No Lameness, Hock Spavin?

ellie_e

ellie_e

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So after 11months of physio sessions and horse improving slightly with building muscle behind, physio advised last night to get vet to him and x-rayed and checked for bone spavin in hock area or possibly some other performance issues. Horse isn’t lame, but has always struggled in downwards transitions, and with lateral work. His canter currently is bad, he is leaning, rushing and seems to not want to sit in the canter -He is better in a pelham which I use to jump, and isn’t showing pain when jumping, still happy to jump etc. His behaviour does vary, he was awful when I first bought him, would spin rear etc without any warning but this has improved but we still get the odd spin, hes quirky and im happy with how his behaviour is. I have a lesson on Monday with my dressage trainer, I’ve asked her to ride him and see what she thinks, is it my riding affecting him or does she think there’s an issue there etc. So my questions, can horses have spavins without showing any hind lameness? Can an 8yr old carry on a competitive career with theses issues?
 
The short answer is yes, they can have hock problems without being lame. However, a really good vet should be able to see any likely problems if they do flexion tests, watch the horse lunged and ridden. So my advice, assuming you value your physio's input, would be to have a thorough examination at your vet's hospital: are you B&W? In which case Breadstone is ideal, worh all the hard space for lungeing, plus the outdoor school.

If your vet thinks he doesn't look great behind, then you can move on to X rays and/or scans. Even if the X rays are clear, there is a scenario where injections can make them more comfortable, and it isn't an expensive treatment, although obviously not without risk.

Depending on the findings, it is perfectly possible for a horse to continue with a competitive career following hock treatment, and you would br amazed at how many 4* horses have it as a matter of course. It may be that, if you find he is a bit uncomfortable but there are no drastic changes, a treatment will generate a massive improvement in his way of going, so well worth investigating.
 
Thanks TD, current vet is Allan from Park, as our yard is next door to his. Handy in an emergency! Yes I do value phsyio opinion shes been great with us both. She did say that lots of grade A sj'rs will be having injections etc for spavins, but I was unsure whether she was just trying to make me feel better! It sounds awful and as if im righting the horse off before he’s even seen the vet, but the thought of him just being a happy hack or pretty field object is just awful, and realistically I couldn’t do that, financially and he'd hate it- he doesn’t enjoy hacking at the best of times!
He had a 5star vetting when I bought him 20months ago, would this of been picked up then? How quickly do these things come on?
Sorry for all the questions!
 
It could easily have come on since the vetting, these things usually come on gradually, often through strenous exercise. Don't panic because it really isn't a black and white, absolutely fine versus field ornament scenario - more a question of seeing if there is anything going on and, if there is, intervening to manage it early, which will give a far better outcome long term. I don't know Park vets, but as long as they have really expert equine specialists and good facilities I'm sure they will be able to help :) Feel free to PM me if you want any more advice :)
 
This is it amymay, he doesnt, his walk trot work is great and has come on, its just the canter at the moment where I feel like im hitting a brick wall with it, but doesnt feel lame, off, unlevel anything. Why are horses such a stress!
 
TableDancer said:
It could easily have come on since the vetting, these things usually come on gradually, often through strenous exercise. Don't panic because it really isn't a black and white, absolutely fine versus field ornament scenario - more a question of seeing if there is anything going on and, if there is, intervening to manage it early, which will give a far better outcome long term. I don't know Park vets, but as long as they have really expert equine specialists and good facilities I'm sure they will be able to help :) Feel free to PM me if you want any more advice :)
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Thank you so much!! Ive had all awful thoughts about PTS etc. Allen is great, his wife used to be my instructor when we first bought him, they both know the horse well, and have great facilities, physio was happy for him to look at the horse aswel, as if needed I would of changed vets as my other horse was treated with Nick West, and was very happy with him- many years ago now.
 
ellie_e said:
Thank you so much!! Ive had all awful thoughts about PTS etc. Allen is great, his wife used to be my instructor when we first bought him, they both know the horse well, and have great facilities, physio was happy for him to look at the horse aswel, as if needed I would of changed vets as my other horse was treated with Nick West, and was very happy with him- many years ago now.
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Penny drops - is that Allen Brown? He came to vet a horse I was selling once down your way (Catherston Dunlin - do you ever bump into him?!) he seemed really nice, and very pragmatic :)
 
My Trekehner gelding suddenly went slightly lame on the lunge 9 months after I'd bought him (and yes I did have him 5* vetted!). It was most noticable on his near hind, but also didn't seem quite right on the off hind. Fine on the flat in a straight line - back lady said nothing she could do. He was 7 at the time...

Long story short, he was found to have spavin in both lower joints of both hocks. Not impressed! Anyway, he was injected and hes been absolutely fine since - that was back in March. Hes happily jumping 1m regularly and we have jumped bigger in the odd training session. Sometimes he likes/feels like hes looking after himself, but I thik thats more a 'oh it might hurt' more than it actually does because other times he takes off with such power you just can't believe there is anything wrong.

He was bone scanned before they then x-rayed to see the spavin as it took a while to try and isolate where the lameness was coming from. That was a nice fat bill for me but at least we got to the bottom of it.

Good luck with yours.
 
Thank you porkpie, out of interest was it covered on insurace, or did you have to pay for it yourself? We are jumping 1, 1.05 courses currently, he does sometimes feel odd behind going from canter to trot almost like he stumbles hind or joint locks, I can feel this, but unsure if its visable from the ground.
 
ellie_e said:
Can an 8yr old carry on a competitive career with theses issues?
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Hell yes!

My horse has spavin. ~His symtoms were unable to keep canter in a straight line without changing behind about five times! Dragging hind toes through surface, and chipping them off hard concrete causing sparks. Generally being unhappy and grouchy. After three lots of tildren that I felt didn't really work, and intra articular injections of steroid and HA and a course of adequan I went for fusion using ethanol. Instantly the nerves in the hocks are killed so no more hock pain. Fusion takes place 18months - two years later. I bute every now and then to go out jumping on vets advice, especially if I feel that the surface is hard (he has other overcompensatory issues also).

He's jumping 1m - 1.05m SJ courses, getting double clears nearly everytime out and I am delighted with him. He is competing Novice/elem dressage and will continue to do fun rides and one, two and three day unaff events next season. He is rising 16 going on 4 and is happy and ears pricked, loving his jumping, and jumping so big that at our last time out he basculed so huge over the last fence in the jump off in what would have been our 2nd double clear of the day!!! GRRRRrr :rolleyes:that I fell off and got knocked out!!! Such an improvement.
 
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My horse was diagnosed this summer. Like yours wasnt lame in winter was a bit stiff but 5mins walking and was fine. Walk and trot were fine but canter was awful (always been his weakness) then out hacking noticed he wasnt too fussed about canter (loves cantering out more than in the school). So hadd the vet out. Hes since become very lame and now wish i had him checked when he first felt off. Hes undergone injections and tildren. He feels better than every and enjoying his work.
 
Well mine was flexion tested by three different vets on three different days over the period of two weeks as I was sure something was right with my boy. Everytime he was pronounced to be sound, it wasn't until he went into horspital that he was found to have Bilateral PSD in the hinds and a spavin in his left hock. He had the op for the PSD and his spavin was injected when we started work again, he is now back competing and happier than ever, he's only 9 and was 8 when diagnosed.
 
ellie_e said:
If I were to sell him in the furture, would this be possible? Even if he had a proven record?
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If he has hock fusion using ethanol it would be untraceable but it depends if you would want to try and pull the wool over the potential buyers eyes.

As fusion using ethanol is relatively new there is no real research or data according to my vet, so no one knows how viable it is and how long it last for.
 
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