Coffin Joint issues

[Devonequine]

Hi, looking for advice, guidance, strength!

Looks like my big lad, 17hh 18yr old warmblood is developing arthritis in his fronts. following nerve blocks etc. Heartbshoes, pads etc fitted. He’s 2 weeks on yet still not sound.

Am I expecting too much too soon?

Vet did tentatively mention injecting the joints, has anyone had this done? What were the costs? Did it work?

Any help, guidance welcome!

 

[sjdress]

Hi, looking for advice, guidance, strength!

Looks like my big lad, 17hh 18yr old warmblood is developing arthritis in his fronts. following nerve blocks etc. Heartbshoes, pads etc fitted. He’s 2 weeks on yet still not sound.

Am I expecting too much too soon?

Vet did tentatively mention injecting the joints, has anyone had this done? What were the costs? Did it work?

Any help, guidance welcome!

My 21 year old mare had her coffin joint injected, along with pads and very careful shoeing. Has made a world of difference to her. She wasnt happy to canter but since having them done she now pops into canter nicely. I think it was about £425 total cost

 

[Devonequine]

Hi

thank you so much! Did you go straight to injections or go for shoes first?

 

[ihatework]

I think you are expecting a lot quickly.
It will be lifelong management now I’m afraid, big older horse with coffin arthritis.
I’d most definitely be injecting.
Not sure if arthramid is used for coffins but worth asking

 

[sjdress]

Hi

thank you so much! Did you go straight to injections or go for shoes first?

shoes first and pads but she still wasn’t happy or completely sound so decided to inject about 4 months later. I do have to be very careful with her now and am very picky about what ground I ride her on and how much work she does. I also try to keep her weight down to help with joint pressure.

 

[Devonequine]

Hi, lifelong management not an issue at all. He and his well-being are my priority. I’ve had horses over 40yrs and always fall apart when something crops up with them.

I will definitely ask about the injections!
Thank you so much

 

[Devonequine]

shoes first and pads but she still wasn’t happy or completely sound so decided to inject about 4 months later. I do have to be very careful with her now and am very picky about what ground I ride her on and how much work she does. I also try to keep her weight down to help with joint pressure.

This is what I suspecting with my lad. I’m looking at all options first, will then sit and have a chat with my vet

 

[scats]

Mine is having arthramid injected into hers tomorrow morning.

 

[Zoeypxo]

Mine is sound on arthramid injections into her coffin joint, she also has wedges and pads but she is not sound without the injection. I would reccomend it, my horse is back to her normal lively self since having the injections and able to work again

 

[Devonequine]

Mine is having arthramid injected into hers tomorrow morning.

Good luck, please let me know how she gets on.

 

[sbloom]

The most comprehensive (and in my mind up to date, science based) approach would be to shoe with the sort of protocol offered by https://www.facebook.com/hoofscanandhoofcarecentre, and then look to get as much weight off the front feet as possible by doing rehab that truly focuses on the thoracic sling, not mentioned a lot in these sorts of cases (or even ones that are more obviously postural). When I'm chatting about this sort of thing with customers the best way of seeing injections is as giving a pain free window to get the horse as far as possible with rehab to fix the causes, not the symptoms and hopefully you may not need any further injections, depending on the individual situation of course.

 

[scats]

Good luck, please let me know how she gets on.

Jabs done. Couple of days rest then back to hacking for a couple of weeks before hopefully increasing work when injections take effect.

 

[Sprogladite01]

My connie has pads but isn't sound with just them so has just had his coffin joints injected with arthramid on both fronts. We are waiting for it to kick in at the moment! Fingers firmly crossed. My vet raved about arthramid and said he'd been seeing really good and long lasting results with it. We went for it as my boy has a history of lami so we wanted to stay away from steroids as much as possible.

Edit to add: the plan is much the same as scats, hacking in walk only for the next 2-3 weeks while we wait for it to kick in and also walking over poles in hand, combined with tail pulls, belly lifts and limb extensions post exercise. Vet also wanted us to do carrot stretches but unfortunately my boy is a bitey monster and I dont fancy losing any fingers!

