Yes. My vet comes out 7 days or so before administration to run a kidney panel. She won’t give it otherwise.
We tried it on our older gelding for his navicular syndrome. Didn’t do a dang thing, good or bad.
osphos and tildren have been wonder drugs for my older horse. Without these, he would not be sound to ride. He is injected every six months. With both, there is mildly colicky behavior during administration that readily resolves after a few minutes of hand-walking.
Didn’t do anything for my “navicular maybe” horse. At the time we saw a navicular bone cyst; an MRI months later showed that it wasn’t a bone cyst at all. No reaction from administration.
There is a horse here who is maintained on an OsPhos/Equioxx/Pentosan combination to treat his rather advanced hock arthritis + navicular + ringbone. OsPhos worked when hock injections stopped working, so we use it on a similar cycle. He gets another dose when he starts getting funky, which is a shortening interval, currently ~9 months. My vet does not have me pull him off the Equioxx before an injection, but he’s at an age where quality of life is the primary consideration.
Osphos was one of the things tried with my mare’s hoof pain in 2018. It didn’t hurt – she had no negative reactions – but it didn’t really help. What she needed more than anything was a different trim and bigger shoes. She’s been much better ever since.
She is maintained on Equioxx daily and Pentosan IM every 2 weeks. Hocks injected about every 8 months. To be fair, she’s semi-retired, but still quite chipper.
I don’t think I’ve really met anyone who had a true positive experience with Osphos. The ones who had success timed the injection with several other changes and really could not split out the Osphos from shoeing or other changes. The vast majority of people I know had zero change and a few had negative consequences like colic.
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I have had positive reactions with it for our horse, who has confirmed bone issues. He has gone significantly longer between injections the more we use it and is currently 100% sound even with hideous X-rays. I am a believer but I am using it for ON LABEL reasons.
My 16 year old gelding had a similar diagnosis per MRI. He was prescribed a dose of Osphos along with a change in shoeing and has been sound for the past year. He had no ill effects from the Osphos but I don’t know how useful it was. I think the shoeing change was the biggest factor.
I give Osphos to my 21 year old guy. He gets it as needed, which ends up being about every 2 years. I think I first gave it to him at about 17, but only after we’d exhausted all other options. It ended up working great for him, I call it his lifesaver. However, I gave it to him because he was older and because it was kind of a last hope. Id think for awhile before giving it to a horse less than 10. Regarding the other issues, he’s never had any side effects. The vet hospital used to keep them overnight when it first was introduced, but now they send them home same day with instructions to feed alfalfa to mitigate the kidney issues. They did run a blood panel prior to giving it though.
I’ve read a tone on the biphosphates and I think that theyre getting a really bad rap because it somehow became a catch all/cure all thing, which it’s not. The concept that biphosphates would strengthen bone is not supported by legitimate research. It seems like vets/trainers, particularly on the track became enamored with this drug and we’re now starting to see the catastrophic side effects of using this drug in developing/growing horses. If the drug is limited to its intended purpose and to horses who are no longer growing, I think it has a place in our drug arsenal to keep our older sport horses comfortable and happy.
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Interesting about the Alfalfa feeding afterwards. Do you know of any published work about how alfalfa helps with the initial potential complications?
I’d have to ask my vet to be sure. It might also have been something to do with replenishing vitamin K or potassium. I seem to remember them saying something about the osphos depleting something but I don’t want to give people the wrong information on here without asking first.
Resurrecting this thread to inquire on any more experiences. It is not recommended for horses younger than 4 (and still growing), yet my vet has recommended it for my girl who is currently 3 1/2. Has anyone used this drug on their younger stock?
Don’t use on younger stock. I did have my 17 yr old injected and it did help the hocks (which I have had injected in previous years but we wanted a more systemic acting agent). As to the knee, can’t say it did anything for that but she now (9 months from injection) is not so head bobbing lame on that knee. Not sure it was the OsPhos but I’m thrilled she is getting around without so much pain.
Again, don’t use on young horses.
