Synequin and medicated joints... thoughts please!

[Quickstarr]

my pony has been lame for about 15 weeks now, but not on a straight line or on a surface, but only slightly lame on a 10m circle left on concrete... Our vet thinks that the problem is to do with the ligaments around the coffin joint. He suggested medicating the joint and putting him on synequin.
Has anyone had any results with these two methods?
He is a superstar pony and doesnt realise that he is even the slightest bit sore! bless...
any info would be great
Ta!

 

[_daisy_]

My mare was on Synequin. It did help but once id finished all that the insurance company had paid for I couldnt afford it (£135 per tub which lasted me 5weeks) so I got back in touch with my vet and asked for something that worked as well but was cheaper. He put her on Mobifor and shes still doing as well on that.

 

[Llwyncwn]

A lady on the yard has had 2 tubs. The first from the vets at £200, the second from the internet at £130. He was diagnosed with spavin and low ringbone. No change has really been noted.

 

[Jemayni]

I cant recommend medicating the joint enough!!!!!!!!!!!

My horse was lame in both his front legs for 9 months - I tried various methods to get him sound (box rest, bute etc) and slowly he came sound on his off fore, and less lame on his near fore; nevertheless, he was still 4/10 lame on the near fore. I changed vet at this stage as I was seriously frustrated - I was just going around in endless circles.

The new vet diagnosed cartilage damage in his coffin joint & subsequently medicated the joint - my horse was sound 3 days later.

He had two injections which kept him sound for 6-8 months. He went lame again about 2 weeks ago so I took him back to the vets. Who remedicated the joint, and sure enough he was sound as a pound only 4 days later!!!!!!!!

Ive never used synequin; Ive recently changed my horse onto Cortaflex HA, & it has made a fantastic difference. Id be interested to hear why your vet recommends synequin (Im a bit new to this keeping a horse sound lark!)

 

[Quickstarr]

well thats good to know! i dont know why he recommended it, having never had a long term lameness before... the problem i s is that im about 5 foot 8 and my ponys only 14h, so ideally he needs to be sold. We did sell him to some lovely people and had a farewell show on him, where we won the pony club open sj comp. two days later he was lame on a circle... Hes so sweet and he loves his work and jumping and he hates doing flatwork all the time.
my previous vet put him on navilox to increase the blood flow to his foot, although that had no effect what so ever...

 

[Jemayni]

Tell me about it! Im going to uni in September & need to sell my horse. Unfortunately he has boxy feet, which means this injury is going to reoccur again & again. Really it means I cant honestly sell him.... so 15hh conne for loan?

Fortunately Im happy and Chance is happy to stick with dressage & when we jump we only do so on a surface. So at least my horse can still do his job (even if it is an adapted version.)

I tried navilox too, that did the square root of bugger all! Its so frustrating when they cant give you a decent diagnosis, I often wish I could just have it like most people, a black and white answer & a black & white prognosis. It is so much more heart-breaking when there is nothing obviously wrong & whenever you feel you’re getting somewhere, you’re back to square one.

Best of luck with your pony & keep me updated with how he's going. I find it interesting to talk to people in a similar situation. Or if you ever feel like a PM chat Im usually around

 

[jojoebony]

I had Shadow on Synequin (navicular and spavin).
I saw a dramatic difference on the loading dose but as the dose was dropped to the maintenance dose he became lame again, my vet said it wouldn't be safe to keep him on the loading dose for any longer than recommended. I was paying £120 per tub which once you put them on the maintenance dose doesn't work out that expensive (compared to other high quality joint supplements).
Jo

 

[nelliefinellie]

If it's a soft tissue injury (eg ligament) then medicating the joint and feeding synequin won't make any difference at all, these are only helpful if there are arthritic changes in the joint. Unfortunately this can only be conclusively diagnosed by MRI. If youre not insured, then you could try medicating the joint to see if an improvement - if there is it would suggest arthritis in which case glucosamine based supplements might help long term, but if the joint medication doesnt help then the synequin prob wont either.

I went through all this with my horse who had exactly the same lameness as yours: 1st referral faffed about with coffin joint injections and newmarket supplement which made no difference. They also put eggbar shoes on which made him worse. Grrr. Finally diagnosed by MRI as damaged collateral ligament in foot. Was told (by Sue Dyson) that medication / supplement were complete waste of money, the horse needed box rest and controlled excercise just as for any other ligament injury.

