Neck arthritis

[Billie]

Billy has been "not right" for a while now, he keeps pulling his head don when ridden and I've had physios and other "therapists" look at him. The vet has finally diagnosed neck arthritis. I am upset and relieved at the same time as at least I know what is happening now.

Has anyone else got experience of this and know of any good natural remedies to help? He is on 2 danilon a day and I rode him on Sunday and although he still stretched down it was less persistant.

I'm not wanting to do much with him but if we can still enjoy some gentle hacks that would be great. If not I will retire him as I hate the thought of him being ncomfortable at the expense of my pleasure

 

[Emma123]

One of our ancient ponys has this (we worked out he's nearing 40

)

He lives on 1/3 of a sachet of bute a day and that just knocks the pain off so he can live in the field happily

It came on quite suddenly though..he probably had it for a while but one day we went to the field and if he turned his head a certain way the pain made him fall over

the butes made him all good now though..don't know if that could work for a horse in ridden work

 

[merlinsquest]

Might be worth trying easy joint by equiform nutrition..... it keeps merlin supple and mobile and he has severe arthritis in one fetlock!!!

Worth a try... good luck with your horse

 

[hadfos]

cortaflex,expensive but...friends horse came to us after not seeing him for 2 years he was as stiff as anything(had hard life,racing,eventing,point to point etc,only 19),within 2weeks dramatic improvement(using back end properly,i couldnt believe it,infact i wouldnt have if i hadnt seen it myself),(put mine on it as a preventative measure,worth it)anything with glucosamine in should help,lots of products have it in and are cheaper than cortaflex you just need to find what suits your horse!!!

 

[Cobland]

I find glucosamine a very good supplement for arthritis, i know thats what vets give dogs when they have it. Angel has developed arthritis and i give her bute a few days leading up to her being rode (shes only out once a week). Murphy the 27 year old is on glucosamine and have seen major improvements in him.

When we first got him he would walk about the place, now he would tear around the arena like a 7 year old!!

I looked into cortaflex, if i remember right it has glucosamine in it, think it was in around £50-£80!!!!

 

[suestowford]

I had a horse with the same thing. He came to me aged about 20 and had the problem then. Unfortunately he wouldn't touch bute under any circumstances and Danilon wasn't around in those days so I had to find an alternative. I tried quite a few things but eventually settled on a herbal mix which he thought was delicious and would eat on its own. It was one of the Hilton Herbs mixes, and it took a while to have any effect but it did do a good job and kept him comfortable for some years.

I'm sorry to say that eventually we had to call it a day with him as the arthritic changes to his neck bones were starting to interfere with his spinal cord. He couldn't feel where his legs were, I think, as he fell over a lot and although we had by then got some bute-in-a-syringe stuff it wasn't enough to help him any more. Mind you he was well past his mid-20s by then so he had done quite well.