Diagnosed with arthritis in his neck - any experiences?

[Cluny]

Tragically my lad has been diagnosed with arthritis in his c6 and C7 vertebrae. He has been moving very awkwardly lately and was showing signs of Ataxia according to my chiro. After a morning spent at the vets and many x-rays taken, he was accurately diagnosed, and after seeing the x-rays I could see why, he has a very prominent bony growth on his C6 and his spinal cord is being impinged. He has been put on a hefty dose of human steroids (120 pills a day going down to 90) , to help with inflammation and they do seem to be helping. However, I am starting to think I'm just putting off the inevitable, when I watch him in our field (he's out 24/7), he at times has an awkward sideways gait, but he has no problems grazing and still loves his food. He is only 9, but is big long warmblood with the neck of a giraffe.

I guess my question is what are your experiences of this condition and what was the long term prognosis?

 

[popularfurball]

I can't help on tognosis, but would suggest there is hope if little neural involvement that high up can cause problems with getting up and down, collapsing etc.

What have the vets said? It would be operated on if human.

 

[lizness]

Hello,
My mare has been diagnosed with mild neck arthritus with no narrowing of the spine canal she is showing lameness in both hinds mildly and one front intermittantly. She also apparently has Ataxia and weakness behind. Before this was noticed /happpened I was had been jumping her at 90/100cm with no difference. She is going back to the vets next week and will probably go for a bone scan. Will keep you updated.

 

[Delta99]

Had a mare with wobblers a few years ago, she was injected with steroids directly into the affected joints.
The vets didn't have much hope tbh, but much to their amazement, the mare came right!

 

[TarrSteps]

If there's impingement, he's neurologically impaired and steriods to reduce inflammation haven't significantly improved the situation to pretty much normal, I'm not sure I'd be super hopeful, sorry.

I've had a couple of "behavioural rehabilitation" horses that turned out to have significant neck arthritis - in one case a healed fracture - that did get back to riding soundness with veterinary treatment and VERY careful rehab. But, to be honest, I'd probably advise against it now. The horses were very fragile afterwards and needed specific, extremely tactful riding and fitness work to keep them strong but not stressed. In one case the horse was removed from my care as I wouldn't sign on to sell him without disclosing his history, was sold through another professional (who might not have known the details but must have wondered why a horse like that was going cheap) and ended up hurting the person who bought him very badly when she and her trainer, unaware of his history, asked too much of him. (I'm not saying you'd ever do anything like that, only that I would be very leery of rehabbing a horse with such a serious and chronic issue if there is a chance it would go out in the world without provenence.)

 

[minimex2]

Hi, Theres different terms for it but my Bob has been diagnosed with Wobblers with all the symtoms you describe. He had tildren about 5 months ago, not sure if it helped or has just wore off but has started stumbling again. Steriods into the neck really helped (like 50 cans of redbull!!) and was full of life the next day. I find when the sun is shining he's fine, but if he's cold and damp and tired he has a bad day. Its so sad as weve only been together 2 1/2 years and he's my best friend.

Up until recently i use to hack him around the farm a couple of times per week. Some days he couldnt get down the track and others he'd be ripping my hands wanting to go.

Feel free to pm me if you want to chat.

 

[speedycivic]

So sorry to hear this. My mare had this. On reflection there were signs of problems, but I never put the pieces together. She didn't like to bend her head or neck in one direction and would twist her head instead of bend. Years later I "thought" she seemed not to look right behind. Intermittently I thought she shuffled on her back legs when in a tight spot instead of stepping. I could not be sure. Two days later she trotted up the field and suddenly lost her back legs. Recovered and was up at the yard when they went again, but they stayed out of control. Her front half was fine, but her tail limp and hind legs staggering about. Potters bar visit- could not get to bottom of it. PTS. Autopsy found arthris in vertebrae that had compressed spinal chord. Poor love. I can't tell you which vertebrae in the neck it was though.

 

[Bustalot]

My boy was diagonosed with arthritis in his neck two years ago. He started to graze really awkwardly and eventually could no longer move his head up and down quickly, would be done in stages. He was x-rayed mri'd etc to confirm the outcome. he was injected with cortizone injections and bought back into work with bute and cortaflex. He was fine for about a month but when i changed the joint supplement he rapidly went down hill and had his neck injected again *** touch wood** he has been fine since. well.... i say fine, He still grazes awkwardly but it works for him. He was still in work up until recently but i have now retired him due to several other veterinary issues. It was just becoming to much to expect to keep him to stay in work. He was kept in work on cortaflex HA and the odd Bute. He also in previous years prior to the diagnosis should neurological signs (wobblers symptoms)

Horses with neck arthritis should still succeed at dressage and really do need to be kept muscled up to help support the joint. also the more schooling they do the more you can do keep them supple through their neck.