 

[scats]

My connie has pads but isn't sound with just them so has just had his coffin joints injected with arthramid on both fronts. We are waiting for it to kick in at the moment! Fingers firmly crossed. My vet raved about arthramid and said he'd been seeing really good and long lasting results with it. We went for it as my boy has a history of lami so we wanted to stay away from steroids as much as possible.

Edit to add: the plan is much the same as scats, hacking in walk only for the next 2-3 weeks while we wait for it to kick in and also walking over poles in hand, combined with tail pulls, belly lifts and limb extensions post exercise. Vet also wanted us to do carrot stretches but unfortunately my boy is a bitey monster and I dont fancy losing any fingers!

Same here re the steroids. Millie’s never had lami, but she’s a chunky girl and it’s just not worth the risk.
Hope all goes well with yours, it would be nice to keep in touch with someone going on the same journey at the same time.

 

[Annagain]

I'd definitely inject. My boy had his first lot of injections (in both feet) at 12. We stopped jumping and he didn't need any more until he was 22 when he needed one foot injecting. That lasted another 18 months then he needed doing again. Unfortunately the third lot had very little effect and we retired him but he's field sound and loving life at 26 so we can't complain. He just had steroid injections but I think if we were doing it again now we'd go for arthramid.

 

[Sprogladite01]

Same here re the steroids. Millie’s never had lami, but she’s a chunky girl and it’s just not worth the risk.
Hope all goes well with yours, it would be nice to keep in touch with someone going on the same journey at the same time.

Thank you, I've documented our whole journey pretty much over in the Veterinary and Hoof Care forum if you want to go and have a look - he's had a ton of issues since Aug 2021 and the forum has helped keep me sane through most of it lol! Feel free to send me a PM if/when you need someone to chat to

 

[Birker2020]

Hi, looking for advice, guidance, strength!

Looks like my big lad, 17hh 18yr old warmblood is developing arthritis in his fronts. following nerve blocks etc. Heartbshoes, pads etc fitted. He’s 2 weeks on yet still not sound.

Am I expecting too much too soon?

Vet did tentatively mention injecting the joints, has anyone had this done? What were the costs? Did it work?

Any help, guidance welcome!

Medicating the joints (injecting them with steroid and HA) is a very common treatment, it has the effect of alleviating inflammation, thus reducing or eliminating pain.

These days there are better treatments than corticosteroid without the risk that steroids can bring. Arthramid is one of the newer treatments and meant to be very effective, and although very costly it can last twice as long as steroid injections. https://www.conturavet.com/products/arthramid-vet

IRAP which is where blood from the horse is taken and then injected into the joint https://www.tevs.com.au/jointherapy/irap#:~:text=IRAP is an effective intra,result of degenerative joint disease. and Adequan are other treatments. Adequan is made from bovine lung and trachea extracts that contain mostly chondroitin sulfate which is meant to be very helpful with OA. https://www.adequan.com/Horse-Owner-FAQs

There is also systemic hylauronate which is marketed under Osphos and Tildren which is a bisphosphonate. http://www.osphos.com/includes/pdf/FactSheet-Bisophosonate-FINAL.pdf This is injected into the horses jugular and targets any area in the body where there is inflammation.

 

[FitzyFitz]

Mine just had his coffin joint injected for a bone spur, had bar shoes fitted too but they seem to be causing too much frog pressure and causing other issues even though he's now sound on the foot with the spur. Vet said he was a "challenged pony" haha. Currently awaiting the farrier to put him back in normal shoes and try bute if he needs to do anything

Got an old girl though who has fetlock arthritis and we had her injected (twice, a few years apart) and switched to bar shoes in her late teens. She had another few years competing at open level endurance and is now stiff on cold days and after travel but still perfectly happy to tank off with you on a hack once she's warmed up at age 28!
Yours is much bigger so more pressure on everything, but the jabs did do a world of good. Give it time and have patience on cold wet days or before he's warmed up properly. Pads and shoes may help but he will just need careful management from now on, you can always ask your vet for advice at any time.
Our old girl tends to totter down the trailer ramp like she's 100 years old, slowly plod down the lane like an old grandmother as she's working the kinks out, then as soon as she sees a decent field margin ears are pricked, head goes down and bam she's off But again, on a cold wet day? You can ask her for trot and she just won't do it and sometimes you've got to just amble home again.