Experience of IRAP/Hyaluronic acid/cortisone for arthritis?

Holly Hocks

Holly Hocks

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I had the vet out to my horse today after she had a bone chip removed from her fetlock in November when at the time she was diagnosed with arthritis in the fetlock. However they did not expect her to be lame this early on. To be honest, she has never really come sound and after trying physios/roadwork and everything else, I resorted to getting the vet today.

He has nerve blocked the fetlock and said that she was sounder afterwards, although to be honest, I couldn't see it, and when I trotted her round in the school, she looked the same to me, although I suppose if she's been in pain for a while and is used to holding herself a certain way, it might be habit.

Anyway, she is going for x-rays next week to find out whether it is arthritis, or something else. We discussed the options if it is the arthritis that is causing the problem and the options were 1: IRAP therapy 2: Hyaluronic acid injections into the joint 3: Cortisone steroid injections.
I immediately discounted IRAP therapy because a friend's horse had it and had no improvement whatsoever and ended up being PTS and my thoughts were that I would like to try HA injections as a first try, although vet also said that good results could be obtained with the steroid injections as they allow the inflammation in the joint to reduce.
What experiences do you have with the above? With the IRAP, how long do they have to be rested for between treatments? This horse is a fit TB and does not do box rest well. Please can you give me your experience and opinion please.
 
my sisters horse (17yo, 16.1hh Hann x welsh) had cortisone injections in his hocks just before easter.

He's had side bone in front and bone spavin behind since he was 5, managed by intermittent bute at a very low level when he needed it, but has been active and competitive until the last year or so due to my sisters uni commitments and him having a couple of bouts of gravel. Whilst he's been roughed off (more or less) he's been less sound and less happy.

Since we had them done he's been back to his normal silly self, bucking and squealing when you go to canter up a field and so on! I'd definitely say that he's better, within 48hr of having it done he was happier to walk on the hilly roads we have, and was happier to keep a steady pace in trot. He's only had a few little jumps in the field as the ground is still really hard here, but he seems to be much improved.
our vet advised that he was given 24hrs rest before and after the injections, and then worked on roads in walk and slow trot to get everything moving and working again for 10 days then bring him back up to a reasonable level of fitness.
 
Interested to hear the answers to this as my loan pony had nerve block and xrays on his fetlock this afternoon. The vet suspects arthritis and talked briefly about steroid injections into the joint....am awaiting the results of the xrays.
 
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