|
|
 Expert
Posts: 1368
  
| My 13 year old appendix was diagnosed with mild high ringbone changes in May. The vet injected it that day and then a month later he got Osphos. Since then he was pretty much just riding in the area, on trail, and playing around at the local sortings. He gets Pentosan once a month as well as the THE supplements.
Now 7 months later he'd been coming up slightly off. We took him to the hospital and they did blocks and x-rays. In that 7 months the ringbone on the x-rays has progressed to the point that several vets are recommending that we have the joint surgically fused. The three vets that looked at both sets of X-rays were shocked with the amount of change in the 7 months.
Does anyone have any experience with this surgery? Any experience with arthritis progressing years faster than it should for no apparent reason?
Thanks! |
|
| |
|
  Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | I have a broodmare that will have her lower coffin joint chemically fused. She has terrible arthritis now at only 4 yrs old. I have a friend that had a horse break the upper joint and had him surgical fused. It's looking good so far. |
|
| |
|
 It Goes On
Posts: 2262
Location: Muskogee, OK | I have seen quite a few of these surgeries performed, if you are talking about a surgical arthrodesis with a plate/screws (which is usually the method of choice). These horses usually go on to become very sound and do well. A handful of the horses I scrubbed in on were actually racehorses who went on to run again, we also did a cutter that went back to athletic level prior to surgery.
Surgery can be pricey and you also have to factor in a significant period of time off, and most surgeons place these horses in casts after surgery for quite a few weeks.
If surgery is not an option for your horse, another option would be alcohol facilitated fusion. The results with this procedure are more variable- however it is significantly cheaper than surgery and they do not have to go under general anesthesia. |
|
| |
|
Neat Freak
Posts: 11216
Location: Wonderful Wyoming | barrelracingchick16 - 2016-12-23 11:21 AM I have seen quite a few of these surgeries performed, if you are talking about a surgical arthrodesis with a plate/screws (which is usually the method of choice). These horses usually go on to become very sound and do well. A handful of the horses I scrubbed in on were actually racehorses who went on to run again, we also did a cutter that went back to athletic level prior to surgery. Surgery can be pricey and you also have to factor in a significant period of time off, and most surgeons place these horses in casts after surgery for quite a few weeks. If surgery is not an option for your horse, another option would be alcohol facilitated fusion. The results with this procedure are more variable- however it is significantly cheaper than surgery and they do not have to go under general anesthesia.
Yes that is why my vet wanted to do this with my broodmare. I am buying back a yearling filly that apparently has ringbone in a back pastern. Not sure when she would have gotten injured but we wanted to make it right with the buyer. We are going to use her for a future broodmare, but maybe it would be worth fusing her as well? I'll have to call and see what he says. |
|
| |
Surgical Fusion for Ringbone