Symptoms hock arthritis and treatment

[Lizzynelson]

Hey for those of you that have a horse with hock arthritis what symptoms did your hrses display?y boy diagnosed with arthritis in left hock via xray. He has been exhibiting a reluctance to go forward and also with canter transitions. He is getting the injections in a week 🤞. Also have people had success with steroid injections? Thanks 😊

 

[Goldenstar]

You get many different presentations .
Often it’s a flat tyre feeling some horse start misstepping behind or dip their backs on mounting it presents in a huge number of ways .
I have good experiences of managing spavin with steroid but you need to know that you need to keep the horse slim and worked within its comfort levels .
May also need to give the horse anti inflammatory drugs during flare ups .
It’s likely you will need to repeat the steroids jabs.
Over the years I have tried all sorts from supplements to drugs like Tildren .
I think what works best is physio, steroid jabs , exercise and drugs when needed .
I would not waste money on supplements save every penny for the jabs .
Physio keeps on top of the compensating muscle pain they get it can also tell you when you need more jabs .

 

[hopscotch bandit]

Mine was swapping hind legs in canter especially on the short side of the school on a circle.
Resenting outside long rein over hind quarters when lunging in an effort to encourage the horse to use hind legs more.
Large hop on corners of short side to swap leg which would mean the horses leg would shoot upwards and the motion would reverberate down my spine and really hurt my slipped disc!
Horse found it easy to do extension but not collection.
Resented work on right circle. This was because on x-ray the right hock was worse.

I sought help from my physio when I suspected there was a problem and the horses hocks were medicated by the vet not long after.

OP the horse might need remedial shoeing so bear this in mind. This can be to prevent the horse moving in a particular way as it may have adopted a different way of placing its feet to alleviate the pain from the hock but this will cause overcompensation in other areas. Your vet will advise if this is necessary. Also the duration of shoeing might be shorter now to assist the horse and try to keep a better balanced foot.

You should also turn out as much as you can and keep the horses weight down. Its also better to ride five times a week with a shorter duration than one long session once a week if you can. Your vet might suggest bute or danillon to keep the inflammation down and give pain relief. These things will all assist in assisting the horse.

There is no reason why the horse can't resume competition if treatment is successful including jumping so long as you are selective about what surfaces you ride on. As Goldenstar says there are all sorts of treatment available these days if steroid injections are no longer effective.

 

[eggs]

My horse (working advanced medium dressage) started to feel like a bicycle with a flat tyre on corners although he looked sound. X-rays showed some very slight arthritic changes in his hocks. I got a lot of weight off him and had his hocks injected about 6 months later. This was about 18 months ago and they haven't needed doing again yet although I am aware that they are very likely to need doing again at some point. He is kept in regular work, his weight is kept down, he has plenty of turnout and I also give him Boswellia.

 

[Pinkvboots]

Mine has very mild arthritis which was found when he did his suspensory on his left hind as they xrayed the hocks at the same time, he didn't really have symptoms but they were injected 8 weeks ago when he had treatment for the suspensory, his looking good and has been back into work for 7 weeks, I don't school as much and try not to lunge, his fed msm and boswelia and is turned out most of the time only in in very wet icy weather.

I also use a sports massage therapist for my horses quite regularly I think it really helps with keeping them comfortable I really notice the difference afterwards.

 

[chaps89]

Apologies for thread jacking OP, but those who have had horses hocks medicated, how quickly did you see a difference (or equally after how long with no improvement would you say they hadn't worked)?

 

[Pinkvboots]

Apologies for thread jacking OP, but those who have had horses hocks medicated, how quickly did you see a difference (or equally after how long with no improvement would you say they hadn't worked)?

I think you should see improvement within 3 weeks.

 

[Lizzynelson]

You get many different presentations .
Often it’s a flat tyre feeling some horse start misstepping behind or dip their backs on mounting it presents in a huge number of ways .
I have good experiences of managing spavin with steroid but you need to know that you need to keep the horse slim and worked within its comfort levels .
May also need to give the horse anti inflammatory drugs during flare ups .
It’s likely you will need to repeat the steroids jabs.
Over the years I have tried all sorts from supplements to drugs like Tildren .
I think what works best is physio, steroid jabs , exercise and drugs when needed .
I would not waste money on supplements save every penny for the jabs .
Physio keeps on top of the compensating muscle pain they get it can also tell you when you need more jabs .

Thank you that's so helpful. I have definitely experienced that flat tyre feeling and hoping the steroids injections will improve this. Did you still manage to do every thing you did prior to diagnosis? Also with the anti inflammatory was that bite you gave for flare ups? Thanks 😊

 

[Lizzynelson]

Mine was swapping hind legs in canter especially on the short side of the school on a circle.
Resenting outside long rein over hind quarters when lunging in an effort to encourage the horse to use hind legs more.
Large hop on corners of short side to swap leg which would mean the horses leg would shoot upwards and the motion would reverberate down my spine and really hurt my slipped disc!
Horse found it easy to do extension but not collection.
Resented work on right circle. This was because on x-ray the right hock was worse.

I sought help from my physio when I suspected there was a problem and the horses hocks were medicated by the vet not long after.

OP the horse might need remedial shoeing so bear this in mind. This can be to prevent the horse moving in a particular way as it may have adopted a different way of placing its feet to alleviate the pain from the hock but this will cause overcompensation in other areas. Your vet will advise if this is necessary. Also the duration of shoeing might be shorter now to assist the horse and try to keep a better balanced foot.

You should also turn out as much as you can and keep the horses weight down. Its also better to ride five times a week with a shorter duration than one long session once a week if you can. Your vet might suggest bute or danillon to keep the inflammation down and give pain relief. These things will all assist in assisting the horse.

There is no reason why the horse can't resume competition if treatment is successful including jumping so long as you are selective about what surfaces you ride on. As Goldenstar says there are all sorts of treatment available these days if steroid injections are no longer effective.

Thanks for the advice 😊. I am hoping the steroids injections make a difference and we can get back to doing what we were before. Tbh ours started like that and I ignored it and it got worse to the point he was reluctant to move forward 😭

 

[QueenT]

In addition to the other advice given here (steroids definitely makes a difference) it has also made a world of difference to my horse that she is shod with eggbars in the hind now, so get your farrier on board as well. Now vet suggests the assymmetrical JMD shoes to prolong her active use - super expensive, but cheaper than more vet bills!

 

[SEL]

In addition to the other advice given here (steroids definitely makes a difference) it has also made a world of difference to my horse that she is shod with eggbars in the hind now, so get your farrier on board as well. Now vet suggests the assymmetrical JMD shoes to prolong her active use - super expensive, but cheaper than more vet bills!

I've just googled those and now I'm really struggling to understand how they work!

 

[QueenT]

Well, not an expert, but it is supposed to be a little bit like when someone has flat feet. Their ancles fall inwards and make knees hurt too because of uneven strain to the joint. So you get insoles in your shoes to get a more straight vertical angle, and thereby relieving the strain.

 

[hopscotch bandit]

Well, not an expert, but it is supposed to be a little bit like when someone has flat feet. Their ancles fall inwards and make knees hurt too because of uneven strain to the joint. So you get insoles in your shoes to get a more straight vertical angle, and thereby relieving the strain.

Same as lateral extensions. The horse may favour putting its hind leg 'midline' that is under the belly when it walks in an effort to relieve pain. Even when out of pain the muscles and tendons are so used to this pattern of movement that the legs continued to be placed in this fashion. Lateral extensions prevent this so they horse can't physically move in this was anymore. They also (I believe) give support to the heel.