Does anyone hunt an arthritic?

[SkewbyTwo]

My 15yo heavyweight has coffin joint arthritis, medicating the joint has not worked. An MRI has shown the arthritis to be "advanced".

Having said that, he is between 2-3/10 lame, which the vet admits is mild.

Vet has said he is unlikely to stand up to hunting. I am now proceeding with trying to get him sound again on bute.

I realise this is most likely a "how long is a piece of string" question, however it would be encouraging to hear that others have managed to keep an arthritic hunting.

He lives and breathes for it so I'm going to try my best - he could easily have a quieter life (I have a 4yo I am just bringing into work, and offers of other horses to hunt) - but I'm just not convinced (yet) that he'll adapt.

Case studies (positive or otherwise) would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Sam999]

Hi, I have a 15 year old medium - heavy ID cross that has mild arthritis in both front coffin joints (as well as having broken a rear pedal bone about 6 years). He was joint injected in both fronts last year but has so far not needed them this year. He would never pass a trot up and wears one rear shoe out sooner than the other, but is still capable of hunting hard once or twice a week and gets grumpy when he doesn't! He has joint supplement and I feed him a senior mix but he has no bute. I find it best to keep him working as he gets more stiff or unlevel when not worked.
Hope this helps from a 'positive' view point.

 

[spotty_pony]

My boy is 14 and was diagnosed with mild Arthritis in the hocks in January after going lame behind. He was steroid injected then, and is back hunting this season and so far *touch wood* is going well and loving it! As long as he is happy and comfortable, we will continue to hunt as he absolutely loves it but if he goes lame again, I will accept he cannot stand up to it and just hack him. He has Cortaflex in his feed everyday and I will get the vet to reassess him again during the winter. He will also have further steroid injections if and when it becomes necessary.

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

I've got an arthritic 20 year old who isn't quite sound but isn't lame if that makes sense!! He's been cubbing twice a week since the beginning of the season and is fine. He gets 2 days off after each cubbing day and stays out rugged up and is more than happy.

 

[chestnut cob]

Yes, I did. See my reply in the thread about hunting on bute.

I was also told my horse would be unlikely to stand up to hunting. He didn't, in the end, but he had a hell of a lot of fun along the way. I took the stance that I'd prefer he only worked for one or two more seasons but enjoyed himself, than he pottered about for 10 years more but not really enjoying his work. He hated schooling, wasn't sound enough for jumping besides the odd rail out hunting, and quite liked hacking but not enough to be a happy hacker. He lived to hunt, so I hunted him as much as was possible. He loved every second of it and went off to his retirement a happy bunny once he was unable to work hard any longer.

You need to bear in mind the horse might (probably will) be stiff the day after. You'll need to listen to your horse about how often he can manage, be careful about the ground (mine preferred wet/soggy ground and I couldn't take him if it was hard), and jumping.

 

[TarrSteps]

I think it depends a great deal on how you define "stand up"!

Arthritis is a degenerative condition and, to be blunt, it's going to keep going, the only question is how quickly and how much discomfort will the horse be in. Even prolonging the horse's working life is a bit difficult to define as if you're not doing what you want with the horse you could argue that isn't really a working life!

The fact is it's quite hard to predict how an individual horse will cope. If you manage carefully, are sensible about what you expect, and you listen to what the horse is telling you then probably the best plan is to set out and see how far you get.

 

[NikkiF]

My 17 yr old TB/Clydie also has arthritis in his coffin joints, diagnosed 3 yrs ago, brought his dressage career to a halt We always used to do a bit of cubbing, hunter trials etc as well, but all we've done for the last 3 yrs is hacking, with some cantering and popping baby jumps on the yard XC course when the ground is soft.
This morning, with great trepidation I took him cubbing, he absolutely loved it, felt fine for the 3 1/2 hrs we were out (not so sure the same can be said for me!). Turned him out when we got back, he strode out to the field instead of his normal plod so think he's ok. Back up to the yard shortly to see how he is. If he's ok then I'll definitely be taking him again, we were both getting so bored with just hacking.