[QUOTE=Sandy M;6673737]
Really?? Someone thought this was a BAD post? Why? Because I retired a horse that wasn’t comfortable being ridden? Or because I was a bad person to have his joints injected?[/QUOTE]
Wasn’t me. Sorry.
Trying…thanks for the info…I’ve never heard of anything like that. Hope that’s not the case with my guy.
I just started trotting him again. So far so good. I’m hoping this was the issue and we are on our way to progressing.
[QUOTE=Sandy M;6673737]
Really?? Someone thought this was a BAD post? Why? Because I retired a horse that wasn’t comfortable being ridden? Or because I was a bad person to have his joints injected?[/QUOTE]
I got a thumbs down for my post (about injecting my older horse who was clearly more comfortable afterwards) as well. Guess someone thinks we are bad people to have those joints done.
At first I liked the thumbs up/down option but now knowing that we can’t see who it is it kind of sucks. lol
Don’t worry too much about the thumbs up and down, apparently some hilarious posters think its funny to “even things out” and just press thumbs down when someone had a good review. I’m not imagining stuff, I actually saw a post somewhere recommending it.
Does this sound normal?
Injected Tues
Wed and Thurs off
Fri and Sat hack around the field for 20min walking went inside and for 10 min walked the longsides trotted short sides
Sunday off
Monday walk trot work long rein 30 min
Tues today walk and trot work 20 min tried for 10 min to get canter. I was able to get it to the left for 2 strides (his good side) to the right I was unable to get it.
I didn’t push the issue in case there was pain involved but I think at some point I’m going to have to insist we canter. Maybe it’s just too soon?
Oh and both trot days he did something he’s never done. He STOPPED dead and itched his left shoulder. Both days same shoulder. He is one to always stop and scratch his nose on his leg but this was something different. I know that sounds kind of silly to even mention but I’m wondering if he’s trying to tell me something.
It may take up to 2 weeks to see the full results of the injections, so he may need a bit more time. You mentioned that you were going to have the chiro look at him, I would still recommend that.
One way to rule out pain is to give him 8-10 cc’s of banamine and ride him, if it is pain then he should be better when you ride him. You can give injectable banamine orally and it works very quickly, or it can be given IV, just don’t give it IM.
Thanks!! It may also be a memory of pain too. I’ll give him a little more time and hopefully have trainer hop on him to work him and see what she thinks. Banamine is always an option if all else fails. Thanks for the suggestion.
That return to work schedule sounds pretty normal to me. I second the idea about the banamine…
Does the horse canter on his own, when turned out?
Post-joint-injection reintroduction to work and effectiveness of the injection do seem to vary over a wide range: I was told with my horse that I could ride the next day, but for five days, I should just walk and trot and not ask for any collection or small figures. On the sixth day, I could go back into regular work with him. He was fine and the difference was marked. As I mentioned, he had not been lame, but had shortened stride behind and was less steady in the bridle. After the injection/5 day s light work, he was his “old self.” A friend’s horse, approximately the same age but different breeding had to be hand-walked for almost two weeks post-injection and then eased back into work. I assume he had much more marked deterioration and/or arthritis than my horse. (Mine was racing bred App w. a lot of TB, hers a draft cross), My horse stayed sound and fuctioned well into his early 20s, her horse was retired at 15. shrug Of course, there may have been issues with the draft cross of which I was unaware, and the retirement may have been totally unrelated to the state of his hocks. (She’d moved to another barn by then.)
[QUOTE=SCMSL;6670849]
Here we do 1 week hand walking, starting with just 5 minutes and then increasing it until 30 minutes. Then 1 week of riding walk for 30 min and increasing until 50 minutes. Only in the 3rd week do we start adding some trot, which means the horse takes around a month and a half to be back in full work.[/QUOTE]
I have never, ever heard someone take THAT long after hock injections to get their horse back to full work unless the horse was injured/off work before the injections.
I have had several horses over the years, by the time they hit 11-12ish most needed routine hock injections. It was always 2-3 days of stall rest/handwalking and then a day of turnout and then start back into work with a few days of flat. Back to jumping/regular work within about a week.
I’d try Pentosan first. $150 for apx 8 dose vial seems to be the average cost. My coming 20 year old who had a career starting at three as a jumper then switched over to dressage at seven has never needed hock injections and is known for his excellent hind end and ability for pi-pa with its transitions. When he hit his teens we did monthly Legend, some Adequan, and Lubrisyn. Now I just use Pentosan loading dose once a year and Cosequin ASU.
I also use PentAussie to help maintain between hock injections. I started with Adequan and Polyglycan (every other week dose of one or the other), and noticed a significant improvement after moving to PentAussie! I do it every other week - but horsie is 15 years old and upper level AND a breeding stallion, so he has lots of hock wear (getting up on that phantom is REALLY hard on the hocks).
I’m sure someone will give me a thumbs down on this post too - I guess some people just think we should retire the teenage horses - or let them go around in slight discomfort? My guy would be severely depressed if he was retired!