I would not recommend jumping of the horse due to the actions they use their necks in jumping, plus also due to the wobblers symptoms it may not be safe to do so. But this is only my opinion.

Good luck with your boy. Arthritis does not mean the end of it, just requires a few alterations. xx

 

[applecart14]

Tragically my lad has been diagnosed with arthritis in his c6 and C7 vertebrae. He has been moving very awkwardly lately and was showing signs of Ataxia according to my chiro. After a morning spent at the vets and many x-rays taken, he was accurately diagnosed, and after seeing the x-rays I could see why, he has a very prominent bony growth on his C6 and his spinal cord is being impinged. He has been put on a hefty dose of human steroids (120 pills a day going down to 90) , to help with inflammation and they do seem to be helping. However, I am starting to think I'm just putting off the inevitable, when I watch him in our field (he's out 24/7), he at times has an awkward sideways gait, but he has no problems grazing and still loves his food. He is only 9, but is big long warmblood with the neck of a giraffe.

I guess my question is what are your experiences of this condition and what was the long term prognosis?

Sadly I don't think your horses prognosis is very good if my horse was anything to go by. The steroids will stabilise the condition but won't cure it and won't stop it from becoming worse. My ten year old had CVM (another name for wobblers) at the age of ten following a fall onto his neck in the field. He was misdiagnosed with EHV (as this causes ataxia symptoms) and by the time I'd persuaded my useless vets to change their opinion and get him referred to Liverpool he'd had three bad episodes of ataxia. He was stabilised after his third bad ataxic episode by giving him a drug called finadye in paste form (Flunixin meglumine is a potent, non-steroidal, non-narcotic analgesic with anti-inflammatory, anti-endotoxic and anti-pyretic activities. Finadyne Paste is indicated for the alleviation of inflammation and pain associated with musculo-skeletal disorders in the horse.) He had this for three days before he was able to travel to Liverpool. He was diagnosed with a large xray machine which confirmed late onset wobblers which necessitated euthanasia on humane grounds (Rommy was deemed to dangerous to handle as he was so weak on his legs and was unaware of his limb placement). Within two hours of arriving he was diagnosed and sadly pts. He had grade 3 which touched on grade 4 at times and from recollection he had C3, C4 and C6 vetebrae affected. He was deemed to be not suitable for surgery given the fact that so many vetebrae were effected. It was heartbreaking as he was a wonderful friend and I had done so much with him over the 2 1/2 years I'd had him that we had a lovely partnership. He looked so fit, and well in himself and if you didn't see him walk you wouldn't have known there was a problem. Only a few weeks before he'd been jumping BSJA BN and Disco classes and was ready to move up to Newcomers.

Wobblers is usually more common in geldings, horses with long necks are typically more effected, and WB's, Quarter Horses and Shires are typically the breeds more likely to be effected.

this is an excellent link
http://www.equinewobblers.com/Diagnostics/Neurological_Examination.htm
and here is a link about my experience in more detail.
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?p=9541177

Please don't hesistate to contact me if you require any other information or want to know any details. I do hope it works out for you, please keep us posted on the forum. I am hoping to set up a website one day about Wobblers Syndrome as I found there was very little information when i was searching in 2004.

What I would say is that your chiro is excellent. My horse was in the latter stages of CVM and I had my McTimoney chiro out twice as Rommy kept clipping his hind fetlocks together (I though his pelvis had rotated). The chiro couldn't see any neuro deficit in his limbs - totally shocking as he would stand with one hoof touching the other and swinging his leg out. The flight arc of the hoof, the way his hoof placement was, and the lack of consistency between his strides where all tell tale signs of neuro problems. All were missed. A crying shame.

RIP Rommy, you were very much loved, and even more missed.

 

[Cluny]

Thanks so much everyone for time to post on my thread with your experiences and advice, I must admit my lad has his good day and bad days, today is a good day, but tomorrow might not be.

Just to clarify, my lad has been fully retired from work (he was having time off due to my pregnancy), the vet agreed totally with me on this front, as he is not safe to ride due to the fact that he does not have full control of his back end. I haven't discussed the surgical route with my vet, TBH I sadly don't think it's an option and I don't want to put him through a major op with no guarantees. Luckily we've just moved to Cornwall to a house with land, so he's out where I can keep a close eye on him day and night.

My heart goes out to all of you who had lost horses to this horrible condition, it is heartbreaking and thank you so much for your support.

Applecart14 many thanks for posting those links, am off to read them now.

Minimex2 & Lizness please can you let me know how your horses gets on?

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

is he on any joint supplement??

found this site which lists some

http://equinecare-and-control.weebly.com/j.html

 

[Penny Less]

Sorry to hear about your horse. My old warmblood had this problem, he got very wobbly at the back end like he was drunk.
He was rested for 6 months and gradually improved, though was never right although vet said I could hack him out gently. A year later he had another wobby time, and was retired.
I lost him this year through colic.

