Adequan says just do the loading doses. My vet agrees, waste of money to do the monthly shots. You could also start the next loading dose earlier than 6 months, although at some point it will make more sense to inject the hocks.
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Today was another good day. We rode (in the hellacious wind) and though we walked for the most part, we did trot more today than we have since the trouble began. We take it easy and I don’t ask for much, just enough to post and get from point A to point B on the straightaways around the farm (which have good footing and are plentiful enough). I made sure to post on both diagonals to see if I felt any difference or issues, and I didn’t feel anything significant at all. I did ask for canter, but that wasn’t happening (he just ignores me, lol). I figure it’s too early for that anyway, but I always test to see what he’s willing to give me. Once he’s strong at the trot again, I’ll ask him to slip into canter one of these days. What’s funny is that he went through a time when he wouldn’t trot at all and ONLY wanted to canter. Looking back, that may have been the start of his issues. Hindsight is always 20/20.
Anyway, I took some pics today of his feet since those were discussed in this thread too. He’s totally loving his new kicks and hasn’t had an off step since being trimmed/shod on Friday. That’s a nice change!
Here are both fronts looking from the right side:
Here’s the left front looking from the left side:
Right front looking from the left side:
What the shoes look like on the bottom:
And just because, left hind (we’re aware of the crack):
Right hind:
Underside of right hind:
Underside of left hind:
Cute horsie face patiently waiting for me to take pictures of his feeties:
Not sure how long he’ll stay in the fancy shoes. They are expensive! But I’ve tried to make room in the budget in case he needs them long-term. I’m seriously hoping he can go barefoot again after one more cycle with the shoes allowing his sole to thicken up some more. Besides the cost, these things are a pain to have put on. My farrier is a pro at it, but it takes forever and requires a lot of precision from the people and cooperation from the horse. He’s a pretty patient fella, but even he gets tired of being on the cross-ties for a couple of hours for this.
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So, after 6 injections of Adequan and fancy new shoes and plenty of happy, comfortable relaxing rides of mostly walk, I decided that today I’d seen enough improvement to try my luck and push for a bit of canter.
I should have known better. He did it…reluctantly…and he felt pretty good at the canter. We literally just cantered a dozen strides or so on each lead out in the big field…reins completely loose, letting him do what he needed to make it happen.
Brought him in and gave him a warm hose down because it was warm today and he did sweat with his winter woolies on. He likes warm showers.
Turned him out afterward, hoping to see him drop down and have a good roll.
Nope. Poor guy circled and was all ready for a satisfying roll, he got his front end all the way down and kind of bounced in the back end like he was trying to get that end to go down too, but it just wasn’t working out. So he scrambled back up in the front end after a few moments of trying to go all the way down and shook off.
I felt so bad for him. And it’s really got me worried now. I told my BO and she’s worried too and said she’ll keep an eye on him and text me the moment she sees him lay down. I think he has to be laying down some, else he’d be sleep-deprived by now. He’s not a dirty horse and it’s been so dry and their pastures are so thick (with dry/dying grass now, but still…they’re “clean” pastures) that he wouldn’t show much dirt. He’s not a “dirty” fella. He’s also got a rather short winter coat and he’s very soft, so anything that does get on him just kind of falls off easily. His pasture mate never looks dirty either and I know he lays down…I’ve seen him.
This is the second time I’ve seen him do this since the trouble started. I did see him roll one time since he started being off, but when he got up he did look sort of unsteady as he got to his feet. He’s never had problems like that before and he loves to roll and to lay down and snooze, so his lack of laying down and refusal to go all the way down to roll is definitely a big red flag.
My BO had some leftover Equioxx (like maybe 4 or 5 pills) from her old horse. She’s going to start giving Milton a pill with his feed tomorrow morning. If it makes a difference, I’m going to get the vet to write me a prescription.
The last Adequan shot is Saturday. I know I got greedy today and shouldn’t have forced the canter. I’m kicking myself over that. And maybe seeing him struggle to roll was a good reminder that I need to slow MY roll and give the poor dude a break.
I’m also thinking &^#$ it…let’s just go ahead and do x-rays of everything back there, see what needs to be injected and go for it. No more farting around.
What do you guys think? Mess with Equioxx or just go in with the big guns and inject directly? My boy needs to be able to lay down for goodness sake.
You likely aren’t going to see much response to the equioxx in such a short amount of time and it is usually started with a loading dose.
I would have another lameness exam and then take radiographs based on the response to flexions.
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I would go do more in depth diagnostics and see if there are therapeutic solutions (like joint injections) before going to Equioxx.
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If you want to try Equioxx, you should start with 3 days of 2 pills daily (loading dose). Otherwise, just go with 2g Bute for 3 days.
But since you already have done a lameness exam and he had quite positive flexions, there really isn’t a need for a NSAID test to determine if he has pain…we know he has pain from the flexions. It also does seem to be confirmed to be hind end based on the trouble laying down.
So, I’d go with xrays and/or ultrasound and see if injections might help. If you want to go on maintenance Equioxx, I’d be thinking that would be to make him pasture and walk hack sound if he’s got serious findings on xray or there’s not really any joint space left to inject… meaning he can continue on his walks with you and also be able to lay down relatively ok. At this point, I would not expect Equioxx alone to get him returning to w/t/c.
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I agree with everyone else. Time to x-ray and probably inject. It should make things much better depending on the diagnosis.
