Osteoarthritis

[KLL1234]

Hello all can anyone help me? The vet came out today to exam my mare - she has always dragged her toes in trot, one leg more so than the other. The vet she thinks she may have osteoarthritis of the spine - at this point she is not sure whether this is secondary cause of the toe dragging or the primary.

On examining her back she was obviously in discomfort, but not in the saddle area, strangely!

The vet has advised that it is okay to keep riding her as she doesn't look in pain when ridden but I'm worried about the long term prognosis for her.

Has anyone had experience of this?

 

[Petrie]

Yes, I had a horse a few years ago who dragged his toes in trot too, one worse than the other, and it turned out he had kissing spine and bone spavins in both hocks.

I'm afraid the long term prognosis for him was not good as he didn't respond to treatment.

However, there are lots of things you can do, and lots of horses continue to work with this problem.

You really need to find out exactly what the problem is, and the extent of it. What has your vet proposed to do now? Are you going to have x-rays and scans, and what treatment has she suggested?

You also might want to consider a second opinion from one of the good equine hospitals (eg. Rossdales or Liphook) as local vets often don't have the most up to date equipment so x-rays can be innacurate.

Treatment could include steroid injections into the hock and spine, which in some horses, allows them to return to normal work. Some horses might only need one injection a year, others may need one a month, and you would then have to way up the pros and cons.

There's always bute too. If you're not competing in affiliated competitions, then there's no reason why you couldn't keep her in light work on bute.

And then there's also surgery if all else fails. It's a very invasive operation and there's no guarantee she will return to work, but many have.

Unfortunately, there's not cure for arthritis, but there are ways you can keep them comfortable enough to do a useful job. It depends how bad it is, and what you want to do with her.

The other thing you need to do is make sure your saddle is really, really comfortable.

 

[aran]

hello
i presume its her hind limb that she drags? if so that is very indicative of bone spavin. my horse has it (he was 7 when diagnosed). if the arthritis is in the lower hock joints then the prognosis is fair, if it is in the upper joint then prognosis is poor. this is because the lower joints have a small range of motion and so the horse can cope without them. therefore if you can get the joints to fuse then the horse will become sound. this can be done with chemicals or by surgery. you need xrays and nerve blocks to determine whether spavin is the problem - then you can try to deal with it.

good luck

 

[lizzieuk1]

Have you thought about getting a veterinary Osteopath to look at her ?

 

[KLL1234]

At the moment they are not really sure if the back problem is secondary or primary to the hind toes, whether it definitely is osteoarthristis or whether it is simply her natural gait.

She shows no pain symptoms either from the ground or when ridden, and she is sound.

The vet is to arranged x-rays - she has had nerve blocks before and x-rays on her hocks and no problems where identified. This time they are going to x-ray her back to see if this is where the problem lies.

The difficulty is as she looks pain -free and is sound, it may just be that is simply how she is. Just horrible waiting as she is just coming good work wise.

Thanks for the information, it was really useful and it is good to know that some horses can and do perform useful activities - the day of the examination I was thinking all sorts of negative thoughts - so thanks.

 

[KLL1234]

Thanks for the reply. She has already had x-rays and nerve block in her hind leg and it showed no problems.

At the moment they are not sure if it is osteoarthritis or simply her gait as she is pain free both on the ground and when ridden and is sound.

She has been referred for back x-rays to see if they show up anything else.

Thanks for the information, good to know the outcome is not all bleak - cheers.

 

[aran]

hello
if she has inactive spavin then the nerve blocks wouldnt show you anything as there is no pain to reduce. the dragging of the toes is therefore mechanical so also wouldnt improve. the x-rays however should show joint space narrowing etc suggesting that spavin is not the problem.
good luck for the back xrays