The vibes didn't work. Devastated.

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So so sorry
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H xxx
 
So sorry to hear this.

Just two things to say, firstly a lot can happen in six weeks and they've not written him off yet. Secondly, second opinion - you never know.

Really hoping for a good outcome.
 
What awful news. please still try and think positivley! Ive got all my fingers and toes crossed for you. I've never seen pictures of Gorgeous Sidney, will you post some please?
 
My current horse who is 11, seriously fractured his coffin joint and pedal bone as a 3 yo and was on box rest for almost a year. Several vets told me that he'd never be sound, may have to be euthanased, he would get DJD etc! Well I decided to go the opposite way and researched options which at the time was the hylauronate joint injections. When I started rehab with him i.e. leading him out 5 mins a day he was quite lame but he slowly improved.

My vet agreed to give him 3 joint injections at his clinic. This was the turning point for him and he remained 95% sound beyond the 6 weeks. I'm not saying it won't or will not work but I agree with the others to try and see what happens after 6 weeks. In addition to the joint injections I had my horse on comfrey and he'd received pulse magnetic therapy. I continued to rehab him by leading him and long reining him in walk for several months. He came 100% sound and has remained so since. I compete him in dressage and showing, never jump him, on soft surfaces with frequent hacking in walk and never ride him on rutty ground. To date he's still sound.

I feel for you because I've been in the same situation. It may help if you research options and try with your vet but vets do give guarded prognosis as its the nature of their job. Don't give up just yet. PM me if you want a private chat.
 
I dont want to rock the boat...but a same thing was diagnosed with a friends pony. After the 6 weeks she was about 2% better. She was turned away for a year. Vets now say she is 70%-90%. She will never compete top flight again but owner doesnt care-she is just happy to have pony back.
Please dont give up just yet!!!
Big Hugs.
 
So sorry to hear about Sid, it is so difficult with the big heavy ones isn't it? I hope he comes sound, having lost our big girl at Easter age 11 we know how you feel
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(We used magnet boots for pain relief with a TBxWelsh that was lame and they did seem to work for her)
 
Oh God - thats so awful. I feel so desparately sorry for you. As much as we love our animals they can cause us such heartache.

Thinking of you
 
I don't know if this will help or not but it gave me such huge comfort, though I can never actually TELL the story to anyone as I start sobbing half way through. I bought my wonderful Highland x Sullivan as a 16yr old from a trekking centre where he was the star horse for years. He used to round up the cattle on the working farm with American tourists on his back and they went home thinking they had been real cowboys. He used to take people on beach rides and into the sea in absolute safety. Sullivan kept everyone safe and obviously worked very hard for his living. He also kept me safe for 4 fabulous years but then he was diagnosed with DJD and navicular very badly in both front feet and some degree in his back feet too. Long story but in the end he had to be pts and I struggled and struggled to understand why such a wonderful horse who had never done anything except give hundreds of people wonderful rides, should be rewarded with such a terrible thing happening so young. But my very thoughtful pal said to me one particularly bad day, no Barb, his reward was that he found you when he needed someone to see him through his final years. This helps me even now. So, if your ned recovers, or even if the worse happens - your horse's reward is he is with you and you will love him and do right by him to the end, whatever and whenever that is. That's why the one horse they see a year is yours: because he needed YOU. Stay strong H&S Mum. Thinking of you xxx
 
Thank you everyone for your kind words, i'm sat just bawling my eyes out.
The very harsh reality is that the vets opinion is even if we can get him sound he'll never do more than light work again. We saw the xrays and his foot is just disintegrating.
Sidney is a difficult horse who's very much all or nothing. If he's in work he's fine, out of work he's fine but he's never going to be the kind of horse who could be just worked once a week or something. He's much too stroppy and strong for that.
If we had our own land then we'd keep him and let him see out his days munching grass with the other one and get another horse for hubby to ride. But we don't. We haven't got the money to keep him on livery unless hubby never gets another horse and we pay for one that'll never be ridden. I've been up since 4am (couldn't sleep) looking for retirement homes for him but they all want more per week than we pay on livery.
Box of frogs - its funny I said that to hubby last night. Pretty much those same words. Hubby is devestated. He loves that animal more than most humans, the bond they have is phenomonal. I had to sit and watch my 6ft tough as old boots husband sit and sob his heart out last night and there's nothing i can do or say to make it right.
They give you their love so freely and trust us so much to make the right decision for them. I'm just not sure what the right thing is for him.
 
Oh god I'm so sorry to hear this, I understand how devastated you must be.

It sounds similar (but not so bad in terms of pain) to my old horse's experience, also disintegration of the pedal bone but to the extent there was virtually nothing to show for it but fragments - she was in a massive amount of pain and it was a welfare issue, so she very sadly was PTS. I know what it's like to have something the vets never see (my vets surgery had never come across my horse's problem and had never heard of it happening anywhere else).

