Possible retirement ahead!

Season’s Bleatings

Season’s Bleatings

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Just a few musings, really!

I have a lovely 18 yo ISH that I have had now for about 18months. I knew his previous owner fairly well and bought him after she had a nasty accident on him (broken pelvis). As the horse was well known to me and the YO, I decided to not have him vetted - he was 16 at the time with no issues so I thought I would take a chance on him.

Our first year was great, out hacking, doing some RC competitions and jumping, little bit of low level dressage. Then in late summer this year he started displaying mild lameness. There was little improvement with the recommended rest so in October he went to horsepital for the day for lameness investigations.

Unfortunately the results weren't great! He has DJD in his coffin joints in both feet, sidebone and arthritic changes in his hocks. Nerve blocks showed him to be lame in 3 of 4 legs, which seemed to present itself as forelimb lameness. He also has kissing spines.

Vet recommended a course of cortisone injections into the affected areas and remedial shoeing to help alleviate the strain on his front feet. Initially he was box rested for a week, then allowed to walk in hand for the second week, with turnout and light lunging permitted from week three. He had been coming along well and I first sat on him again a couple of days before Christmas, and had been lightly hacking him (walk only) with some hillwork to get him fit again.

Unfortunately on Monday, just three months after his treatment, he felt lame again during our hack - in exactly the same way he had when he went for his lameness workup. Trotted him up last night and he is definitely lame! I'm so disappointed as I know that repeated treatments become less and less effective over time, so to me it doesn't make sense to repeat it, from a practical and I suppose financial point of view.

He is due to be shod again tomorrow - I am vaguely hoping that his lameness may be linked to needing his feet done, but he has very slow growing feet so I don't think it'll make much of a difference. Should this fail to help, when our mare is due to be seen by the farrier (in approx 3 weeks) I think I will remove his shoes completely and consider him retired for the time being, and let him go to grass and be a horse for a few months.

How did you decide the time was right to retire? Have any of you retired and then a while down the line brought back in to work?
 
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I thought the same when my old horse (at 15) responded only for a few weeks to steroid injections (for arthritic hocks in his case). The vet then recommended Tildren - he came sound and has been fine since then (about a year ago now). He walks out of his box absolutely fine each day, where previously he shuffled along looking incredibly stiff. There may be other options to try first, so don't give up straightaway. He sounds like a toughie to have all that going on and you not know it - I do love these Irish horses! They keep on surprising you, and going on and on...
 
I retired my mare at 15 due to a catastrophic shoulder injury. It was touch and go for a year whether or not she would even be field sound, but she came good. She then developed laminitis which I got under control. Then nearly 3 years after she first retired she seemed more than fit enough to ride again, and so I brought her back into work aged 18 and she felt better than ever, so straight and supple and it was just amazing to be back riding her again. Sadly laminitis reared its ugly head again (she also had Cushings and EMS), and so for the following year I didn't ride her. It was a really bad year, but once again I got her back sound again. Sadly she redid her shoulder injury in the field. How unlucky was that? Bless her. I decided to put to sleep as the shoulder injury would have required prolonged box rest and she was on a very restricted diet, so she would have had a miserable time. It broke my heart to let her go though. But the point is, yes, it is perfectly possible to bring back to work even an elderly horse, so long as they are sound.
 
Abacus, thank you for your input - unfortunately I don't think tildren will be an option for me as I think it will be a bit beyond my budget. I am glad to hear that your horse did recover enough and did well on it! My boy looks sound in walk and seems to be happy which is the main thing. Maybe the old fashioned treatment of rest at grass might do him good.

Wagtail, I followed your story of your mare and I can only imagine how awful it was to lose her. It sounds as though you were exceptionally unlucky. It is heartening though to hear that she did come good after rest, just so sad that other issues ultimately got the better of her, poor girl.
 
My mare was diagnosed with DJD and ringbone in the RF, and side bones in both fronts and slight navicular changes in the LF in 2012, the RF diagnosed in the January and the LF in the September at her follow up. When the RF was diagnosed she had cortisone which did help and although the vet suggested remedial shoeing I decided against it.she became hacking sound that year (she didn't cope at all without work which is why sh came back in lightly) but at the follow up we opted for tildren and the results were amazing! She is 16 this year and feels better than ever and you wouldn't know anything was wrong! It is expensive but if you have the funds it is definitely worth a try.
Good luck with your horse!
 
Sorry to hear about your horse op. I think in a lot of cases, whilst these sorts of changes are developing, the horse will be lame and treatment wont be effective for long. There is a lot to be said for a period of time off in the field. That way he can keep moving freely and you can allow the changes to settle. You may find that in a year or so he can be brought back into light work and stay sound. Good luck :)
 
Certainly the hocks can be as good as new after a year or two off, especially if they fuse, which they often do. I have no experience with disease of the coffin joint though. But honestly, if he were mine, I would take the pressure off and just rest him. Let him be turned out as usual, preferably 24/7 in the summer, and give him two years before calling it a day (if you are not in the position to retire him indefinitely). It may be that he comes sound after 6 months, but I would add a few months rest on before starting work with him again, just to make sure. The other option you have is to speak to Rockley Farm or a good equine foot trimmer to see if he may be able to come right with careful barefoot management.
 
My old horse, well pony! was retired due to old age and his loaners vet diagnosing a heart problem. I had him back as id always wanted to look after him as an oldie as much as possible (he'd gone on loan due to me loosing my job whilst pregnant so being unable to get another)
He came home and yes I brought him back into very steady work and increased it slowly til we were doing reasonable hacks (about an hour some days) he went from strength to strength and seemed to thrive again.
 
Wagtail said:
Certainly the hocks can be as good as new after a year or two off, especially if they fuse, which they often do. I have no experience with disease of the coffin joint though. But honestly, if he were mine, I would take the pressure off and just rest him. Let him be turned out as usual, preferably 24/7 in the summer, and give him two years before calling it a day (if you are not in the position to retire him indefinitely). It may be that he comes sound after 6 months, but I would add a few months rest on before starting work with him again, just to make sure. The other option you have is to speak to Rockley Farm or a good equine foot trimmer to see if he may be able to come right with careful barefoot management.
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'Take the pressure off' is a really key phrase here. Since he was diagnosed I have been worrying constantly about how sound he will be, how long it will last, etc. He enjoys being out in the field (not the type to run about like a maniac, but he likes to squeal when he's turned out and he always, always gets down and rolls on both sides as soon as he goes out) - so I would be quite happy to give him some downtime to see how he gets on. Depending on how his next cycle of shoeing goes I will decide on what is best for him. Our normal 24/7 turnout doesn't kick in until May but I could probably get him out full time from March if I put him on to grass livery. I am quite happy to keep him for as long as he is happy, it isn't an ideal situation but I do have other horses to ride (not mine) so that side of things isn't a problem.
 
Wud he be comfortable on bute, you could do a 5 day bute test, if sound drop to 1 a day for 5 days, if sound drop to 1 every other day with these amounts he wouldnt get liver problems until many many years on. Also he could have corns under hos shoes, or bruising, wait and see what the farrier says, but if it was me i wouldnt retire,
 
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