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Thanks guys. I’m going to do his last Adequan shot Saturday and take it easy on him. With winter and the holidays coming up, it’s a good time to let him just be a spoiled pasture ornament. I’m not going to bother with getting Equioxx right now. I’ll use up the few pills my BO has, even if it won’t do much (it won’t hurt either). Once that’s over, I’ll just try to keep him comfy on a little bute until the vet can get back out. I’m going to call tomorrow to see when I can get her back out.
I would definitely back off, and go for x-rays/ultrasounds and possibly injections next.
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I’d be getting the vet back out or possibly a second opinion. The way you describe him trying to lay down almost sounds neurological.
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I’m sorry, I haven’t read through all of this thread, but have you tested for EPM? And Lyme?
If so, I would not wait around much longer on hock x-rays for sure, and possibly a workup to look for kissing spine as well. My half-Arab gelding started showing clear signs of pain under saddle about the age of 12 (he is very different from your horse, too - built uphill, big butt from his Paint sire and long legs); we hauled for x-rays immediately, which showed fusing of the hocks. We did the injections then and there, and once his hocks fused, he was perfectly sound. Never once was it suggested we do Adequan - the x-rays were pretty clear that we needed to do the hock injections instead, so we did.
The shoes may be making him feel slightly more comfortable, but the pain is clearly still there. Sort of like having arthritic knees - you get really nice comfy Skechers, and they make you feel better, but at the end of the day, your knees are still arthritic and they are still going to hurt if you go out and do a 2-mile run.
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I’ve definitely thought about Lyme and EPM. The vet did the tail pull thing and said he was very good in terms of balance, etc.
I rode bareback today. He was happy as a clam and we had the best trotting yet since all of this started. And believe me when I say, his trot before the Adequan was horrendous. I’d hardly call it a trot. But he was already improving before the change of shoes, and he’s been improving every day, especially since injection #4. Tomorrow he gets injection #7.
I forgot to call the vet today as I was busy at work and forgot, and by the time I remembered after work, they were closed. I’ll call Monday. In the meantime, I’m making myself only ride bareback…that way I won’t be tempted to push him more than I should.
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If he’s having trouble going down and coming back up, I’d be inclined to stop all riding, bareback included, and stick to hand walking. It’s tempting to want to try and push and see if things have improved under saddle, but it sounds like your guy just isn’t feeling good right now. Sorry the two of you are dealing with this.
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The thing is, he seems to really enjoy our rides. They’re very easy and he’s enthusiastic about walking/jogging around and exploring the farm. We’re talking about a 30-minute ride at the most (often less) and all but maybe 30-90 seconds of that is walking. Those 30-90 seconds are an easy jog/slow trot (his western pleasure breeding comes in handy, lol).
His ears are always up and the minute I get on at the mounting block (which are actually steps that allow me to just put my leg over him and I’m on), he’s happily walking off to go sightseeing.
So, I don’t know. As long as he still seems happy with our little rides, I’m probably going to keep doing it, but any sign of him resenting me getting up there I’ll definitely stop.
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X-rays and injections. Make him comfortable.
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I’m concerned more about safety for you at this point.
I knew a horse who had EPM and even though he recovered he still had issues. You wouldn’t know it though. He didn’t present neurologic. But he would, at seemingly random times, fall over. Just flat out fall over.
If you have even a small suspicion it could be neurologically related, be very careful around that horse. They literally don’t know where their bodies are sometimes.
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This has been going on for over a month now. I would think if he was going to fall over, he’d have shown sign of it by now. He’s very sure-footed when we ride. We even go down little steep slopes covered with tree roots and back up, through the brush, and he never misses a step. We go over cavaletti (single at a time) at the walk (including the big fat drain pipes that come off the downspouts of the covered arena) and he never stumbles. The other day the lawn mowing crew was out when we went on our ride and Milton was basically jogging sideways on a root-covered slope because he was worried about the mower. Never as much as a trip or worrisome step.
All this to say, I’m not worried about myself. I honestly don’t think it’s neurological. He’s had a pretty amazing improvement over the last 28 days on Adequan. Obviously, there is still work to be done.
Calling the vet Monday. I definitely want x-rays. Then I’ll see what she thinks we should do next.
Thanks everyone!
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Not necessarily and there could be subtle signs that you maybe aren’t noticing. it can’t hurt to have him tested for EPM, just to rule it out.
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I mean, anything is possible, but there is nothing that anyone has seen (vet, farrier, BO, other boarders, or me) that would indicate anything neuro-related. He’s flexed lame in the hind end, vet says hocks and stifles, and Adequan is making a very noticeable difference.
I may have given the wrong idea when I said Lyme and EPM had crossed my mind. Everything has crossed my mind.
I’ll mention it to the vet when I call about having her come back out though.
I’m pretty observant after 34 years of horse ownership and 20 years of having my own farm (now sold). If anything, I can get a bit obsessive about any little changes in him. I know him very well…have owned him for 12 of his 13 years and for 10 of those years he lived a few steps from my front door. Trust me…he’s no less steady and balanced than he’s ever been. This horse can stand reach around and scratch his hind fetlock in the barn aisle like an equine pretzel and never miss a beat. He can also take one back leg and scratch the other back leg with it. Never any trouble when the farrier lifts or works on any of his feet, or when I lift them to clean.
Still, I know stranger things have happened. My point is that he’s given me no reason to fear for my safety, either in riding or handling him. I mean…no more than any other horse would pose. He is a horse after all. 
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This thread makes me sad. It seems like the only real concern about pain management is how it relates to making this horse rideable rather than the horses comfort. A horse who couldn’t lay down after a short stint of cantering but continues to obediently do walk/trot rides to indulge the rider is a saint. Being able to lay down to sleep is a critical function for basic health.
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