Horse with numerous arthritic problems

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ew1801

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Hi, long story but will keep it short. Basically my lovely 11 year old cob x has been diagnosed with arthritis in both jocks, left stifle and mild kissing spines. To top it off he has now gone lame/short strides on his front which has been going on for more than 5 weeks. The vet is coming on Wednesday to x-Ray his legs as he thinks he may have some more arthritic type problems going off there.

What should I do if he has? He's has injections into hocks and stifles already but I cannot see if it has made much difference with him being stiff on the front. The vet thinks it may be a genetic thing.

Anyone experienced anything similar or any words of wisdom would be much appreciated.
 
Your horse has a lot of things going on. I have known a few horses with those individual issues come right, but never one that has all those issues that has come right. It is probable that the back problem is secondary to the hock and stifle. His forelimb lameness is probably now showing up because the injections into his hinds have made him more comfortable there.

If I am perfectly honest, after everything I have experienced with horses with multiple issues, I would say retire him, if you can afford to. If you can't afford to retire him, and he's insured, then do your best to get him comfortable. He might come sound enough to be a gentle hack. Good luck. I know what you are going through.
 
Join the club, I have a horse currently lame in all four feet (MRI diagnosis for the fronts, not sure about the backs but blocking to the hoof- refuse to blow the entire insurance money on MRI for them too!), mild kissing spines, ulcers, possibly sacriollic...

Is he insured? I'm surprised the vet is going straight to x raying rather than nerve blocking first to find out where the lameness is?
 
Yes he is insured. The vet is going straight for x-rays because he doesn't particularly like vets so he needs to be sedated which obviously he can't be trotted up after nerve block when he's had sedation
 
Yep my lad was diagnosed with djd in both hocks and chronic SI issues at age 11. He had injections which to me didn't seem to make much difference but he responded massively to his first Tildren infusion and I had a happy horse for a while although I didn't jump him anymore. When he started showing signs of discomfort about 10 months later we repeated the Tildren but unfortunately it didn't have the same effect. I found pegasus Fleximover really helped him - bute made no difference.
Roll on another year and he was uncomfortable again. I got an equine vet that was also qualified in accupuncture out to see if she could help him. I thought his hocks weren't bothering him and had probably fused so was just a pelvic/SI issue. She found big issues with both stifles - queried issues with neck and stiffness in front legs (possibly due to loading the front end to alleviate hind end issues).
He proved on that day that he was pretty much vet phobic now so I decided against anymore treatment/investigations as the only possible outcome would be 'rideable in straightlines lightly' :-( unfortunately he doesn't do quiet hacking and can be coldbacked and unpredictable under saddle so I retired him that day! He will be 15 this summer and sometimes when he's hooning around you would think there was nothing wrong with him :-)
I agree with Wagtail that it is such a dilema with multiple issues. If you have a limp on one leg - treat it and it stops limping you can assume that the horse is painfree - if bi-lateral, your never quite sure! All vet feedback I've had is that 'some horses just get old young' there are lots of things to try but my best advise would be listen to your horse and trust your own instincts - good luck with him
 
ew1801 said:
Hi, long story but will keep it short. Basically my lovely 11 year old cob x has been diagnosed with arthritis in both jocks, left stifle and mild kissing spines. To top it off he has now gone lame/short strides on his front which has been going on for more than 5 weeks. What should I do if he has? He's has injections into hocks and stifles already but I cannot see if it has made much difference with him being stiff on the front. .
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I'm not a vet so speaking from personal experience. My horse had his hocks fused with ethanol - see link for more info. http://www.horseandrideruk.com/article.php?id=2414
He had this as he kept overloading his front suspensory branch injury. After having the injection he stopped overloading onto the front legs and the injury then healed. Xrays some 12 months later showed fusion had taken place :) Fusion kills the nerves in the hock which cause he pain of arthritis thus making the horse pain free immediately. Its my understanding that fusion can take up to 18months but once taken place the hock joint is stabilised and the surfaces will no longer move upon each other.

Lots of horses have multiple problems and it is possible to bring them back into work but obviously it depends of the severity of the issues they have. They have multiple issues because they over compensate in other areas, therefore creating more and more problems. There is no reason why you should give up with this horse so long as the vet is prepared to run with him. If the vet feels there is a good prognosis of recovery then go with your vet, they are the ones with experience of these type of issues, and they know your horse best.

if the vet feels that treatment wouldn't be in the horses best interests then you will have to retire him, or decrease his work load accordingly. So long as the horse has a good quality of life and is pain free then keeping him mobile may be the best thing for him rather than retiring him into a field where he would not be so mobile especially if he suffers from arthritis (which yours does). Always be guided by your vet and see what Wednesday brings you.

Thinking of you x
 
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Not good news im afraid. My vet completed the x Rays today and on my request he x rayed both front legs. The x Rays showed clearly ringbone in both feet and also arthritis in his right fetlock joint. I'm still in shock to be honest and had a little cry earlier. He has suggested injections into his joints which will make him comfortable in the short term but with the amount of arthritis he has got he has said it will only be a matter of time before he is completely crippled. I am not giving up with him yet I have a few thousand left on my insurance to use so I'm going to try what I can for him.
 
Without seeming very harsh, why keep him until he is crippled which could be a matter of a few months, If you believe he will make it through the summer then I'd give him one last summer and pts in August time.. If you don't think he's going to make much longer then I wouldn't be keeping him alive, sorry to say but I really dislike seeing field-lame horses kept.. sure, if it they go lame on and off because they hoony around but if they are constantly lame it is simply not fair on them.
 
He's not constantly lame at the moment, he's lame in a morning but comes in sound at night and that's without bute. I won't let him suffer but he owes me nothing and he's only 11. I've got to try
 
ew1801 said:
He's not constantly lame at the moment, he's lame in a morning but comes in sound at night and that's without bute. I won't let him suffer but he owes me nothing and he's only 11. I've got to try
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I had good results when I used magnetic wraps for pain relief on an arthritic horse.
 
You say he is lame in the morning but comes in sound. Can you leave him out all the time so he can move around.

Some horses improve on Turmaric . A cheap supplement.

I have had some good results with Feedmarks "Extraflex HA with Rosehips " they have a special offer at the moment on the 2.4kg pot

Magnetic therapy is good too.
 
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