Spavins

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sikaran

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My 12 yo mare has just been diagnosed with spavins in both hocks. She has never been lame, just was not engaging in right canter. She is back from the vets now, having had (cortisone?) injections in her hocks, and on the vets advice she has been shod with wedges behind and natural balance in front. I can start walking her on Monday. Anyone got any experience of this problem? I've never had a horse with spavins before, and would like to know if I am being unrealistic in hoping she will return to full work - she was competing at elem/med dressage up until Christmas.
 
My mare was also diagnosed with spavins in both hocks when she was 12.
She is back in full work doing dressage, sj, xc etc
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My understanding is that most cases are as above, however I think its only fair to say not every case does so well. My dear boy had spavins which didn't fuse & he never got back to full work ... he had to be retired until he was too uncomfortable to even have his back feet trimmed. Really don't want to be the bearer of bad new but feel its important to have worse case scenario..I really hope your boy is one of the happy cases though. Good luck
 
Mine had op for spavin fusion in jan last year.It was completely successful but hes injured with something else so never managed to try him out in canter .You need to keep her in full work to speed up the fusion if the injections dont work there are other options .Tildren is a drug that is used plus operation is aother option.Hope it works out quickly for you both.
 
Two of my horses were both diagnosed with spavin in both hocks last summer and both had their hocks medicated with Adequan - it didnt work on either horse.

Roxy has just had her first hock drilled and was weight bearing on recovery. She is due to go back in 3 weeks time for her second hock operation. She was schooling at novice and having trouble engaging her hocks. The operations cost approx £1000 per hock.

I have decided not to have the op for Fred and hope that over a period of time his hocks will fuse themselves.

Do get a quote from your vets, they may be able to keep costs at a minimum if you are not insured.
 
My pony had the injection in one hock last summer (he was 16yo then) and is back to our normal hacking, low level RC stuff - he is schooling better than ever but that's low level flatwork. He has the lateral extensions on his hinds and is on the Synequin supplement. Fingers crossed that the injection continues to work along with regular exercise and being careful not to trot on hard surfaces etc.

My vet was quick to mention that all horses react differently to the injection - mine responded well and didn't need bute to start work (started gently riding him two weeks after injection)but some do and as pointed out by others, it doesn't work for all.

Good luck with your mare.
 
Q was diagnosed with spavins in both hocks (right is worse) in August last year. He had both hocks injected with Cortisone & Hydrachondric acid, plus a course of IM Adaquan. The difference was amazing & he was back to his old self & I started competing him again (he's at elementary)
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However a few weeks ago I had a lesson & he argued the whole was through & the next day on the lunge he didn't look quite right, so I took him back in. He's been redone & so far feels great again. The vets have said if it only lasts 5 months again we can either continue to redo it or try Tildren.

The prognosis is good if you can find the key to what works with your horse. My vets advised against the op as they said the success rate isn't great & if it fails you've got nowhere to go from there.
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Quarrybank - I think my vets are on the same wavelength as yours. I have been warned that it varies from horse to horse how long the injection works, if it works at all. I will be happy if I can just get a couple more years out of my mare as she is so talented. Fingers crossed that your boy keeps going
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Good Lord cellie, £3.5k
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Roxy had hers done at our local horsepital in South Wales and the op was performed by Ollie Crow who is based at Willersley but travels to us for this type of operation.
 
Vet must have needed a holiday.
Hes cost me nearly 3 times that figure now.Hope he comes sound this time or I dont know what Im going to do.There is only so much money you can spend on them and hes had the best .Hes lame in front now arghhhh horses could have had a nice little sports car lol
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My mare has spavin. She had the steroid injections and they didn't work.

We are having a new treatment to fuse the joint, which is not invasive and also does not require an operation. Is a very very early 'trial' of the treatment but vets are hopeful it will make her joint fuse asap
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The operations do not always work and vets are cautious but the success rate has got better and better. The aftercare is really important and sticking to the regime the vet sets is really important albeit its pretty boring. My mum's horse is now 19 and was diagnosed with a spavin when she was still quite young. She had the drilling operation as she was not suitable for the adequan treatment. After the operation we had to walk her in hand for weeks and weeks but it was worth it as she has been sound ever since. The op was done by Sue Dyson at the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket.
 
Cant get much better than Sue Dyson, glad your mum's mare is sound.

Mayflower, this sounds like a very exciting development, would love to know how they do it.
 
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Cant get much better than Sue Dyson, glad your mum's mare is sound.

Mayflower, this sounds like a very exciting development, would love to know how they do it.

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It involves injecting ethyl alcohol directly into the joint which encourages fast fusion. Is no more intrusive than the cortisone treatment, but there are only a handful of horses that have had it done so hard to say success rate atm. There is a horse 'ahead' of my girl in the treatment who has gone from 7/10 lame to 1/10 lame in about 2 months I think.

The only issue is that the vets HAVE to check that the upper hock is not connected with the lower hock as the alcohol will fuse both joints if this is the case (and a horse with fusion in the upper hock is a dead horse
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Will keep you posted!
 
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