Managing hock arthritis?

floradora09

floradora09

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Morning all :)

My lovely 17yo thoroughbred has been diagnosed with arthritis in his right hock, following a summer of eventing, dressage, PC areas, camps and hacking galore I gave him a few weeks in the field to chill and let his body have a rest (which in hindsight was rather ironic as he would've been better kept moving!). I'd been a little suspect of that hock all summer as although he was never lame, he felt a little weaker on the right rein and would sometimes pop disunited on it.

We tried him with a week of controlled exercise on low level bute, and although he is a bit better, he is still not right. He's having it injected next weekend and then re-assessed 2/3 weeks after that. For now the advice is to start doing low level work with him to get him moving, but I haven't discussed long term management yet.

He has been on some sort of joint supplement for the last 3 years, usually Cortaflex and over this summer he was on suppleaze gold. There are pretty strong arguments for and against cortaflex but I definitely have found him looser on it.

Not entirely sure why I'm posting :o but just want to hear other people's experiences of keeping older working/competing horses sound and for those who've had joints injected, how much of a difference did it make to their soundness? My justification for posting here is that he's a competition horse and that I would like to at least hope to get him out doing some dressage again!

A pic of him this summer 'cos he's gawjus (I think) and to spice up this post a bit :p

IMG_8746.jpg
 
I have a 19yr old mare who also has mild arthritis and a weaker right hind. I do exercises (with both hind legs) given to me by my Bowen lady. She has special shoes behind my farrier designed for her to keep her straight and give her support to strengthen her weaker hind. She's on Equimins Flexijoint liquid which has had an amazing effect on her.
I've never had her joints injected as she's not insured and I can manage it without the injections just by working on strengthening it.

She's competing at medium level BD and has just started learning flying changes - she finds it harder the way she has to use her right hind more but she can do them and at 19 learning changes is no mean feat! She will do her first advanced medium next year (aged 20!)

She's also bred me two amazing youngsters (1 is now 4 and the other is a yearling). She's a horse in a million though and I owe her nothing and as soon as I feel she's struggling she will be retired from competing. At the moment with v careful management she feels and looks amazing.

If your interested there's some piccies on my website of her (she's Parisienne Girl):

www.parisiennedressage.co.uk.

Hope that gives you some comfort in that it really isn't the end! x
 
My mums old horse was diagnosed with the beginnings of artheritis in his hocks. We only knew as he had started to feel lazy in his work and would snatch his hind legs up when being shod. He was still sound even on hock flexion. The injections made a massive difference and the vet said he could return to normal work but just to be careful with the jumping, to only jump on good ground and not to jump too much. That was it. Mild artheritis is very common and horses can still live useful lives with careful management :).
 
One of my polocrosse ponies has arthritis in her near hock (and I suspect in the off hock as well), she lives out 24/7 so she can keep moving and I keep her on Equine America Kentucky joint supplement (pretty much the same as cortaflex but 1/3 of the price!). She's stayed sound behind for the 3 years I've had her and she can usualy be found in one of the bogs in the field having sunk belly deep so she's obviously doing okay on that management if she can drag herself around in the mud quite happily :p
 
Maximum turnout is key - Rosie had arthritic hocks, and later in her fetlocks and she would've still happily bogged off with you round a xc course if you'd wanted. You will learn when the horse is feeling it and a bute in morning and evening for a couple of days will help. Rosie had stable chaps overnight when she was stabled which seemed to help. I've heard good things about turmeric as well.

Things just have to take a little longer, so whereas it might've taken 8 weeks to get fit, it might take 12, warming up might take a bit longer and you need to make sure the horses is fully cooled down before stabling (I had to ride in morning so Rosie could be turned out immediately after being ridden).

Also be aware that the overly hot weather can be as much of an issue as the traditional cold and damp.
 
Wow, haven't read anything in comp riders before about arthritis and the comments made compared to the ones in nl are so different! My new forest who is my little dressage pony (currently schooling at elem) has arthritis in hocks - very very mild and I did ask in nl any advice, most was hack, retire, pts?! That was in January, it is now November and he is very fit and very sound being kept in constant but not 'strenuous' work :)
 
Thank you very much for the words of wisdom everyone :)

Tempi- wow that's amazing! Although I don't think we'll be making it to medium ;) it is certainly encouraging to hear that people are able to manage it well enough not to affect their work too badly. Unfortunately I think my boy has it worse and injecting him is necessary for his soundness (although he is insured so that's not a problem). I'll have a look up about good exercises to do. I think I saw your post a while ago about a comp report, if that was you she looks super! :) Can't get the link to work..

Firewell- thank you :D I do think he is rather scrummy, but at the moment resembles a muddy, hairy potbellied beast... Good to know the injections made a significant improvement, how often did you end up doing him? Vet has warned that it depends on the individual horse but some need doing every 3 months whereas other will go a year. Longterm workload will be my next question to her but I think we need to focus on getting a sound horse first! :o

Super_Kat and Nugget- Yep, lots and lots of turnout. :p Interesting about getting fit, we're just starting to get him going again now and building up slowly. I don't want to rush him. I also think it would be good for him to maintain a fairly consistent workload, as up until now he'd go through a couple of months of being fit and doing lots of work, then a couple of months of less work (exams/school etc), and I guess now it's harder for him to adjust.
 
rachaelstar said:
Wow, haven't read anything in comp riders before about arthritis and the comments made compared to the ones in nl are so different! My new forest who is my little dressage pony (currently schooling at elem) has arthritis in hocks - very very mild and I did ask in nl any advice, most was hack, retire, pts?! That was in January, it is now November and he is very fit and very sound being kept in constant but not 'strenuous' work :)
Click to expand...

