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Veteran
Posts: 121
Location: SK | My gelding had his hocks surgically fused 3ish years ago while with his previous owner. I don't know much about this so just looking to hear from personal experience or other knowledge. Is there a chance that injections could still be needed? Could this negatively effect his performance in other ways? |
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 Expert
Posts: 5293
 
| The process of fusing reduces the joint space and turns the soft tissues of the joint into bone ( The way I understand it). There would be no way to inject the hocks because there is no joint space to put the needle into. Once fused, hocks are pain free. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| If the hocks were surgically fused, there are a few ways it is done.
A dremmel bit is inserted into the joint tearing the cartilage and exposing bone. The exposed bone heals with the other exposed bone causing the fusion.
A laser is inserted via scope and the laser burns away the cartilage leaving exposed bone which then healed together.
There is a very small chance the fusion process didn't fuse properly or all the way through, it all comes down to technique, also if the horse was injected with depo prior to the fusion, my vet says the research shows these don't fuse properly, and he actually refuses to fuse a horse who has been injected with depo.
If the fusing worked, some horses do need their upper hocks injected, as this joint is the high motion joint that cannot be fused. |
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 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
| The best thing to do would be to get new and complete xrays and see if you've got a clean fusion job. If you've got a clean set, he should be good to go. If not, there may be therapy involved to keep him going, or he might need a bit of clean up work to get him to fuse all the way. Note: I've got a good bit of experience here lately with meddling with hocks. Trust me, if you can keep one sound without doing invasive procedures, do that first!! Stay out of those hocks as long as you can! |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1074
| My daughter's older barrel horse has fused hocks. Her's fused naturally. My understanding is that once they are fused the hock is pain free. I also agree that there is no space for the injections so no way to inject it. |
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Veteran
Posts: 121
Location: SK | Thanks for the help! That's kind of the research I had found on them as well just wanted to check! |
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 Husband Spoiler
Posts: 4151
Location: North Dakota | So I didn't get anyone to reply to my posts so maybe I will just bump this one back up and ask here. I have a mare that is fusing in her distal intertarsal joint (middle joint). What can I do to alleviate her pain but not interfere with the natural fusing? Can I inject the bottom joint? Will that help the pain of the middle joint? The vet said she will not be able to get a needle in the fusing joint. Do I put her on Previcoxx? I just started her back on Pentosan Gold after taking her off for the winter when she was on break (I didn't know she was fusing). |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| My understanding is the low motion hock joints communicate with each other, so if you inject the bottom portion, the fluid will go to where it is needed most.
If the middle joint fuses, my understanding is arthritis will set into the other joints as now the other joints have an increased pressure load, also the joints may begin to shear as with only one joint fused the other joints cannot move as they are supposed to.
The horse may always have inflammation in the other joints due to the above, and inflammation itself destroys joints
I personally would look at fusing the entire hock
Previcoxx will help alleviate the inflammation, but it only blocks one inflammatory pathway. |
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Husband Spoiler
Posts: 4151
Location: North Dakota | Thanks for the reply! I want to say she is about 80% fused but we do not know how much longer it will take to fuse 100%. She is 9 yrs old. Moves sound for her eval and didn't test positive for sore hocks but I see it in her performance which is what made me go in for xrays. Her lower joint is perfectly clean and has not even begun to fuse. My vet said since the middle joint is so much fused while the lower joint is so clean she did not think that injecting the bottom joint would affect the fusion of the top joint (since I did ask that question). But again that is just one vet's oppinion. |
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Hock Fusion