Coffin Joint Arthritis Managing Without Joint Meds

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Joyous70

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Has anyone one here had their horses diagnosed with coffin joint arthritis, and decided not to go ahead with the steriod injections?

My boy had a lameness workup on Friday and has been diagnosed with coffin joint arthritis, vet wants to medicate the joints with steriods and something else, cannot remember what it was called. He said after viewing xrays that his feet were well balanced but could possibly help with a little tweaking, my farrier has suggested if vet says ok to try with new shoes and leave the joint meds for a later time, as his concern was that once you start to medicate the joints the capsule is then broken and makes matters worse and they don't always work.

So im thinking i would far rather try with new shoes and a good supplement like cortavet to begin with, has anyone else tried this? did you excercise your horse still to keep him moving did you need to use bute to keep them comfortable?

Sorry for so many questions, my head is still spinning at the moment, my poor boy is only 13 years old.
 
My boy was only 10 when he was diagnosed. We initially tried injections into the joint but after the initial period of box rest he was only sound for about 3 weeks. At this point the vet pretty much said he'll always just be a field ornament. I asked if they thought it was work trying a joint supplement and they recommended mobifor. I put him on the loading dose, and he had a little tiny patch of grass fenced off outside his stable so he could stretch his legs a bit but not go crazy. After about a month he started jumping out of his little fenced off patch-so he was obviously feeling better!! I very slowly brought him back to work, still keeping him on the mobifor but we went on to have another 10 years of doing everything from hacking, drag hunting, showjumping etc. It was just a case of getting to know what he could manage and I always made sure I had some bute to hand that I gave him if we'd had a particularly hard day.
Hope you manage to find out a way to manage your boy and that he comes right again. It does take some time, it was probably about a year from diagnosis to getting him back to full work and then we always took it easy in the winter. Good luck xx
 
My boy was diagnosed with coffin joint arthritis 2 years ago. I opted not to go for joint injections as although they help initialy I believe they speed up the degeneration long term.

I have worked with my farrier & we looked criticaly at his foot balance although he apeared to have excellent feet we took his shoes off gave him 2 months off turned out. After the holiday has was sound. I had him shod kept the toes short and bought him in to work very very slowly lots of walk work.

My vet was convinvced he would just go lame again. He stayed sound from october to July in full work jumping everything. In july he went slightly lame. I ended up giving him 6 weeks off as I was busy at work, had exams & I was due to go away anyway.

After the 6 weeks he was sound. I bought him back into work. This spring we have been to a few hunter trials etc. I think the key to him is the ground. He feels amazing at the min he is 20 this year and feels as good as ever. However as the ground hardens up I will be very careful what I do.


As he is 20 and arthritic I do not do as much as I used to particularly jumping. I still ride 5 times a week though and school quite hard as he is good on a good surface. I have decided just to have fun with him while I can. I think everything is a bonus he owes me nothing. So I go into a competition feeling no preassure and no nerves

He is on a good joint suppliment, I feed devils claw or a bute suppliment if he is lame or some times when he is shod as he seams to react to this some times.

I hope this makes you feel positive I did not follow the vets advice. They told me he would go lame as soon as I worked him. Infact they said work him untill he goes lame then call us again and we will come out and inject...

Just be aware if you are claiming on insurance. If you wait for the injections you will probably not be covered for them in the future.
 
Mini-Eventer which bute supplement do you use? there seems to be so many out there. I will contact my vets on Monday to ask for some bute for him for when he has bad days, but would rather use something else if at all possible.

sweethearts - nice to hear you got a further ten years of fun, im hoping my boy can be sound enough to work again. At the moment he's fine in walk, canter, but unlevel at the trot on the road, but will trot on grass/softer surfaces, providing theres no circles involved, so am a bit unsure as to whether i should just walk hack him out, as he loves his work.
 
Mine has low articular ringbone which is the worst one sadly. He used to go lame when worked. I had the injections done twice first one worked for a week, second one no improvement whatsoever. He was on Synequin (sp) and bute, but he never came sound and couldn't even walk to and from the field so was sadly PTS. He was only 11 and I'd only owned him for 10 months :-(
 
The something else is likely Hylauronic acid (that's the expensive part!).

Mine (19) was diagnosed in off fore in January (been lame since November and having rememdial farriery to make improvements since then and field rest, some improvement seen but I think that was mostly due to not doing any work)

In Jan he did have a joint injection, he was about 2 or 3/10 lame (4/10 prior to the shoeing rest) and I was really happy to leave him any longer like that. He was essentially sound and I brought him back into work slowly over the next 6 weeks, when he was hacking out for an hour and doing a little trot but when trotted up for farrier was not 100%. Spoke to vet and agreed to up work for a couple of weeks to see if got worse which it did. Discussed options as after 12 weeks remedial shoeing agreed that feet were looking much better but not really making a difference to the soundness. Therefore he had another injection (to give us a head start) and we took the shoes off to see if he can start supporting the joint better himself.