We only hear the worst when the vets speak, maybe there is an option that wasn't immediately viable. Horses can be amazingly resilient, and in the next 6 weeks he may get better.

I hope for your and his sake that there is something that can be done. I'm sure there is. Big hug for you. xx
 
See how he is in six weeks & also see how you & hubby feel then. If Sydney seems to have settled into a routine of no work quite happily it may be that hubby will be happier giving him the summer to see if things settle a bit - I know it sounds dreadfully cliched but sometimes it isn't the riding that's the most important thing in a relationship. Also he won't go on for ever if he's that bad so where's the harm in hubby dropping the riding for a while to just have some time with Sydney while he can? If you're on a livery yard he may be able to pick up some riding anyway, certainly on my yard there are quite a few horses whose owners would love to have them exercised for free.

Whatever you decide I'd just like to send loads of (((hugs))) to you & hubby. Thinking of you x.
 
Sad though it is for you, having had severe arthritis in my hip/thigh, to the extent that the top of the femur crumbled, I can tell you it is extremely painful. Would retirement really be an option, if he was in pain and unable to play and enjoy himself? Pain can only be managed up to a point, and he would have no way of telling you it was getting worse.

My heart absolutely bleeds for you; yes, it is bloody unfair that this has happened. But...how lucky Sidney is to have such a caring and loving owner, who will no doubt do the right thing by him. Luckily horses live in the moment; he won't be aware that his life has been cut short. Sadly, you are the one who will bear that burden. So sorry you have had such devastating news.
 
Sending the biggest hugs possible.
Farriers can be life savers, so maybe with the right farrier your luck might change. It's amazing what the right shoes can do.
Regardless I'm sure you'll make the right decision by your boy.
A final point, and don't want to make your decision any more difficult but is the vet 100% sure of diagnosis. I'm always a little wary as that area of the foot is notoriously difficult to diagnose. My eventer was diagnosed first with navicular and then eventually a collapsed coffin joint, which it turned out had been caused by a ruptured ligament (Was at boarding school so wasn't my usual vets who first misdiagnosed). Had he been properly diagnosed we might have been able to save him. Just thought it was worth noting.
 
I really hope he gets better and becomes sound. HAve to say, and I am not saying this to be harsh, it may not be a "welfare case" as the vets delightfully put it, but horses dont limp for no reason, there will be discomfort there to cause the lameness. Hope in some strange way that will be a small comfort if the worst does come to it. Really really hope it doesnt.
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Sorry to read this, but agree with others, give him a bit of a chance if he isn't a "welfare case" as the vets so pointedly put it!

A friend's horse has significant arthritic bony changes on his coffin joint and pedal bone on both front feet. He was significantly bilaterally lame and vets and top remedial farriers were pretty negative about his future. After expensive injections (3x) and mega expensive remedial shoeing, he was still uncomfortable, so my friend decided to give him a year out with the view to retiring him or worse.

In that time, things happened that meant he ended up with his shoes being taken off and switched to a newer, very good farrier who did an excellent trim on him. No one thought that he would cope without shoes except in pasture, no one thought it would really make much difference to him long term - it was literally a "well these expensive remedial shoes are not making him any more comfortable, so....."

That was about two years ago now, he is currently ridden 5/6 days a week in the school and field (even harder ground) and is working well on no pain relief at all. He isn't currently hacked out much (mainly because my friend can't quite believe he is OK!), although I personally think he would cope with it well. He will never go back to jumping/heavy work, but he is leading a very happy, useful life and my friend is currently thinking about taking him back out to dressage, which he was quite successful at pre-diagnosis.

Not saying that barefoot is the way for every horse, but none of us who know this horse, would EVER have believed it could make so much difference to the condition that he has - vets included.
 
I've just read this thread and now sat here crying my eyes out, Box of Frogs you put that so well...and started me off crying
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I've got absolutley everything crossed that they can do something for him, good luck and (((((hugs))))) for you and your poor hubby xxxx
 
At the age of 6, the vet at a nearby specialist hospital told me (after bone scans, x-rays etc) that my horse would never be anything more than a hack - due to DJD in his hock and associated sacroilliac strain. He is now totally sound, competing in dressage and showing and I don't believe you would know he had ever had these problems.
Vets have to give the worst case scenario. I'd say it's early days here, don't give up yet. There are things you can try (like the shoes etc) that may well help.
I know it's easy for me to say, I am sure your mind is on the worst result, I am quite sure mine would be.
I hope so much for you that things turn out well over the next weeks/months.
If not, there may be options in terms of re-homing?
Take carex
 
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