Joint injections and infection risk - at stables or at vets?

E

emmah1979

Well-Known Member
Joined
11 February 2008
Messages
102
Location
Hampshire
Visit site
My horse is waiting to have his coffin joints and hocks injected with steroids to help his arthritis. The vet has strongly advised that he go to the clinic to get the injections to minimise the risk of injection, but unfortunately I am struggling to get transport to get him there.
Does anyone have any thoughts/comments/experiences of their horse receiving joint injections at home? Is it really not advisable?

Thanks
 
Mine's having his hocks done at my yard on Friday for the same reason as you i have no transport for him at the moment, Vet said he's prefer to do them at the practice but mainly for convenience reasons. I can't really see how the risks are any different, my horse has had them at the vets before but always come home straight after.
 
I would take him in personally. One of mine has had about 10 injections into the hocks, and only once was this done at the yard because I couldnt be there. On that occasion the hock went slightly puffy and was hot - the other times it was completely fine. Ever since, I have always made sure that I take him in.

No matter how well you clean out your stable, it just isnt going to be like the clinic which gets washed down and disinfected between horses. However if he needs the injection and you cannot take him to the vets, then I suggest you try to clear the stable of as much bedding as possible, and spray disinfectant etc.
 
Mine had his coffin joints injected with steroids at stables, vet was meticulous with cleaniing the site before injecting and had a small dressing on for 24hrs, was allowed to turn out straight away, didn,t have any problems!
 
It is perfectly possible to get most stables clean, but not if they are made of rough wood, take a whole day to get rid of all dirt, wash out with Jeyes Fluid and after it has all dried you can wash down with bleach. All new bedding and preferably use auboise or something which will not stick or be dusty. In Ye Olden Days vets worked out of the front room of their house, and veterinary surgeons did loads of surgery, as did the GP [kitchen table tonsil removal].
 
Last edited:
My boy has had his hocks injected twice at the yard by the vet and we have had no issues at all - horse was bandaged for 3/4 days to keep the site clean and kept in. Bandages were removed after that time and the injection site was completely healed. He was absolutely fine on both occasions
 
Mine has had his hocks medicated twice, both times at home. The vet scrubbed the area well with Hibiscrub before injecting, and horse stayed in for 3 days to minimise infection risk. I'll probably have his hocks medicated again later this year and he won't go in for it, will be done at home.
 
My horse has had coffin (and hock) joint injections several times. There is little difference between having it done at the clinic or at the yard. The horse should be standing outside the stable away from any bedding, the area around the injection site is clipped and then they use special anticeptic swabs (contained in a pre-bought tub) to thoroughly clean the site. As long as the foot is scrupulously clean then what difference where the horse is standing, either in your yard or at the clinic?
 
MrsD123 - In "ye olden days" vets didnt inject joints much less with the regularity hat they do nowadays. The potential risks of contamination from removin tonsils is far far less than when injecting into a sterile joint. Vet practices built their facilities to provide clean safe places to carry out these procedures.

If you have a clean covered in aisle with the absolute minimum of dust and wind then this should be fine but the risk is definitely slightly higher than in the average vet's exam room. As someone said, they are regularly disinfected thereby keeping airborn bacteria to a minimum as well as those you can see.

As your horse is having a few injections that is 4 chances for infection. If you cannot get transport then do have it done at the yard but if at all possible I would bring him in.
 
We've always have our horses injected at home. Never had a problem. Horses stay in for 3 days after and bandages can come off at 24hours
 
my horse and lots of other horses at our yard have had their hock injections at the yard numerous times. I think a coffin joint injection is slightly different though even though its just as invasive.

All vets will undertake 'aseptic technique' when injecting, which involves, as far as I have seen from experience clipping the area thoroughly and then wiping the area down with an antibacterial preparation. When they put the HA or steroid into the joint I think they mix an anti microbacterial preparation in with the injection to help prevent infection. Although the chance of bacteria entering the injection site is very minimal I am guessing it is more minimal at a clinic than in a stable at the clients yard.
 
It should be easier for the vet to control the cleanliness of his premises, and to monitor post op treatment and deal with any post op complications immediately, I would think that this is a major factor in vets wanting to do it on their purpose built premises. I don't think many people would argue with that, but costs, logistics and the horse owners capabilities and premises and circumstances have to be considered, in this case many people on here seem to have managed the risk successfully.
It might be possible to have two stabled cleaned and prepared, one with bedding and one where the op is carried out, or remove the horse from his clean stable and put bedding down after the op., But if the stable is prepped up with bedding left to one side, I can't see any bedding getting in the hock. I would only consider this sort of thing in a big stable, well lit and on good clean premises.
 
