Rachig my brains as to what to do! *long sorry!*

H

HayleyUK

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I have a 17YO connie (more like a 8-10 yo in how she looks/behaves) who's never been sick or sorry in her life till now.
In March, we attempted to take her out to a party and she was leaning her whole self, quarters, then shoulder to the right of the trailer as if she was struggling to balance.
Gave up, unloaded as it wasnt safe to travel & hacked out.
Pony came back and seemed exhausted- chalked it up to a virus/bug and gave some red cell.

Started to notice she wasn't quite through behind on her left hind when lunged-very odd! Called the vet who was umming and ahhing over it, suggested that as it was so slight and she was so 'fit' and bright we try 7 days of bute. 3 days no work and then start lunging with no tack. No massively positve results to flexion tests and she was sound on the trop up, its just on a circle shes short. Pony was showing some tightness/discomfort in her back so got the Osteopath out.

Osteopath comes out, Pony not on bute.. nope its not her back, shes fine. Its limb lameness for sure. Try working her was the suggestion.
Did as the vet/osteo said.. no improvement.

Vet came back, pony was slightly more positive to flexion tests, but still sound on trot up- not lame enough to block so she suggested we did 7-10 days of 'normal' work to see if she got worse/came right as bute made no difference to her.
Carried on as normal, but no change. Still the same, but starting to have 'worse' days.

Vet came back.. (starting to feel we see a lot of her by now) re examined and said.. "shes probably the worst I've seen" but still not enough to block. Short on both hinds this time. Flexion tests stayed the same so we decide to xray expecting to see very little.
Sure enough.. we've got arthritic changes in the left hock. There are a couple of bone spurs (very small ones) and there is some blurring of the lines between the 4 bones in her hock indicating we've got a bit of fusion going on in there as well. Right hock is similar.. but not quite as advanced.
Discuss with the vet about injecting into hock, referring to Leahurst or trying Cartophen.

Decide to try Cartrophen... 1x injection each week for 4 weeks and reasses. Light work, no circles, no jumping unless she feels right to do it.
She had her 1st injection last week, du for her 2nd this afternoon.
Vet says we'll need all 4 before things improve as it 'takes its time'.
Pony in the meantime has good days where shes virtually sound and bad days where she's like a robot behind...

She's fed NAF Superflex in her feed, turned out from 8-6 everyday, deep bed etc... but she's still so uncomfortable at times!

Has anoyne got any suggestions/experiences to share because I feel so down about having such a sick and sorry pony.. she just seems so down when its a 'bad' day...

Sorry its so long!
 
My horse is having exactly the same problems at the moment and even did the leaning in travelling as well. He was only diagnosed a couple of months ago and we had a couple of good months but now has deteriorated again and only seems to be having bad days :( feels a bit like banging our head against a wall at the moment, he has been out of work for almost a year now! Sorry to have not been able to give you good news, we'll have to hope somebody else can cheer us both up!
 
Hi there,
sorry to hear you are having such a tricky time. Am afraid I'm don't know of any magic fixes, we are going through something similar with my oh 14 yo mare. She has two fused bones in each hock, and is now showing slight inconsistent lameness, poss on near fore, poss on offside hind (hardly noticable in walk and trot, visable as a slight shortness in canter, only every 4 or 5 strides though), along with tightness through her back. First stop is back lady to help with the stiffness so we can then see better what's going on. Day to day keeping her comfortable we try and keep her turned out as much as poss. Despite a deep bed and massive stable, evern half hrs stabling makes her very much more stiff. She is having a rotten run of days at the moment and is off work. I must admit we are stuck with what to do to help her feel more herself. Hopefully having a more comfortable back will help as I think it's getting her down. She has super grooms each day to try and keep her less stiff. She has leg wraps on which seem to help alot with stiffness, and she is on mega grand flex (no idea tbh if this works, but at least feels like we are doing something). Now looking at getting a magnetic rug if that will help with stiffness. She is also a super good doer, so grazing muzzle on as her legs don't need any extra weight! No sugar feed too to rule out any footieness (sp?) due to sugar influencing how she goes.
Will let you know if we find something fab, though is waiting now for the back lady, then back to the vets for more trot ups, lunging and flexion tests. Just frustrating really as when she is good she is on fab form, but just want her to feel good in herself again.
Good luck with this journey, and lots of hugs for your mare.
 
Has anyone else has this cartrophen? Vet says its a very good all encompassing arthritis tratment and worth a shot, but if she doesnt improve it'll be a referral.

Squeak- Was yours diagnosed with the same thing? Glad it seems to be related, people think I'm crazy because it was so slight!

Its horrible seeing her so fedup.. especially as we were starting to crack the dressage pony thing. It does explain some of the resitance though.

Thanks for the replies
H x
 
My previous horse, a lovely irish gelding, had very similar problems, including so called arthritic changes to his hocks, had injections, the lot untill one day he came out of his stable unable to walk in a straight line. Time in horsepital revealed a fractured pelvis, kissing spine and several bone cysts. Unfortunately we had to call it a day with him.

Sometimes, the obvious can be a bit of a red herring. Good luck.
 
HayleyUK said:
Has anyone else has this cartrophen? Vet says its a very good all encompassing arthritis tratment and worth a shot, but if she doesnt improve it'll be a referral.

My mare has had 4 lots of cartrophen which we have just redone again this year. First time around worked really well she had it in Feb and stayed sound until Aug time then went lame again. Had x-rays re-done spavins on left side all fused on right side one had not fused. So worked her on bute, in Oct got worse on right side so had a bone scan which found 2 hot spots on right hock. Had hock injections which worked short term really well alongside wedge shoes. However went lame yet again this year so vet suggested farrier puts on extreme latural extentsions (sp?) which work really well. Alongside this we had tildren and touch wood she is staying sound 99% of the time.

Im also really careful about her weight as any extra weight adds more pressure onto their joints and feed CortaVet as well everyday.

With regards to the Cartrophen i know horses it has worked really well on within weeks and they only ever need it done every year. Im in two minds if it worked well on mine one vet said it couldnt have worked however another has said they would hate to see her move without it so hard to tell. But im not taking the risk she will continue to have it every year now its cheaper to buy online if your not insured via somewhere like hyperdrug and i inject it myself which again saves more money.

And similar to you she wasnt right vets kept looking and saying fine or just walks a little funny until i kept on to them and they did x-rays which found bone spavins.
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had an oldie and cartrophen was like a youth drug! y9u could get som magnetic boots as wel. good luck. ansd some oil in diet high in omega 3 and 6 should help.
 
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