Update on Merlins Arthritis .... Not always a death sentence

[merlinsquest]

Well, its been 2 years since I was told he had had his day due to a badly arthritic fetlock... aged 8....

and that he would only be able to hack for short periods of time and in straight lines!!!

The vet has seen him lots of times over the last two years and he has had Irap therapy... Tildren twice and his hocks injected as he has a couple of little bone spurs.

Now he has been as sound as expected for these two years, and the only unlevelness in his gait is due to mechanical and not pain related issues... ie the fetlock isnt as flexible as it could be, but nearly the same as the unaffected one.

Today, following a holiday with Ravenwood, I got him checked out. Now bearing in mind that he was travelled for nearly six hours each way..... ridden for six days on the trot, hard and fast, over many different terrains (most of them banned initially by the vet.... no hard or boggy ground for him) and covered at a guess about 100 miles in that 6 days.....


He is fine..... he said he has stood up to all I have thrown at him, and has good ground clearance (he used to drag his toes a bit and not lift his legs higher than nec)..... he has no lameness, no hip hike that he used to have, no heat or swelling other than the hard arthritic changes that he will always have..... nothing......


I am so pleased I could burst....... I fully expected him to say... 'Oh dear, you should not have gone' But no..... he is 100%

Sorry for the ramble..... I am just so relieved that for now at least he is good.... the arthritis seems to have done its damage and now is dormant..... long may it last!!!

 

[scotsmare]

Great news - you can look forward to lots more holidays with him then

 

[Chumsmum]

That is fantastic news - you must be grinning from ear to ear!

My boy has just been diagnosed with hock arthritis - he has had an injection/suppliments/remedial shoes and I have just started gently working him again. Vet is due back in a couple of weeks which I'm sort of dreading/sort of can't wait - scared of what he will say

I hope and pray that he will come through this and be well enough to go on holidays like you have just been on.

Your post has given me hope thank you

 

[Coffee_Bean]

Fab

 

[merlinsquest]

Good luck with your boy Chumsmum...... I hope you have the same luck as I have had

I have a fantastic vet and a brilliant (in every way) farrier.

I hear such horror stories about both of the above and feel very lucky indeed that Merlin has the attention he does

 

[Keltic]

Thats brilliant news!!
Dont they always suprise us with there ability to come good when we fear all is lost

 

[Laafet]

Good news, well done you have cheered me up no end. My old (13) boy has been given his last rites by the vets when he fractured his hock in March and was found to have almost total fusion of his hocks when they x rayed him (he was completely sound up until the one day he went bang). Since we have found that the fracture was caused by his collateral liagment being torn tearing off a bone chip too and after an injection of some human drug that the vets were trialling and which they expected him to have a 1% chance of being paddock sound, he is now riding sound. I have decided to leave him for the winter and not ride him until next year, by which time he will have had a year off and so I hope be fully healed. The vets are now saying, as with your boy, straight lines, short slow hacks but I hope he is like your boy. Mine seems to be a figher and its nice to hear positive stories from other people.

 

[merlinsquest]

I hoped it would be a nice story to anyone in my situation. Its so common to hear that horses dont come back from a diagnosis like this, but in my case we were very lucky

The vet thinks that Merlin had a terrible infection in the fetlock joint when he was very young, and that this left the joint riddled with arthritis...... but now it has run its course and hopefully... apart from the mechanical difference (which has never been pointed out at shows or when we were treated to lessons with Mark Phillips and Pippa Funnell) he is sound and pain free

 

[_OC_]

So pleased for you.

 

[merlinsquest]

Thanks _OC_ ..... I know you have lived some of this with me.... I am just so pleased I didnt break him on holiday

 

[YorksG]

I have a form of serum negative rheumatoid arthritis and have occaisional 'flares' between times I am fine, I assume that the same can be the case for horses. So glad that your lad has survived your adventures and is fighting fit

They are wonderful aren't they?

 

[Ravenwood]

Phew - you must be relieved

Although I rather fear that Merlin was putting on a great show of athleticism for the benefit of Trixie and that maybe he feels he should carry this out to persuade you to bring him back next year to stay with her again

 

[piebaldsparkle]

Whaaaaaaahhhhhhooooooooooooooooooooooooo..................... does this mean you are up for a holiday next year then??

 

[lozxox]

YAY!

that gives you no reason not to come now

and jump!!!!!

 

[Ahrena]

Fantastic

I so know what you're saying, this time about 3 years ago my mare went down right vicious due to arthritus in her hocks. She was given steroids, all was okay until it stopped working. So they tried to fuse the joint it was in together, (unused joint in the hock apparantly), only it went wrong and left my poor horse crippled. They'd only seen it happen to 2 other horses (well what happeend after the operation was instead of just that tiny joint collapsing, I think a rather important one collapsed too, her leg was mush at 1 point, they drilled a hole to see if there was infection but it was just soft.), and both had been pts.

2 years after the operation, she's unlevel, but can do anything. So I know what a fantastic relief it is...and what a nightmare arthritus is! Congratulations

 

[dixie]

That's great news

. I've had a similar situation in that my boy also was diagnosed with arthritis in the fetlock at 7 yrs last april and has been very lame ever since. I am now however riding him as normal, trotting on the roads, cantering on the moors and starting dressage. You would never know there was anything wrong with him. I am taking it day by day at the moment but its lovely to get back on him again.

 

[The Original Kao]

that's really wonderful news. i'm so pleased for you both.
he is 1 of my fave HHO horses

 

[merlinsquest]

Oh wow..... Kao, you have made my day..... In all the fave HHO posts he has never had a mention......

He is always going to be my fave though!!!

 

[lozxox]

... Hmm HE'S MY FAV!

 

[merlinsquest]

And mine actually