Bute Trial - kind advice required

Birker2020 said:
Oh dear that doesn't sound good, but its good that he is field sound again. I wonder if he's got spavin, sounds like it. It's quite easy to fix, more a management thing to be honest (see reply 25).

Try not to worry, I hope you get some good news this afternoon.
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I feel like now there is heat that we have narrowed down the search. I think we will be nerve blocking this afternoon and then hopefully medicating the joints (next visit obvs). I've spoken to my vet at great length about various options. As he isn't insured (for this due to age) they did suggest just medicating the hock and seeing what happens as a investigative trial. I don't know how I feel about that - I'll talk more to her (vet) when she arrives.
 
ester said:
Given your description I’d wonder if it was a tendon slip
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Sorry to sound a bit dim, I'm very new to the broken pony club. How would that show/look like after the event?

He has heat on the inside of his hock and his (what I would call) thoroughpin is swollen/more pronounced than before.
 
Not a pro on it myself but we had one on the yard that was prone to it happening (an oldie) I know he's be sore for a while after but I can't help on the heat/swelling front! Like you I would definitely want to the vet to assess. Such a bloomin worry they are!
 
Glad you've got the vet coming out. Even if he can't have steroids because of his weight (although they can blood test for insulin to assess the risk) then he can always have arthramid injections. They are pricey but you sound like me with my retirees where heart rules head sometimes!

Hopefully its just wear and tear
 
Arthramid is £750 per hock I think if investing 1.5k in injections I would want the diagnostics to make sure that you were treating the correct problem.

My understanding is the gel can last a good few years so if you spread out the monthly cost then it might be less than feeding a joint supplement for two years which may not work as well.

SEL said:
Glad you've got the vet coming out. Even if he can't have steroids because of his weight (although they can blood test for insulin to assess the risk) then he can always have arthramid injections. They are pricey but you sound like me with my retirees where heart rules head sometimes!

Hopefully its just wear and tear
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Vet came. She had a poke and prod and felt the heat i can feel in the hock. We trotted him up. He was much more noticeably lame. She flexed the leg and we trotted up again. This time he wasn't weight bearing at all. He just put his toe to the floor and hopped. ?

So vet coming back on Tuesday to nerve block. We're all now pretty confident its the hock but we want to be sure. If improvements with nerve block she will be coming back Friday to administrator steriod injections. We're going to do both hocks.

He's lost a fair bit of weight over winter as I've not overly rugged and he's out 24/7. Although he has adlib hay he doesn't gorge on it anymore. He just gets a small feed to give a balancer and supplements. Vet was happy with his weight too.
 
Vet was back yesterday.

We nerve blocked the hock and sure enough there was significant improvement. But showed he was also quite lame on the other leg. Poor boy.
So vet is coming back on Tuesday to medicate both hocks with steroids. We did speak about other (more expensive) options, which we may look at in the future. But my feeling (and the vets) is if I'm spending so much on the medication of the joint it would be better to have x-rays of what we are medicating. And lets face it at his age the likely hood is there is probably changes in other joints too.

So fingers crossed we see lots of improvement in the coming weeks.
 
Vet back today. Steriod injections in both hocks. He's currently stabled in the shelter overlooking the field so he can see all his friends. He's not particularly happy about being shut in but he'll have to deal with it until tomorrow evening. He's got plenty of hay and water so he'll be fine even if he doesn't think so.
 
dorsetladette said:
. But my feeling (and the vets) is if I'm spending so much on the medication of the joint it would be better to have x-rays of what we are medicating. And lets face it at his age the likely hood is there is probably changes in other joints too.
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If the steroids don't work or last long there is an option to have Tildren which is given as an infusion over 3/4 hour through a drip in the neck. The effects can last many years. The main advantage over Tildren is that it will target any area in the body that has joint/bone inflammation, so you get more bang for your buck.

As an aside, my Dad was given exactly the same medication (Bisphosophonate called Zometa I think) to help with his pain management in his metastasised terminal prostate cancer which went to his bones. His treatment was £2,600 a week, luckily on the NHS but its not quite that expensive for horses, I think it was about £700 way back in about 2011 to treat my horse. Sadly it didn't work for my horse, so he had fusion as a last resort which worked incredibly well instead.

I'm not sure if Tildren is still as popular - I think Osphos is another drug from the same family, that may have taken over now.

RIP Dad & Bailey x
 
Thank you @Birker2020 fingers crossed the steroids work as we don't have insurance to fall back on due to his age.

He's furious with me this morning and just wants to get out. I'm tempted to give him a calming cookie or 3 before he comes out this evening. We've had rain over night so its slippy underfoot.
He's got 10 days field rest them walking hacking for 2 weeks then a little trot work again out hacking (sand tracks) and vet back in 4 weeks to check on progress.
 
So we are a week into medicated hock after care. He's still not right behind, but the vet said it could take up to a month to see the full benefit of the steroids. I can see he is using both hock a lot better, we are flexing the joint more and we are not dragging toes. In walk he looks much more comfortable. a trot and a canter round the field with me holding my breath shows that he is now favouring the other leg, but only slightly. Could this be due to him now using muscles differently as he has been compensating for a while? or am I just clutching at straws.
Vet back in 3 weeks to check on progress.
 
iknowmyvalue said:
How about cartrophen injections? No risk to ulcers, good choice for multiple joint problems/general creakiness that isn’t a candidate for joint injections. On the expensive side initially but it does generally work well.

As others say, if you want to go the nsaid route, then there are “gentler” alternatives to bute such as Danilon/Metacam/Equioxx which are less likely to have GI side effects.
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There’s also Tilden and osteopen type drugs to consider and the gel type products although they are best in experience in early onset of arthritic issues
 
dorsetladette said:
So we are a week into medicated hock after care. He's still not right behind, but the vet said it could take up to a month to see the full benefit of the steroids. I can see he is using both hock a lot better, we are flexing the joint more and we are not dragging toes. In walk he looks much more comfortable. a trot and a canter round the field with me holding my breath shows that he is now favouring the other leg, but only slightly. Could this be due to him now using muscles differently as he has been compensating for a while? or am I just clutching at straws.
Vet back in 3 weeks to check on progress.
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It might be worth a visit from a bodyworker. My horse went from dog lame to barely noticeable after a treatment (he’d had an op on his fetlock). I think he was just so used to moving a certain way that he needed a good loosen up to reset his body .
 
meleeka said:
It might be worth a visit from a bodyworker. My horse went from dog lame to barely noticeable after a treatment (he’d had an op on his fetlock). I think he was just so used to moving a certain way that he needed a good loosen up to reset his body .
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The physio is due the end of may but I'll see if she can come out sooner. Good shout!
 
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