Would bone spavin happens suddenly ?

[supersally]

Hi As the question asks can a horse go suddenly lame as a result of bone spavin. My mare (11 years old) has gone lame on her near hind a few days ago. There is no swelling or heat anywhere that we can find.(She has always had quite puffy hocks like bog spavin but passed a 5 stage vetting with flying colours when I bought her with the puffiness being the only comment by the grading vet who said that they were just like windgalls purely cosmetic) She has not had any previous symptoms infact only a few weeks ago she was pulling my arms out galloping on the beach. I have had both the farrier & the vet out today. my farrier was happy that she does not have an abcess and felt that she had most likely pulled a muscle somewhere above hock level. The vet that arrived was not the practices horse vet. He checked her hoof with the pincers with no result and spent a long time checking her hocks and tendons. He then performed a flexion test on both hocks and said that he felt that her lameness could be due to arthritic shanges as she trotted up lame after the flexion test on that leg. Bearing in mind that she was already trotting up lame I don't know how conclusive that was ! The lameness is not noticable in walk and she tracks up as normal. . He has promised to discuss the situation with the equine vet within the practice but any comments would be very welcome. Sorry its so long !!

Many thanks in advance for any advice/comments

 

[NadineCarcary]

Hi, my mare went lame on boxing day suddenly. I had jumped her the Sunday before and she felt amazing. Then a week later she just went hoping lame!! No swelling or heat anywhere. She had a new horse in the field next to her so wondered if she had just jarred something?! She was had been going very well up until her lameness. It was a mystery, but when I took her to the vet they did flexions etc...then we xrayed and found a bone spavin. I hope you get to the bottom of it. I would phone and chat to your norm vet and see what they say?!

 

[supersally]

Was your mare lame in walk? Mine looks sound in walk but is very definately lame in trot. Interesting to see that you said they performed a flexion test as this vet did but I wondered if it should have been done whilst she was already lame. How is she now and what treatment has she /is she having ?

 

[Llwyncwn]

Sorry to hear your mare is lame and the vet wasnt of much help. 95% of hind limb lameness is due to spavin and once the hock joints have fused there should be up to 85% mobility.

If you look back over the months, do you recall her labouring downhill on a hack or veering towards one direction, is it becoming more difficult to pick her back feet out, has her general mood changed? These are a few of the clues. My best advice is to take her to your nearest clinic where they will perform nerve blocks to locate the area affected and x-ray. Sometimes an x-ray will show no boney changes, however there may well be changes to the cartilage.

Unlike tendon/ligament damage, with spavin you are encouraged to exercise as this will help to speed up the process of fusion, but avoid school work/circles etc.

Once she is diagnosed the vet will give you options to consider. He may suggest 'medicating' the hocks with Adequan and low dose steroid injections which isnt always successful and may need the same proceedure in the future. Another option is to have the hock drilled under GA which is quite a simple proceedure and widely used at horsepitals which will encourage the hock to fuse more quickly. Other forum members may be able to advise with other treatments but I only have experience of the above.

I do hope you get to the bottom of this and the problem is something which can be quickly resolved. If you need any more info on the above then by always PM me. Do let us all know how you get on

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

I've just had this exact problem. My horse suddenly went "odd" after a day playing in the snow. He was dragging his off hind and felt very tight in his back. I totally focused on it being his back and had the physio out twice and it didn't get any better.

To cut a long story short, after a full lameness work up he's got spavin in his off hind. We are hoping the back soreness is due to compensating and will get better now he's had the hock medicated. I can ride again on Friday albeit very slowly! I asked the vet whether this could just happen - he was hunting 3 days a fortnight and going better than he's ever been before he suddenly broke. She said he was probably coping until he mucked around in the snow, perhaps pulled muscles in his back which meant he could no longer compensate for the spavin and everything began to unravel.

Hope you get it sorted. I am assured by the vets that it is easily rectifiable with a bit of time and money and horse should be back to brilliant before next season starts!

Good luck.

