Two questions: Osphos time to effectiveness, and duct tape for hock sores

[quietann]

As the subject line says …

My mare, who is 20, has been footsore in front for a while. Finally found a vet who believed me**, and gave coffin joint injections in February, which helped but didn’t last. She was treated with Osphos 2 weeks ago, and started back on pentosan. The other thing was to move her to a 4 week shoeing cycle because one of her special talents is growing hoof. Her shoes are standard with leather pads and packing material, and she gets a tiny wedge on the outside of the LF to help with … a weird … coffin bone asymmetry. X-rays of the bottoms of her hooves showed pretty clear navicular changes – not terrible, but certainly visible.

** She doesn’t really show symptoms unless she’s going down a hill, and on the cushy indoor footing she looks pretty good other than being very slightly lame on the LF occasionally. Yes we have hills around here. For a long steep downhill, I’ll hop off her and get back on at the bottom.

I think she’s a bit better, but it’s hard to tell so far. So how long to see a difference from the Osphos if there will be one? She is increasingly eager to get out on the trails, even for short gentle rides as the vet recommended, but get to a downhill, and she’s still ouchy.

Second – she is prone to hock sores in the summer. I’ve tried hock boots (she won’t keep them on). People have recommended duct tape over the sores but I don’t know how to place it – could someone post a photo?

[Hilary]

Can’t help with the osphos but my friend uses duct tape on her big guy’s hocks for sores. She appears to just use a 3" strip (his hocks are enormous) and it’s just stuck vertically to the side of the hock over the sore. What seems to happen is the tape sticks best to the sore, and starts peeling off the hair, so it really looks pretty shabby to have old duct tape flapping on his leg, but she says it works. As the sore heals it falls off on its own. If it comes back, she puts on another piece.

[IPEsq]

I use Alushield on hocks.

[newhorsemommy]

I’ve never been able to get the duct tape to stick, but I did have success recently with the liquid bandage stuff. I used a LOT of it, and some hair did get caught in it, but the hock sores closed up and haven’t come back yet and the hair is even starting to grow over. I’m sticking with that stuff from now on.

[Hilary]

one other thing about hock sores, and her age and arthritis issues may be contributing to the point where none of this matters, but I have never had them on the horses who live outside. PLENTY of bedding seems to be key when they are stalled, but once they get one it’s hard to get them to heal. My foal had them when I was using just straw bedding. I used human elbow Ace bandages on her and added shavings under the straw and they healed up but the scars are still there.

[AppaloosaDressage]

I like hock boots for hock sores. Healed them every time I’ve had to use them on total of 3 horses. Can get them on amazon.com

[Gardenhorse]

I had no luck with any kind of tape (duct tape, gorilla tape, or elastikon) or hock boots (too loose and they flip around; too tight and they create rubs) for my mare’s hock sores when she was on stall rest. Alushield worked the best for me.

[PrincessPonies]

Never had any luck with duct tape. When mine had hock rubs we moved her to a stall with mats and changed to a different bedding and they healed.
As for the navicular I find the Osphos takes anywhere from 2 weeks to a month to see the whole affect but normally I see some king of change in a week. Mine is also an amazing hoof grower that needs to be on a tight schedule, if she goes long she’ll quickly go sore. Not sure what kind of packing you are using but when I researched it I found that most navicular horses liked packing that’s fiber based, mine uses lambs wool, and something like magic cushion. From what I read dental impression and other similar packings don’t work as well.

[painthunter]

I also prefer Alushield for hock sores (though mine stays in hock boots whenever he’s in his stall).

We we skipped the Osphos for foot soreness, so no help there. Best of luck with it!

[quietann]

@AppaloosaDressage

I like hock boots for hock sores. Healed them every time I’ve had to use them on total of 3 horses. Can get them on amazon.com

She won’t keep them on. Quite insistent about it in fact … when she was living out 24/7 we’d find them tossed over the fence!

[quietann]

@Gardenhorse

I had no luck with any kind of tape (duct tape, gorilla tape, or elastikon) or hock boots (too loose and they flip around; too tight and they create rubs) for my mare’s hock sores when she was on stall rest. Alushield worked the best for me.

Have done Alushield in the past. It did keep them from getting worse… Need to get some more.

[quietann]

@Hilary

one other thing about hock sores, and her age and arthritis issues may be contributing to the point where none of this matters, but I have never had them on the horses who live outside. PLENTY of bedding seems to be key when they are stalled, but once they get one it’s hard to get them to heal. My foal had them when I was using just straw bedding. I used human elbow Ace bandages on her and added shavings under the straw and they healed up but the scars are still there.

She was outside for almost 3 years and eventually couldn’t handle it mentally. And would sleep on the hard ground (when she slept at all – she would rarely sleep outside at night and was often very tired) which made sores worse…

Ideal of course would be a herd and a huge pasture but that basically means retirement due to where we are located. (Plus reintroducing her to a herd… she is a wicked kicker and food aggressive. But ultimately she’ll probably get retired out of state and to the south.)

I do wonder about Ace bandages… probably knee ones since she is a full grown mare…