Other peoples experiences of horses with arthritic hocks

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Mystic River

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My 13yr old Novice mare has been diagnosed with bone spavin of the lower hock in her right leg. She passed the vetting when I bought her (including flexions) and was fine for the first 12 months but hasn't been right since August last year...it started with her refusing to jump and gradually deteriorated to the extent where she wouldnt trott and refused to go forward.
Following nerve blocks and x-rays the x-rays revealed that she has a large lip of bone (bone spavin) on her lower hock and some deterioration in the upper hock. She responded really well to the nerve blocking so the vet was optimistic that we would have a positive reaction to injecting the joint and that she may be able to return to some light work, although probably never event again. I bought my mare 2 years ago from a professional rider to use as a school mistress and get me into Eventing.
The vet then went on to prescribe us with a very expensive joint supplement (Synequin), alongside a course of physio and Steroid injections straight into the joint. After the 4 week stage, when the injection is supposed to be at its most effective she was still 2/10's lame in her right hind. The vet at Liphook has now said that the only chance she ever has of being sound again is to operate. They are suggesting drilling 3 holes into the joint in an attempt to make it fuse. She will need 1 months box rest followed by walking in hand for 6 weeks and gradually bringing her back into work. The full effects of the operation aren't realized for 9 to 12 months after the operation. The operation costs £2000 (luckily I have insurance). My main hope for her is that she becomes sound again and I can find a nice home for her as a medium working riding club horse or someone who just wants to do prelim dressage and hacking. The vet thinks that 80% of horses return to full athletic use, including Eventing, but I remain sceptical!?

I wondered if anyone else has had any similar experiences with their horses or if anyone has had a horse that has undergone this operation and what your experiences of it were?
 
Why didn't your vet suggest ethanol alcohol athrodesis? Drilling is ever so painful and a major operation. See my posts on it.:)
 
My horse has had bilateral spavin. He is sound, ocasionally on a cold wet day he will be stiff, but OK when he gets moving.

We did nothing in the way of intervention.

What we did do is get his shoes off, did lots of hacking, and introduced things like linseed into his diet. He is on no cereals, they just made him worse in a number of directions.

We did use a UKNHCP trimmer who understood supportive asymmetry and the shoes-off approach showed an immediate improvement.

He schools well now, providing we are sensible about how much time we spend schooling.

We tried the expensive powders and supplements over the two years - honestly I found they gave no discernible benefit, and other things gave more benefit. I'm just a cynical Scott though - I wonder if the vets need you to have those more than your horse really does.
 
My horse was diagnosed 5 weeks ago with spavin in the lower hock joint and had his hocks injected with cortisone 4 weeks ago - he is due his 4 week check by the vet this Friday but I can't say I have noticed any improvement in his way of going.
He is only 1-2/10 lame but it is bilateral and he struggles most with canter which is quite laboured and sometimes 4 time.
He has had 2 lots of physio so far and another session tomorrow - although this is to treat a sore back as he is holding his back compensating for the hocks. When the physio cam e last week she said he was still lame so I'm not sure what the next step will be when the vet comes this Friday.
Good luck with your horse
 
Mystic River said:
I wondered if anyone else has had any similar experiences with their horses or if anyone has had a horse that has undergone this operation and what your experiences of it were?
Click to expand...

What I would say as a 'top tip' is
a) dont panic, it often feels worse than it actually is, bone spavin is very common and its not the end of your horses working life. True, the work your horse does may need to be modified but most times the horse will be able to go back to its previous job.
b) Get a decent joint supplement which contains MSM or feed MSM separately
c) Get as much treatment that your insurance claim will allow you, ask your vet about whether Tildren is an option (useful in early stages of BS, especially if BS is mild), consider adequan, and intra articular injections of HA and steroid and have your horse medicated every year as a precaution. My BS horse has gone three years since his last joint injections but most need top ups every year.
d) Modify the amount of trotting you do with your horse on hard surfaces, ie. cut down on the amount of one day events with hard summer ground, don't trot on the roads, consider each surface your horse is worked on and act appropriately.
e) Ask if remedial shoeing will help your horse. Often altering the angle of the horses feet, squaring the toe or fitting lateral extension will help a BS horse.
f) Don't be made to feel like 'the devil' if your vet suggests you work/compete your horse on bute. There are many many horses competing on bute (not to mask lameness but to make the horse more comfortable). The only reason that you don't know horses are ridden/competed on bute is that it is very much a contraversal subject and people are scared to say anything. I went through this a few months ago with a fellow livery, and I can honestly say that no words have ever upset me so much than what she said with her spiteful and unecessary criticism of the way my vet and I were managing my horses welfare.

Good luck xx
 
My old boy has bone spavin. He had steroid/HA injections plus Tildren and they did appear to work. However, he has coffin joint issues too which were more difficult to deal with, so I decided to retire him.

I had his shoes taken off and, apart from sometimes finding it difficult to lift the affected hind leg when picking out his feet, you would never know anything was wrong with him. He's on no medication either. Still, I stood by my decision to retire him, and he's leading a lovely life being a horse of leisure.

If it hadn't have been for his coffin joints, I think I'd still be riding him now. Bone spavin is definitely treatable with a good vet and common sense.

Good luck!
 
My horse was diagnosed with spavin around 1 year ago, and was barely lame maybe 1-2/10ths lame on one hind and 1/10th lame on the other. He had two courses of steroids into the joint and there has been no noticeable improvement. Pretty much sound but just not wanting to go forward - he has lost his spring :-(

Vet doesn't think that supplements are good value and does not recommend operation as he is not lame enough. Apparently this is best for horses that are very lame and that they likely end up 1/10th lame at the end of the treatment - so fine if you just want to hack around the lanes.

What made the most difference to his way of going was the remedial farriery - he has got lateral extensions on hind shoes. With these he tracks up a lot better, I would think that this is worth discussing.

Every case is different though and you just have to trust your vet.
 
Diamond has arthritis in her hock area due to a kick where her splint bone was shattered she got very stiff to the point vet said bute for life as she could barely trot but through research and phone calls i spoke to dave at equimins and put her on flexi joint now at 23 we are still doing sponsored rides and the bute!! for arthritis has stopped
 
The horse is this blog was mine and retired to flat ground because of hind limb lameness from spavins. He had no treatment except a bit of bute at times and he came sound after about two years. He has recently had steroid injections which have made him a little more "loose" but nothing dramatic. Four years on he's sound and happy as you can see from the video which is pointed to (and in the US but that's a long story!)

http://tettimes.blogspot.com/
 
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