Retiring your horse

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Parkranger

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My friend has just ridden Ty in the new school (I was on Oscar) and he looks so short on his back end now....considering it's not cold now it's making me realise that he's getting nearer and nearer to being retired. He's only 9 aswell.

Vet said he's probably got hock spavin but then he was turned away for the winter....he's come back into work since he came back to me (went on loan but girl hurt her knee so he's effectively had 6 weeks off) and he seems worse to me than when he left.

can a hock spavin fuse awkwardly thus causing more lameness?

I think I should get a proper diagnosis but I'm not putting him through cortisone injections etc and supplements don't really do much. all I do know is he came back off loan much happier - probably because he wasn't being worked when it was cold!

Any suggestions/advice/experiences?
 
I think you need a proper diagnosis, and joint injections might work - they did for my boy & that means he can hack rather than just be a field ornament. He's also on Newmarket Joint Supplement which certainly helps as well.

I think you're being a bit premature with your thinking if you haven't got a diagnosis, and haven't tried medicating yet. He may not be quite ready to retire - you don't know.
 
Why would you not do cortisone injections? They are easy and they DO help to keep a horse a lot more comfortable than without.

For a spavin to fuse he needs to be in work. Your vet will advise. Once it has fused he should be ok and manageable. Supplements DO help - especially devil's claw and glucosamine.
 
Problem is I've seen how expensive those injections can be - I'm not prepared to spend thousands a year - neither can I afford it. I know someone who spends £1000 every 4/5 months for injections in her horses stifle!

I'm only going by what the vet told me - will definately find out if it's hock spavin before retiring himn though! Just want to prepare myself for it I guess. Just lucky that I can afford to do that now if it happens.
 
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Why would you not do cortisone injections? They are easy and they DO help to keep a horse a lot more comfortable than without.

For a spavin to fuse he needs to be in work. Your vet will advise. Once it has fused he should be ok and manageable. Supplements DO help - especially devil's claw and glucosamine.

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But I've also been told they need to rest! oh well, I'll get the vet out and see what he says - think we need to go down the full diagnosis route anyway but I was just interested to see what people had been through with their horses.
 
Has he got arthritis that you already know of? My 7 year old has arthritis in his pastern that I think has fused and he is sound, maybe yours is fusing at the moment and causing the lameness, I think that generally when they've fused they're ok, never heard of them fusing awkwardly. When they're fusing its good to keep them moving if posibble to speed up the process, was he turned out when he was off work? The time off work could be causing the stiffness, before I got mine he had been turned away for 4 months and he was slightly stiff when he first started being ridden again (but not lame, otherwise wouldn't have ridden him!) but he has come on a lot since then, and he has Mobifor every day which is excellent.
But when you say retirement do you mean full retirement or just hacking him out? I'm just hacking mine at the moment but may start some light schooling in the next month, if he stays sound.
 
MymMare fractured a bone in her hock about 7 years ago when she was about 20 years old and was rested, however she went sound for a while and then suddenly very lame. A friend gave me a horse so I just rested my mare. About 3 years later the horse I had been given got laminitis so I thought I would just have a go on my old horse. She has been sound ever since and at 27 is being hacked regularly.

(X rays revealed that the bones had fused together as arthritis had set in to the site of the fracture)

(I give her linseed and cod liver oil with her feed each day).
 
thanks PN - I used to give Ty Linseed oil but haven't since he came back. I think I'll get vet out for jabs and then see what he says about Ty's hocks.....I don't want to write him off because he is a wicked dressage horse when he's going properly!
 
When you say your vet says he 'probably has bone spavins' does that mean he has not been x-rayed / blocked? It seems to me that the first thing you need is a definitive diagnosis. 9 years old is very young to be giving up on a horse when you dont actually know what's wrong.

If it is bone spavin,I didn't think steroid injections were recommended unless in a very early inflamatory phase as you actually want the bones to fuse and steroids will inhibit this. I thought they normally recommend working the horse on bute. Once the bones are fused most horses are sound, though may have less range of movement than before (ie may be mechanicaly lame ) but not in pain and perfectly rideable.

Good luck, hope you sort it out
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When you say your vet says he 'probably has bone spavins' does that mean he has not been x-rayed / blocked? It seems to me that the first thing you need is a definitive diagnosis. 9 years old is very young to be giving up on a horse when you dont actually know what's wrong.

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I didn't say I was giving up on him
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i just wanted to hear peoples experiences and yes, I know the vet needs to diagnose properly so that's what i'm sorting now....!
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Once you have a proper diagnosis, you can go from there. In many cases horses with spavins go on to be fairly sound. Joint injections can certainly help and so can remedial shoeing. Joint supplements are also excellent.
 
I have known a few horses with bone spavin; once fused they are mechanically lame rather than in pain (I limp because I have a fused ankle from a break but no pain) but if the hock is fused in such a way as they have to twist the foot rather than flex then eventually there will be wear and tear to other areas. How well do you think Ty will cope with retirement?
Good luck anyway!
 
From my experience of cortisone injections, they are not meant as a hugely regular thing. My boy has ligament problems so it is slightly different but it meant he needed his coffin joint injected. My vet is very anti injections more than once a year unless it is absolutely vital. My horse was diagnosed in November 2007 and has had two sets of joints injections - the first in Nov 2007 and the latest in Jan 2008. The vet is now hopeful he will not have to inject for quite some time. I understand your concerns about costs as my insurance has expired and thus I now have to pay for any treatment. However, if you get a diagnosis and the injections are recommended, I would definitely try and find the money. My boy is only 9yrs old and I hated the thought of retiring him. Even if you do retire your boy joint injections may help him be more comfortable in the field.
 
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