Complicated spavin recovery!

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This is a real feel sorry for myself post so here goes!

Earlier this year my 18yo mare was diagnosed with spavins...no shocker there. However things have been turning into a real saga. She had become sore in the SI region so had some jabs and physio to relieve pain. She was also treated with ethanol and equidronate and to be honest was really improving.

However when the vets I am now using (very highly recommended in my area) initially x-rayed her off hind, they informed me that she had previously suffered a fractured splint.....once it's pointed out to you its difficult to miss! Yet last year when I discovered the splint and seeing how sore it was I got my previous vets to come out and x-ray, they told me it categorically was not fractured. Looking back its obvious because she's not a wimp and yet made a huge fuss about this splint to the point of breaking needles when they tried to inject it and nearly taking the vets head off! Not only that, there looks to be quite a lot of scar tissue building up around it putting pressure on things.

Annoying to say the least!

The problem is now we are having real problems getting the off hind comfortable for her. It's never improved as much as the left hind anyway, but every time she gets sore on it again its a new load of SI jabs as well because her pelvic region gets tight. Not helped by the fact that she subsequently went lame in front and was diagnosed with having a thickened annular ligament as well as some arthritic changes in the fetlock. That was also treated with jabs and physio and again came right after a couple of weeks. The vet was pleased with her improvement and told me to crack on with working her by hacking and schooling in walk and trot.

Our school had been subsoiled and was really soft for ages so I just hacked until 2 days ago when it had settled down. I was over the moon with how she went in the school, it really felt like I had my old girl back and she was raring to go. She went back in for her final equidronate today and after trotting her up and lunging she was lame both behind and in front. She had a real goon around her field last night before I could get there to grab her (looked sound as a pound doing it too) but then came in, stood in all night and went straight into the vets this morning where she looked worse than I've ever seen her.

The vet seems pretty sure she just overdid things last night which is why she was so sore and keeps reassuring me we will get her right. I am really starting to lose sight of why we're doing this. She's a happy horse and I feel awful to keep inflicting treatments on her when we're not seeing much improvement. I wasn't expecting someone to wave a magic wand but this is really getting me down.

I know it will all be worth it in the end if we can fix her but she's becoming really peed off and has been really naughty to load the last couple of times which she has never ever even thought about before, because more often than not she's in the vets! I'm processing 2 insurance claims and can't do anything else with that splint because the insurance already paid out for that over a year ago.

Has anyone else had everything go wrong at once and the horse has come right at the end?

Thanks!

 

[be positive]

She is 18 what do you hope to get her doing if she comes through this?

My thoughts on the fractured splint bone first is have the suspensory ligaments been investigated, if the vets that treated my horse originally are to be believed, there is doubt about that but it is another story, then fractured splint bones are nearly always involving the suspensory ligaments unless you know for sure it followed a direct blow so that may be contributing to some of the issues going on now.

The spavins and SI are probably linked and both require a long rehab, mine has had his SI injected once in June this year and as far as the vet is concerned that is it for now he said if it didn't work having another would be pointless, the ongoing physio and exercise will either get him right or not.
I think to keep going and having more steroids injected in the hope that they will fix such a complex issue is not necessarily in the horses best interests, I think I would be questioning my vets very seriously now about whether it is ethical to be continuing when there is little if any real improvement, a horse should be able to play in a field without ending up lame, I wonder what they would suggest you do now if you were not insured?

 

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Me & the vet have discussed and I would be more than happy if she just came back to hacking out a couple of times a week but the vet has advised that schooling would be better as it keeps everything ticking over, and that there is no reason why she can't come back to how she was before. I previously mainly did hacking, schooling and fun rides with the occasional jump. Maybe some of the problem is I haven't really been able to consistently exercise her and keep her moving because there have been factors against us. If we had a period of solid exercise for a few weeks then maybe there would be more of an improvement? We're pretty sure the splint was as a result of a direct blow as the horse she was turned out with was a bit of a bully. They had been separated and the first night they were back in together it happened so I've always put it down to a kick.

The physio was really happy with how she was looking 3 weeks ago and so was the vet so I thought things were looking up but its these little setbacks which are making me question things. She's never been a straightforward mare so I wasn't expecting it to go smoothly. I'll have the physio out again next week as advised and when the vet comes back I will have a proper chat with her about it and go from there. The timing probably wasn't great, if she was in the vets later in the afternoon and had been turned out for a while in the morning to stretch her legs she may not have looked quite so sore. I'm glad they saw her at her worst if anything but I don't know how reliable that is, especially now they are in for the winter. Any 18yo would probably not look amazing after being stood in all night and then being immediately trotted on hard ground and lunged with no warm up. I always make sure I do a lot of warm up to get her moving and stretching nicely before doing anything more strenuous. To be fair I was amazed at how good she felt last time I schooled her, really light in my hands and responsive. Overall a massive improvement, but that has taken a long time to achieve and seems so easily undone.....