Re: thumbs down-- I think some people are just a-holes and it has NOTHING to do with the content of the post. I used to think most people around here were quasi-sane and decent people. The advent of thumbs has made me realize that there are huge numbers of lurkers who are JUST BIG GIANT A-HOLES and SACKLESS A-HOLES at that because they don’t use their name or actually contribute to the thread in a substantive/meaningful way (disagreeing but explaining why). Who knew there were people so full of negativity that it anonymously bursts from their fingers?!
And if you neg this… I’m talking about YOU.
[QUOTE=vxf111;6677728]
Re: thumbs down-- I think some people are just a-holes and it has NOTHING to do with the content of the post. I used to think most people around here were quasi-sane and decent people. The advent of thumbs has made me realize that there are huge numbers of lurkers who are JUST BIG GIANT A-HOLES and SACKLESS A-HOLES at that because they don’t use their name or actually contribute to the thread in a substantive/meaningful way (disagreeing but explaining why). Who knew there were people so full of negativity that it anonymously bursts from their fingers?!
And if you neg this… I’m talking about YOU.[/QUOTE]
I have to agree that it has been very surprising what people are choosing to mark a thumbs down. Today I’ve had bad ratings for sending a friend hugs after she got the results of the MRI on her knee injury, for example. Really? Wishing someone well is a problem for some COTH-er?
Other bad ratings: offering a link to someone who was asking about dressage boots, complimenting someone on the color they painted their farmhouse, and sharing the good results I got with the hock injections my older horse, maybe ten years ago.
I mean, seriously?
[QUOTE=Lucassb;6677867]
I have to agree that it has been very surprising what people are choosing to mark a thumbs down. Today I’ve had bad ratings for sending a friend hugs after she got the results of the MRI on her knee injury, for example. Really? Wishing someone well is a problem for some COTH-er?
Other bad ratings: offering a link to someone who was asking about dressage boots, complimenting someone on the color they painted their farmhouse, and sharing the good results I got with the hock injections my older horse, maybe ten years ago.
I mean, seriously?[/QUOTE]
Can you imagine what it’s like to be so spineless and full of negativity?!
We had an AQHA all around gelding that we showed every weekend and we’d always get his Ankles and hocks done at the Congress, but after a summer off he seemed fine and didn’t need the injections but we did keep him on adequan and he never needed an injection after we started him on that. He was also kept on a regular joint supplement too.
I just had my gelding done Wednesday. My vet always recommends 2 days of stall rest/hand walking and then regular turnout and work starting on day three. Usually takes a couple of days for horse to totally get the effect of the injections. Also kind of depends on how much pain horse was in before the injections. The first time I had him done, he was pretty uncomfortable, so it took awhile for him to believe he could work hard without pain.
I fill in the gaps during show season with an occasional Legend injection, which is like magic for my horse.
For those that object to injections, for me, my horse is doing 4th/PSG work. Think about it like human athletes - most that are doing “upper” level competition are getting maintenance/help from medical professionals. Why we expect equine athletes to go with no assistance makes no sense to me.
Hock injections are great
[QUOTE=KurPlexed;6666272]
I was wondering if a few could share stories on hock injections and how they’ve helped. Thanks in advance.[/QUOTE]
I had my first experience with hock injections this year, and for the appropriate situation, they are great and no other systemic injection or management practice can replace them.
I had a horse who I took to a reputable sports medicine vet this year for diagnosis and treatment of an unrelated injury. An incidental finding was that there was slight narrowing of the horse’s hocks. This is a hardworking 10 year old hunter/jumper, so the vet seemed to think that was very normal. However, he did strongly recommend injecting the horse’s hocks.
I did so, and all I can say is WOW. I am sorry I didn’t realize and do it sooner. The horse was always an excellent mover, but has even better gaits after injection, which I didn’t think was possible. The best change was that the horse has a thrusty jump that used to frequently bounce me out of the tack. The injections really smoothed out his jump. I think it is just that much easier for him to push off at take off. I didn’t even realize he was having performance issues until I injected his hocks. He is an even better performer now and much more comfortable. I would not hesitate to inject joints again as needed and progress to IRAP if needed.
The downside to injections is that yes, there is a small but real possibility of infection and infection in the joint can be very serious. I know of one horse who was recently put down after contracting a joint infection caused by joint injection gone wrong, so it is possible. I think the best way to mitigate this is to have a very experienced vet who does tons of these injections administer them to your horse. The other downside is, if the hocks aren’t the full source of the horse’s discomfort you won’t see a dramatic result with the injections. They really only “work” if the hocks are the main source of discomfort. However, when the hocks are the only issue, results can be dramatic.
I have also been giving injectable Pentosan for a year and a half or so as maintenance. I don’t see any difference with that, but it is cheap enough that I can justify using it as a preventative.
I had my trakehner’s hocks injected when he was about 16. He had been on Chondroprotec for about two years but he was still feeling stiff and getting heavy on his forehand.
The injections made him feel five years younger. It was such a great treat to have my horse feel so good again! I did keep up with the IM joint support but it was very worthwhile.
I have used IRAP too, I think it is much more preferable (although a lot more expensive)Than steroids, which eventually contribute to the deteriation of the cartilage in the hocks.
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