Hey COTH community! Reaching out as I’m just looking to see if anyone has had any horses who have suffered from this. My 18 yr old warmblood mare has showed signs of this in the last week, and I’m just a wreck.
TIA for any info!
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After my horse fell on the hospital, ultimately I felt his problems stemmed from his neck. There wasn’t anything apparent in the neck to the veterinarians caring for him. I have a person coming w a class IV laser once a week. It’s helped immensely. He will not tolerate acupuncture. I hope this is helpful somehow.
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Yes I’ve had one and also have a friend going through this.
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I second the use of laser for pain relief and, sometimes, complete resolution of symptoms.
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I have a dressage horse who was diagnosed with this along with several other cervical problems - varying degrees of arthritic changes milder in upper neck, moderate in lower neck, as well as spinal compression. There is a surgical treatment for the nerve impingement called a foraminotomy. Link attached. https://equimanagement.com/podcasts/disease-du-jour-podcast/disease-du-jour-cervical-nerve-root-compression-in-horses/
In my horse’s case the surgery was suggested along with the “basket surgery” to basically fuse part of the neck. His problems were all identified by MRI. Given the questionable success rates (and how success is defined) I opted to do nothing. He was retired at 11. The MRI itself is not cheap, fyi.
Sympathy for all who have to go down this path; Xrays and ultrasound can tell you some things, but to really know, the MRI is the standard.
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Yes and at age 18, I’m leary about even doing a CT, let alone spinal surgery.
If you don’t mind me asking, were you able to keep yours comfortable for retirement? And if so how?
Obviously every animal is different but just curious if it’s like a steroid injection every 6 months for pasture soundness, or if you went with another option
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Years back I had an old TB - 24 at the time - who had cervical arthritis in two facets c5-6 and6-7. They were injected with ultrasound guidance and helped him a lot for about 18 months. Actually was rideable for almost a year then neuro symptoms came back. In his case we knew where the problems were, they were visible w/ decent xrays.
Asked vet after this horse’s MRI about possible injections - he said that given the various things wrong, there was no way to tell WHAT to inject as it wasn’t clear what actually hurt. So after some discussion with him and then my local vet, we decided to put the horse on prednisone. It would reduce the inflammation all over and make him more comfortable. Started on a high number based on his weight and over a period of months, tried to see how low we could go on dosage. Best number for a while was 10 tabs/day; lower than that he would show signs of discomfort - laying down more, lethargic and tripping more. I think now we are around 15/day. There is some level - I dont know what it is - where I will decide his time is up. Long term use raises his risk of infection, gastric issues, possibly even laminitis. But for now he is a happy pasture puff. Its been about a year and a half so far.
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