Cervical Osteoarthritis - neck getting stuck

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aldato_daz

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Hello everybody. I haven't been on here in so long bt figured it's a great place to get advice and experience!

My 15yo gelding was just diagnosed with cervical osteoarthritis yesterday, much to my devastation :(

I figured something was not at all right when I saw him on a few occasions with his head on the ground, not wanting to lift, when I turned him to the right he found it extremely difficult and uncomfortable. He had a huge bulge on the right hand side of his neck, 6 inches back from his pole. With a bit of massage this would suddenly release, very much so like his nuchal ligament just popped back over to the other side, so I put it down to nuchal ligament strain and tension and proceeded to do some physio work on him (in a physio myself) this stopped. However, whilst doing simple carrot stretches to the right hand side one day, he very obviously became stuck and in a split second, panicked, threw his head up and I heard a very audible clunk! It was awful! This was a repeatable occurrence as I did it a few more times over the next couple of days to show people, just to make sure I wasn't imagining it. It was obviously very dostressing for him as he then wouldn't do the stretches at all for me. He never palpates sore along his neck by there were areas of tension in his musculature that I can see, exactly the same on both sides of his neck.

So straight to the vet I went. X-rays showed OA from c5-c7. He has been injected and I've been advised to wait two weeks before I see an improvement.

Today I tried a different stretch (curiosity killed the cat), just down towards his knees and he got stuck again. Awful!!!! Needless to say I am going to give him the two weeks off, with the odd hack in straight lines, loose rein and maybe a free lunge. I know that I will need to do some specific exercise to target the neck stabilising muscles. Vet said that he likes to think he can return back to what I was always doing with an injection maybe once or twice a year. But hard to well how long he has left.

Has anybody has any experience of this?'particularly his getting stuck situation!!

Also, I would now like to get him on to a good supplement, preferably a Veterinary one. I don't mind spending a bit of money as he has never had lame day since I had him from a 4yo. Any recommendations? !

Thanks all so much for any input!

C
 
I take it you are a human physio and not an animal physio?Or you would spell poll as POLL and not POLE?

If a horse is unable to raise its head off the floor or is significantly struggling then it has probably had a traumatic accident by falling onto its neck or pulling back whilst tied up and its a veterinary emergency. Teh fact that you are a physio and 'have seen your horse on more than one occasion with his head on the ground not wanting to lift it' and not called the vet straight away is mind blowing to me. You say you only called the vet when he 'got stuck'. Sorry but I am glad you are not my physio(human or animal)! :) C6 is not a very good vertebrae to suffer although I am not sure why this is.
His muscles will be extremely sore and an arthritic response will start resulting in calcium deposits being laid around the point of injury. A typical scenario is a horse falling onto its neck experiencing a decrease in the amount of space in the spinal column due to the addition of deposits of calcification.This can cause impingement on the spinal cord and associated nerves which results in incordination of its legs and the horse is then classed as neurologically impaired. .But you should know all this being a physio anyway without me spelling it out to you. If your neck was locked and you couldn't raise your head would you wait until it had happened a 'few' times before going the doctor????I think not. Sorry I am not trying to be mean but I am flabbergasted you are a physio.
 
I'm confused by the 2 weeks off, which would be sensible given what the vet said, including ridden work?
 
aldato_daz said:
However, whilst doing simple carrot stretches to the right hand side one day, he very obviously became stuck and in a split second, panicked, threw his head up and I heard a very audible clunk! It was awful! This was a repeatable occurrence as I did it a few more times over the next couple of days to show people, just to make sure I wasn't imagining it. It was obviously very dostressing for him as he then wouldn't do the stretches at all for me. He never palpates sore along his neck by there were areas of tension in his musculature that I can see, exactly the same on both sides of his neck.

So

I don't mind spending a bit of money as he has never had lame day since I had him from a 4yo. Any recommendations? !



C
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this has got to be a troll. A physio would not inflict such trauma on a horse in front of people 'to make sure she wasn't imagining things'.Nor would a physio delay getting a vet to an obviously injured and distressed horse. He probably wouldn't do the stretches anymore for her because it bl**dy well hurt him. Ester normal treatment after medication of the neck is a week of long reining with anti imflams followed by riding straight lines in walk on a longer rein and no collection.
 
