Bone spurs on hocks

Ah few - YCBM I’m glad you have an answer (although maybe not the full picture yet) it’s much better than the ‘not knowing’

Well done for listening and taking him.. so many owners just write them off as naughty and continue to push them when they’re uncomfortable

Following with interest on the next step
 
ycbm said:
If horses are so determined not to tell us when things are hurting them, I begin to question whether we are right to ride them at all.

He'll be my last, I can't go through this anguish again.
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I totally get this, which is why my last horse is already gone. I miss him, but won't have another.
 
Great news it does seem to be the stifle that’s never offers a great prognosis.
Fingers crossed you can pin things down and work out a treatment / management plan .
I am not a fan of waxed surfaces for everyday use .
 
This is the worst thing about owning horses with great temperaments. They are so amenable and stoic that they don’t tend to give really clear signals until they are very uncomfortable. I have one like that and it can be quite stressful because I know he’d just keep going until he physically couldn’t. To balance that out my daughter’s horse will tell you if you’ve put his brushing boots on slightly too tight or his saddle pad is not to his liking!

It’s also difficult to get vets to take you seriously when the horse is not quite right, but not obviously lame. I really hope you and Ludo get good news tomorrow.
 
I totally get the sentiments re the "last horse" thing.

I've always been rather aware, but I've become even more aware in the last few years and now that I can see some things, they cannot be unseen. So many unhappy horses out there and unsound horses. For what? Our enjoyment and/or selfish goals and desires I guess.
 
Well we have our answers. He is bilaterally lame in both back feet, probably as a result of repetitive strain injury from arena work, caused by the fact that his long pastern bones are deformed. Because they are longer on one side than the other they do not stack straight and that, together with his hypermobility, has strained ligaments or tendons in his feet.

It's unclear without an MRI exactly which structures are damaged but it won't change the treatment so I'm not going to do one.

The damage is currently fairly obviously slight, the vet students still could not see the lameness though the vet and I could. And she agreed when I said that with one foot blocked, although he was very improved and relaxing down, I thought it was now bilateral.

The prognosis for life as a hack on straight lines is good. I am currently working out whether to stop work completely for 3 months or keep him light hacking in walk for 3 months. If he was a barefoot rehab wearing shoes I would remove the shoes and keep him walking, so that's likely what I will do.

So that's probably it for me for schooling and I'll have to be happy with being a happy hacker for the rest of my horse owning life. He is a lovely hack and just such a nice horse, it could be worse.
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I just wish he wasn't so stoic and I had known earlier. He never even got a stiff back, I test him often. If I keep him in work in future I think I'll have to plan to block out one hind each year with his flu jab just to be sure he's sound.

He is a really super hack. Perfect in any traffic, calm in any company, and steady without being brain dead.
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I want to say 'I'm sorry' but I'm not sure if that's the right words, and you're right it could be much worse. I just know that you and Ludo are lucky to have each other, and that I wish you both years of joy together, even if that looks a bit different now. Your post is a real lesson in listening to the horse. If only they were all so lucky!
 
I’m so glad for you that he’ll be able to continue to hack. As others have said, plenty of fun and schooling to be had out hacking. I don’t know if you’ll miss schooling in an arena? I probably wouldn’t 🤣 apart from not being able to ride in winter - but as you’re free in daylight hours that shouldn’t be such a problem.

He’s a lucky boy to have such an insightful owner to pick this up before it becomes a more acute issue.

I have to say, reading this thread is making me wonder if I do miss horse ownership/being heavily involved in horses as much as I think I do. I certainly don’t miss the stress, the being pulled in different directions by professionals, the self doubt… I do bloomin’ miss horses though.
 
I'm grateful to have answers. I've been asking one vet after another for years why he stands like he does, whether he's sound. I knew it would be bilateral, I knew it was something about the way he moved and not something resulting from a single accident, and it would have been worse to be any other reason. Stifles would have been a likely death sentence, hocks would have been a lifetime of medication. So wonky pastern bones mean he needs to be a hack, at a time in life when my schooling skills are degrading by the day. I clapped too much at a show last night and my arthritic right wrist is hot and swollen and all my fingers hurt. I couldn't give a subtle rein aid today if my life depended on it.

