Bone Spavin

How old is pony? What do you want to do with it? Which hock joint is it?

My gelding had every treatment bar surgery for it and it wasn't a happy ending, however there are many many stories on here from people still competing and jumping - I hope they come and post! If I could go back in time I would probably not bother with all the fancy treatments we had and just use bute and light regular work to manage it.
 
My horse has it, he's had steroid injections which were fairly unsuccessful and then more recently he had alcohol injections which sadly don't look to have been that successful either so it looks like he will just be a light hack/retired and managed on bute. There are definately people who've had happier endings than that though, sorry to be the second person with a less than positive story!
 
My boy has bone spavins in both hocks, but his right worse than his left. He had cortisone injections first but these didnt really work at all, oh and another drug they were trialing which they have in their neck every 2 weeks for 6 weeks. So as these ddnt work we went back to vets and after more xrays, scans and nerve blocks he had tildren. This also didnt work and he just got worse, so he went onto 1 bute a day but still wasnt happy so we sent him for the surgery to fuse both of his hocks. He is now just coming back into work, i think its been 6 weeks tomorrow since his surgery and hes still only walkng for an hour a day. Hes on half a bute a day and he seems to be feeling very well. Will be interested to see how he is next week when I can trot.
 
My boy was diagnosed with a bone spavin, following a fall where he banged his hock. He was fine before, but the vet thinks the fall just exaggerated what was already there.
He has had 9 weeks off, due to swelling and a huge amount of heat.
He is slightly stiff when first moving (if he's been in), but apart from that he's as happy as larry. He is on 1 bute a day and I started riding him yesterday. He was fine this morning.
We are doing 30mins walking in the arena for a week, to start. Then hacking out for 30 minutes, building up to 1 hour over the following 2 weeks.
Allowed to trot, for very short periods in week 3-4 (if it's not swelling up again).
Then just gradually gradually build up, and see how far we get.
the vet has suggested long term bute, trying once a month to reduce it - seeing what happens. Ideally we will eventually want to be off it, but for the moment I don't see an alternative.
I posted on here, when Reg was diagnosed, and had some good stories and some bad ones. Some of the good ones said they'd managed to get back to competing etc, I think it's very different horse to horse, and depends what it is you want to do!
X
 
Thank you everybody. Sorry I'm late responding, work has been a bit frantic.

I'm pretty certain we're on a losing wicket, but I sort of knew that anyway.

She has bony irregularities on her pelvis, which has caused secondary damage to her rear suspnsory ligaments, and now the bilateral Bone Spavin.

We were hoping that building the muscle would help to hold her together. At least with the Bone Spavin I can keep working her, if I couldn't then I think we had reached the end of the road at least ridden wise.

She's still beautiful and the apple of my eye :D
 
My pony has bilateral bone spavins. She had steroid injections in her hocks which made a massive difference and two Tildren drips as well. Also her back shoes have lateral extensions which helps with the tracking up and she is on synequin which will change to something much cheaper, probably riaflex when the insurance runs out. She also wears magnetic boots at night in her stable which seem to make some difference (whether for warmth or magnetic-ness, who knows, who cares?)
Normally she isn't on any bute and she does everything - cross country to 3'6, showjumping (but less of that to avoid the turns), a bit of dressage, lots of hacking but at the moment she's on danilon as she's had laminitis this summer so she's off jumping for a while. She's moving slightly better than usual behind at the moment so I am going to have to talk to the vet about that but she is due a top up of her hock steroids and she was happy to bomb around the countryside jumping everything she could see so I'm not terribly worried about her.
The only problem is she finds it hard to hold her hinds up for a long time for the farrier and she doesn't like it when he hammers the nails in and he gets cross when she tries to take her feet off him. Two bute before shoeing seems to fix this though.
 
Mine was diagnosed in one hock nearly 2 years ago and still not riding however I went the leave out homeopathy route and she is up and down x rays in march show still trying to stabilise I'm hoping that being patient and giving time will sort and be better in long run. Wasn't happy with joint inj's and def not doing tildren. Thankfully she makes a very pretty field ornament. Can't decide whether to get another?
 
Thank you for sharing your experiences, my best wishes are with you for your horses.

I think that if Dizz didn't have the other issues we would try treating, but she is how she is. Even more of a wobbly-bottom-lip thing as she's only just seven.


Do your horses have problems getting down to roll?
 
No never seen any problems with him getting up and down. I noticed alot on hills as he was very uncomfortable but since the operation he does seem alot better
 
My 4yo was diagnosed with juvenile arthiritis 4 months ago after I spent 5k having him backed and produced with a pro, they had him for 8 months but problem wasn't detected until he came home to me. (that's another story though) :(

He has had 2 lots of steroid injections into both hocks, Adequan x 2 lots and 2 lots of Tildren. His work has had to almost stop. we can walk in straight lines. Vet came out to reassess on Monday, slight improvement, but still only light work for the rest of the year. To say I am gutted after waiting 4 years for this little man is an understatement. His body couldn't cope with his workload at School!

I really think each case is different and there are lots of outcomes. I know my vet has said the younger they are, the less successful it may be. But I will air on the side of caution and see what happens.

My boy hasn't got back shoes on and this is something we need to address as he is also adverse to hindlimb flexion for a period of time.

I really feel for you as she is so young also, I hope you can reach a solution xx
 
My mare developed this some years back,it has settled down on it`s own with steady reguler exercise ,and after field rest working up gradually from walking thru to trotting and weeks later cantering.It is the old fashioned way of doing it,but it does work well. I was considering the fusion op ..but time sorted it out.
 
