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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 464
 
| Never owned a horse, that required injections (guess I’ve been lucky). Daughters heel horse (horse is 15 yo). Started going what I’d call a little strap legged in the back end. Was really favoring one leg. Took it to the vet. Lameness eval, X-rays, the whole nine yards. Doc said hock injections, and stifle would be coming on soon. I went ahead and sprung for both. Saw some what I’d call marginal improvement. It wasn’t really the saving grace I was hoping for. What level of improvement, can one expect from injections? She really on goes to about 10-12 ropings a year. I’ve never buted a horse, just to use it. Have some reservations about that, but young stuff is about all I’ve ridden in my 47 years. Input????? | |
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 The Bling Princess
Posts: 3411
 
Location: North Dakota | In my opinion it depends on the grade of lameness and why they are requiring the injection in the first place. If they've been sore for a long time it may take up to 14 days or longer to see the full results of the injections, IF it's just a case of inflammation and nothing serious. Sometimes if they are fusing or have collapsing joints you won't see any improvement. How long has it been since you injected? And what did they inject with?
Also, in my personal experience, depending on how long they've gone with inflammation in the joint, you may have to go back in and inject again after 30-45 days. I wont do that with a stifle, but I will with hocks since its a low motion joint. I've only ever had to do it twice. Two of the 5 horses I've had injected in my time had some pretty serious cases of inflammation, where the hock health was neglected. The first injection yielded good results, but the second took care of everything and they went sound within a few days of the second injection. I did this at the recommendation of a great equine vet, so I trusted him and we went for it. Glad I did it. | |
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 Expert
Posts: 1515
Location: Illinois | Agree with above poster, every horse is going to be different & it depends on what is going on to begin with. I get hocks & stifles done every spring on my gelding since he was 16. The only difference in stifles I see is he doesn't do the thing where it feels like their back end gives out while walking/trotting sometimes. I do hocks because he had dry joints & doesn't produce fluid. Depending on how long it's been you could consider injecting hocks again. But I would say if that's not solving your lameness issue, then maybe get a second opinion or just go back to the drawing board. Mine's navicular so he gets equioxx when he runs, may be a more effective approach than bute depending on what's going on. It works extremely well in arthritic horses. Hard on their stomach though | |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| A lot of different factors. I’d call the vet who injected and get their opinion - as what exactly was wrong and what he injected with will make a difference. If you aren’t satisfied, a second veterinary opinion may be in order.
Do you ever have the horse adjusted? Dropped hips, twisted pelvis, etc in my mind could contribute. I like to pamper them a bit after injecting if they’ve gone to the point of getting awful sore, the body starts to compensate and all sorts of things can get out of wack. If you get it sorted out and get him working again, hopefully you can start to pick up on his discomfort before it gets too bad and get him reinejcted - but some horses are extremely stoic. We inject one of our head horses back’s for kissing spine and after about 10 months he starts to get a little antsy in the box - we go back and reinject, that’s his sign. | |
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