Haha! I admit I did think about posting about this in NL purely because of the traffic, but knew I'd get much more practical, sensible replies in here. Plus he'd do his nut if I had to retire him now!! :p
 
Floradora - look at my thread "Newmarket Joint Supplement" just below yours. The suggestions on supplements were brilliant and educational. I had my 16 yo mare's hocks injected three months ago and the improvement was 100%. The expensive part was the diagnosis, nerve blocks, x-rays etc. but the actual injections, done at home, came to about £250 (including £50 callout).

My insurance covered the cost (thankyou NFU) and will cover treatment for the next year. However, once that is over I shall be using a supplement to make the treatment last as long as possible. I thought at first it was the end of the world, but now realise that it can be managed.

I've had the steroid injections for my own arthritis, so I know they work!
 
I think you'd be surprised how many competition horses are 'managed' in some way. It's just some sort of deep dark secret here so people think they're the only one.

The injections can be very helpful but be aware they work best if you also manage the horse well - good farrier work, attention to footing, the right work, watching his weight etc. will all go a LONG way to helping him, boring as they might be. I have managed to double or triple time between treatments with the right program.
 
My boy was diagnosed with arthrotis at 15. Hes never had any injections or bute trials. He has had a few flare ups over the years and I have had used various joint supplements over the years on him ranging from sharks cartilage to superflex.

At the moment hes on glucosamine and condroitin from equimins and is sound in all gaits. Hes 22 now and I have retired him from jumping (well comps etc we still have the odd pop over a log or such out hacking ;) ) but hes still fine doing dressage, showing, endurance and common ridings. We did an XC last year and he was a bit stiff the next day but not sore but I decided then no more proper jumping :)

hes semi retired now, im giving him the winter hacking then he will be brought back to work in the spring doing the odd common riding or endurance ride :)

Dont despair, I know young horses diagnosed with arthritis that are out successfully competing after injections and getting supps to help them. Keeping them supple with flatwork and keeping them fit helps as well :)
 
Tammytoo- Thank you I'll have a read :) Glad to hear your mare is better, are you just using a joint supplement to extend treatments or have you got any other ideas of managing her?

TarrSteps- I agree, I did a week's work experience and it was really interesting to see how much background support and maintenance the horses needed. Thank you for the advice re looking at his whole management, not just the injection. He's actually unshod, at least for the winter, don't know if that's beneficial for arthritis or not- will chat to my vet. Been hearing interesting things about Green lipped muscle extract too..

BlackB- Will certainly be addressing his work, he does a nice dressage test so if he'd stay sounder just doing that with a bit of fun jumping then that's fine. I also think I should try and get him to a consistent level of work (easier said than done..) and maintain him at that so he doesn't have to keep adjusting to more/less work.
 
Mine has done 4days work after getting all clear to restart work after hock injections. He has competed to PSG and is now 19.

We mainly deiceded to do the treatment as even if he didnt come back in to full work he is a dear pet and we wanted him to be comfortable in his hacking days. The xrays showed pretty much complete fusion and I guess we are hoping for a miracle?!

We did 7 days of long reining & lunging off a bridle only- long and low - and trot poles

Vet came out and has given all clear- on a 5m on the hard he is sound and bending his hocks. Worth the money. 6mnths ago if you tried to lunge over poles he would stop/dodge. the othr day he JUMPED a pole. I have never known him to jump anything.

He feels better under saddle so fingers crossed it has made him more comfortable to continue doing little bits. He is on Superflex and just gone on to a herbal pill that my friend swears by for her cob that has arthritis and no joint supplements- just this pill and he competes at 90.

I have grade 3 arthritis in my ankle. some days it hurts. I dont want to put weight on it, walk on it. let alone trot around with someone on me back! but movement is good. Magnets have also made a big difference to both the cob and me!
 
Just been sent here by the 'search' button, interesting to read others experiences - my mare has 'mild' diagnosed by vet arthritis in hock, we did bute beginning of last summer, I thought it was a spavin and was waiting for it to fuse, she is now exhibiting same symptoms,I still have the bute but would prefer to go a more natural route so was looking up which supplements you all use, which are better/cost/efficacy? I know it's playing up she is gets a bit nappy and won't go forward, from behind you can see the hock/fetlock slightly rotating and not stepping under straight (does this make sense)?
 
My 14.2hh was found to have hock spavin when he was 8 (nearly 7 years ago now), at that time there weren't as many injections etc around/being regularly used. So the vet recommended bute and work, we stopped the bute after about 8 months and he was fine.

Since he was diagnosed he has done many pony club and riding club events, Somerford Camp (including being stabled 4 days and coped fine!!), showjumping and dressage. His main thing is dressage and he has got BD points and qualified for many things!

I have found the secret with him is plenty of turnout and lots of work. If he has a holiday he is sometimes abit stiff afterwards for a few days. He also has regular physio and is feed cortaflex.

He continues to improve with age and I would love to get him to Medium level BD. Hock arthritis can be managed with most horses and there are lots of options nowadays. :)
 
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