HELP!! Possible bone spavin.... advice?

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honeybee123

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Hi all

Hoping for some comfort really.... vet believes it's highly likely my 8yo mare is developing bone spavin in her right hock. She's coming out tomorrow to x-ray and confirm, but I'd really appreciate some of your views on likely prognosis...

The mare is lovely and has only just grown into herself. Competing Novice BD towards Elem, and BE Training/Intro. I have no desire for her to set the world alight, but am totally gutted at the thought of not being able to keep going.

So... am I working myself up into a state unnecessarily? Can horses with bone spavin have an active life still? What sort of experiences/ recommendations have any of you got?

Really really hoping you may be able to cheer me up a bit :-(

Thanks
 
Theres loads of different treatments from hock injections, tildren, remedial shoeing, cartophen vet injections, irap, surgury which is very much last result as can do more damage than good. If you go onto the tildren website they explain it all really well about every option and treatment.
 
I stopped eventing mine due to spavins (because I was keen to carry on for the period they were active, and he couldn't, I gave him away). After two years, they were fine and he now regularly wins novice dressage with his new owner. He'd go higher but she isn't ready yet. I'm pretty sure he'd jump again too but she doesn't do jumping :-)

I have one right now with lumps you wouldn't believe who has never been unsound and is about to go medium dressage with fabulous movement.

You'll probably have some time while it hardens off, which can be a year or more. The other one will probably go as well, which might delay things. But if you are lucky, once they are fused she'll be OK. It's usually in a joint that is not necessary for the hock action, and if you can get it to fuse, they can be right as rain afterwards.

I hope yours is one of those.
 
Hi

I've had very mixed experience.... the horse my OH bought for himself as a 13yr old schoolmaster, when vetted were told it was highly likely he had it then. That was 6 years ago now, and although he didn't move "correctly" behind he was never lame and carried on doing pn events till the age of 17. And it was actually a tendon injury that ended his career not his spavins. Even last year at 19 I was doing affiliated elem dressage and rc open odes. He's never sick or sorry and although is pretty stiff now and on bute he lives to work!!! and he was only ever given steroid injections and bute when neccessary

On the other hand we bought a 9yr old novice eventer last year who was diagnosed with spavins within a year. And although xrays are only showing mild changes he no longer enjoys jumping and to be honest isn't completely sound when schooling. Steroid injections and tildren haven't touched the sides and he still isn't looking comfortable behind

Guess what i'm trying to say is every horse is different, some horses with treatment are absolutely fine and as long as you're careful can lead a very active life. Dont worry to much, i'd put money on the fact that the majority of horses doing 4* are being "maintained" to some degree.

Chin up x
 
honeybee123 said:
Hi all

Hoping for some comfort really.... vet believes it's highly likely my 8yo mare is developing bone spavin in her right hock. She's coming out tomorrow to x-ray and confirm, but I'd really appreciate some of your views on likely prognosis...

The mare is lovely and has only just grown into herself. Competing Novice BD towards Elem, and BE Training/Intro. I have no desire for her to set the world alight, but am totally gutted at the thought of not being able to keep going.

So... am I working myself up into a state unnecessarily? Can horses with bone spavin have an active life still? What sort of experiences/ recommendations have any of you got?

Really really hoping you may be able to cheer me up a bit :-(

Thanks
Click to expand...

Look at this link:
http://www.georgevetgroup.co.uk/equine/TILDRENfactsheet.pdf

My horse was diagnosed a couple of years ago with BS. I thought the bottom had dropped out of my world. In reality my horse is doing one day events, fun rides, showjumping, unaff dressage up to elem, and goodness knows what else. He needs bute or bute equivalent for competing but this is to keep him comfortable. He doesn't need it on a daily basis and hopefully wont for a good while yet. He has had three lots of tildren, intra articular injections, adequan and remedial shoeing. Tildren is good in cases where you don't want the hock bones to fuse, as in mild cases of bone spavin - as fusing is unpredictable and can take a long time to take place and is not always sucessful. I had nearly £3k of treatment (insured) and Bails is fine (touch wood). Ocassionally he'll have a mad five minutes in the field and come in sore in the hock, and he is very stiff in the morning, but he still loves his jumping and competing, I am careful not to trot him on the roads (much if at all) and I have noticed he is worse on deeper surfaces, he seems to prefer a slightlly firmer surface to work on. He is lame for the first few strides in trot when first trotted but this dissapears after a few seconds, and i am careful to warm him up first either ridden or on the walker, I nearly always cool down on the walker too.

