Dressage with arthritic horse

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Paris1

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As title really. My horse did his first unaffil medium March last year, having done consistently well at affil elementary. I turned him away for the summer due to a job abroad and hoped to compete throughout the winter. But after eight weeks of fittening in he school he appeared lame and after rest this became so he was lame hacking. He has been diagnosed with low grade arthritis in the hind fetlock and is on vets orders being walked and hacked for six weeks.
Feeling very despondent about gettig him back into dressage as I'm not convinced he will be sound again without bute. I also am happy to be able to sit on him again as I didn't think I would at one point but I enjoy schooling and riding to the level I know we can.
Will my pOny have to hang up his BD shoes?
By the way he is a 14hh cob from Ireland so to me he has exceeded all my expectations anyway, but its saddening to think that's it, he is 17 in March.
 
You will just have to see there are lots of supplements that can help arthritis and magnetic boots etc etc , you will have to see what's helps but arthritis does not go away but you can manage it and let them enjoy life for a while.
 
Mine has navicular, arthritic hocks and an old fracture injury in her shoulder and she does dressage, I find that working her every day is the key, she is totally sound but if I left her for 3 days or more she would be stiff and unlevel. I tried cortaflex but didn't see any difference at all nor did I find magnetic boots a help but others do so I suppose it's worth a go to see what works for your horse :)
 
Have you had a chat with your vet about the situation? If it's not his/her area of expertise can you (or your insurance) afford a consultation with a performance horse specialist? There are all sorts of measures to support horses with arthritis and many horses competing successfully because of them, but the best options depend a lot on the individual situation.
 
My instinct would be that rest is not a good thing - but then I'm not a vet!

Finn was quite arthritic by the time we stopped competing, but we kept him going with joint injections and tildren. Worth looking in to if you are insured as worked wonders for him and kept him going much longer than he would have done otherwise.

Whereabouts in the country are you? We went to Sarah at Chiltern Equine - she was brilliant.
 
If its any help my 14.3hh cob, who is 19 in May was starting to get stiff after being stabled. He was never lame, it was just a bit of an effort, to get going. He is now on pure glocosamine and he is like a 6 year old again. I buy this from my vets about every 3 months and he is like a different horse. I dont do much on him these days, but did do a fair bit of dressage about 5 years ago or so, but I find that I have to keep him in work, or he stiffens up. I would add that he has not been diagnosed arthritic, but I suspect he will go that way as before I owned him 8 years ago he had had a fairly tough life in a riding school and also at a local RDA as well. I do fine that I need to keep him in work, and if he is not in work, he has to go out, so that his joints are kept mobile.
 
I bought my mare when she had just turned eleven and had never done a dressage test. She had arthritis in her right hock. She is now 15 and we are competing at medium dressage and she's never gone so well!

I agree with what others have said - time off is the worse thing, they have to keep moving. My mare goes on the walker every morning and then is ridden, lunged or loose schooled in the evening. When I warm her up, I spend at least half an hour walking and at least twenty minutes walking to cool her down. She's on a joint supplement and cider vinegar, and she's shod with special shoes, like you would have on a horse with bone spavin. She hasn't needed anything else yet.
 
He was rested as I initially suspected a tendon injury as he was lame not the usual stiff. He has had injection knot he joint and looks sounder, so I feel I'm at the begining o the road still. Great to hear about arthritics competing. If they are having a stiff day do you continue with the comp or give up that day?

Yard doesn't have snow turnout which is annoying.
 
Paris1 said:
He was rested as I initially suspected a tendon injury as he was lame not the usual stiff. He has had injection knot he joint and looks sounder, so I feel I'm at the begining o the road still. Great to hear about arthritics competing. If they are having a stiff day do you continue with the comp or give up that day?

Yard doesn't have snow turnout which is annoying.
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I only compete my mare in the summer, so it's generally warmer and she has very few really stiff days. The only thing that's really tough for her is when we go somewhere where the surface is wet and boggy - if she's sinking in, then she has to make more effort to pull her legs off the ground, if you see what I mean, so then I don't take her.
 
I have a 23 year old anglo-arab who went very lame behind in winter 3 years ago, the vet said they suspected it was arthritis and wasn't worth x-raying as he was old and nothing that could really be done so I should probably retire him. At the time he was at a dressage yard, they had very limited turnout so he was in his stable for 20+ hours a day which I'm sure wasn't helping. Vet did say it was improtant to keep him moving so once he was sound enough (after initial stiffness had worn off) I started taking him for some gentle hacks and horsewalking. I then moved him to different yard with much better turnout facilities and started to see a difference in him quite quickly. I also put him on Extraflex HA by feedmark which seems to really help, I chose this supplement as the HA in it repairs damaged cartilage, whereas alot of supplements just prevent damge occuring which isn't much use if horse is already injured! My horse had the arthrtis in his hocks and vet said he would be very lame initially but after a month or so the joint would fuse and then he would be much more comfortable, this has defiantely been the case. I did buy him some magnetic leg wraps which helped for awhile, until he destroyed them! Now I just bandage his legs on cold nights which seems to work just as well. Anyway he was 21 when he was diagnosed, he's now 23 and still does dressage, I have decided to just stick to the lower levels and try and go really nicely at these rather than pushing him. We also still jump which he loves, again not too high but what we do do he manages fine. I the summer he is normally fine without supplements then in winter I feed him the joint supp and also devils claw if he's working hard, wouldn't want him on bute longterm (plus he hates the taste of bute!) and devils claw seems to work just as well. Good luck with your boy, there are lots of things to try so hopefully something will work for him. :)
 
My mare is 19 this year, she's had a few years off as she bred me 2 lovely foals. She's been back in work since October and I'm taking her out to do her first BD since 2007 on Saturday (just 2 elementaries to break us back into it easily!) Anyway she can get very stiff, I find that working her everyday helps, although she only does a maximum of 3 harder sessions a week (more advanced movements) in between that she's loose schooled/hacked and lunged. I wrap her legs at night to help with the stiffness and to keep her warm, I also use an equlibrium massage pad on her as much as possible (I borrow it from a friend). She has 8 weekly checks from my bowen lady who is fantastic and I also feed her simple systems joint eclipse and cider vinegar.

I'm careful what I feed in that I will only feed natural feeds (pure feed or simple systems) as I hate all the fillers etc that are put in supplements and feeds these days.

Every horse is different tho and its a matter of trial and error to see what works best for yours. Good luck :))
 
I have a pony with arthritis in his hocks and he is currently doing BD novice and we hope we can continue to move up. Hes 14 this year and was diagnosed when he was 8. When he was lame/stiff we tried a number of different things with him including turning him away for a while, only working him lightly etc.

But I have found the key with him is to work him most days and not overdo the school work, if he has any time off he can be abit stiff and dodgy on his back legs, but as soon as he is back in work he is fine. Hes on cortaflex and an occasional bute if hes worked hard the day before and is feeing it the next day but apart from that he seems to cope fine (touch wood!!). Hes even did an occasional bit of jumping last year which he hasn't done since he was 8!
 
Very encouraging. I feel it would be easier if he was stiff and not lame, as the lameness want worked through at all. Though he appears sound after the joint injection.
 
Just to add I also took my boys shoes off early last year and do feel it has made a difference to his way of going, being barefoot improves blood circulation round the feet and legs which has to be good for arthritis/easing/preventing stiffness etc. I was a bit worried my old boy wouldn't cope as he had worn shoes all his life and is rather sensitive but though it took a few months for him to adapt I feel it has definately benefitted him.
 
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