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Hi. I have a horse with arthritis in c6 and c7. She locks in the down position and can only release the lock when she reverses then moves forward at speed. She also goes lame on front right leg when this happens. She has had injections and these appear to help. To also help when she is stabled she is fed hay etc from the floor. She is no longer allowed to eat from a tied up haynet and turned out as much as possible. She is kept warmer also. We no longer jump as believe this is causing extra strain. She is 16 and has done lot of jumping in her day and may at some time have had a fall. My vet recommends getting her core strength as strong as possible and make sure she is well warmed up. My girl was never lame outwith these episodes and, fingers crossed, we will continue to do dressage. I also feed 'Hack up' supplement but have also used premier flex plus in the past. Hope this might help a bit.
 
Gilly4503 said:
Hi. I have a horse with arthritis in c6 and c7. She locks in the down position and can only release the lock when she reverses then moves forward at speed. She also goes lame on front right leg when this happens. She has had injections and these appear to help. To also help when she is stabled she is fed hay etc from the floor. She is no longer allowed to eat from a tied up haynet and turned out as much as possible. She is kept warmer also. We no longer jump as believe this is causing extra strain. She is 16 and has done lot of jumping in her day and may at some time have had a fall. My vet recommends getting her core strength as strong as possible and make sure she is well warmed up. My girl was never lame outwith these episodes and, fingers crossed, we will continue to do dressage. I also feed 'Hack up' supplement but have also used premier flex plus in the past. Hope this might help a bit.
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Hi Gilly. Many thanks for you reply and what a nice reply it was, unlike the previous. It's good to hear that prognosis can be good, just as my vet explained to me. Your experience sounds just like mine. He has never been lame a day in the 12 years I have owned him.

I have never fed my horses from hay nets as I don't like them, they are always fed off the ground so I will continue to do this. He was never in very hard work and my vet has said that he should return to the work we were already doing in time.

Many thanks again for your reply. Good luck with your mare :)
 
People have asked questions with regards to the rehab plan that is all. I am confused at to why you would not just let him have a couple of weeks off and then see whether there is an improvement and would be interested if there is a reason because often there are reasons for things.

I have known of one too he was 6 and unable to do a canter transition and the change from being stabled and being in fairly intensive schooling to going to live with a farmer out all the time and mostly hacking on a long rein meant that without treatment he went back to dressaging on the basis that he had enough natural talent and buttons installed in the previous couple of years to not need much schooling to go out at elementary competitively, at least for a couple of years I don't know what happened to him after that.
 
I don't think my question is too unreasonable actually. If you are a physio, I would presume you have a reasonable good knowledge of rehab so I'm genuinely intrigued as to why you've done stretches that get him stuck and make him "distressed" more than once.

My horse is arthritic in his neck too, although we haven't reached the injection stage yet. When he is stiff, I find it best to avoid hills as he finds them difficult. Lots of low and loose walk and trot on the flat eases it for him.
 
apercrumbie said:
I don't think my question is too unreasonable actually. If you are a physio, I would presume you have a reasonable good knowledge of rehab so I'm genuinely intrigued as to why you've done stretches that get him stuck and make him "distressed" more than once.

My horse is arthritic in his neck too, although we haven't reached the injection stage yet. When he is stiff, I find it best to avoid hills as he finds them difficult. Lots of low and loose walk and trot on the flat eases it for him.
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To clarify, This was done perhaps three more times as a means of assessment by other professionals. . I haven't continued to do it. He isn't "stuck" for any longer than a second, it's a very spontaneous movement. I don't deliberately inflict distress on my horse. But to try and understand what was happening, we had to assess him. I hope you understand. Thanks.
 
ester said:
People have asked questions with regards to the rehab plan that is all. I am confused at to why you would not just let him have a couple of weeks off and then see whether there is an improvement and would be interested if there is a reason because often there are reasons for things.

I have known of one too he was 6 and unable to do a canter transition and the change from being stabled and being in fairly intensive schooling to going to live with a farmer out all the time and mostly hacking on a long rein meant that without treatment he went back to dressaging on the basis that he had enough natural talent and buttons installed in the previous couple of years to not need much schooling to go out at elementary competitively, at least for a couple of years I don't know what happened to him after that.
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Hi ester. My vet actually told me to give him until Sunday off, he was xrayed on Wednesday. He advised that after these days off I could gradually bring him back to the work I was currently doing. However, I have decided to just give him the two weeks off with the occasional dander up the road to get him out and about, moving and perhaps a gentle loose lunge.