 

[Cluny]

Leviathan, many thanks for the link, I'm afraid I've tried most joint supplements ( he also has mild to moderate DJD in both hocks) but have really lost faith in them, and as this is now more neurological he is on pure vitamin E and Selenavite along with Brewers yeast.

Alma I'm so sorry that you lost your lad, but glad that his condition improved albeit for a short space of time. I would give anything to be able to ride my lad again, especially as we've just moved to a house with fabulous off road hacking onto moorland, but sadly it's not to be.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

have you tried flexi joint????

they give you a full money back guarantee.

we have 6 horses and the dog on it my mare went from stiff all round to doing sponsored rides again i have had 100% success with all animals on it .

 

[applecart14]

Leviathan, many thanks for the link, I'm afraid I've tried most joint supplements ( he also has mild to moderate DJD in both hocks) but have really lost faith in them, and as this is now more neurological he is on pure vitamin E and Selenavite along with Brewers yeast.

Alma I'm so sorry that you lost your lad, but glad that his condition improved albeit for a short space of time. I would give anything to be able to ride my lad again, especially as we've just moved to a house with fabulous off road hacking onto moorland, but sadly it's not to be.

Leviathan, afraid joint supplements are useless in this kind of case. From what I understand the calcium deposits build up around the cervical vertebrae and create spurs and bone growth which impinges either directly on the spinal cord or more usually the nerves from the spinal cord. The only way that this situation can be resolved is if an operation is done but this is not viable in most horses because of the significant ammount of damage already present, or the number of vetebrae effected. I'm not a vet, but this is what I understand and have read over the years.

Alma, glad your horse improved enough for you to get some more time with him. Sadly my horse was just to 'dangerous' to be around as he was so ataxic and could have fallen on anyone at anytime.

 

[Cluny]

Applecart - so very true, there really is very little we can do now.

After chatting to my friend and her taking a look at him ( sometimes you need the opinion of someone who you trust and who isn't so close to the situation ), I've made the decision to have him PTS. It's breaking my heart, but it really is the best and kindest thing I can do for him. He has started to struggle over the past couple of days now it's colder and wet and he really does not have much control over his back end and that's before it gets really muddy, plus he's starting to shut down, which indicates to me that the pain is not good and this is despite the steroids.

I will miss him so very much.

 

[applecart14]

Applecart - so very true, there really is very little we can do now.

After chatting to my friend and her taking a look at him ( sometimes you need the opinion of someone who you trust and who isn't so close to the situation ), I've made the decision to have him PTS. It's breaking my heart, but it really is the best and kindest thing I can do for him. He has started to struggle over the past couple of days now it's colder and wet and he really does not have much control over his back end and that's before it gets really muddy, plus he's starting to shut down, which indicates to me that the pain is not good and this is despite the steroids.

I will miss him so very much.

My heart goes out to you Cluny, but I agree it is the only kindest thing you can do. A horse cannot be kept on massive doses of steroids or painkillers for long, and for a horse who is a flight animal, they must feel stressed not being able to respond to flight situations in the way they should be able to due to them having no idea of placement of their feet.

What amazes (and I have to say angers me, and Cluny you may disagree with me on this) is what appears to be the total 'abandonment' of your vets to your horses situation. I find it strange that they have not reached this conclusion themselves, and urged you to have your horse pts without the need for you to reach this decision on your own. Surely they have a duty of care to ensure well being for your horse, which would be to 'strongly recommend' euthanasia on humane grounds.

I have PM'd you, please read.

Lots of love xxxxxxxxxxxxx

 

[Cluny]

Thank you Applecart, I must admit when Yogi was diagnosed about 5 weeks ago, I asked my vet straight out if Yogi were his horse would he have him PTS and that the most important thing was Yogi's quality of life, above everything else.

The vet said that we should try him on steroids first and see how he goes, and then slowly cut down the dosage. However Yogi is down from 120 pills a day to 90 and is struggling, so there is no point in carrying on and hoping for the best. Am having a hideous day today, went out to feed him apples and he looked so alert and normal, of course he was standing still though. Head vet is putting him to sleep at 9.30am tomorrow, am dreading it.

 

[minimex2]

ive pm'd you x

 

[applecart14]

Head vet is putting him to sleep at 9.30am tomorrow, am dreading it.

Sorry very, very sorry, but totally the right thing to do, Yogi is very lucky he has such a selfless and kind owner. PM me if you want to chat in private.

My thoughts are with you. God bless xx

 

[TarrSteps]

I'm very sorry to hear you have to go through this but I think it's very much the right decision. I've seen other people in similar situations NOT make that decision and it ends horribly, mostly for the horse.

Very sad but very responsible.