Now 6 weeks post injection and 5 out of shoes and he is sound but is still only in walk work so only time will tell longer term.

He was already on a reasonable dose of joint supp (suppleaze gold) prior to lameness and this was upped in november but not really made any difference, its just a back up really.
 
My lad was diagnosed 3 yrs ago when he started going lame on the right rein, circles and turns, mainly in trot. Had 2 lots of the HA injections 6 weeks apart, and this seemed to improve things for about 4 months, then showed lameness again :( He was only 12 at the time :(

Had to give up competing (dressage) and he is still hacking sound, with a small bit of light schooling - lucky we have a large arena (50 x 60) so on the right rein we trot the straight bits and walk round the corners :). Strangely enough he seems to be better trotting on the roads then on a surface, my farrier thinks he's uncomfortable with the movement of the surface.

I did try one more lot of the HA but showed no more improvement, so as insurance had run out (HA expensive!!) have not tried again. I do now have him on a devils claw supplement. At least with this wet weather the ground is soft which means I can still canter him on our farm ride and even pop little logs, but once it hardens up I stop.

As many people have said to me, at least I can still ride him!! It seems from reading these posts that, as always, different horses react differently to surfaces and treatments.

I hope you're able to come up with something that enables you to keep riding, arthritis is such a bummer, suffer with it myself!
 
Coffin Joint Arthritis is not good, in order for it to be diagnosed I am presuming that there are visible changes in bone or articular surfaces. They are triggered by Bio mech problems or previous pathology. The joint medication will reduce inflammation and further progression as a consequence of the inflammation , that is a step to reduce one of the symptoms.
But if the condition is as a result of OCD or similar then the disease is generally progressive and irreversible.
If it is bio mechanical then a good rationale on shoeing or trimming will go a long way to fix it or at worst stabilize it. That is why for some people one strategy works and for others it doesn't.
 
Interesting trading.
My older warmblood showed slight lameness last year, mainly left rein and circles, hard or bumpy surfaces and down hill.
He was diagnosed with ringbone.
Has has had the injectings approximately every 3 months over the last year, with cartrophen in between.
He has Bute if needed, and has been on devils claw since October.
Now the insurance has finished. I'm worried how long he has until it gets worse again.

He is only hacking, the vet has said the surface in the arena won't be good for him, obviously junping is out, and have to be careful with hard and bumpy ground.

It's so tough seeing him getting older.
 
Mine was diagnosed age 12, we had injections of some thing? i also used the Mobifore. He sayed sound enough to hack, even jumped on a serface once or twice at first, just the suplement was enough then i used to give him a bute the night before if i was going to ride or in the summer when the ground was hard, by last summer when the ground was so hard he was up to 2 x bute a day to keep him field sound. now he is on one a day i have not taken him for a little walk since about October. to be honest its arthritis there is no cure it will only get worse. but at the moment he is happy, charging round the field but half hr later he is feeling it . If any one has a magic cure please tell me. just dreading the hard ground again if summer ever comes! he is 18 on July 28th x

My other horse has been on joint suplement from the age of 3! prevention is bettter than cure?
 
Our 15 year old (on her passport, vet says she is more like late teens) cob was diagnosed with djd in her coffin joints and pasterns in June 2011. She had steroid injections into the joints but they did not make any difference. Foot balance was good, so didn't change her shoeing. We put her on one bute a day and she was sound until February this year - mainly a happy hacker, no jumping and a couple of days hunting. The frozen uneven ground really affected her badly. She had her shoes off and had xrays 2 weeks ago which showed that the arthritis has got much worse, she is still on bute to keep her comfortable and is now a field ornament. She has been much better since we had all the rain and the ground is softer, the vet said she will not be rideable again. I suppose the thing with arthritis is that it will always get worse :(
 
Just wanted to add, the vet and black smith got together and decided that not a lot could be changed with his almost perfect foot confirmation. and i have owned this boy all his life and he had never worked hard or on dodgy ground and always has is feet done every 6 weeks with out fail. The problem was the much bigger changes deep in the foot, he had x rays taken 2 x years earlia and the change looking at the 2x sets of x rays was just shocking really .
 
following Aguildings post I should perhaps say that frank's diagnosis was DJD, no changes visible by xray but return to soundness after nerve blocking the joint.

He did however have visible biomechanical problems with his feet on xray and in real life which at least give us something tangible to try and improve and perhaps relieve the joint somewhat.
 
My 13yo went lame last July, and was diagnosed with DJD in his coffin joints, in particular of his near front.