My boy was diagnosed with bi-lateral bone spavin coupled with mild arthritic changes in his front pasterns last March. He had steroid injections but was intermittently pottery all round from March until August. On the non-pottery days he was hacked out in straight lines. During this time, when he was definitely at his worse he looked uncomfortable on hills (on livery at a very hilly yard) and there was a number of occasions when I saw him trying to get down to roll and couldn't :-(

He was lightly hacked on one danillon a day from Aug to nov, then was turned away for 4 months. When I brought him back in to work I a moved him to a new yard which is lovely and flat, not hill in sight! He's still on one danillon day but as not had a lame/pottery day since August last year. He is ridden most days, mainly hacking, walk, trot and canter depending on ground conditions. He is coping well with light schooling 1-2 times a week, he just needs a bit longer in walk to warm up and loosen off.

I've seen a big change in him since I got back on him in the spring - he's full of beans, loving work and is back to being the cheeky character I bought 5 years ago. He's been very quiet/switched off for about 3 years which in hindsight, i think that was how he was coping with the pain. He's now back to doing all the cheeky things he used to do - pinching things out my grooming kit, trying to tip the wheelbarrow while I'm poo picking, following me round his field wanting a back scratch and getting very excited about wanting to canter the big long grassy stretches out hacking! He's now getting down to roll fine and has been seen playing with his field mate most days. I'm debating whether to try reducing the danillon as he seems so well but I'm scared he goes down hill again. Vet is delighted with how well he's doing and said it's up to me whether I try him on 1/2 a day to see what happens.

I'm hoping to take him to a riding club flatwork schooling session next week and riding club dressage 2 weeks after that to do 2 walk/trot tests. He's also done a couple of little practise shows at the new livery yard with a 12 yr old girl - a little showing class and a couple of in hand things.

Fingers crossed things work out for you and your horse.
 
My daughters pony was diagnosed with a bone spavin in his right hock a month ago and although the x-ray didn't show anything on the left the vet is confident he has one forming her too as after nerve blocking the right he went lame on the left.

Just had cortisone injections in both hocks and are in our 2nd week of box rest with in hand walking.

Also has damage to his ligament running along his back. So back to vets in 2 week after a week of lunging for re-assessment and mesotherapy on his back. Then we have 2 days box rest followed by 6 weeks lunging. Not sure whether he is going to event again, only had him a few months not quite sure how he managed to pass the vetting!!

We have our fingers crossed that he will come good but everytime I read articles on the web the prognosis isn't very good.

Hoping insurance will pay-up.
 
It's interesting how different the ongoing work is once they've had injections. My horse had 36 hours box rest (just to protect against infection in the site of the needles), 24 hours turnout, one week gentle hacking and one week slightly increased work before re-assesment where vet noted much improved so continue with getting fit. Does it depend on the vet I wonder or the severity and progress of the problem?
 
From what I've been reading, it would seem to vary greatly from horse to horse. Given the number of joints in the area, one can understand this being the case.

I'm contemplating ringing the vet tomorrow to discuss further. Due to work I haven't been able to ride every day, but daughter has Pessoa'd Dizz and she's be going well, certainly as 'normal' as she ever is - the pelvis issue causes a slightly wonky movement.

I'm wondering if it's better to give the hills around us a miss, or to tackle them in a different way.

I know that things will get worse, and possibly before too long. I'm not doom and gloom mongering. Dizzy has other issues, which have led to the Bone Spavin and those other issues cannot be fixed or managed, so there is only downhill from here.

The question I have to ask myself (and do so daily) is, at what point do I give up? I have two retired ponies that aren't going anywhere anytime soon (we thought one was, but apart from developing mild Cushings, he's rallied and is now going strong), the wonky and beautiful Dizzy one, and D1's Grey Mare. Can't really keep a fifith horse - running out of time, space and money. I can't ride Grey Mare as she and D1 are building a lovely bond and she's very much a one person horse. So, when the Dizz is no longer up to going for a hack, then that's it, when I retire her I will retire myself as well.

So many dreams.

Thank you again to everyone who has shared their experiences. I really do hope that your horses come right and that you have very many happy years together.
 
My 18 yo cob was diagnosed with bone spavin 2 weeks ago, he's been on box rest and danilon for these two weeks, lead him out this morning and he's improved a lot, before he couldn't weight bear and was hopping on his toe, the xrays showed he has another coming in his other hock too. Next plan of action if nfu allow it is tildren which I'm a bit nervous about due to the colic side effects, hopefully after this he will be sound enough to just hack
 
clip_clop said:
My 18 yo cob was diagnosed with bone spavin 2 weeks ago, he's been on box rest and danilon for these two weeks, lead him out this morning and he's improved a lot, before he couldn't weight bear and was hopping on his toe, the xrays showed he has another coming in his other hock too. Next plan of action if nfu allow it is tildren which I'm a bit nervous about due to the colic side effects, hopefully after this he will be sound enough to just hack
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Mine had tildren twice and it was fine honestly. The vet stays with you and literally stands next to your horse to look after them the whole time. I gave my pony a bute and a bran mash later just as a precaution (I'm paranoid like that) which the vet said I could if I wanted to (it was my idea and she may have been indulging me and pony would probably have been fine without it). The end more than justifies the means.

Mine is due for her next joint injections this week and I am slightly worried she is going to try and break my lovely vet's arm again. She is sedated for them but she possesses a remarkable ability to come round from sedation when you go anywhere near her back legs with a needle.

Mrs M, mine can roll fine. I am teaching her to lie down for polos as a party piece. She is only 14hh though, don't know if that makes it any easier.
 
unbalanced said:
Mrs M, mine can roll fine. I am teaching her to lie down for polos as a party piece. She is only 14hh though, don't know if that makes it any easier.
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Thank you for sharing your experience. I hope it goes well for your girl.

The Dizz has other issues, so I'm guessing that the mix is proving hard for her. Will see what happens over the next few months.
 
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