She is 10 now, we started the injections at 8 and did A2EQ this past year. There were other things going on, not just the neck. She had fairly terrible back radiographs, and the combination of neck injections on the regular and some back injections and shockwave made all the difference. The nice thing is that we’ve been able to back down on the back injections now that she’s so much stronger, but she gets a twice yearly once over from a very well respected sporthorse vet and we treat as needed. Because of the changes in her neck (mostly C6C7), she’ll likely continue to get neck injections for her working career.
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Mine gets 3 days off, then 3 days of work without significant bending and collection. YMMV.
My horse who got neck injections needed a full week off and one week of light work, but he was generally more sensitive. I think it was just the huge needles for him…he’d be locally fairly sore and so I let him be. He was also like that for SI injections whereas I’ve had others who could go back to light work more quickly.
I would do the films or whatever and then inject the neck. I know several horses that got neck injections and it was a huge difference that Chiro, PEMF, or anything else was just a waste of money.
I know there are a lot of threads about neck issues on COTH.
I’m very interested that your vet went straight for injections, without at least doing xrays first.
(Although, most vets are NOT comfortable to interpret neck xrays - make sure they are honest about that and consult with someone who is.)
And the fact that you say his hocks are sore too, well, that would lead me to believe his neck is bothering him more than he leads on. If they hurt up front (at the neck) they will often be sore in the hind.
I would dig deeper on WHY his neck is stiff. I know you don’t want to spend the money, but we can’t tell you why his neck is stiff or what to do about it.
Necks hit close to home for me. My Shotgun, who I sold last year to his “retirement home” at the young age of 10, had to be retired from his barrel racing and ranch horse career when we discovered he actually was born with crooked vertebrae in his neck that were compressing on his spinal cord. I had owned him since he was a weanling. He was always a more stiff type horse but I didn’t think much of it because that was just “him”. And he made it 9-10 years before it became a problem. Very athletic. Great personality. So very talented. Then some lameness issues started popping up and it just kept progressing and I knew something else was wrong. Then we figured out what was wrong with his neck. He’s now happily going on trail rides, once or twice a month, usually with little girls on his back. (Perfect home.) He’s a lovely horse.
So if there is a problem in the neck, you bet it can manifest anywhere else in the body as he tries to compensate.
In my horse’s case, injections to his neck did nothing. (we tried) And unfortunately, there was no cure for my horse. He just needed a change in career due to his issues. Fortunately, he’s a good horse and can do anything.
At one point, we thought it was just “normal barrel horse” soreness of the hocks and stifles, but when injections didn’t even last 2 months, I knew there was something else going on. He was traveling funny around the barrel b/c of the stifness in his neck, and THAT was making his hind end sore as a secondary problem.
He also started “rooting” with the bit more and pulling on the bit, and he never did that before. Because, when I would ask him to collect up and travel in that way, I am sure it hurt. And that’s the only way he could tell me that something was hurting and he was having trouble doing it.
So again, I think you need to figure out what’s going on first.
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In addition to the many excellent posts here, I’d add alternative treatments such as chiro. My vet is certified in chiro and acupuncture. When my horse started occasionally bucking when being mounted, she radiographed the withers and neck - negative. She did chiro and thought he was very tight and did a few sessions. He stopped the bucking (and I had the saddle re-fit, although that saddle was fit to him anyway).
A few weeks ago, the vet was out for fall shots and I had her do chiro to see where his body was at (he is difficult with flying changes). He has a new-to-us saddle really fit to his back, I’m really trying to keep him soft and round for the change work, and my vet thought his neck was one of the least stiff dressage horse necks that she works on (she works on alot). She didn’t find much.
The point is that if you have a vet in your area certified in chiro, they may be able to rule out things or find things. They can consult with your vet to help add to the general health plan your vet recommends.
Good luck!
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