wot my farrier said about hock arthritis

Achinghips

Achinghips

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"Those steroid injections - load o' rubbish -When I was a kid we'd hammer them up and down the roads to encourage the bones to fuse - it wasn't a problem"
"Wedged heels - load o' rubbish, causes strain elsewhere and more problems"

"There's nowt you can do about it - it's just time, that's all - vet is milking you for money"


:D:D:D:D
 
I will translate for you.

Achinghips said:
"Those steroid injections - load o' rubbish -When I was a kid we'd hammer them up and down the roads to encourage the bones to fuse - it wasn't a problem"
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When I was a child we repeatedly rode lame horses up and down roads in an attempt to worsen their arthritis. It may sound unethical but because it used to be done it must be right.

Achinghips said:
"Wedged heels - load o' rubbish, causes strain elsewhere and more problems"
Click to expand...

Despite spending my working life with horse's feet, I still don't understand the implications that a poorly balanced foot can have on the rest of the limb.

Achinghips said:
"There's nowt you can do about it - it's just time, that's all - vet is milking you for money"
Click to expand...

I don't understand the new treatments vets recommend, so I will just slag them off as money grabbers.

I agree that not all treatments are appropriate for all horses, but it is this sort of closedmindedness that gets on my nerves. He should realise that 90% of vets have no financial interest in the practice they work for, and even the 10% that do recommend treatments based only on their effectiveness and suitability for the patient, not based on making money.
It is this vet vs. farrier attitude that holds back progress, keeps lame horses lame, and creates bad relationships all round. Your vet and farrier should work together if you want the best outcome for your horse. If a farrier said this to me it would be the last time he touched my horse.
 
Achinghips said:
"Those steroid injections - load o' rubbish -When I was a kid we'd hammer them up and down the roads to encourage the bones to fuse - it wasn't a problem"
"Wedged heels - load o' rubbish, causes strain elsewhere and more problems"

"There's nowt you can do about it - it's just time, that's all - vet is milking you for money"


:D:D:D:D
Click to expand...

Having the bones fuse is not always the answer. It depends on how progressed the spavin is. Hammering them up and down the road isn't going to make the bones fuse any quicker or easier. Can't really say about wedge heels. Each horse is different and some horses are better with fused joints whereas some horses respond better to tildren which prevents fusion. It depends on the horse. I do agree that the vet will try to squeeze as much out of a claim as possible, but then so would most owners, me included. :eek:
 
i think hes a realistic farrier, rather than trying to get you to spend hundreds on remedial work!
 
I like most of what he says but he is not completely right about an inside wedge. A barefoot horse with spavins will build an inside wedge heel of its own. Mine did, and they came and went depending on how bad the hock was at the time. So a wedged shoe would also help some of the time, but create strain when it was not needed (during a prolonged warm and dry spell with my horse, for example)
 
Agree with most of what he said but the way he said it was coarse and crude. Some horses' bones do fuse without any veterinary attention, although you'd have to question the ethics of "hammering" a lame horse up and down tarmac. As alsiola says, he'd be the first to complain if someone started slagging off the benefits of his work.
 
it is true in some cases that bute and work will fuse the spavins far better than other treatments- but he would be a very special farrier if he could tell what sort of spavin it was without any disagnostic machinery :)
 
Having had my horses joints injected I would have to disagree - he's totally sound and fit now for what we want to do with him and has been for over 9 months now so I would tend to go from my own experience and say that in our case we did have success with joint injections which were very reasonably priced, although in reality i know that others don't.

Regards the hammering up and down the road, well we were given similar advice by a supposed 'back man'. His idea was to turn in tight circles with my older mare, round and round for 15 mins twice a day until the bones fused and to ride through the horses pain barrier (it concerns me that some people may take his advice). I mentioned this to my vet as I was very worried by this supposed advice and he was horrified because as already stated on other posts it is true that sometimes the joints just don't fuse and as he pointed out this supposed back man has not seen any xrays or scans so can't possibly diagnose let alone suggest treatment. So, anyone reading this post please beware. He may be a good farrier but should not be giving out advice like this as there is always someone somewhere that will try it and could cause more damage than good.:confused:
 
If mine came out with wisdom like that I think I may well be looking for a new farrier!!

Things have moved on slightly from 'The good old days' thank god!!
 
Hmm no to the hammering on roads as this is a no no in my books anyway as causes joint problems not cures them.

Yes vets can take advantage as can any professional in the horsecare business inlcuding farriers!

Wedge heels can work to balance foot and therefore take stress off limbs as said but if done incorrectly then there your problem lies.

I do agree there are other remedies for arthritis and not just bute!
 
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