Last edited:
Do you have insurance? With my insurance (with NFU) I was able to claim for professional transport costs to and from the practice for treatment (IRAP injections into the joint, done a few weeks in a row).
 
Thanks everyone for your advice. The old boy stayed on the yard to have his injections in both coffins and both hocks a couple of weeks ago and was absolutely fine. He stayed in for 24 hours with bandages on and then went back in the field. Sadly the injections haven't work and he is still lame but at least there was no infection and at least I tried.
 
I had my horses hocks steroid injected a good few years ago..once in the clinic where she was diagnosed - so they just did first one there...then she had a second one at home on the yard. Bandaged up overnight, no problems.
Didnt go for the third njection as the fist two were so successful...she was a horse on springs!
 
When mine had his coffin joints injected i think the vet left him a good 6 weeks before assessing if it had worked or not. It did, made a huge difference. He also had cartrophen injections too. So it could just be taking a little while. Fingers crossed for you.
 
Mine had both coffin joints and hocks done about 6 week ago. Was done at a rehab yard close to ours which has its own clinic for the vets.

Mare on our yard had hock done at yard and procedure was just the same and touch wood both horses have avoided infections.

My horse is now coming back into full work and sound :)

Give yours a bit longer and he may be sounder in a few weeks. Took few days for my boy to be completely sound after treatment.
 
Sorry for not posting a conclusion to my original post. I had him injected at the yard and he was absolutely fine. Stayed in the stable for a few hours and then went back out in the field. Sadly the injections didn't work and he's still lame so is now retired. Glad that I tried it though.
 
emmah1979 said:
Sorry for not posting a conclusion to my original post. I had him injected at the yard and he was absolutely fine. Stayed in the stable for a few hours and then went back out in the field. Sadly the injections didn't work and he's still lame so is now retired. Glad that I tried it though.
Click to expand...

you shouldnt give up, mine had his coffin joints injected, it did nt work, then another vet injected them and the navicular ( all on the yard) , he said as he does so many a day sometimes he is so specialised that he can get the right spot, while other vets dont do it as much,
However the hock is a big joint and its so easy apparently to do.
But injections only last 10 months , then less and less and eventually have no effect.
Vets advise not mine!
 
Mine had his hock injected at the vets but still got a joint infection. He went hopping lame a few days after the procedure, and ended up in hospital for 9 days, but fortunately pulled through.

I would only have a joint injected now as the last resort....
 
Mine had coffin joints injected, vet sedated him shaved the area to be injected and scrubbed the area with hibi scrub, he did another horses hocks at the same time in the same way. Both were absolutely fine but I guess *ideally* it would be better in a clinic but we both have no transport and difficult to load boys.
 
Forgot to say mine was only injected as he kept going very badly lame and on x ray the only thing the vet could see was slight arthritic changes around the coffin joints so thought it would be worth a try as the next step was going to the horsepital for tests . To cut a long story short the *real* problem turned out to be his awful feet.
 
Just to put it all in perspective, most equine vets in the US do not have clinic facilities. If a horse needs to go to the horsepital, it has to be referred to a university veterinary hospital. So quite a lot of procedures that get horses sent to the vet's clinics here are done on sight there, including joint injections. It seemed half the horses at the stable I boarded at were getting them, but as far as I knew, no one ever got an infections. The vets were really good at them, as they did so many! My little QH mare was on hock injections and it made a world of difference for her.
 
CI does make a valid point. I have known literally hundreds of horses that have had their hocks done, a whole lot that have had their feet done and have only known a handful go septic. HOWEVER it is risk and if you happen to own one of the ones that go wrong the numbers are cold comfort. There doesn't seem to necessarily be a connection between venue and rate of infection, so long as the vet follows proper procedures. The last one that went wrong was done - unusually - in a clinic.

One qualifier though, standard joint injections here seem to be steroids, with no other options offered. This is not the case in North America, where there are a couple of medication options, most notably HA, which don't necessarily carry the same risks and diminished performance over time. This is one of the reasons North Americans are much more cavalier about joint injections. Also, there is more emphasis on medication vs procedural treatment, due to other considerations such as logistics. All of which means people - vets included - are a lot more familiar with the procedure.

There was a discussion on here in which a vet weighed in. I can't put up a link as on my phone but I did comment so anyone interested could do a search back through my posts if interested.
 
my horse had sacroiliac injections on two occasions done at yard. no problems. depends on how horse behaves as well - other horse, not as calm, had to have stifle injection at vets in stocks and i collected and drove home later same day.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top