Would rather not do this but...

pistolpete

pistolpete

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Your experiences of horses ridden while on 'bute/danilon? vet suggesting it's the way to go for my horse who has a complicated history and it feels wrong. But- he is only 15, I can't afford two or I think I would semi-retire him. He has navicular changes in his feet and some neck problems. I don't want him to suffer of course and vet assures me long term damage unlikely at his age. Thoughts appreciated please?
 
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If a low dose of bute means that a horse can continue happily without worsening any condition I don't see it as an issue, arthritic humans take meds and continue working and are usually all the better for it. Perhaps reducing the intensity of work would help too if he works pretty hard.

When it comes to the point that ridden work causes discomfort then I'd reconsider. I'd also look into removing shoes if there are navicular changes though, it has been life changing for some horses.
 
There are an awful lot of people out there who would not be able to live and work as comfortably as they do without regular doses of painkiller. We don't retire them or write them off when they come out a bit short in the morning or groan as they get up from their desks or take a couple of minutes stretching before walking away from the car after a long journey or, and this is my own particular type of age-related problem, walk very gingerly across to the loo on first getting out of bed because their feet need a minute or so to sort themselves out.

I do have a horse who needs a bit of help with pain management. When she needs it, she gets it. But she very much enjoys her work and would do it without the medication, now we've tried her with it we notice she's a bit happier, much as I am with the odd paracetamol. If she was unhappy in her work then I wouldn't work her.
 
A low dose of bute will not block out all pain so you will still know if he is getting worse or not while on it, it will mean he is more comfortable as it reduces inflammation to the problem areas which may allow him to still have a useful life for some time. I think people often think it is not a good idea because it masks pain but I see it as pain relief rather than a mask, a really lame horse will still be lame on high levels.
 
There is a horse on our yard who has one danilon a day for his navicular and arthritis, his owner still hacks him several times a week, vet said it was better to keep him moving.
 
Another who has no issue with long term low level bute for an older horse. My vet said that at if you start feeding a bute a day to a 15/16yr old horse, that old age will get them long before liver damage does
 
I rode my horse for about 4 yrs on daily danilon both the exercise and danilon helped with her arthritis, i did stop competing though as for me it didnt feel right to jump her. She retired 5 years ago and is still ticking over on either 1 or 2 danilon per day depending on the ground conditions
 
Auslander said:
Another who has no issue with long term low level bute for an older horse. My vet said that at if you start feeding a bute a day to a 15/16yr old horse, that old age will get them long before liver damage does
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My vet told me this too and a few weeks later my pony nearly died from colonic ulcers caused my the low dose of bute... It isn't just the liver that can be damaged by dute/danillion. Another horse on my yard was hospitalised and very nearly lost his life for a similar reason after being on danillion so I don't think mine was an isolated case by any means.

Although I completely understand why some people choose use long term bute, I personally would be extremely wary of doing it again. I would certainly say to anybody that does do it to keep a very close eye on any changes to his health as bute can have a lot of side effects that can easily go un-noticed until its caused a lot of damaged.
 
My horse was diagnosed with navicular changes just over 2 years ago. Following treatment and some remedial shoeing he was sound for a good 18 months. However, in the last 12 months he has been on one bute a day just to give him a little extra support.

He has regular blood tests to monitor his liver and other organs, but at 23 years old the vet has advised that the low dose of bute would not cause an issue - it's just like us taking a couple of nurofen per day.

He spends a happy life mooching round the field and going on fairly sedate hacks - unless he is feeling cheeky and then he may chuck in a canter or a buck if he feels like it. I just let him do what he feels comfortable doing.
 
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Darkwater said:
My vet told me this too and a few weeks later my pony nearly died from colonic ulcers caused my the low dose of bute... It isn't just the liver that can be damaged by dute/danillion. Another horse on my yard was hospitalised and very nearly lost his life for a similar reason after being on danillion so I don't think mine was an isolated case by any means.

Although I completely understand why some people choose use long term bute, I personally would be extremely wary of doing it again. I would certainly say to anybody that does do it to keep a very close eye on any changes to his health as bute can have a lot of side effects that can easily go un-noticed until its caused a lot of damaged.
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That is very sad and must have been awful. I suppose you have to look at it as a gamble, if the alternative is PTS then it is worth risking the side effects. A lot of horses don't like retirement or the woners don't want afield ornament, in which case bute is best, IMO.
 
No need to give bute Danilon is a much better drug for the digestion.
I have done this and will do it again the alternative is to PTS as I won't have lame horses in the field.
Bilateral pain needs to carefully monitored and it's completely unacceptable and usually unnecessary for a horse to walk on to sore front feet for the rest of its life.
I don't know what at level you use your horse OP a lot of jumping on to hard ground is probally not a good idea but hacking and careful low level jumping so the horse is having a happy time should manageable .
If the horse is happy in itself I think it's fine if the horse say starts refusing or napping then I think it's a different matter.
 
Really sorry to hear about the horses who were poorly on bute but I would not hesitate. My Harry, 11' has been on 1 Danilon a day for 2 years because of his arthritis. Would not have wanted to retire him at such a young age and he has enjoyed himself and still does. It may get him in the end, but the vet doesn't seem to think so!
 
I would have no problems with riding a horse on bute for arthritic problems. However, I would not ride a horse on bute with any conditions that masking the pain could worsten the problem. For example, my mare suffers from low grade laminitis. She is usually very comfortable on half to one sachet of but/danilon a day, but I would not ride her unless she was comfortable with no bute as with LGL there is a risk of rotation or sinkage if a horse is made to work. There are probably other conditions where it would be inadvisable. I would not have a problem regarding your horse's arthritis, but I would have to seek advice regarding the navicular and would prefer to get that sorted before riding. Is your horse shod or barefoot?
 
many many horses are on bute long term and I mean years.

personally if I was arthritic at 50 (and it is likely) then I would take the pills and the risk in order to continue leading an active life-would be bored witless otherwise and TBH I think regular excersize keeps everything as moblie as can be and that is a good thing
 
Hi Wagtail, he is still shod but thinking about barefoot a lot now. He is in egg bars and prone to abscesses so worried of course about that. I have cavallo boots for him and am just going to wait until there is a bit of cut in the ground and try him barefoot I think. Nothing to lose now!
 
pistolpete said:
Hi Wagtail, he is still shod but thinking about barefoot a lot now. He is in egg bars and prone to abscesses so worried of course about that. I have cavallo boots for him and am just going to wait until there is a bit of cut in the ground and try him barefoot I think. Nothing to lose now!
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And everything to gain. More and more evidence is pointing to barefoot as the way forward for navicular horses. Vets will still advise against it though.
 
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