Alcohol fusion for ringbone--Nov 14 update post 28

[atr]

So, today’s update…

My vet came this morning. We re-xrayed the left front–the one we injected 6 weeks ago–and it is definitely fusing. The joint space has reduced by about half from pre-injection. There was still enough space to get a needle into so we re-injected it.

We also x-rayed the right pastern joint–something that for some reason we hadn’t done for a while, just made assumptions about based on the left. It has pretty much completely fused on it’s own. Certainly no space to get a needle into, so we decided to just leave that one alone and let nature continue to take it’s course.

The vet thinks, as I do, that the reason he is hard to trim on his right is that he still doesn’t want to take his full weight on his left, rather than it being an issue with the right.

We still don’t really know how long the whole thing is going to take to fuse completely, but based on what I saw on the x-rays today, I would hazard that it might be another 6 weeks/two months.

He was a very good boy, and is now in his stall with a deep bed and a pile of hay–he’s pretty sore from the re-injection, which is only to be expected, but he’s got some bute on board and is quite perky.

[summerhorse]

Thanks for the update!I hope he continues to do well.

[atr]

Time for a quick update…

Lucky is doing really well, taking much more weight on the left front, walking much more evenly and moving quite a bit faster than he has in some time. I’m very happy with the progress he is making.

He’s also eating like the proverbial horse, snarking at his neighbor at dinner time and bossing the pony around–all good signs that he is feeling better.

[dwblover]

Great news!

[Bravestrom]

any updates - we think my gelding (who is 10) has this so we are off on a new adventure to learn about this.

[AppJumpr08]

Thank you for this thread and your updates!
Very useful and interesting information to file away in my memory bank to possible future use.

[atr]

He’s doing great. A bit stiff when he first sets of, but warms out of it pretty quickly. I watched him walk briskly up the field this morning in pursuit of a deer, and he looked really good–very even, even with the ground being like concrete at the moment. He’s not going round Rolex any time soon, but he’s a happy pasture potato, and he’s starting to put on a bit of weight.

I do still have him on a daily painkiller–he seems to do better all over on previcox rather than bute, if I can sneak it in to him (the latest discovery is that a quarter-tab of previcox fits neatly into the center of a LifeSaver, and he can’t seem to work out how to separate it and spit it out… He’s a princess about drugs, always has been, but he’ll eat bute in his dinner.)

Farrier is coming next week, so it will be interesting to see how he copes with a trim, which has been hard on him recently. I’ll post an update when he’s been.

[atr]

November update:

He’s off bute (was on 2g a day before we started this,) has been seen to canter up the field, and is doing really well. His gaits are somewhat impure, but he’s getting around comfortably, has put on weight and is very cheerful.

He coped very well with the farrier last time he was here to trim, and we managed to get a respectable-looking trim for the first time in months, rather than “let’s get off him what we can without someone getting hurt.” I did give him some bute before that as there was no point in making everyone miserable for the sake of an experiment.

Vet is happy, I’m happy, Lucky is certainly happy, and it’ll be interesting to see how he does through the winter. It’s tough at the moment as the ground is frozen and rutted and the snow cover hasn’t developed yet, but it’ll only be another week or so before we have a firm, flat base again.

[Catersun]

YAY!!!

Hipp hipp Horray!!!

Glad to hear he is putting on weight and happy.

[FindersKeepers]

So final question: Would you recommend this? I have a 24 yo TB mare with ringbone, early stages but it bothers her enough to give her a definitive limp at the trot. This does not slow her down any mind you… she still runs like she’s 4, plays and bucks. She’s still fat and playful and gets up and down with no problems… but if I could speed up the fusion process and save her the suffering, I’d like to.

She’s also on the trailer as we speak, heading down south, which I am hoping will help all of her arthritis issues (I just moved from PA to SC last week and she’s on her way!)

[atr]

Would I do it again under the same circumstances? Absolutely, if my vet indicated that he thought it was appropriate.

