Bone spavin

M

Marilyn

Well-Known Member
Joined
12 April 2006
Messages
892
Visit site
My mare's 14- she's got bone spavin (according to chiro)- I know a bit about it does anyone have any experience with it? She's not lame, it's quite small and she hacks and does dressage with the very occasional jump. I'm going to put her on a glucosamine supp- does anyone else do anything else with theirs?
 
The only way to see if your horse has spavins is for x-rays just by looking at my one who has it you wouldnt tell as hocks look same as my others. A bog spavin you can see and also doesnt cause lameness. Bone spavins cause lameness so if thats what you think it is get vet out.

Cortaflex, Cortavet and others are good but it depends on the horse as every one is different.
 
Oh right. The only thing is, my mare isn't lame hence I haven't called the vet. I heard that they didn't have to be lame with bone spavin?
 
Marilyn said:
Oh right. The only thing is, my mare isn't lame hence I haven't called the vet. I heard that they didn't have to be lame with bone spavin?
Click to expand...

This info is from the tildren makers of treatment for spavins -

A spavin is osteoarthritis of the hock.This is caused by osteoarthritisChronic inflammation with a degenerative process in a joint. of the hock. This osteoarthritisChronic inflammation with a degenerative process in a joint. generally results in a hard swelling of the same name, located at the base of the hock, usually on the inner surface, and must in all cases be examined by radiography.

By personal experince all the horses who i have known to have bone spavins including mine have been lame to a degree.
 
Horse I look after has bone spavin in both hocks - identified by xray. She is quite short striding in trot and does have the bony hocks as described above. She had a course of Adequan and was then on Synequin from the vets. Expensive but made up of pure ingredients unlike some of the popular brands of supplement. She was loads better after that but will never be completely sound.
 
Chiro's taking a guess based on ???. You need xrays to determine this and if present you shouldn't be riding your horse until a vet has set up a good plan with you, as it's a painful process.
 
Bone spavins do not always cause lameness, I have one who has massive spavin growths which are obvious on both hocks and he has never been lame. He's a dressage horse, so I know he was moving fine while they formed. I had another with much smaller bone growths which was lame for two years and is now winning dressage competitions completely unmedicated. I know of a dressage pony who was never lame either.

You don't necessarily need xrays. If you have the characteristic bone growths on the inside of both hocks then it's a shoe-in diagnosis that you have spavins, not just a knock or a bump. Particularly if you also have lameness on flexion, and/or a characteristic footfall where the horse wears the toe and swings the foot in under the body as it reaches the floor.

If you have no insurance it's surprising how confident a vet can be about expressing a diagnosis without xrays. But if you have insurance it's a dead cert he's going to need them before he's prepared to express an opinion, I wonder why?

If the horse is not lame there is no reason at all why it should not be in work. And the pre-allthosefancyexpensivemedecines treatment was work, with the pain controlled by bute. Work is usually necessary to create the fusion which will bring the horse sound. The joint affected is very, very rarely the main hock joint and the others below it are of very little significance in the movement of the horse and cause trouble only if they are causing pain. Once fused, they are of no consequence, though some fuse fast (my dressage horse) and some never do.

I'd leave your horse well alone OP, and pretend the chiro never mentioned it and enjoy riding like you were before.

GLucosamine is a great idea for any older horse and person. I feed mine tablets made from algae from healthydirect.co.uk, much cheaper than any supplement with a picture of a horse on and they eat them as if they were pony cubes.
 
Last edited:
The chiro spotted it as there is a small bony lump at the bottom of her hock joint on the inside and she's not lame so don't believe she's in pain. Actually, she's going the best she's ever gone at the moment...
 
The chiro might have been able to pick up on the bone spavin if she'd seen the horse lunged or trotted up. Sometimes BS is evident on the inside of the hock joint sometimes it is not. Horses are normally lame unless their BS has been treated, however the amount of lameness can be very subtle. Usually you can detect BS by lunging the horse and you may notice the horse is not following through with its action behind, it may also be dragging a toe which may be noticeable on a hard surface in trot, my horse drags his toe on concrete causing sparks! It can also change behind in canter and have difficulty cantering up the long side of the arena (due to wanting to change hinds) and become disunited.
 
applecart14 said:
The chiro might have been able to pick up on the bone spavin if she'd seen the horse lunged or trotted up. Sometimes BS is evident on the inside of the hock joint sometimes it is not. Horses are normally lame unless their BS has been treated, however the amount of lameness can be very subtle. Usually you can detect BS by lunging the horse and you may notice the horse is not following through with its action behind, it may also be dragging a toe which may be noticeable on a hard surface in trot, my horse drags his toe on concrete causing sparks! It can also change behind in canter and have difficulty cantering up the long side of the arena (due to wanting to change hinds) and become disunited.
Click to expand...

Agreed. I didn't see it, until vet was called for a brushing injury, and she noticed my girl was lame/in pain due to BS.
 
