Hind lameness/arthritus and sore back experiences?

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Horselady84

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Hi there,

I've been having problems with my 9yr old mare since last summer (2016) with her being 2/5 lame in her hind legs (more her left) and sore in her back (I've not been able to ride since). She has been for a bone scan, xrays, blocking and ultrasound and the vets found arthritic hocks and ligament issues in her back and sacroiliac region. Her back has been treated twice with steroid injections and her hocks have been treated once. She has also been through several weeks of daily rehab (walking in hand, then long rein, and then pessoa) with regular phsyio.

Unfortunately whilst her back was looking continuously better with physio she seems to have relapsed and is sore again, and has been consistently lame in the hind despite treatment (only really obvious on a circle). The vets only treated one of her two problematic hock regions (on both legs) but I am told that the treated region/joint should have self medicated the other in 8/10 cases.

I'm now looking at options for her moving forward and am totally baffled at what to do for the best - I'm not quite ready to give up on her yet but equally want 100% what is best for her (only owned her 1.5 years but she's a massively important part of my life having always wanted a horse!).

1. I can turn her away for 3 months and see if total rest will help (provided that I can find more turnout for her over winter).
2. I can carry on 'ticking her over' through the next couple of winter months and maybe give her a course of bute (she's only had bute post physio/treatment to date) to see if that helps to relax things, to semi maintain the fitness that I've built up and to allow me to re-evaluate options when the weather is a bit better.
3. I can get her back up to the vets for more diagnostics, with talk of possible surgery (the vets have been unable to tell me much about what this would involve as they want to do more investigations first). This could involve her needing further intense rehab which could be difficult in icy winter months, but equally will allow them to look at her again and consider options from there given that my insurance runs out in July.
4. I can give up and retire her! :(.

Has anyone had any similar experiences and got any tips to help aid my decisions?

Thank you
 
My horse has PSSM & arthritis in both hock joints. No idea if the muscle problems caused the hock issues - the vet thinks not - but she does move better when her muscles are loose. Ideally she would have had steroid injections in both hocks but because she was over weight that wasn't an option when she was diagnosed.

We got a course of cartrophen injections which I think help the joint fluid, and instructions to exercise. With my own arthritis the physio tells me to keep using my shoulder otherwise it will stiffen up & its the same with my mare's hocks. She had bute for 2 weeks but doesn't need it now she's loosened up.

She's not lame in a straight line, but is on a circle. I have found that a lot of in hand raised pole work, stretching exercises and massage is keeping her supple. 24:7 turnout in a big field and a warm rug have also helped as has a good joint supplement.

If it was me I'd go for keeping the horse ticking over and then see whether she improves when the weather warms up. I'm quietly confident mine will return to be ok under saddle (she bucks when not ok) because otherwise all of the money and hard work will have been for nothing!
 
Hock arthritis and SI/back issues often go hand in hand. IME both benefit from staying in a degree of work. However, the fact that she is still not sound despite the treatment received would push me back to the vets to see what more can be done. Have they scanned the suspensories, as it would not be unusual to find PSD as well as the SI/spavins and that could be at the root of the continuing problems :( or is that the surgery that they have talked about?

Hope you get some answers and can find a way to help your mare. I think you need to be guided by your vet as they will be best placed to advise about prognosis etc.
 
Thanks for your replies!

I'm contemplating in the short term just turning her out as much as I can (daytime) and giving gentle exercise (long reining) on any days she has to be stabled so that I can keep her ticking (she's a nutcase so wouldn't do well without exercise of some form if the weather turns!). I'm not sure whether to try a course of bute or not so I'll see what vet says!

She had her suspensories blocked in the summer but it was so subtle it was pretty inconclusive. The vets did wonder whether it was worth re-blocking though.

I think I'll see what the vets think to the above and getting her back into the hospital come March if she's still sore/lame. I don't think surgery of any form is really an option though as she wouldn't do well on box rest (too much energy and also suffers from separation anxiety) so I think it would be kinder to retire her completely if there's no improvement.

Thanks for your advice!
 
Sorry to hear about your horses problems :(

I've had a similar issue with mine, him having arthritis in his hocks resulting in senstive back muscles.
I can't comment on the ligament back/SI problems, bu for the hocks personally I found to keep him working as much as I could to be the key, even when I was on and he felt a bit stiff and a bit reluctant if we pushed through he came out the other side of the session 100x times better. It sounds mean, but if you think we sometimes get stiff joints and often it does feel much better after having a walk around (I have a boney growth in my ankle and movement is the only thing that stops the pain..) I think this work then allowed him to build enough muscle to support himself much better and take pressure off his hocks (just my thoughts) and now a 2 yrs later hes a different horse - we thought we'd have to medicate every 3 months but its been over a year now and his back end feels better than it ever did!!