 

[supersally]

Thank you Guilford. Can you tell me was your horse sound in walk ?

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

He appeared fine walk and trot - you wouldn't know unless you were riding him. Was slightly lame after hock flexion and that's it. The only way you knew he wasn't picking up properly in trot was because he scuffed his toe slightly.

I am all for inventing a mechanical horse that looks just like a proper horse and does everything a proper horse does but never breaks and lasts for about 25 years!!

 

[supersally]

Well when you do please can I have one

 

[bailey14]

My experience of bone spavin was with my present 17hh WB gelding who is 12 and for a few months he very slightly dragged his o/s toe on tarmac in had or ridden. The chiro/phsio saw him and said not really anything to worry about, no lameness, no resentment being ridden, jumping, etc. Then one day following a pretty intensive dressage lesson he went lame on it and as I had always said I would if he ever went lame called the vet out immediately and by the end of the week following a trot workup at the hospital he was diagnosed with BS. He had tildren, hock injections, remedial shoeing, a good joint supplement and building up exercise and is strangely enough is in the vets hospital as we speak, recovering from his second Tildren IV this year. I had a report from the vet about 2 hours ago to say all had gone well and he is happily gazing out of the window in the hospital stable and munching his net. So in answer to your question, yes the lameness can come on suddenly but the symptoms in my horses case were there for some time, and if your lovely horse is diagnosed with BS please don't worry, my horse competes novice and elementary dressage, gallops and jumps on pleasure rides and does grid work and schooling at home with no lameness or discomfort. The vet said today on the phone that he is very impressed with his movement on the lunge given that his workload is so busy at the moment.

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

All I've been offered by vets is to have the joint medicated. What does Tildren do and is it worth asking about it? Horse is insured for vets fees with NFU.

 

[chestnut cob]

Guildford - can I ask what your vet medicated the hock with? Mine is having his done (both) on Monday and although the vet can tell me what to expect, it's not the same as talking to someone who's actually had it done.

Sorry to hijack...am I right in thinking that Adequan and Cortisol/cortisone are two different things? My vet wants to use cortisol (i think that's what he said) but it seems Adequan is a better option?

 

[chestnut cob]

[ QUOTE ]
All I've been offered by vets is to have the joint medicated. What does Tildren do and is it worth asking about it? Horse is insured for vets fees with NFU.

[/ QUOTE ]

Second that...I thought Tildren was for navicular or something like that?

 

[Christmas Crumpet]

I think it was just a steroid but what kind I have no idea. Can have a look at my bill when I get home. It was a very simple process - the vet spent more time cleaning and clipping hock than anything else. Injection took 2 minutes!!

 

[NadineCarcary]

Hi, sorry that I didnt reply. Been at work all day and dont have access to the internet there. My horse was not lame in walk. Her lameness was very slight in trot, but hoping when ridden? When I took her to the vet they did flexion test, and she definately got worse when they did her near hind. They then went on and did nerve blocks just to be a 100% sure. Once they located it definately to the hock they x-rayed. We didnt inject the hock straight away as her lameness was very mild. So I rode her on bute for a about a month. But she never really got her sparkle back (and really wasnt using her hock as much as I would of liked!), so I took her back and they injected the hock with Hydraculic Acid (not sure if I have spelt that right!!) and we put her on Adequan, alongside synequin. She is coming on very well, she is using her near hind alot better. But more than anything has got her sparkle back. It is still early days but we will see how it goes. She is definately going to need the physio more, as she never suffers from tender areas in her back but since her lameness when I have had the physio she has been tight and tender. I have got the Armadillo magnetic rug for her which I do believe works, she feels really good when she has worn this. So I have just invested in there magnetic wraps, as this hopefully will help aswell?! I will try anything just to keep her sound!! I would seriously speak to the vet and discuss your options. Let us know how you get on.

 

[bailey14]

This link will give you info regarding Tildren.

http://www.georgevetgroup.co.uk/equine/TILDRENfactsheet.pdf