Sticky hock - advise please

[Leanne1980]

My horse has arthritis in his left hock. Two weeks ago he had tildren and I'm slowly bringing back to work, we are currently on 5 mins of trot every other day. He appears to track up near enough but every 4 / 5 stride his hock seems to catch, and he's also reluctant to fully extend hock. I have no idea if the tildren is having any effort or what it should take effort? Is there any thing I can do to help encourage him to bend his hock more? Is this catching motion likely to continue or over time will he work through it? Any advice? Thanks

 

[wyrdsister]

I haven't used tildren for my mare's arthritic hock, we did joint injections and a course of cartrophen so I'm not sure how much this will translate. However, the first week of treatment, she was brilliant, back to normal; the 2nd/3rd weeks, it was like we'd done nothing at all, she was sticky in her hock, stiff, generally uncomfortable; 4th and 5th weeks she improved steadily and she's been pretty much fine ever since. My vet said it was possible that the joint injections hadn't really had much effect (brief reprisal, then wore off ridiculously fast) and that the cartrophen worked for her but that it needed time to build up in the system. He also said to be aware that she will have 'off' days until the little bones causing the discomfort fuse and to expect her to be mostly fine with 'off' days for up to 18 months. On those 'off' days, she has bute. The bottom line is that arthritis is degenerative, but how fast it degenerates and whether it stabilises for any decent period of time depends on management strategies, medication (and, I suspect, pure flippin' luck!).

My advice would be to continue as you are but check in with your vet by phone/call-out if you're concerned and see what s/he says. I was really worried in weeks 2 and 3 but the vet was fairly relaxed about it and my girl's so much better now. It did take her a while to realise she could use the hock again too, rather than protecting it, and to rebuild the muscle that had crept away as the problem developed.

 

[Leanne1980]

Hi there, many thanks for the detailed response I have considered the fact that she may be still thinking the hock hurts, and that some additional treatment in the hock may help lubricate as well. I accept he's never gonna get better but want him as comfortable as possible. I don't think riding him hurts as he's bright and cheerful I think I'm more worried that he is. Coming back to trot after two months is bound to stiffen him up a little what does cartrophen do? Is it an injection? Thanks