hock spavins hores now nearly a year after diagnosis and horse worse than ever

[annar]

Im really worried about my lad. 10months ago he was diagnosed with significant left hock spavin and beginings of right, he was only lame on the left slightly. we had the joint injected with steriod and it made a massive difference, we managed to get up to an hours hack a day with probably a day off and sometimes up to 2 hours-my lad would hack forever with 3 legs if i asked so i had to go by how he felt-
his main symptom has been a slight throw to the right from his left hip and when he was sore i could feel an obvious swing. (i must add 2 years ago he fell and fractured his pelvis but had recovered from this)
Suddenly though hes gone from been fabulous, muscling up and feeling great although i would never say completely sound (but the vet was pleased with him and said keep going) to becoming suddenly very lame again, worse than ever throwing me over to right again somuch so i have a sore left hip and generally stumbly in walk and quiet in nature (hes a mad tbx who loves to play and this has all gone) he jogs downhill and on a circle falls in lame. ive had the vet back twice who reinjected to no benefit 5 weeks ago so ive had him back and he said just keep riding and build him up or lunge if too uncomfortable for me. Im just not happy, insurance runs out in a month and i want to get what i can done for him before every oart of his body is no longer covered by insurance. my vet friend feels he should be reinjected at least and maybe go for further tests if necc but with no back hip cover i cannot afford for full lameness tests. does anyone have any experience like this? what was the outcome. i love this boy with all my heart and at 15 he isnt ready to retire he just loves to hack out.
has anyone gone for fusions? surgical or the injection type? any advice or experience welcomed. annax

 

[Bryndu]

My suggestion would be to re examine the pelvis....only due to the fact you mention tipping you.
Good luck
Bryndu

 

[annar]

Thanks, on examination and flexion the vet said he was tipping sue to not wanting to bend his hock to lifting from pelvis not bending hock, they felt he was ok pelvis wise. sadly if its pelvis i am not covered insurance wise and already have a £4000 bil to pay. x

 

[Bryndu]

I only suggested as someone I know's horse broke his pelvis and it healed fine and then several years later...for no apparant reason...it parted again. He lost quite a bit of weight too. Bit more time off and he is back in work again.

Bryndu

 

[minigal]

Can you get him nerve blocked to isolate the problem? My lad had spavins, went sound after alcohol fusion and then went lame. I thought it was his arthritis again but it turned out to be PSD. A simple and inexpensive nerve block will at least narrow the area down.

 

[annar]

blimey i hope not my other lad has psd both hinds and recovering. hes an ex racer and didnt know of issue when i got him. the vet comes back thursday and if he wont try anything else im going to take him to hirds and ask for hock and below treatment only to keep costs to insurance and hope this may show the issue. x

 

[MiCsarah]

My boy is off to horsepital tomorrow for an operation to fuse his hocks on the tuesday. We have tried all options to help them to fuse from cortisone injections along with another new drug they are testing. That didnt work so he had tildren. That made no real difference at all so were on the last option. All of this has probably put me over my £5,000 insurance limit but I wanted to try everything to try and fix him. Fingers crossed hes ok though

 

[jenadamson]

Hi there I just wanted to mention something that might help you - getting him looked over and treated by a back specialist/chiro person, as some of what you are seeing could be compensation for the original hock pain...hocks hurt, back/gluteals can take over some of the function, then back/gluteals start to hurt, looks like its coming from pelvis, it can be a spiral. Freeing up his back/pelvis/hindquarters should improve things for him.
Hope this helps...

 

[applecart14]

Apologies for long post, phew...

It sounds to me as if your boy has been over compensating for the spavin in other areas - my friend is a veterinary physiotherapist and so know all this kind of stuff from her. Horses are very good at overcompensating. If they do this then it can cause the rider to become crooked and before you know it you've got a partnership that might both be leaning in one direction by quite a percentage! You will be able to get physio on your insurance policy as part of your claim under 'remedial treatment' but check with your vet first. Some physios have equipment like pulsed magnetic therapy and ultrasound to assist when the problem neccitates this. Had the vet considered giving the horse a course of Adequan or similiar? This is only really beneficial in cases of mild spavin but is very good for alleviating pain as too is HA (hyluronic acid). Tildren is very useful but again this in only really beneficial (I believe - but I'm not a vet) in cases of mild spavin but is very good nonetheless.

After a while the joint of a horse with spavin can in certain cases become overloaded and this causes compression of the cartilage on one side of the joint and strain of the joint capsule and supporting ligaments on the other side which will eventually cause a bony spur to form.

Has the vet asked you to contact your farrier with regards to possible remedial shoeing? Shoes with a breakover like a square or rolled toe and in some cases heel supports such as egg bar shoes or lateral extensions for horses that swing their legs outwards (to avoid pain from the hock area) are very beneficial.

Do you ride your horse every day? Its better to ride for 20-30 mins once a day every day than for a strenous hours workout once or twice a week in cases of bone spavin.

Finally there is the option of giving your horse a maintenance dose of bute every day. This is fine and shouldn't cause any problems long term if given at low dose.

I must stress that I'm not a vet but having a horse with bone spavin has increased my awareness. Only Sunday just gone I did a one day event and my horse was diagnosed with bone spavin three or four years ago, he had a top up of steroid a few weeks ago and is sound as it is possible for him to be.

Please don't feel like you have come to the end with this horse. It sounds like you still have many options left open to you, so chin up, get in touch with the vet, and ask about the shoeing, pain relief, adequan and exercise routine. And good luck xx

 

[Kezza]

My experience with this if it helps:

My welsh was diagnosed with hock spavin in one hock almost 3 years ago aged 22. He went lame and we x-rayed and found it and assumed it to be the cause. I tried to keep him in gentle work but he kept going lame, even with raised heels and devils claw (can't give him bute as it gives him the runs plus I prefer the more natural approach where possible). So after almost a year I turned him away for the summer, took his shoes off and he lived out for 8 months. Trotted him up after and he was sound, even on flexion test. Shoes went back on (natural balance) with pads and frog supports on front to provide concussion protection (as he is lively out hacking and bounces about a bit), he came back in overnight, has Veredus Magnetik boots on overnight in his stable, wears Bioflow magnetic brush boots for exercise (vet approved), has Global Herbs Alpha Bute as has boswellia in it (the Devils Claw is bad for his tummy I found and didn't work anyway), he was already on cortaflex so continued with that. And we give him a Intramuscular injection of Hyaunate (Legend) twice a year which treats all joints in the body.

He's in full work, even jumping lightly.

I avoided the steroid route because after doing some research I found that can cause speed up deterioration of the joint as it masks the problem like bute does whereas Legend supplies the joints with fluid (but I am no vet, I researched it myself and discussed at length with 2 vets before making my decision on treatment method for my boy). Also the lami risk concerned me with steroid as my friend WB got it from that.

Best of luck with yours