Hock Injections dont seem to have worked :-(

[asommerville]

Ginger had his hocks injected with steroids last week after being diagnosed with bony changes to both hocks (to add to the KS and Ulcers). vet said they were medium type steroids and we were to see how long they last before making a decision about what to do next.

They lasted 6 days before I noticed that he was stiff and he has only been getting stiffer - in fact he is noticeably stiff now and he wasn't before he got the injections......

Waiting for the vet to phone me back with his thoughts. Has anyone else had their horses hocks injected and how long did it last? It was definitely steroids and not tildren.

 

[[59668]]

Sorry to hear this. Tildren doesn't get injected in the hocks - it goes in a vein in the neck.

I also didn't see any improvement after steroid injections in my Connie's hocks.

 

[Zuzzie]

Well, this may sound silly, but there are 4 places in the hock joint any one of which could be the location of the problem. Were X-rays done? and if so were they correctly interpreted. My horse had his hocks injected 3 weeks ago and is so much better but the vet did explain that the injection had to go into the exact place within the joint otherwise it wouldn't work. My horse had the injections in both hocks mid way. Its more common to inject in the lower part of the joint, not mid way. Perhaps you could clarify with your vet exactly what he did.

 

[Birker2020]

Well, this may sound silly, but there are 4 places in the hock joint any one of which could be the location of the problem. Were X-rays done? and if so were they correctly interpreted. My horse had his hocks injected 3 weeks ago and is so much better but the vet did explain that the injection had to go into the exact place within the joint otherwise it wouldn't work. My horse had the injections in both hocks mid way. Its more common to inject in the lower part of the joint, not mid way. Perhaps you could clarify with your vet exactly what he did.

You need to give it more time to work in my opinion.
Also if the intra articular injections don't work, try TIldren or better still fusion with ethanol. There has been lots of sucess with the latter.

 

[Speedyfluff]

Personally, I have never seen much of an improvement in any horse after hock injections. I have been there with several horses (my own and others I have cared for). I have only seen one horse improve after injections to the spine (out of five). I spent a fortune trying to get my gelding better and unfortunately it didn't work. He is happily retired now at only 15 years old (retired at 12). If my youngster turned out to have KS I would not treat even though he's insured. He'd become a pet and I'd give up riding. I have a friend who is in her eighth year of trying to get her horse right. He has mild KS and hock arthritis and PSD. She has spent tens of thousands and shed many tears. Horse is happy in the field but just doesn't like being ridden (for obvious reasons). But still she keeps trying to get him right. She's about to try to ride him again this week. I have given up advising her to cut her losses and retire him. Would be better for her and the horse. IME once a horse has multiple problems they are never really going to come right. It is kinder to stop treatment, so long as they are not suffering. Sorry to be negative. I have just lived through too many emotional rollercoasters with horses.

 

[Birker2020]

Personally, I have never seen much of an improvement in any horse after hock injections. I have been there with several horses (my own and others I have cared for). .

There are hock injections and there is fusion with ethanol for which pure alcohol is injected into the joint space and this gives an instant pain relief as the nerves are killed. The horse still has sensation on and around the outside of the joint but doesn't feel any of the discomfort inside the joint so therefore suffers no more pain. Fusion takes up to 12 - 18 months to work.

See this link for more info: http://www.horseandrideruk.com/article.php?id=2414

Its nonsense suggesting that horses having multiple problems won't ever come right. They often have multiple problems due to overcompensation in other areas. Once the one area of pain/decreased movement is addressed you address the other areas in turn.

All horses are different and all respond to treatment differently. To suggest its kinder to stop treatment than sort problems out is a really negative way of looking at things.

OP ask your vet about fusion but I honestly think you need to give it a couple more weeks before you start to see an improvement. He may be stiff because he is altering his way of going now it doesn't hurt anymore and using different muscle groups that may start to ache with increased use. This should change as you progress. Don't lose heart. Maybe a good physio would be a worthwhile investment now.

 

[Speedyfluff]

]

Its nonsense suggesting that horses having multiple problems won't ever come right. They often have multiple problems due to overcompensation in other areas. Once the one area of pain/decreased movement is addressed you address the other areas in turn.

All horses are different and all respond to treatment differently. To suggest its kinder to stop treatment than sort problems out is a really negative way of looking at things.

I am talking about people who go on for months or years with treatment after treatment, often requiring months of box rest when the horse has multiple problems. I have seen it happen many times (myself included), and I have learned from my mistakes. It is not fair to put horses through lots of lengthy treatments if they have multiple issues. I am not talking about aches and pains such as a sore back due to compensating for lameness elsewhere, but when you have actual changes in more than one place, it is very rare a horse returns to complete soundness.

 

[BethH]

Mine had hocks injected, it was minor and at the base of the hock tho, not further up. He was still lame but his movement didn't seem so mechanical. We have done lots of long reining, lots of hacks in walk and trot, very little canter & he has good and bad days, but I really think it has taken a good 6mths for it to settle and I have seen a very slow and gradual improvement rather than an overnight cure.

Don't forget the joint has to remould, it will take quite some time, my horse has had to rebuild a lot of hind end muscle, he had a huge amount of dense muscle disappear and became very unevenly muscled on the back end as it took the vets so long to understand the problem. (I took him barefoot as I could see he wasn't quite right and they just thought I should slap shoes back on!) However, I had my first lesson in approx 18mths last week as he has suddenly become happily sound (not just bearably sound!) the slightly softer surface has helped but he is still improving and we are now 1yr on from the injections. I had the same thing done to my calcified shoulder and I thought it hadn't worked. 6mths later I suddenly realized I had a much greater range of movement.

Take a video of your horse moving and try comparing it in a few weeks time. Keep a record and you might be able to more easily see if there is a positive change. Fingers crossed for you, it's soul destroying when you are waiting for them to look a bit better!

 

[Birker2020]

Take a video of your horse moving and try comparing it in a few weeks time. Keep a record and you might be able to more easily see if there is a positive change. Fingers crossed for you, it's soul destroying when you are waiting for them to look a bit better!

That's what I do before a vets visit so the vet can see the horse moving whilst ridden either that day or the day before. I have also recorded a bit of my horses journey from his suspensory branch injury on YouTube with a view to helping people whose horses may have suffered the same injury so they can see the progress.

My horse was lame on three bute a day during a bute trial in March 2014. It broke my heart and I thought he was done for, but when I started decreasing the bute during the trial he became sounder until eventually he came right. Every now and then he has off days, like i do with my disc problem in my back but on the whole his hocks have done remarkably well and the vet is very pleased with his progress and how well the ethanol has worked. Of course there is always a danger of the nerves regrowing - not sure there is enough data on this procedure to say whether this does happen or how frequently.

We did a fun ride the other day and finished jumping the fence for the photographer in view of two of my vets from the practice I use and they both said the horse looked really well and was sound. He did a small one day event on sunday and finished sound (albeit with a shoe hanging off) so it was very nice to know I hadn't overdone it.

If your horse doesn't come sound with the injections then there is always some other place to go. I know I bang on about fusion so much these days as there are quite a lot of posts like yours that come on this forum but believe me I wish I'd deffed the injections, and the Tildren and gone straight to fusion with ethanol. It would have been so much better.