 

[be positive]

I am surprised the vet has said schooling is best, having dealt with spavins in a livery that was restricted to hacking only for months and never expected to get back in an arena to school properly, she moved to a different yard as hacking round here is not great and did go on to do a little basic dressage later.
My horse is undergoing treatment and rehab for SI damage not bony but the treatment is much the same, we were under strict instructions to do only straight lines until he had muscled up enough to start gentle schooling with the likelihood he may never do much, my physio is very fussy and insists I go slowly, she sees him more than the vet so I trust her to tell me what is allowed.
The key to both conditions I think is to be consistent and do a little every day, if it is possible, to really get things moving, build them up very slowly and if they have a bad day go back a step, mine is also out at night still so he can move as much as possible he wont come in until absolutely necessary, I exercise him 6 or 7 days a week but appreciate not everyone can manage this in the winter, if I wasn't able to ride at least 5 days I would probably turn him away until spring and start again from scratch.

To get yours back to do hacking and fun rides should be possible but I think too much in the school will be detrimental until she has shown to have improved enough to be able to have a spin round the field without getting worse, although she is probably feeling well if she is up to doing that!
I am obviously not a vet but read a lot about SI issues when mine was diagnosed and almost everything said limited schooling no circles, no lunging and hours of walking out hacking to build them up, I don't think I read anywhere that schooling was best and the same for spavins so it is interesting that your vet has a different view.

 

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Maybe that's also contributed, I haven't necessarily been able to do a little every day but in the summer I have tried my best. Now the winter is drawing in it's just not possible to hack unless at weekends which would mean it will take me till spring for her to have done enough build up anyway. She seems to be feeling very well and is her usual cheeky self in all respects. Maybe I'll try long reining her in the school rather than hacking as I can definitely do that more often and it's much less intense.

During the periods where she is looking good I was told to school in walk and trot but never told I couldn't circle or anything so I have been doing serpentines and all sorts! She gets very bored and then naughty unless you keep her busy so that is just second nature, but I will mention to the vet to double check. Makes sense that if her pelvic region is still sore then the bending and turning will be making it worse. Hmmmm.....

 

[Birker2020]

You might like to ask your vet about fusion with ethanol. I had this for my horse after trying Tildren and joint injections and it was very sucessful. It was £300 for both hocks and my 17 year old is jumping, dressaging and fun rides without a problem. It was very effective although not for every horse, you can at least ask your vet. My horse was doing as yours is and overcompensating on his near fore which he had injured (suspensory sprain) from his off hind that had the worst spavin. The fusion stopped this overcompensating. http://www.horseandrideruk.com/article.php?id=2414

 

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Thank you, I think this is what she's already had? They definitely injected both hocks with ethanol after x-Rays to make sure this was suitable. My friends horse was diagnosed with spavins at the same time although he only had steroid jabs and he is looking fantastic and has been given the all cear to get going again.

I guess that isn't helping me to buck up and get on with it after seeing how well he's doing! Unfortunately my mare is a massive good doer and the lack of work before her lameness Workup meant she was carrying quite a bit of spare tyre so they didn't want to risk steroids with her. She's had the Tildren which has been re-named to equidronate for some reason and had the last treatment of that 2 days ago. She's also on 1 Danilon a day, 2 scoops of Equitop Myoplast and Synequin joint supplement. I'm feeling a bit better about things now it's been a day or two to let it settle.

It's unpleasant for both of us but I'm only trying to do the right thing for her and she is happier when she's in work so I'll persevere for now. During the periods that she has been responding well she looked fantastic so the actual treatment must be working, it's just external factors causing the complications. Hopefully there's a fun ride or two left in us yet!!

 

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Just an update! Physio has been out today and has but my mind at rest a bit. Rather than the soreness building up as a result of using herself incorrectly, she was actually in spasm. That doesn't sound like a good thing but her and the vet took it as a good indication that the treatment is working and this was just a blip.

The afternoon she had a goon around in the field a local fireworks company were raided and some condemned fireworks were set off on the premesis. Apparently it sounded like a plane was coming down and out YO went off to find out if someone had lit a bonfire as the smoke was so bad. She's usually quite sensible so I did wonder what had set her off! Nice one to Cheshire police for letting people know before just deciding to blow things up! :-/ Makes sense now I've heard about that. Our local hunt went past her field on Saturday and she didn't bat an eyelid so I'm hoping her being silly isn't something I'll have to worry about again unless under exceptional circumstances.

The Physio seems to have put her right again and I could see the difference immediately. Hopefully it's onwards and upwards now!