bone spavin_ what would you do?

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booandellie

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hello! I am a newbie on here but have been watching all the advice for ages and hope you might be able to give me your opinions please. I have a 17year old mare that was diagnosed after x-rays with bone spavin in both hocks, 1 joint has fused but the other hock hasn't yet and she is lame on that leg. she is on 1 danylon a day and that keeps her comfy enough to be field sound. vet advised that gentle exercise would help but problem is that even a 10 min walk in hand leaves her crippled. I got her less than a year ago as a happy hacker and 6 months in she was lame. i keep her at home and the hacks around us are all hilly and i know that she cannot cope with them at all. I really don't know what to do as at this point feel she will never be able to hack again and i cannot afford to keep her as a field ornament and keep another horse that i can ride. though it might sound harsh i am wondering whether the best option is to pts but then could she come sound enough to ride when bones have fused? Am i delayin the fusion by persevering with the inhand walks? I am trying to follow vets advice and keep her weight down but with no exercise except for her 10hr a day turnout she is just getting fatter and bored!! 24hr turnout is not an option as she hates it!!;) Any advice would be greatly appreciated and thanks for reading!:)
 
A back person might be an idea - the one we had here had real skeletal imbalance because she had been compensating for discomfort for so long, the spavin itself wasn't acutely painful but her back was more or less permanently slightly arched.
 
what were the initial symptoms? I have a cob with suspected spavins in both hocks although he has to have bone scans to confirm this. he is 15yro and bought as hack etc - he finds going downhill very difficult - unhappy using his hind legs downhill, does this very weird gait and his stride is choppy. he is barefoot.
 
they mentioned it but i have researched it and read plenty of threads on here that make me think they are not that effective- though at the moment i would consider anything! thanks for reply ridefast!!
 
she was totally sound until her and her pals got out the field one nite on our private road( so luckily no-one was hurt) lady came in lame and i thought she had overdone it> vet pescribed bute and she went sound. i rode for about another month after that and found she was really struggling going up and down the hills and that she was really stiff coming out of her stable in the morning so i got another vet who did the xrays and that is when we saw that she had spavin in both hocks> don't know if the escape from field is linked. i have since took her shoes off as i have heard this is better for them. it does sound a similar situation to your cob though. I really hope it isn't - i will keep my fingers crossed for you that it's something else
 
its the struggle in going downhill that prompts me to wonder about spavins. what happens when they fuse? is there any heat ior swelling in the hocks at all with spavins?
 
their is no swelling and no heat either. when i think about it, right from the start she was never overly enthusiastic going down hill. apparantly when they fuse she will have less range of movement but will not be in any pain with it( this is the case with one hock that is fused now) so can be ridden as a gentle hack but i am worried that as there is very little flat on my hacks that she will always struggle to go out while i have her and i can't move her as i keep her at home. the vet said it could take 12 months to 18 months for it to fuse and i am only 6 months in. I don't know if i am making things worse by walking her inhand as she always goes lame after but i thought that a gentle walk should be good for her as vet advised it. when are you having the scans buddy's mummy?
 
this is what it looks like but she is such a lovely safe ride and a pleasure to handle that part of me feels i'm throwing her out because she's no use to me at the moment! i guess i'm hoping that sumone on here will tell me that she will be perfectly sound in 6 months and that i should stick with it - i am a softie though and what happens if she's still not sound ina year from now? have you any experience with the steroid injections? she is insured so maybe i have nothing to lose by trying them amymay
 
booandellie said:
this is what it looks like but she is such a lovely safe ride and a pleasure to handle that part of me feels i'm throwing her out because she's no use to me at the moment! i guess i'm hoping that sumone on here will tell me that she will be perfectly sound in 6 months and that i should stick with it - i am a softie though and what happens if she's still not sound ina year from now? have you any experience with the steroid injections? she is insured so maybe i have nothing to lose by trying them amymay
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I am in same situation with Buddy - he is not hopping lame though its just the
going downhill and choppy stride with him, he will have bone scan when insurance agree...
 
My cob was diagnosed with bone spavin in both his hind legs (after x-ray) and I was advised to walk him every day for 10 minutes. Having had a previous mare with spavin I turned her away for 6 months and then gradually brought her back into work and she was fine. I have on the advice of my vet had rolled toes, raised heels put on the back feet and normal shoes on the front - my farrier has been great and has said that he would never take the shoes off. Albert is turned out every day and in at night and touch wood he has been fine especially since the special shoes have been put on. I have ridden him once a week (only at walk) for about 3 months now and he has been fine but will bring him back into work after Christmas. I think having turned him away for the 3 months has helped and if possible I would persevere with your mare. My boy has given me 15 years of his life and I certainly owe it to him to carry on. Pls give her a chance.
 
Your vet is right. Steady exercise will help a lot. You must keep the horse mobile and though she may feel stiff when you first set off she will become much more free-moving as the ride progresses. My Haflinger had hock spavin for years and we kept him mobile and happy throughout through regular hacking 4 or 5 times a week.

