint supplements any more - have made my vet richer by several thousand pounds with no benefit to my horse!

I feed the UKNHCP diet - MBP - you can look on the forum and find out about it. The Linseed seems to be the thing for him.

My comment about "let his feet grow the way they need to - my lad has grown his feet slightly flared to the inside and a bit perpendicular on the lateral - if I take that flare away he is uncomfortable - so it is like a medial extension - something you can't do with a shoe and keep it on. Lateral extensions didn't work for him - he became more unsound in them.

My lad will never have a dressage arena trot - they lose flexion through the hock as the spavin develops. So you should avoid lots of tight corners and circles, and do do lots of long straight lines in all paces. A danilon a day of he is stiff and you think he is sore - apart from that should be fine.

Have a look at Link on http://www.4hooves.co.uk and I hope you find the information useful.

You have to watch out for secondary back pain and also for contralateral lameness as he compensates.

 

[summer03]

Bone spavin is quite common and there will be a surprising number of horses that have it and the owners don't even realise it. My horse has just been diagnosed - my mare was diagnosed with it when she was 6 and my sisters horse was diagnosed with it when he was 9 - also having worked on a couple of eventing yards it seems to be quite common place there too!

I don't know that you would need worry overly about taking one that has had it and come through it on for hacking as they say the best type of work for spavins is 'straight line work' ie hacking but if he no longer has it and is sound again then he should be more than able to do it happily - if not more. (my sisters horse is now doing all riding club activities again more than happily with his new owner).

I think the best way to keep an eye on things is just generally get to know the horse and it's ways as if it were to come back it's not always easy to spot until they really are feeling it. It's often just little changes in there personality that can indicate like with my boy thats just been diagnosed - he got grumpier than normal in his stable, when we went for a canter up the field he would hang to the left where as he always used to go straight without me telling him and when just wandering along the road out a hack his straightness changed (as in he always used to prefer for his shoulders to fall to the left but it changed to the right) as well as a couple of things changing in his schooling without any reason for them too. Everyone thought I was mad to get the vet to check his just because I didn't think he was himself and not showing any obvious signs of lameness.

 

[chestnut cob]

My horse has spavins in both hocks, diagnosed around this time last year. He had cortisone injections at the time, has had 2 courses of Adequan and had his hocks injected again 2 weeks ago, before my insurance runs out (next week). I've had him 2 years this August and he was always "a bit stiff" but he is now going better than I've ever known him to. He's really enjoying his work - managed a few day's cubbing (and one disastrous day's hunting proper, but not due to the spavins!), some HT booked for the coming weeks, qualified for 2nd round of Trailblazers dressage (only Prelim), hacks, schools etc etc. He has lateral extensions behind to support his hocks and the vet is really pleased with how he's looking and moving.

I honestly wouldn't be worried at all about a horse with spavins. My vet says that most big horses have them (I have a 17hh IDxTB), just that most owners say "he's just a bit stiff" and don't investigate. As summer03 says, just keep an eye on how he moves/feels. Straight lines is definitely the best thing and I try to limit the amount of schooling I do, common sense but vet's advice as well. Vet said he was fine to hunt, XC/HT and hack, but not to do loads of dressage/schooling because going in circles endlessly isn't the best for him. So, I school probably once a week, maybe twice but keep the sessions short and try to hack out straight after to cool off. The thing he finds most difficult is jumping in the arena - tight turns are definitely not his favourite. He takes a bit longer to warm up than a horse without spavins and some days he does feel a little bit stiff, as you would expect from a person with arthritis too.

 

[GMR]

Nothing to worry about - I have a spavined horse (bilateral)

I never used the injections - once they are in there.....well if there is a reaction it's hard to reverse.

I got the shoes off to reduce concussion, let the feet grow the way they needed to, and changed his diet - I don't feed expensive joint supplements any more - have made my vet richer by several thousand pounds with no benefit to my horse!

I feed the UKNHCP diet - MBP - you can look on the forum and find out about it. The Linseed seems to be the thing for him.

My comment about "let his feet grow the way they need to - my lad has grown his feet slightly flared to the inside and a bit perpendicular on the lateral - if I take that flare away he is uncomfortable - so it is like a medial extension - something you can't do with a shoe and keep it on. Lateral extensions didn't work for him - he became more unsound in them.

My lad will never have a dressage arena trot - they lose flexion through the hock as the spavin develops. So you should avoid lots of tight corners and circles, and do do lots of long straight lines in all paces. A danilon a day of he is stiff and you think he is sore - apart from that should be fine.

Have a look at Link on http://www.4hooves.co.uk and I hope you find the information useful.

You have to watch out for secondary back pain and also for contralateral lameness as he compensates.

My horse had his hocks injected for the second time , this april, he has been lame in the front legs ever since...wish I never had it done, vet not willing to help and says he is fine for his age , but he wasnt like this before, he is truely awful now.

 

[Birker2020]

My horse had the whole nine yards, intra articular injections of HA and cortisone, adequan and tildren x 3. Had extensions on hinds and is on Equine America 10,000mg glucosamine with MSM.. MSM is an extremely beneficial supplement for horses with mild to moderate bone spavin. My horse is jumping/dressaging and tomorrow we have a one day event and sunday a fun ride and I have no doubts about his lameness issues, he is fine for what I want to do. no doubt someone could scrutinise him to the ninth degree and say he is 1/10th lame but my vet and I would both struggle to see this.

 

[L&M]

Both of mine have mild bone spavin - they both appear sound but wouldn't pass hind flexion tests. Neither have had steroid injections as their condition is mild, and they both happily hack, hunt and show jump. I have them on cortaflex and try to provide them with as much turnout as possible, as with any arthritic type condition the best thing is too keep them moving. I also avoid jumping/galloping on hard ground, but other than that keep life as normal.
I certainly wouldn't be put off a horse with spavin, especially if to be used only as a hack/companion. The only thing to consider is that if his condition worsens you may have to pay for repeated injections to keep him sound.
Good luck!