Talk to a good, up-to-date lameness vet, get x-rays, see how advanced things are. Obviously it’s a fairly drastic procedure, and if things go wrong, they go really wrong (I’d be highly circumspect about using this process for hock fusion, for instance.) But we had nothing to lose, and if it gets the old man a few more years of comfortable retirement, it was worth a go.

[Fharoah]

Congratulations! Very happy to hear your boy is doing well!

[system]

Alcohol injection for my Thoroughbred

So, First I would like to thank-you for posting your story. It is so great to have information on this topic that is still relatively experiemental. Do you have any updates? Did you take any x-rays showing that the pastern fused?

On to my horse then…I figured this would be a good place to begin ‘chronicling’ my horse! I bought a 4 year old thoroughbred off the track last June 2010. I didn’t know anything about ringbone, so the enlargement of his back right pastern just didn’t register as a ‘problem’. Wow, hind sight huh!!!
It wasn’t until Dec 2010 that I started seeing slight lameness when I rode him heavily. I am an eventer, and when I asked him to do intense dressage work (which made him put a lot of pressure and weight on the hind) he became sore on the right hind.
After thinking it was an absess and giving him some time off I started working him again and he became lame again in Feb 2011. I decided it was time to take him to the vet. My vet did a flexion test, which was very revealing! He could hardly put weight on it! We did x-rays. To my utter disappointment his pastern joint is half bone-on-bone.
My vets prognosis? retirement or $5-6K arthrodesis surgery.
So, I went home and cried. Then I got it together and started looking at other options. I researched the alcohol injection method, called up my vet, and he said “let’s do it”!

We injected him last Friday 3/11. We got about 8 ml into the joint. I have soft casted it to minimize movement and keeping him stalled for 30 days. Our thought is that less movement hopefully means a ‘cleaner’ fusion, without further enlargement of the pastern.

First 24 hours he didn’t put weight on it, but this week he is moving on it fine! We are going to x-ray in 6 weeks. I will re-post then!
Thank-you!!!

[HappyTalk]

Any updates from anyone?

[atr]

I’m bringing this up for Lady Eboshi. Gosh, this is 5 years ago now! The old man is still with us, both patterns are solidly fused and look pretty gnarly. He gets around pretty well on a quarter previcox a day, prefers softer ground and can be a bit problematic to trim, but he’s basically a happy horse who enjoys his food and potters around the place telling everyone how it should be done…

[uffan831]

Thanks for this thread and info. I had my retired guy injected with alcohol about 8 wks ago and have had great success. I thought we had gotten to the point of considering putting him down and now he often gallops out of his stall and can walk the next day! I am so happy that he is now comfortable and off all meds!

[cshorse]

I have a retired dressage horse with the same problem and vet told me about this option. He also said it would take multiple injections so it is not a one shot in the joint and you got a fusion, you have to do it again and again and that could get pretty expensive depending on your vet. There are also possible complications he discussed.

[Hermein]

I’m very glad you posted this. I have a ring bone (high and low) horse, and when I asked a vet about your procedure, he told me that injecting alcohol was an OLD treatment that didn’t work and that people didn’t do it any more.

Was there an earlier time when this was done?

[atr]

OK, dragging this back up again

Lucky is still very much with us. In his early 30’s now. He’s come through the winter looking very well for an old man.

I changed farriers about 2 years ago, and that made a huge difference–this guy spends as much time and trouble trimming and balancing Lucky as he does my dressage horse–if not more.

He’s no longer on any painkillers, even for the farrier. Everything seems to be completely fused and his pasterns look horrifying from the outside. But he’s functionally sound and generally quite full of himself.

[Rusty_s_Mom]

I have an 18 yr Paint with high ringbone. He is limping pretty bad and have exhausted all other options besides fusing the joint. I would love to know if anyone has a horse go through this then be ridable afterwards.