I found that he was much more supple in the spring and summer so in winter we just did 30 to 40 minute hacks at walk and trot and longer ones with some canters in warmer weather. I rarely took in in the school though.

I had my boy on Cortaflex. Not sure if it did any good but worth trying.
 
My horse was diagnosed with bone spavins and had cortisone injections. I worried a lot about doing this but in the end decided to try it. For my horse it has been great as the injections have only just started to wear off over a year later. I believe the length of time between injections reduces and some horses need them more often than not. You also mention that your horse is over weight so you might want to talk to your vet about whether or not you should give her the cortisone as there is a laminitis risk.
 
buddy's mummy it seems like every one has different stories to tell about bone spavin- some positive and some not, i guess it depends on the horse but i hope you get to the bottom of it soon as it is awful the not knowing what is best for your horse
 
thankyou yeomans for ur positive feedback. lady is out all day too and in at night. she has had about 6 months off work and i started inhand walks 2 weeks ago but she goes lame again straight after each walk. she had the shoes with rolled toes before i decided to take them off after reading loads of posts that said having them off would make them grow in a way that made things easier for her. did you go down the steroid injection route at all? my mare came to me with a lot of problems- blind in one eye, years older than i was told, wouldn't stand tied up and by all accounts had a horrible past history. though she is a grumpy old mare, she is so much better now and is happy with her new life and so safe to ride that i don't want to give up on her but at same time don't want to find myself in another year still not able to ride.
 
hello i hate work! have to say that for the last 6 months i have been watching this site i love your parreli thing on the bottom of your posts! thankyou for your advice and i am going to bite the bullet and ring vets on monday and ask for the steroid injections then at least i have tried everything i can do for her. the only reason i haven't tried them so far is that there are so many posts on here that say they don't work for very long and can be risky
 
My tb gelding is now 17 and had hock spavins since 11 years of age approximatly, i dont know how lame/what treatment he recieved as i havent been told, but he has been sound for a good 5-6 years of hardish work, hunting every week and currently doing novice level dressage! Spavins doesnt have to mean retirement :)
 
dreamcome true i am trying to keep her mobile with plenty of turnout and short inhand walks. she is not stiff when i start of the walk as she has been turned out all day first but after 10 mins she starts to stumble and then goes lame. that is why i don't know if i'm making it worse for her. she is on a very expensive joint supplement from the vets now but previosly was on cortaflex ha with no signs of benefit. she also has apple cider vinegar and was on linseed but i have took that out of her diet as she is getting so porky and i figured it was more important for her to be carrying less weight than the benefits of omega 3
 
thanks aston's mummy!This gives me hope. i am going to try the steroid injections and get her back checked asap. all your posts are making me realise there is hope after all!
 
I will definately ask about that bigpony! since the vet told me she had to lose weight she seems greedier than ever. she was never a greedy mare but since restricting her diet her seems to be gobbling her hay twice as fast as the other horses on the yard!! she has 10 hrs turnout in winter with 12lbs of hay on a night which has been soaked for 12hrs. i have cut out all carrots, apples and mollasses from her diet and keep her rugged to the very bare minimum of a rainsheet during day and a 100g polyfilll rug on a night if it is frosty. she has 2 feeds a day of healthy hooves mollasses free, bayleys low cal, cider vinegar and joint supplement and she just get's bigger!! i thought that for a 15.2 cob this was a diet!!
 
I had to send mine down onto flat land, where he was kept in work, at times on Bute. He came sound and carried on for several years until he died of colic.My vet made it very clear to me that he could not stay on my hills
 
the hills are definately the issue. I can only do 5mins in either direction on the flat then you have steep stoney paths until you get to more flat. same goes on return but uphill!! I have explained this to my vet but she probably doesn't realise how steep they are as my yard is on the flat and you can't see the hills down the woods. I have heard a lot of positive outcomes for bone spavin, able to hack out, but it is the terrain here that makes me think that even when the bones fuse she will n0t be able to cope with the hills. this is my dilema, i could wait for 18 months for bones to fuse but still not be able to ride. I could not pass her onto someone else because there are some unscrupulous people out there and i would be worried about her. she is very sensitive and after years of neglect likes her homecomforts!
 
As you're insured, I would pursue every avenue open to you. Mine was diagnosed with spavin, PSLD and arthritis of the fetlock over two years ago. She had Tildren, cortisone injection into the joint and I give her boswellia/MSM/Glucosamine combined joint supplement. She is now sound and back competing at dressage, even though she also has navicular in her front feet. Don't give up hope yet!
 
Increase the danillon until it's fused. I've had the injections, both steroid and ethanol alcohol .... Neither worked long term.

You must work through it and keep up the exercise for the bones to fuse more quickly. The steroid injections worked once for my mare, but not the second and third times. Lots of turn out too helps. If you bought the horse as a happy hacker, and one leg is already fused, you don't have a huge amount to worry about :)

Keep her out, just split the field in half.
 
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