Neurectomy - Please help!!!!!!!!

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maisiebo

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Please help.

My Horse was diagnosed with Navicular and Arthritis of the coffin joints in his front legs last year. I have treated this problem for one year using IRAP Therapy, Shock wave therapy and corrective shoeing. All seemed to show improvement. The horse was back in full work and jumping again but would start to get footy every 2-3 months. We are now 1 year on and I had to make another trip to the vet last night as he had gone lame again. The vet recommended we do a neurectomy as we have exhausted all other treatments; the only problem is the operation will only work for the navicular and we still have the problem of the arthritis. Can anyone who has had a similar problem with their horse advise me on their experiences as he such a good horse and I want to give him the best possible chance in life he's only 12 years old it's no age.
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Personally not a route I would go down. You will still have the arthritis to contend with - and with a horse that is 12 this is going to get worse sooner rather than later (early onset arthritis is not good news). There are also no guarantees that the proceedure will have a satisfatory outcome.

Personally I would manage the horse and keep it as pain free as possible until such time as it could no longer be ridden (but managed satisfatorily retired) or pts.

Sorry.
 
I have been through a very similar scenario, but I hope I can offer you two more things to try. The turning point for my horse was the day we took her out of shoes and had her trimmed by an Equine Podiatrist using the KC LaPierre high performance trim. This has a very impressive track record for addressing navicular and it gets the circulation going through the hoof, helping it to heal itself. It isn't an overnight fix and requires a programme of conditioning. Your best bet would be to find an EP near you by checking the website: http://www.equinepodiatry.org.uk/

Secondly, for arthritis, I have been using Pernamax Equine, which is extracted from Green Lipped Mussels, and it acts as an anti inflammatory. It has had a dramatic effect on my horse's movement and comfort level.

These two approaches have saved my horse from the scrap heap. She is back in work and has a part-loaner, as we bought another horse, not anticipating the old crock would come back into work! My daughter won "Best Rider" on her last week. She hasn't forgotten any of her dressage moves, and she moves better than ever. The recovery period since removing the shoes has been 9 months.
 
I have been in the same situation personally with a 15 year old mare of mine - and it was an option I chose against as it had risks, implications and wasn't a cure all.
I had her remedially shod to the highest standard/level, mangnetic therapy wraps, devils claw, super soluable superflex and naturally Bute, when all this couldn't keep her sound I decided it was no longer fair.
There are draw backs to the proceedure - and I think it is possible to end up out of the frying pan and into the fire I am afraid
 
Hi Maisiebo,

I have just been told that my horse has arthritis in the fetlock and sesamoids and that the vet wants to do the Irap therapy.... could you let me know if you found this is a good thing to do and if the horse is off work for ages. Btw he is not lame at all to date just goes a bit short in trot and fails to quite track up.
 
Irap therapy really did help my horse. I had the horse treated over 3 months. There was great improvement, the horse moved like he never moved before. I started the treatment in Mar 06 by Jun 06 he was back into full work. A lot of patience is needed, as after each injection you will have to start with walking building up slowly adding trot and canter. It feels like a long winded process but well worth the money. I think if my horse didn't have navicular
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he would be sound now. If you need any more info please e-mail me. By the way where in the UK are you having this treatment done? Just want to know as I had mine done in Germany. I may have another set of treatment later by then I would have returned to the UK.
 
Hi - what is IRAP therapy? My 8 yr old SJ-er has just been diagnosed with arthritis in her coffin joints of front legs but the vet has just given me synequin and left me to it!! Is this something I should be looking into?

If anyone else has a horse with arthritis in coffin joints I would be really grateful to hear from them to swap info etc as it all feels very bleak at the moment - please PMSL me......

thanks, emma
 
IRAP therapy, hard to explain but the vet withdraws blood from the horse in special syringes. He then sends them to a lab for mixing. They are returned ready to use 48 hours later they are injected into the affected joint. I had my horse treated in Germany, the vet spoke good but limited English. If you Google it using (www.irap.de) you will find a number of articles about how is works. It worked well for my horse but unfortunately the navicular is now the problem. Hope this helps.
 
my instructor bout a schoolmaster luso who had this in hes pedal bones and is as soud as anything 4 years on from op!

but again every horse i diffrent!

good luck
 
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