Bone Spavin? Have a horse with bilateral, was quite bad at one point

Shoes off, reduce the concussion and let his feet grow in the way they want (use a UKNHCP trimmer) - no schooling or dressage, no lunging, lots of hacking at walk.

Linseed really helps - much more I found than the expensiive powders - and a good mineral supplement. Only time fixes this really. We never injected - once it's in there if there is an adverse reaction, well it's joint flushing and so on.

We've had a great result from the conservative approach.

Problem with lateral extensions is they can only go on the outside of the hoof, often that is not where they need the additional support - if you leave them to grow the hoof they need they often grow them more on the inside. A barefoot trimmer can help you with natural hoof growth - shoeing does not allow the hoof to grow to the shape that the horse needs to support the column above the hoof.

I know a few horses who are barefoot with spavin - they are all sound - but the back feet don't look "conventional" - BUT they function very well for the horse and that is what matters.
 
Interesting post thanks Brucea,(sorry to hijack) my girl is TB and her feet have the tensile strength of a cobweb withour back shoes, thankfully my farrier is the University farrier and he has sent off for some pads for her which he will shape especially to fit her next friday - hope I can claim this as part of her insurance!
 
brucea said:
Bone Spavin? Have a horse with bilateral, was quite bad at one point

Shoes off, reduce the concussion and let his feet grow in the way they want (use a UKNHCP trimmer) - no schooling or dressage, no lunging, lots of hacking at walk.

Linseed really helps - much more I found than the expensiive powders - and a good mineral supplement. Only time fixes this really. We never injected - once it's in there if there is an adverse reaction, well it's joint flushing and so on.

We've had a great result from the conservative approach.

Problem with lateral extensions is they can only go on the outside of the hoof, often that is not where they need the additional support - if you leave them to grow the hoof they need they often grow them more on the inside. A barefoot trimmer can help you with natural hoof growth - shoeing does not allow the hoof to grow to the shape that the horse needs to support the column above the hoof.

I know a few horses who are barefoot with spavin - they are all sound - but the back feet don't look "conventional" - BUT they function very well for the horse and that is what matters.
Click to expand...

Spavin affects the medial aspect of the distal, central, and occasionally proximal intertarsal joints. In an attempt to relieve pain, the horse will try and unload them, by landing laterally, and breaking over medially. This lateral landing will, if unsupported, cause a shunting of the coronary band on the lateral side, and a flaring of the wall on the medial side. This is a pathological hoof response, created by a pathology of the hock.

The extra hoof on the inside, will prevent a medial breakover, and create more pain. A lateral extension aims to support the hoof capsule, and ultimately the hock, by allowing the horse to unload the medial aspect.

It should also be noted that horses with spavin often drag their toes, wearing away the front of the hoof. A shoe with a set toe can both minimise this damage, and encourage a better medial breakover, thereby redusing the effort (and pain) of the hock.
 
MattFranks said:
Spavin affects the medial aspect of the distal, central, and occasionally proximal intertarsal joints. In an attempt to relieve pain, the horse will try and unload them, by landing laterally, and breaking over medially. This lateral landing will, if unsupported, cause a shunting of the coronary band on the lateral side, and a flaring of the wall on the medial side. This is a pathological hoof response, created by a pathology of the hock.

The extra hoof on the inside, will prevent a medial breakover, and create more pain. A lateral extension aims to support the hoof capsule, and ultimately the hock, by allowing the horse to unload the medial aspect.

It should also be noted that horses with spavin often drag their toes, wearing away the front of the hoof. A shoe with a set toe can both minimise this damage, and encourage a better medial breakover, thereby redusing the effort (and pain) of the hock.
Click to expand...

So you think shoes better then?:D
 
Mattfranks the conventional shoeing for hock spavin is a wedge on the inside (medial in vetspeak). What you are describing that a horse without shoes will grow is just that, a higher heel on the inside. And indeed my spavined ex eventer did exactly that barefoot, grew himself a foot with the collateral groove twice as deep on the inside heel. The depth of the groove depended at any time on how severe the problem was at the time (he stayed in full work on abrasive surfaces). And then when his hock fused, his foot went level again. If anyone wants to see the moulds I took of his collateral grooves when the disease was at its height, pm me and I can send you the picture I took at the time.

I think we try too often to tell horses what they should have, when if we leave them alone (barefoot with work on abrasive surfaces so they wear the foot as they need it) and allow them to grow the hoof that suits the limb above it, they know exactly what they need, and just how long for.
 
Well - the theory told me one thing, the horse told me another. I wonder which was right?

Shod with a wedhge and laterals - unsound, Just laterals - unsound and getting worse. Bare and growing what he needed - sound and comfortable.

I'm not dogmatic about this - just progressing on the basis of observing what works and does not work.

yes CP - Link grows a bit extra wall height on the inside which is the deviated side of the hoof. Take this away he is unsound. He goes 5 hours at a time over rough tracks - no matter how much he wears he keeps this relationship of more inside wall.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top