Pastern joint arthritis

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LadyRascasse

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Any one have any good stories about this problem? Feel like I am (for want of a better phrase) flogging a dead horse. If no good stories any experiences would be appreciated. My boy is currently 7/8 tenths lame and its breaking my heart. If we can't get him more comfortable by the end of next week we will have the answer :(
 
Yes Romeo has this in his off fore, much better since barefoot, shoeing really aggravated it! I manage it with a low dose of danilon, joint supplement, also now trying Turmeric as a lot of people are having good results with this!
I also avoid tight turns and anything involving small circling!
Lot of info about turmeric on "Turmeric user group" facebook
 
We had a livery with it,took a while on high dose bute to come sounder,then just reducing dose to see what it could come down to as long as staying comfortable and then was ok for some light hacking.She also used magnetic boots which seemed to help.
 
Thank you for replies. I am not prepared to go barefoot just yet. I have ordered some turmeric and shall give it ago. He is currently on 3 danilon a day and still extremely lame. He could only have one more a day before he is on maximum recommended dosage. I will look into magnetic boots thank you :)
 
No as he is seriously vet phobic. We were unable to do the nerve block needed to confirm the vet suspicions. So medicating the joint is out as its a tricky enough procedure without a horse trying to kick there head in sadly :(
 
My mare had two fetlock injections - she was heavily sedated (standing sedation) for the injections. Do you think your boy is so anti-vet that he would manage to throw off the sedation? Mind you, you'd have to work out how to sedate him first. The steroid/hyaluronic acid worked wonders for mine, although it only lasted 6 months max. If you can work out how to medicate him, and if you can afford the injections, there would be a fair chance of alleviating the symptoms at least.
 
I have to give him the Dom gel before the vet arrives then, he goes in and sedates him. They did manage to xray and scan him using this routine so I suppose it is possible to try it like this. He is insured but its more a case of not wanting people to get injured. I love him dearly but someones life is worth more than him having his joint medicated. He is looking more comfortable tonight without trotting him up I would say 6/10 lame noticable in walk but weight baring so he is heading in the right direction. We will keep plugging away and see where we end up. He is happy and content in himself today (and every other day apart from yesterday and when he was at the vets) He is eating and drinking fine. Thank you :)
 
I think 6/10 lame on 3 danilon a day is quite a lot tbh. Is this your older chap? I guess the trouble with the nerve blocks is that you can't sedate first but he could be well suggested to joint inject. What does your vet think?/did he suggest injecting the joint?
 
Ester I agree, its awfully lame for the amount of pain killers. My vet said if her were a normal horse they would inject his joint but he feels that his condition isn't going to improve and even if he was injected he would only have 1 or 2 years before he would have to be pts. He feels that he should be PTS but is happy (and supportive) for me to try with remedial shoeing for a short while. I am not one to allow a horse to suffer but at 12 I feel I have to at least give him a chance. His x rays to me (uneducated) didn't look awful a very small amount of extra bone on one side and that side the joint is closer together (if that makes sense). In my mind I want to give him the 4 weeks until he is next shod to make some serious improvement and come off the painkillers, but we are taking every day as it comes. I am in constant contact with both my vet and farrier and I am considering having him referred to a hospital to see what if they feel they can treat him. I am just worried about putting him through more stress.
 
My Eventer was diagnosed with Pastern Arthritis in 2012... It did out an end to his eventing career as I was advised not to do anything on hard ground. His joint was medicated however 2 years on he is still sound and qualified for the BD regionals at Elementary and Medium and was making his advanced medium debut at 20 years old :) He doesn't lunge, we don't trot on the roads, he is fed naf devils relief, wears magnetic boots and is very carefully managed. I put his soundness down to extremely good shoeing since his diagnosis. I changed farriers and he now has remedial shoes every 4 weeks and the vets are vey happy with his foot balance.
He is currently off with a suspensory issue LOL but that is a different story!!!!!!
Good luck with your horse! There is a future after pastern arthritis! x
 
Thank you for all the advice, Farrier came again today and found a deep seated abscess, we suspect he hasn't show properly because he was on anti b's and danilon for the damage he did to his hind leg at the vets. There was no heat in his hoof but he was getting more and more lame (to the point I was contemplating PTS) but put a small drain hole in and he is instantly more comfortable (and sound) farrier suspects there may be another but we don't want to dig about too much and just play it by ear :)
 
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