My mare has arthritis in her front knees, particularly bad on her left side. It’s quite bulkier than the other knee now, and X-rays showed the bone has solidified. She still has some bend and movement in it but she’s getting rapidly worse over the recent few months, and it’s in the middle joint of her knee so I fear her losing all mobility, being in pain, and having to euthanize her. She’s only 12 and otherwise healthy, great diet, on equinox daily, gets cosequin joint supplements, light low impact exercise on easy trails and has a pasture to roam. I’m pretty devastated it’s progressing this quickly despite all we are doing.
We tried steroid injections and it didn’t seem to do anything to help at all. Might have actually made her worse. Is Pro Stride better? If steroids didn’t work at all is there a chance biologics would? My vet isn’t confident, thinks biologics wouldn’t have any effect if the steroid didn’t but I’ve seen people say the opposite that if steroids didn’t work that pro stride might. Anyone have any advice here?
I’ve seen ProStride last much longer than steroids, but I’d be skeptical of it working where steroids did nothing. I’d be interested to look more into Noltrex or Arthramid - I have no experience with them as it relates to knees, and I know they had reputations as working better in some joints than others.
ProStide, as I understand it, is meant to be anti-inflammatory but in a more natural way since you are deriving it from the horse’s own body. I would think that if steroids did nothing to control inflammation and pain, I would highly doubt ProStride would do anything.
Doesn’t mean you can’t try ProStride, if you are okay with spending the money, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t.
I know you said she’s on Cosequin but have you tried Adequan or Pentosan? Obviously not going to give her anything she’s lost, but maybe could help lubricate what she’s got left.
Something like regular PEMF could help manage inflammation. Obviously nothing is going to cure her but looks like you’re going for making her as comfortable as possible.
I haven’t tried anything beyond the steroid and EQUIOXX. My vet brought up trying less abrasive methods after the steroid wore off for maintenance but seeing that the steroid barely did anything at all, all mention of other methods was dropped. It seems it’s a pretty harsh case, especially for a young horse.
I’ve only had this horse for a few years now and when I got her, her knees looked fine, she was 200 lbs overweight and alone in her pasture, neglected and movement was stiff and painful. When we started rehabbing her she improved a lot. Six months ago she started spiraling. I’m at a loss. I’m willing to try the Pro Stride if it has any chance of helping her but I’m also afraid like the steroid it would hurt her somehow. I didn’t expect the steroid to fix everything but seeing how young she is I didn’t expect it to just have no effect whatsoever.
I’ll definitely look into the PEMF.
I’m surprised for arthritic knees that your vet didn’t do HA with the steroid. I have good results from that for my horse’s knee. We tried Arthramid last spring and did not have great improvement.
I agree with your vet and wouldn’t inject ProStride in this case because the arthritis sounds pretty advanced. I would definitely consider Noltrex or Arthramid for a case like her. Possibly the Alha 2 eq but I have never tries that. I do not believe PEMF will do much and if so, no more than for a few days. But, shockwave could be possibly be helpful. You may seek out a different daily anti inflammatory as well such as naproxen or meloxicam that would be more potent than Equioxx. Surpass before riding would also be helpful.
Whatever route you choose, it’s not a one and done and the horse will require regular upkeep until such time as they don’t respond.