He's had 2 steroid injections so far (I know he won't be able to really have another one) and then a course of joint supplement injections (not sure what it was, they were still trialling it I think). Also is shod with gel pads to help cushion against the hard ground.

Brought him back into work really slowly over the winter, and touch wood, he's still sound! Tbh, he's come back better than ever, as he must be more comfortable. I'm loving this wet weather, it's keeping the ground soft!

Only doing the odd bit of jumping on grass, usually only jump in an arena, but he felt like he was flying today, and he won his class so something must be working - let's hope it stays this way!!

Also, as Ester said, no changes visible by xray but return to soundness after nerve blocking the joint.
 
My boy was diagnosed with ringbone and other arthritic changes at the age of 12, but that was 15 years ago! Absolutely perfect hoof/pastern alignment and keeping the point of breakover in the optimum position has been the key to keeping Syd happy, so your farrier is a critical player! You are just about to learn a whole lot more about the geometry of hooves, if it isn't already your specialist subject!

In the early years Syd was sound enough to continue jumping etc As he has got older, on the advice of my vet, I have introduced firstly Cortaflex, then a Danilon 2x per week, increasing to every other day and now he is on one Danilon per day. (I won't increase the dose any higher than this, but that's my personal decision for my circumstances.) Now, at the ripe old age of 27, Syd is hacked out 3-4 times per week to keep everything moving gently and while he is still happy, we carry on!

I was intitially devastated by the original diagnosis, but I never expected him still to be here fifteen years later! We have never gone down the joint injections route, but I used to have x-rays every couple of years to check the hoof-pastern alignment was OK. Now, my farrier knows him so well that we haven't had any x-rays for years.

Best of luck with your horse and he may still be around in 15 years, like Syd!
 
my mare had injections don't last very long iv had this problem on going for 12 months had 3 different vets she got wedge on her front shoes does make bit difference she on msm supplement and turmeric she on off lame im at that point what do you do for best there no cure its just manage ur horse there not going to be sound my girl 19 sad I give her bute if she lame if I ride her and at min she only been ridden for half in walk its what do you do don't think she ever gona be in full work again im think turning her out for 12 months see if there difference its not cheap and insurance will only pay out for so long
 
Black_Horse_White said:
Mine has low articular ringbone which is the worst one sadly. He used to go lame when worked. I had the injections done twice first one worked for a week, second one no improvement whatsoever. He was on Synequin (sp) and bute, but he never came sound and couldn't even walk to and from the field so was sadly PTS. He was only 11 and I'd only owned him for 10 months :-(
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My mare was exactly the same. She had the injections twice, had Synequin and bute but from first going lame in May, she was PTS on New years eve 7 months later. She was 10 years old. That was 11 years ago.

Sorry for the gloomy account Joyous70, I hope things have moved on a bit since then therapy wise, and that you have a more successful outcome. Best wishes to both of you x
 
MerrySherryRider said:
My mare was exactly the same. She had the injections twice, had Synequin and bute but from first going lame in May, she was PTS on New years eve 7 months later. She was 10 years old. That was 11 years ago.

Sorry for the gloomy account Joyous70, I hope things have moved on a bit since then therapy wise, and that you have a more successful outcome. Best wishes to both of you x
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Wow this is quite an old thread that has been resurrected here, sadly the injections didn't work for my boy and we decided after trying wedge shoes, turn out on a flat field heading towards one of the coldest grimest winters he began laying down far more than was normal we decided to call it a day, he was PTS 2 years ago at the end of November. I wish i could have spoken to you at the time, it may have made my decision easier, as a lot of people didn't agree with what i did, but i have no regrest, he was 13 years old enjoyed his job far too much and i couldn't watch my boy suffer.
 
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My horse was diagnosed four years ago. He had shown mild lameness on and off for two years in his off fore. Never enough to do a lameness work up. When diagnosed he was given one injection. He was then given bute taken down to one every other day. He worked well for three years and then was ok for another year until my farrier noticed some rotation in the foot. The strain of this caused him issues in his back. He is now retired, he is fine in the field.
As well as the drug I developed routines to help him. He was shod by an excellent farrier using natural balance ,roll topped shoes. I would always lead him out for 1/2mile before riding, to warm him up. I limited trotting on the road, when the ground was hard I limited fast work. I took up dressage to help him work from behind and for something to do in the summer. He had visits at least three times a year from the chirovet, she also gave him acupuncture. He was kept at just below ideal weight to limit the strain on him, this was monitored by the vet. He was ridden little and often even if I had to pay a rider. I walked him on foot down any steep hills. He had devils claw.
He was a great horse worthy of the chance to do what he was good at. He will now enjoy a retirement and a grass belly before the day comes.
 
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