gutted - potential arthritis

arwenplusone

arwenplusone

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Was wondering if anyone could help with their experiences on this?

Friend's horse (20 yrs young, ex racer) has been diagnosed with potential arthritis. He basically tripped about 4 weeks ago and hasn't come sound. Vet came yesterday and thinks it could be the onset of arthritis. He's a very active horse and loves his work so this is quite a set back.

Anyway, vet has given him bute & also prescribed cortavet h.a. - does anyone use this? Is it something that he could come off after an initial period? Would be keen to know if anyone else has been through this and what the outcome/results have been. My friend is (understandably)not too keen on using bute to mask the problem but if the arthritis could be managed then the vet said he could carry on with his work (schooling/ jumping on soft surface/ RC stuff).

Just feeling a bit low about it all & hoping for advice.
Thankies
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yeah, there's loads of info on it & all makes sense - just wanted some anecdotal experience to draw on really. Poor boy, he so hates being off work
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cortavet is keeping my boy sound, had stifle injury involving ligaments and cartilage in Dec 05 and had him on it since. Also has hock spavin. Is currently in light work (same as before really) well thats tiill a few weeks ago when he put a sick note in with low grade laminits (but thats another story)
Thhink its something worth keeping them on rather than a course or short term.
Good luck and hope horsey is fine. xxx
 
no bute, just one month cortavet, one month equine america glucosamine/msm (cheaper)
keeping him in light work also improved the stiffness which was much worse when he was laid off with the stifle injury..
I wouldnt use bute personally either to ride a sore horse, dont know if it is the cortavet or just luck that he came sound again. But definitely wont take him off it now.
 
My horse at 18 fractured a bone in her hock and as a result arthritis then set in to the site of the fracture. At one point she was very lame. She was put on one Danylon bute per day, Cortaflex, Formulae for Feet and Linseed.

She is now 27 and still goes out for 4 hour hacks (mostly at a gentle walk).
 
My horse was originally diagnosed with arthritis about 18 months ago (he is 12 now). Straight away we put him on a good glucosamine supplement and turned him out 24/7. He has been sound probably about 90% of the time and continued doing what he loves which is hacking and fun rides with the odd bit of jumping. Unfortunately about 2 months ago he became lame and is now only sound on a danilon a day.
 
I assume cortavet is the same as cortaflex which is basically like glucosamine that helps the cartilage and tendons etc around the joints?

Where is the vbet indicating the arthritis is though? I am assuming the front legs/coffin joints if the horse is tripping? I guess will depend on the location of the arthritis as to what sort of work the horse could do. I had an old pony with bone spavin, he was on 1 bute a day and i would never treat anything long term with bute again as it completely knackered his liver.

he was limited to what height he'd jump etc and he started out stiff when ridden but loosened up. he had a bad fall x-country and about a week after was crippled. We though was his arthritis but got a physio out, she treated him twice and he was better then he'd ever been and he was not on bute.

You can try things like cider vinegar as a supplement also but I would also ask the farrier what he could do to alleviate the pressure on a particular area. As I said, will all depend where the problem lies as to what the horse will be able to do.
 
Cortavet is a bit stronger I think. we think it is in his fetlock - not sure if he tripped because of it or if he tripped and it triggered it, but would rather not ride him on bute.

He's got 6 weeks off to see how he goes with the cortavet so fingers crossed.
 
Think about Synequin too, there have been some very good reports on that.
There was a post a few weeks ago about something similar and I answered that too.
A friend has an ex racer, he's now 24 I think. Since he was 12, he's suffered with arthritis in his knee, which was treated with bute, oil, cider vinegar, Cortaflex, Blue Chip Dynamic over the years; you name it, they tried it. I had a horse with a damaged hock capsule which was treated with Synequin which repaired very quickly. At the time, S was probably the most expensive of those sorts of supplements but the vet's had been using it with a lot of success and rated it higher than anything they had tried before. I told friend who was a bit sceptical but wanted him off the bute as he needed at least 2 a day and over a long period, that's not good. He was on bute, BC Dynamic and Cortaflex and was still sometimes quite stiff. She started with the loading dose, gradually weaned him off so many bute but left the Dynamic in as he looked so well on it. After three months, he was off the bute completely and totally sound, bouncing around like her old horse even in damp weather. That was three years ago; he is still on a half dose of Synequin a day and nothing else and still as sound as a pound; his original vet is amazed he's bouncing as they had been thinking his time was up.
It doesn't work for all horses of course but must be worth a try surely. The most reasonable price we found is from
http://www.wormers.co.uk/acatalog/Online_Catalogue_Feed_Supplements_26.html
 
Depending on where the arthritis is, have you considered remedial farriery too? My horse has this and it has helped his hocks and his side bone no end.

He is on Synequin and cortaflex HA . The vet at the vet school recommended Cortaflex and once the synequin has run out, we will continue the cortaflex.
 
Star and my now deceased boy Will both showed signs of arthritis as they got into their 20s. Will started to trip a bit and was weak in one knee. I find the best management for oldies is turn out 24/7 (*nothing* makes Star stiffer than standing in a stable for just a couple of hours
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) with supplements then Cortaflex and devils claw (Must be granules, not liquid form!!!) and feeding Spillers senior mixes (they do either a conditioning mix or a maintenance one) fed with Topspec senior balancer
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My olg girl has never looked and felt as good as she does on this
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Oh, and a good point made above about shoeing - natural balance shoes can help with tripping a lot
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When Will started to stumble my farrier mentioned considering retiring him
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like your friends horse we would have HATED it
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However we put him on the above regime and with NB shoes and he did another 2 seasons of showjumping going double clear in *every* class
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Good luck with your friends horse. H x
 
poor boy - is it spavin or just arthritis? Sorry if I missed this.

At 20, he'd be ok on bute for a while but I use equiflex for Ty and a slug of linseed oil every day. I tried cortaflex but it just didn't work for him.

He's also got his back shoes off now and is so much more supple. All things to think about x
 
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