The Spavin Operation - please advise

[Llwyncwn]

Two of my horses had their hocks medicated a few weeks ago and have had Adequan injections every 4 days for 7 jabs. Roxy, after 3 days box rest was turned out and jumped the bonnet of my car (she couldnt be bothered to go around it to the field) so we thought she was sorted. Fred, much better but still not right on 20m circle.

Vets are now saying that we should go for surgery which is pretty invasive - drilling a hole/holes into the hock joint, then six weeks later doing the same to the other hock. Roxy only has changes in her cartilage and Fred has very minor changes in his bone.

My questions are ;

How much pain will they go through?
Will pain relief cover the pain?
How much box rest?
When to turn out?
When can they be ridden?
What percentage come right/dont ?

Both are 11 years old. Roxy is 17.2hh and Fred is 16.1hh, both low mileage.

Any help would be much appreciated.

Hx

 

[cellie]

Hi my horse had surgery in Jan
he had 1 month box rest
one month restricted turnout
one month walking then trot and supposedly moving on to canter but he had splint then a field kick so everything is on hold at the moment.
The scar is not visible and is really small you keep bandages on for a week then they come off .
The pain relief covered the pain he was on 2 danilon morning and night and didnt show any signs of discomfort but he had major lameness before surgery.
A friend of mine had both hocks done for her horse and had them done together is this a option with your horse.My lad still hops a bit on the lunge but once he gets moving and engaging the hock he looks good unfortunately we cant really do anything at the moment because of the splints/fractures.Hes stopped alot of the bucking in the field so I assume that was how he showed the discomfort.
I cant help you with percentages .My friend has had to write her horse off but they discovered he had sacriliac (sorry about spelling)joint damage which was missed prior to the op.He was also a major liability with other issues.
I feel that I have given my boy the best chance of recovery if nothing else he will be able to lead a pain free life even if he cant fulfill his potential.There are others who are now back in competition but you are talking about a year on depending on the horse.I would say at this stage the operation was a success I cant tell you if he will be able to jump or do dressage later but time will tell .My horse is a 7 year old tb who raced.I have contacted the trainers and they said that he was always lame I hope it was the spavin and that we have cured the problem.If you need anymoreinfo you can pm me .Good luck

 

[K27]

I'm not a vet!! and this is probably irrelevant but I too have a horse with very slight changes in his Hocks, and he too has had one medicated with Steroids and to be honest you wouldn't even know that there was anything wrong with him TBH!- if it were my horse I'd think very carefully before going ahead with the operation, if the horse was only injected a few weeks ago and most steroid injections last 3-6 months would it not be better to see how he fares after a few months, if it that slight. If he is worse then you could consider the surgery?. I guess the upside is that if they can get it to fuse then the horse should come sound, I guess it's just a case of weighing up the pro's and con's and I'm sure your vet knows what will suit your horse's condition best though.
(I couldn't work out from what you had written as to whether your horse has had it medicated with Steroids/or just the Adequan?) if it is just the Adequan this lasts for about 6 months (one of my horses has had this)- if the Adequan hasn't worked you could then maybe ask the vet to try a Cortisone injection?

I've read posts on here though and there have been some quite promising results though with the surgery option.

Good luck with whatever you decide on!

 

[aran]

my horse (7yr, TBx gelding) had surgical arthrodesis. He had the joints medicated but the effects wore off within a month (sometimes it works sometimes it doesnt - depends on the horse).
Surgery was his only option to get fusion. It is 70% totally sucessful. The pain is very controllable with meds. Aran was on box rest for 1 month and then paddock rested. In all I gave him a year off as that was what was best for him and me. He is now back in full work.

It was expensive so I was glad that i had it done within the insurance year so everything was fully covered.

Good luck with it all.