Believe me there is so much they can do these days for bone spavin, if you want my advice I'd just throw everything you can at it whislt you have the twelve months of cover with your insurance and get him assessed properly by your vet by having a lameness work up, to evaluate him on the lunge, nerve blocks, xrays, etc so the vet knows the best way to proceed.

Good luck, and try not to worry, if I had known when Bailey was diagnosed with what I know now I wouldn't have worried very much, if at all. x
 
cptrayes said:
I stopped eventing mine due to spavins (because I was keen to carry on for the period they were active, and he couldn't, I gave him away). After two years, they were fine and he now regularly wins novice dressage with his new owner. He'd go higher but she isn't ready yet. I'm pretty sure he'd jump again too but she doesn't do jumping :-)

I have one right now with lumps you wouldn't believe who has never been unsound and is about to go medium dressage with fabulous movement.

You'll probably have some time while it hardens off, which can be a year or more. The other one will probably go as well, which might delay things. But if you are lucky, once they are fused she'll be OK. It's usually in a joint that is not necessary for the hock action, and if you can get it to fuse, they can be right as rain afterwards.

I hope yours is one of those.
Click to expand...

Fusing is not always the best option for some cases of bone spavin, I think it depends on how far the disease has progressed.
 
applecart14 said:
Look at this link:
http://www.georgevetgroup.co.uk/equine/TILDRENfactsheet.pdf

My horse was diagnosed a couple of years ago with BS. I thought the bottom had dropped out of my world. In reality my horse is doing one day events, fun rides, showjumping, unaff dressage up to elem, and goodness knows what else. .....


Believe me there is so much they can do these days for bone spavin, if you want my advice I'd just throw everything you can at it whislt you have the twelve months of cover with your insurance and get him assessed properly by your vet by having a lameness work up, to evaluate him on the lunge, nerve blocks, xrays, etc so the vet knows the best way to proceed.

Good luck, and try not to worry, if I had known when Bailey was diagnosed with what I know now I wouldn't have worried very much, if at all. x
Click to expand...

My horse has also been diagnosed with BS and is just starting treatment. Applecart14, your post gives me so much hope. :)
 
It's not the end of the world despite it feeling like that when it hits home! Pidge has had it twice and fingers crossed two lots of cortisteroids in his hock and he's ok. Second lot was the end of March and we did our first BE90 the beginning of May :D
Let me know if you want any help or advice? x
 
Hi guys

Thanks so much for the advice and words of comfort. My girl definitely has BS - fairly severe changes in the right hock, and smaller changes in the left. Looks as though the changes have been going on for a while in the right one too. Now feel guily that we've thought of her as a little ungenuine for the odd stop this year, but actually she's been so very incredible to have managed as well as she has.

tildren on order from vet, and farrier remedially shod yesterday. Red is livid though, as she really enjoyed her work and is taking it personally that she's no longer doing anything! I'm having surgery on my back next week to, so I suppose we can be invalid together for a while (always a silver lining if you look hard enough!)

Know they're all different, but any ideas on how long before a proper prognois will be known? She's only slightly lame currently - more a movement change and lack of performance than true lameness, but I guess it depends on how the joints fuse as to future use? Where I am has no hacking at all, so I guess I'm probably looking at a change of yard in Spring too (never rains but it pours)

Any suggestions of places near Brinkworth with land and field shelters/ stables? Have two mares, one with foal at foot, and think I will end up taking a big warmblood too as he will think his life is over if I left him behind! Any ideas welcome!
 
I have one with mild spavin- Spavin is osteoarthritis of the hock joint so it's degenerative i.e it won't get better, sometimes the bones can fuse, but not always.

Although my horses Spavin won't get better it can be managed, he has cortisone injections into both hocks roughly once per year, which make a huge difference to him. Also keep him on Cortaflex too. He is always shod with plently of length and width on the heels to support his legs. He is at BD Novice/Ele level, very fit andhappy and comfortable in his work and if you didn't know him you wouldn't think there was anything wrong with him!

Wishing you good luck with your horse.
 
Thanks again to all who've offered me words of hope :-)

Vet is out this evening to inject both hocks, so fingers crossed. Seems patience is a skill I may have to learn, but it's so very reassuring to know that there is a chance it'll all turn out ok.

Apologies for the slightly whingey messages, but I'v bred the mare too, so it's seemed as though 9 years of hopes and dreams were headed down the drain :-(

At least I know have something to cling to - for which I am eternally grateful - big hugs to all :-)
 
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