What to do about Bone Spavin.

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PaigeAnastacia

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I currently have a 11 year old TB mare who in April has been diagnosed with Bone Spavin in one of her hocks. Before this she spent 6-8 weeks in with an abscess the foot of the spavin leg and before that was out of work/in very light work (not ridden, all in hand) from December as we were working on re-building a lot of lost muscle and back issues.

Having being diagnosed with the spavin, she has been on danilon which I have got down to about a quarter of a sachet and working on long reining on the roads. However, before I even get back on her back, I really need to get her fitness up and more muscles worked and strengthened, so I am lunging a couple of days a week in walk trot and canter for 5 mins each rein. When lunging though I don't stand in the middle, I walk round to open up a bigger circle for her. She has 0 fitness due to 6 months off so only wanting to build it slowly before I get back on.

I have had back shoes put on with rolled toes to try and make her more comfortable, but wanting to take her off the danilon, can anyone suggest anything that may help? MSM has been mentioned to me, but also didn't know if anyone had tried turmeric with this type of thing?

Also, she lives out, so because I can't get enough work into her for the amount she is eating (she only gets a handful of hard feed balancer) she is a little fat, but she in now in her own strip.

Any help would be appreciated, she loves her work, so anything to make her comfortable in as much work as possible would be great!

Thanks
 
If she's done nothing for 6 months, even on a big circle, I wouldn't be lunging her just yet. I would actually just get on and do roadwork with her, just treating her like any horse coming back into work...slow and steady, starting with walk work, then small bursts of controlled trot in week 3, then longer bursts in week 4 and 5 and I wouldn't start lunging until week 6. The roadwork will do wonders for her legs in terms of supporting her as she works through the spavin. My friend had to ride/work her gelding every day without fail for 12 months and after that, having spavins in both hocks, he was absolutely fine and has been since.

That's just me though :)
 
I was told in December to do in hand work to strengthen her back as she was probably struggling to hold herself never mind a rider, but with the abscess, all that work was put on hold, then I put off working her once diagnosed to wait till the danilon was in her system and she was comfortable. Kinda feel like I am stuck between a rock and a hard place.
 
_GG_ said:
If she's done nothing for 6 months, even on a big circle, I wouldn't be lunging her just yet. I would actually just get on and do roadwork with her, just treating her like any horse coming back into work...slow and steady, starting with walk work, then small bursts of controlled trot in week 3, then longer bursts in week 4 and 5 and I wouldn't start lunging until week 6. The roadwork will do wonders for her legs in terms of supporting her as she works through the spavin. My friend had to ride/work her gelding every day without fail for 12 months and after that, having spavins in both hocks, he was absolutely fine and has been since.

That's just me though :)
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That's me also, I certainly would not be cantering at this stage.

The issues with her back, lack of muscle is most likely to have stemmed from her, at the time, undiagnosed spavin now it is being treated should make getting her muscled up much easier, regular physio checks will help keep everything on track, as will exercises on the ground to get her supple and using herself correctly.
 
PaigeAnastacia said:
I was told in December to do in hand work to strengthen her back as she was probably struggling to hold herself never mind a rider, but with the abscess, all that work was put on hold, then I put off working her once diagnosed to wait till the danilon was in her system and she was comfortable. Kinda feel like I am stuck between a rock and a hard place.
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be positive said:
That's me also, I certainly would not be cantering at this stage.

The issues with her back, lack of muscle is most likely to have stemmed from her, at the time, undiagnosed spavin now it is being treated should make getting her muscled up much easier, regular physio checks will help keep everything on track, as will exercises on the ground to get her supple and using herself correctly.
Click to expand...

I understand the difficulty but with spavins, the work actually helps them and the danilon helps them cope with doing it. I would just be concerned about lunging on an already compromised joint, whereas the gentle road work will not do her back any harm at all...in fact if you have even slight hills, it will do her back more good than almost any amount of lunging...but without too much strain on the legs.

Hope that makes some sort of sense :)
 
Totally agree with GG. Mine was diagnosed with spavin and hind limb PSLD and arthirits of the fetlock all at the same time. She had to have time off for the PSLD but when I brought her back into work, I started off with walk work on the roads on the long-reins building up from 10 minutes to an hour over the six weeks. I didn't do any trot until after the six weeks. We're lucky in that we have plenty of hills which helped. Lunging was for me, most definitely a no-no.
 
I'd certainly only be working her on straight lines, no lunging at all. Lots of steady hacking.
 
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