At 20:03:13 on 08.11.09, Seren wrote:
I have a 15.3hh ISH 10 year old mare, I brought her in March 09 but in April 09 she went lame and has been unsound since. When my vet saw her in April 09 he diagnosed hind limb lameness with no obvious cause, and prescribed 10 days rest with bute. I then started bringing her back into work slowly under the guidance of an equine touch practitioner, and built upto hacking and cantering on hacks as she started to offer it, although we avoided the more concussive trot. However she threw me off twice in two weeks at the beginning of July, both times when asking her to canter (she bucked until she got me off). I turned her away as this was just before my wedding and i did not want to risk the injury, and i thought the rest would do her good. However before i could bring her back into work she went very lame just in the field at the end of August 09. She had a lameness score of 6 out of 10 and looked very lame even in walk (in her off hind). The vet did part of lameness examination where he nerved blocked up to her suspensory ligament, she went 50% sound so he x-rayed her ligament which looked mostly ok, but found aggressive arthritis in her off-hind hock, which he described as advanced and was in his opinion present prior to my purchase. He was unable to finish the lameness examination (e.g. nerve block the hock to see if she went 100% sound)as she had a reaction to the sedation, therefore it is not known for definite if this is the only problem but the vet is fairly confident it is. The other hock is fine. However, I feel that something must of caused the spavin. I'm awaiting the outcome of the insurance claim prior to trying treatment, however the vet was not very positive. She has had 2 months further rest in the field since this examination and she is looking a lot more comfortable, almost sound. I would love any advice on peoples opinion of prognosis (especially as its just in one hock), treatment options and what realistically she maybe able to do in the future. I brought her as a fun all-rounder I could improve my riding with and have some fun on at local events, possibly even go out hunting. I'm guessing she is very unlikely to be able to fulfil this, but I’m confused as to what i can do for the best for her and what realistically her prognosis is. Any advice would be much appreciated. Thank you Sorry its so long!

At 23:04:18 on 10.11.09, HorseVet wrote:
Hi. There are various supplements that can help although I wouldn't expect a hock issue to cause bucking as you describe. It sounds like it needs a good all-over check to see what else is going on that has possibly contributed to the hock issue - as you say there's a reason why it has happened and it's not from age. I would also be treating the hock with scenar if I was treating it as well as any other condition I discovered. Best wishes HorseVet
http://www.naturalhealingsolutions.co.uk

At 23:18:44 on 10.11.09, Flicka wrote:
HI HorseVet-most horses get spavin in both hocks don't they? From what I understand once they have fused the horse can still continue to work but maybe not up to such a high level. This won't be as easy though will it if the spavin only effects one hock as the horse will really favour one side and twist the pelvis?

At 13:36:14 on 11.11.09, Seren wrote:
Thank you horsevet, I will look up Scenar! She has been on a joint supplement from feedmark and also comfrey, but she has just finished the comfrey after two months and I believe I should give her a break from it as it should not be fed continuously. It would be interesting to have your opinion on Flickas comment as I just feel like she is in limbo at the moment, not knowing what she realistically will be able to do in the future. It makes it very difficult to plan whats best for her. As far as i'm aware she had never bucked before, so the bucking was completly out of character, but very serious. I had her saddle checked which was fine. A couple of practitioners also worked on her and found that she had issues particularly on her offside (the side her spavin is on) and in her sacral illiac joint region. It has been suggested that her muscular issues indicated that she'd had a fall like going over backwards at somepoint in the past, but this is not known. Both practitioners particularly felt her sacral illiac region had possibly been jarred which maybe linked to the spavin. My vet says he's almost certain her lameness is caused by the spavin he found, however i would like him to investigate further up if possible. Thank you very much for your advice

At 22:25:05 on 14.11.09, farasi wrote:
Movement would be helped by going barefoot all round but if not suitable for you then just behind would help, the horses feet will adapt to ensure they are perfectly balanced, the feet will also adjust to deal with any conformation faults / movement faults. Barefoot is not just a farrier trim, have a look on the internet, and there is a very good UK book that will give you a better understanding (you may already be barefoot). Feet First is the name of the book. While it is certainly not a cure for bone spavin, it will assist the horse a bit. My young horse was recently at the vets, and they spent a bit of time looking at his feet, as they can't get round how much road work he does barefoot, and how good his feet are (hinds, fronts still in hoof boots 50% of the time), his hinds are near text book picture perfect he has been barefoot behind for a year now, not nearly as long in front so they are still transitioning.

At 21:14:23 on 16.11.09, HorseVet wrote:
Hi Spavins once settled will enable horses to go back into work. They may happen together or separately. In my opinion there is likely to be a reason why the spavin is being stimulated rather than looking at it as the only issue itself. What might be causing it is difficult to say without seeing what is going on ... Best wishes HorseVet
http://www.naturalhealingsolutions.co.uk

At 19:15:25 on 13.06.10, Caseymyrealhorserox wrote:
There are several different ways to reduce the pain, but here are a few, just talk to your vet about them before you start: -Corrective shoeing/triming -Reducing amount of exercise or level of exercise -Inject medications to help the health of joint -Oral supplements -Therapies, including chiropractic, acupuncture, and extracorporeal shock wave therapy (EWST) Also, I am 99.9 percent sure she was bucking out of pain. I was looking bone spavins up and they said that horses with them will have training problems oh and she may just have athritis not bone spavins to