Really hope she feels better soon!!
 
GeorgieD said:
Sorry to hear about your horses problems :(

I've had a similar issue with mine, him having arthritis in his hocks resulting in senstive back muscles.
I can't comment on the ligament back/SI problems, bu for the hocks personally I found to keep him working as much as I could to be the key, even when I was on and he felt a bit stiff and a bit reluctant if we pushed through he came out the other side of the session 100x times better. It sounds mean, but if you think we sometimes get stiff joints and often it does feel much better after having a walk around (I have a boney growth in my ankle and movement is the only thing that stops the pain..) I think this work then allowed him to build enough muscle to support himself much better and take pressure off his hocks (just my thoughts) and now a 2 yrs later hes a different horse - we thought we'd have to medicate every 3 months but its been over a year now and his back end feels better than it ever did!!

Really hope she feels better soon!!
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Thanks so much for your message - I agree in terms of her hocks and that's why I've done several weeks of rehab with her with the vets and physio advice (but she's still consistently lame). I think it gets complicated though when her back seems to need rest (even though she's not being ridden) as her muscles are all locking up...but her hocks need to be active....and not really knowing what is causing what! :(

I think I've decided to keep her ticking for now, maybe just exercising her (mostly just walk with a little bit of trot) on days when she hasn't got any turnout and I'm going to speak to the vet about giving her a good course of bute/similar to see if that helps her muscles relax. I haven't got a clue whether or not this is the best option for her, but it's the best I can think of for now and I will re-evaluate in March once the weather picks up a bit more and to see if she's any better.

I keep hearing stories about horses coming right so I'm hoping that time is key here! Her hocks were only treated about 14 weeks ago but we should have seen some difference by now I think.
 
Might be also worth asking about Robaxin (not sure on spelling) which was recommended as a muscle relaxant for my horse. We haven't tried it yet, but it's on the list if needed.
 
My poor horse is going through a similar ordeal!

we had a bone scan done end of November and he had injections into hocks and sacroiliacs as a result of the findings. I gave him a few weeks extra rest and then started a bit of light work in hand and had a few rides (he's been off since May so need to build up slowly) then he was off again as he was sore in his muscles between his back few ribs at the top and in the lumbar area. Physio visit helped with that and then he got a really awful cough so now I'm not sure whether the sore muscles between the ribs was due to respiratory infection or because his legs are still sore somewhere and he's compensating.

His antibiotics finish tomorrow and his cough is no longer there at resting but not sure about during exercise, I will check at the weekend but if the cough goes and he still gets sore somewhere in his back then I will be contacting the vet again or turning him away for a good length of time to see if time will heal or not.

So - I don't know what to tell you to do but just wanted you to know that I completely sympathise!
 
Another who sympathises!

Have you asked about using a different type of injection? Made all the difference to my horse.

With regards to the hocks, you should definitely have seen an improvement within a few weeks. If you are fourteen weeks in I don't think they have helped tbh.
 
Wheels said:
My poor horse is going through a similar ordeal!

we had a bone scan done end of November and he had injections into hocks and sacroiliacs as a result of the findings. I gave him a few weeks extra rest and then started a bit of light work in hand and had a few rides (he's been off since May so need to build up slowly) then he was off again as he was sore in his muscles between his back few ribs at the top and in the lumbar area. Physio visit helped with that and then he got a really awful cough so now I'm not sure whether the sore muscles between the ribs was due to respiratory infection or because his legs are still sore somewhere and he's compensating.

His antibiotics finish tomorrow and his cough is no longer there at resting but not sure about during exercise, I will check at the weekend but if the cough goes and he still gets sore somewhere in his back then I will be contacting the vet again or turning him away for a good length of time to see if time will heal or not.

So - I don't know what to tell you to do but just wanted you to know that I completely sympathise!
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Bless you - sounds very similar to my story but with the extra complication of a cough! How are horses so complicated haha! My mare gets a bad cough almost instantly if she has even a mouthful of dried hay so I am religiously soaking it. I hope you manage to get to the bottom of things and that he improves for you soon x
 
Thanks - I haven't actually, but I think I will! I'm tempted to get her hocks re-treated (two joints this time!) just in case it helps on the off chance! I'll ask the vet about different injection options thanks.
 
SEL said:
Might be also worth asking about Robaxin (not sure on spelling) which was recommended as a muscle relaxant for my horse. We haven't tried it yet, but it's on the list if needed.
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Thank you - I did wonder about that - I've heard of Robaxin being good! Will ask vet! I've got a list of questions for him haha!
 
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