horses who have had cronic infection of the coffin joint

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aregona

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ok, this is my friends welsh cob mare. Has had infection in the coffin joint. She has had the joint flushed twice now but the vets are worried about the amount of cartalidge (spell?) damage in the joint. The vets have suggest PTS so this is on our minds. Basically the horse is very happy in herself at the minute and the owner is just researching all possibilities before she makes the decision to PTS.

Can horse's recover from this?
what can she do to help?
Any joint suppliments good enough to help??

Any help on this matter would be greatly appreciated, my friend is desperate to keep her mare, she is aware she will never be ridden again and just wants to know if she can keep her happy enough to remain as a pet.

Thank you guys :-)
 
Not the sme but my horse has arthritis of the coffin joint, i guess this one would end up with it to, to be honest he is on one a day bute but back in the summer when the ground was really hard it took 2. he was diagnosed 5 years ago, i manged to light hack him for a while. The Coffin joint is very close to the navicular also, seeing my boy some days and the way he has gone im not sure id want to put your friends horse throught it if it was mine x

Good luck though x
 
Hi, its a guarded prognosis on this I'm afraid, its very difficult to eradicate infection in the coffin joint, but it sounds like the vets have done all they can. Whilst the horse is happy, keep your fingers crossed it could be resolved, but if it goes lame again, it may be kinder to PTS.

I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news on this one, my friend lost her mare this summer to exactly this diagnosis :(
 
Mine too is not the same but was coffin joint arthritis, sadly he was PTS because he became very lame and Bute and steroid injections didn't help. Sorry it's not good news for your friend x
 
Andilucian - i fail to see how this is not the same, if the vet is worried about the cartlige! and its the joint, it would only be a chritmas mirical that would stop arthritis forming in this case. though Miricals can happen fingers crossed .
 
Charlie77 said:
Andilucian - i fail to see how this is not the same, if the vet is worried about the cartlige! and its the joint, it would only be a chritmas mirical that would stop arthritis forming in this case. though Miricals can happen fingers crossed .
Click to expand...

The two conditions may be connected, but having a bone chip floating about is much more painful than arthritis and isn't controllable by drugs like arthritis is in the early stages. :(
 
Black_Horse_White said:
Curable? It's degenerative therefore not curable. Sadly removing my horses shoes would not cure him, it was too advanced :(
Click to expand...

I said "more" curable, in the early stages DJD of the coffin joint responds very well to barefoot with correct balance and transition programme, but once the condition is advanced and the heels collapsed, it may well be too late for it to help.
 
Hi,

I agree with Andalucian... Joint infections are bad times in horses. The longer the joint has been infected for the worse the prognosis in general. I used to work in an equine hospital and saw quite a lot of joint flush surgeries. The most any one horse ever had was 3, and all of those were eventually put down.

You never know, your friend's horse might recover and be fine after the 2 flushes she has had but if she becomes lame again then the joint is still infected and PTS may be the best option if your friend doesn't want to put her horse through surgery again.

Sorry :( xx
 
I agree with Sianage I am afraid, I also worked in an equine hospital for many years and joint infections are very bad news sadly.
 
the horse has not yet come sound. she is still on 4 butes a day and still lame. The vet in the hospital has advised to PTS but the owner has taken the horse home and has had her own vet out to look at her. She wants to give her some more time to see if she can recover.
I personally feel that after reading your replies that this poor mare life is just being prolonged.
 
Its difficult for her to come to terms with I'm sure, I hope her own vet can coach her to make the right decision shortly.
I'm very sorry.
 
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