I appreciate people asking questions and I'm more than happy to try and answer them and clear up any misunderstanding, but what I didn't appreciate was how some people were very quick to judge my knowledge, experience and care for my horse and were quite rude to me. I simply asked for people's experiences. That's all. Thanks for your input about the 6yo.
 
It is rare with veterinary posts that everyone gets the right impression from the first post however well written. I always seem to end up asking for clarification and extra questions but they are rarely said with judgement as I say there are often reasons for things which aren't immediately clear.

IME of injecting you usually get most of the improvement in the first few days.

Fwiw the scientist in me doesn't hold much by most joint supplements. However I have seen good results using boswellia as an anti inflammatory.
 
ester said:
It is rare with veterinary posts that everyone gets the right impression from the first post however well written. I always seem to end up asking for clarification and extra questions but they are rarely said with judgement as I say there are often reasons for things which aren't immediately clear.

IME of injecting you usually get most of the improvement in the first few days.

Fwiw the scientist in me doesn't hold much by most joint supplements. However I have seen good results using boswellia as an anti inflammatory.
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I have been told by a few people including the vet that It could take the two weeks to see improvement? I suppose all cases vary considerably. I have been reading up about some vet supplements. Have you heard of cosequin? Apparently it's the best on the market? Very expensive though. I've only done a little bit of research so far.
 
There is a horse o my yard who presents in exactly the same way as your OP. The original occurrence happened while she was still in the UK, so I don't know what her initial treatment was, other than that she has had top vets look at her as she was competing AM dressage at the time.

At the moment she has regular cartrophen injections and is very happy bumbling along. She still does dressage and goes hacking, but she can't "make a shape" or flex at the poll. But this has been going on for several years, and may be more advanced than your boy.
 
aldato_daz said:
I have been told by a few people including the vet that It could take the two weeks to see improvement? I suppose all cases vary considerably. I have been reading up about some vet supplements. Have you heard of cosequin? Apparently it's the best on the market? Very expensive though. I've only done a little bit of research so far.
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I believe Riaflex is very similar to cosequin at half the cost. https://www.riaflex.co.uk/

Incidentally, I think that if joint supplements work, it will be about 12 weeks rather than 2 weeks before you start to see a difference.
 
Casey76 said:
There is a horse o my yard who presents in exactly the same way as your OP. The original occurrence happened while she was still in the UK, so I don't know what her initial treatment was, other than that she has had top vets look at her as she was competing AM dressage at the time.

At the moment she has regular cartrophen injections and is very happy bumbling along. She still does dressage and goes hacking, but she can't "make a shape" or flex at the poll. But this has been going on for several years, and may be more advanced than your boy.
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Hi Casey. Thanks for your reply! So medicating the joint helped? Did the Synoptics disappear or does she still get "stuck". Thanks :)
 
HeresHoping said:
I believe Riaflex is very similar to cosequin at half the cost. https://www.riaflex.co.uk/

Incidentally, I think that if joint supplements work, it will be about 12 weeks rather than 2 weeks before you start to see a difference.
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Hi. Thanks! Yea I have been looking at riaflex actually. Do you think I should start adding this supplement straight away? From your experience is it generally 12 weeks before you start seeing a difference? I suppose every horse and case is individual but it's good to get a bit of an idea. Thanks again!
 
Aviform suppleaze gold and science supplements flexability will be worth looking at if you want to go down that route. My (and others) issues is the size of the molecules to be absorbed and if they are getting them to where they are needed.
 
aldato_daz said:
Hi Casey. Thanks for your reply! So medicating the joint helped? Did the Synoptics disappear or does she still get "stuck". Thanks :)
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she hasn't been too bad. There was a period last year (or it might have been the year before) where she had an episode where she couldn't look around to the left for several days, but it seemed to go away without any particular intervention.

Cartrophen is given IM, it doesn't go directly into the joint.
 
Casey76 said:
she hasn't been too bad. There was a period last year (or it might have been the year before) where she had an episode where she couldn't look around to the left for several days, but it seemed to go away without any particular intervention.

Cartrophen is given IM, it doesn't go directly into the joint.
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Hi Casey. Just re read my reply to you, I meant to type symptoms not Synoptics lol, autocorrect is very good! I can't remember the name of the medication that the vet have. It went straight in to joint, however.

Thanks for your input.
 
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