Should i go ahead or wrap him in cottonwool??

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blackhorse37

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Hi, i have a 7yo ISH 16.2hh. In aug lasyt year he went lame behind and was diagnosed with sesamoid lig damage and ringbone (high articular) The vet said he believed the lameness 1/10, was caused by the lig and said the ringbone was "old" and fused.

He has been sound since nov apart from very occasional stiffness for the first few seconds of the first trot and has been in work all the time.

My question is...should i do as the vet said and "use him as normal" or should i do as i have been doing and mollycoddle him?? (must add, he is on a joint supplement and has a cartrophen inj every 3-6 months, but no pain killer/antiinflam) By "normal" the vet understands that i used him for dressage and showing and occasional jumping (small stuff) but since he was diagnosed i have only hacked him. Would love to compete him again as we both love it but im scared to!!
 
Personally, I'd use him 'as normal'! You can wrap them up in cottonwool - and the bu**ers end up choking on it!

My OH's HW hunter was diagnosed (lame) with high articular ringbone 5 years ago. He was arthritic before that! He hunts one day a week (not much jumping in our country) and is kept going all year round, hacking 5-6 times a week! He has his Riaflex Complete - and one Danilon a day. He's 23 years old! And when he was doing point to point duty (escorting runners to the start) he thought he WAS a racehorse!

Exercise is GOOD for arthritic conditions - the more Bruno works the less stiff he gets!

Your chap is 7! You could mollycoddle him for the next five years - and lose him to colic or something stupid like that. I would enjoy him - and use him - within 'reason' (Badminton might be out of his grasp!) Yes - doing a bit more MIGHT shorten his active life by a year or two - but if he could speak, he'd ask for quality over quantity!
 
I would work as normal, if he starts to struggle he'll let you know :) My last horse chipped his navicular bone, had one cortisone (sp) injection, remedial shoeing and then the more work he done the sounder he became. Different injury but same consept. He started backing off jumps and landing on his good leg so as to remove the weight from the bad leg, so we stopped jumping him as we could tell he was no longer content doing it. Hope my babbling helps in some way lol
 
my instructors full bred 17.2hh ID was diagonosed with ringbone when he was 12 - he was her husbands hunter. she decided to start training him for dressage as hunting was getting too much - he went from a hunter at 12 to competing at Adv Med dressage within 4 yrs - trained to PSG level at home - piaffes/passages/tempi changes etc. has competed with a para rider 3 yrs ago for GB and retired from competition 2 yrs ago - he is now 24. He is on danilon now as his age has caught up with him and is stiff and also starting to go blind but still does a little bit out on gentle hacks and he looks after/teaches my instructors working pupil in the school. - his favourite trick is to passage around arena and you have only asked for trot!! Just shows what you can do with a horse that most people would just have retired to gentle hacking.

eta - he was denerved for ringbone -
 
I had an ex racehorse with a sesamoid ligament injury so bad it had partly pulled the ligament off the sesamoid bone. After a year's rest he did hunter trials, dressage and hacked in severely hilly country without a moments problem from it.

Go for it!
 
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