I just need to get my head round it. This has been very sudden, its only 8 days since the first indication he was really in trouble.

Please, please if you breed a foal get the hoof care right. You have only a few weeks to correct a pastern growth plate issue but it's easily corrected by trimming the foot.
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Sorry to read this. However, how about aiming to school whilst you hack? Nothing to stop you then still doing some dressage comps or whatnot. Just gives you a bit more to aim for! The odd four minute dressage test in an arena I can’t see would do any harm.

Glad it wasn’t worse news and lucky boy to have you.
 
Luckily M, lockdown simply confirmed that I really hate being judged for that four minutes!

I was really looking forward to cementing flying changes and getting to get him to do tempis, but I can cope with that. I mostly wish I had better hacking from the gate of the yard. It's a really great place, they look after him really well, best I have come across anywhere, but the road outside the gate isn't safe.

I need to get my head around it not being a disaster to have to box up to hack.
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ycbm said:
Luckily M, lockdown simply confirmed that I really hate being judged for that four minutes!

I was really looking forward to cementing flying changes and getting to get him to do tempis, but I can cope with that. I mostly wish I had better hacking from the gate of the yard. It's a really great place, they look after him really well, best I have come across anywhere, but the road outside the gate isn't safe.

I need to get my head around it not being a disaster to have to box up to hack.
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A yard with better hacking sounds like a good shout, there must be somewhere with the same standard of care?
 
Michen said:
A yard with better hacking sounds like a good shout, there must be somewhere with the same standard of care?
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Group turnout in a 4 or 5 acre well drained field is as hard to find in this area as rocking horse shit. Deep clean beds in full livery are almost as rare. People who are almost 100% on my wavelength about what horses need are almost non existent. A yard where everyone is welcoming, ditto. I'd take some persuading to move him again.
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I have found that unless box rest is needed, you just have to do whatever will keep them sane in the field. My old NF would only heal if in gentle work, because otherwise she started playing in the field the second she felt better, and would then redo the damage (often worse!). Current cob couldn’t be sensible in a field if his life depended on it, so ended up on box rest for an injury most horses could have just had field rest for, yet mini cob can be relied upon to just take it easy until she is healed - you know your horse!
 
He’s a lucky boy to have you.

I suppose the benefit of having to box to hacking is that you get in the habit of it, and can start boxing to a bigger variety of trails.

Would you be interested in doing some in-hand work with him eventually, as a substitute for ridden schooling?
 
maya2008 said:
I have found that unless box rest is needed, you just have to do whatever will keep them sane in the field. My old NF would only heal if in gentle work, because otherwise she started playing in the field the second she felt better, and would then redo the damage (often worse!). Current cob couldn’t be sensible in a field if his life depended on it, so ended up on box rest for an injury most horses could have just had field rest for, yet mini cob can be relied upon to just take it easy until she is healed - you know your horse!
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Thankfully even the vet doesn't want him on box rest. I was girding my loins to tell her it wasn't going to happen when she said she doesn't think it will help.
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stangs said:
He’s a lucky boy to have you.

I suppose the benefit of having to box to hacking is that you get in the habit of it, and can start boxing to a bigger variety of trails.

Would you be interested in doing some in-hand work with him eventually, as a substitute for ridden schooling?
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Variety is the key and how I am currently selling it to myself. After all, very few yards have more than 1 or 2 one hour hacks from the door and I have a dozen within a 30 minute drive.

In hand, yes definitely.

ETA thank you for the compliment.
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I agree that he's a lucky boy to have you and I know you'll your best for him. My lad went lame three or four years ago now. I used to compete BE with him but as soon as he went lame I forgot about all of that and set my stall out that I just wanted to get him back to hacking again. He's my horse of a lifetime and it was far more important to me that he's here than anything else so all the schooling and stuff just went out of the window. I've never missed the competing and life is less stressful without it anyway.

I get the impression from what you say that you feel the same about Ludo as I do about my horse. If so I think you'll be happy just to do whatever you can with him because it's being together and enjoying life with each other that matters the most.
 
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