Ligament injuries need completely different management to arthritis so I would try and get a definitive diagnosis if I could. Sounds like your vet is just guessing!

 

[Jemayni]

[ QUOTE ]
If it's a soft tissue injury (eg ligament) then medicating the joint and feeding synequin won't make any difference at all, these are only helpful if there are arthritic changes in the joint.

[/ QUOTE ]

I dont understand. My horses plates are perfectly clear of arthritus & joint medication worked wonders on him!

 

[vicijp]

QR.
I think you need to ask your vet for a definate diagnosis. Has the horse been nerve blocked/x rayed/scanned or is he purely guessing? TBH, I could have guessed at his prognosis from what you have said - without even seeing the horse.
The best thing you can do for ligament/joint damage is give it time. If you inject it, every time the medication wears off the injury will be worse. Of all the patch up jobs, I classify this as the worst - you would be slowly working your horse into the ground without knowing it.
If the time didnt work, then retirement needs to be considered. Working a horse with medicated joints is worse than working it on bute.
I absolutely detest jab happy vets.

 

[Quickstarr]

well hes been xrayed and the joints are perfectly uniform. they nerve blocked the back of his foot and i cant remember if that worked or not but if it included the coffin joint then it did. Our vet spent several hours with him lunging and testing and xraying.
Yes, we are insured and our vet has suggested that if the lameness gets any worse that we should take him down to maidenhead to get an MRI, but we cannot wait until the insurance is renewed otherwise we would have to pay full whack rather than just half the cost.
When he was on a 12 week course of navilox, there was a slight imrovement, but i feel that time was the healer rather than the medication.
Many people i have spoken to relly rate joint medication, but their issues may have been different to ours.
nelliefinellie, where did you go for your MRI?
He had eggbars put on, by diagnosis of our previous vet, but we have been instructed to take them off as they wont be doing anything helpfull.
Thanks for all your comments!

 

[loopylucifer]

medicating joint can work if no changes as it can have a coushing effect when done with hyonate and can have some anti inflamatory effect. however my mare had injections into hock made only small differance initally. she is also on senquine this seems much better for her. yes its expensive (£130 from vets) but once on manitenace last ages for me just under three months would be even longer for a small pony go with wot the vet thinks

 

[Quickstarr]

thanks LL, all comments much appreciated!

 

[nelliefinellie]

He had MRI at the Animal Health Trust under GA. Some places do standing MRI's now but I dont think the resolution is as good. Eggbars are contra indicated for this kind of injury, my horse was shod with wide webbed shoes fitted long at the heels and slightly curved inwards, now in fairly normal fullered shoes, still long heels. The problem with nerve blocks is that some of the anaesthetic will diffuse into adjoining areas - my horse was 75% improved with coffin joint block, 100% sound on full foot block. Navicular bursa blocks made no improvement so no idea why they put the eggbars on (this wasnt the AHT but the initial referral centre, also in Newmarket, say no more). Getting the foot balance / shoeing is critical for this type of injury. I would def go for the MRI / scintigraphy if possible, no other way of knowing whats going in if blocks / x-rays inconclusive.

 

[monstermunch]

Synequin is only expensive because it is sold by vets reccomendation which means that they know most people will get it via the insurance company. It is good stuff but there are several vets also reccomending Riaflex for those people who are uninsured as it administers therapy grade dosing levels. It actually has an even higher spec than Synequin but costs a fraction of the price so well worth looking into.
www.riaflex-equine.co.uk.

As for medicating joints I have to say that personally I am also not that happy with jab happy vets. you have to remember that it is a drug and a flippin strong one at that, that may hide the symptoms of the problem but not address the issue. It can and often does do more harm than good as a horse will be exercising on a a damaged or active injury. It is by no means a cure and you will only end up with a horse in an even worse condition by the end of it.

If it is a joint issue then I know many horses that have come sound on highly dosed joint supplements but it is vital that the dose is of the correct rate and very high or it will be ineffective. However if it is a soft tissue problem then a joint supplement is unlikely to help.

The best thing to do is know exactly what you are dealing with before even considering drugs of any kind. You should look into x rays and MRI scans if it is an ongoing problem.

Good luck!