In laymans terms please arthritus...

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charlie_brown1

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Our boy 14'2 cob - Spavin one hock, cortisone (sp) injection Feb 2010. June both hocks injected. November 2010 cartrepen (sp) injections, week 2. His is still short in one back leg. Vet has said after this may have to have 1/2 bute a day. Sooooooo, in my simple mind that means he is in pain all of the time?
 
my cob has the same thing, but was only injected once which the vet said did not work, so he went on a course of bute and ended up with 1 satchet every other day for 10 days during the time of the course of bute i ensured that i exercised him daily but not strenuous work, i can now say that he has had no bute for the last week and is sound in work but will come out of box and start work a bit stiff. Yes he is in a bit of pain but it is managed pain. See if you can take him off the bute completely in a few weeks time, but if not 1 satchet every other day will not hurt him, obviously the cold weather is not going to help but arthritis is there now and will not go away so you just need to manage it. Take old folk who have it they continue to do things even run in marathons moving is the best thing, get locked in a stable or lying in a bed is the worst thing to do. If there is swelling or heat in the hock after exercise then you should contact your vet or he may need more bute. Chin up.
 
Know where you're coming from hun but arthritis and/or creaky, achey joints happen to us all as we get older. I'm pretty seriously creaky myself most days but ibuprofen 3 times a day keeps me riding and happy and mucking out 4 horses and only a bit grumbly on the odd day that's worse than others. I wouldn't automatically assume your boy is in permanent devastating pain. I wouldn't necessarily want to keep a young horse on high levels of bute for a very long time as it has side effects, but if your horse is content and enjoying life on a couple of bute a day then let him. If it gets worse, he'll let you know. He'll start losing weight, losing interest in life, losing the sparkle in his eye. Fingers crossed x
 
one other thing, when my horse had his hock injected, he was also reshod at the same time (has been shod all his life 12 years old), but he was lame in front after reshoeing so i decided to take his shoes off even though vet had said rolled toes behind with shoes on, can honestly say he was sound immediately in front after taking the shoes off and 2 months later with no shoes on he is not even scuffing the toes of his hind feet which he should do if his hocks were giving him a problem. His heels have spread out a bit and he makes that lovely clip clop sound going down the road, cannot be achieved with a shoe on (quoted from a farrier). So if your horse is shod you could consider going barefoot, remember the foot is designed to move and shoes stop this and if therefore there is more movement in the pasterns fetlocks instead which causes problems later on, good luck. Shoes also create more concussion in the joints.
 
Thank you Bof. Thatscheered me up no end.

beeswax, thats quite spooky about the shoes as the farrier came this morning and we have gone barefoot!!! So we shall see how he goes. He is 11 bless him! That do somehow get in to our souls don't they? Not that we wouls want it any other way thiough. Thanks again for your reaqlly helpful replies.

Onwards and upwards
 
Ask your vet about having his hocks medicated again. My horse has spavins in both hocks, had them medicated in June 2009 and again in May 2010. Vet says he will have the jabs every 12 months for now, probably more regularly as he gets older. They keep him sound and happy. My dog is having Cartrophen - vet says it's useful for early stages of arthritis but not later stages. Also ask your vet about Adequan. Mine has had 2 courses and I think it's great stuff.

Also get your vet and farrier to speak to each other. My vet sent farrier my horse's x-rays so he could shoe accordingly. Horse has been having lateral extensions behind since he was diagnosed and they seem to help. It's worth getting some physio for your horse too as he will likely have sore muscles from compensating for the hock pain. Mine had 2 x osteo sessions, 1 x physio early on after diagnosis and then another 1 x osteo, 2 x physio about 6 months later.

Get him on a good joint supplement too.

And I agree with what Box of Frogs posted - just because he has to have a small amount of pain killer every day doesn't make him ready for retirement just yet.
 
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