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Extreme Veteran
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| Hello, so long story short I took my horse to the vet yesterday and the hock injections did not last very long this time so the vet recommended x-rays. We only did the left side since that was the side mainly bothering him and his hock started fusing but he also has a spur. He recommended coming in every two months for injections to try to speed up fusing. He advised after fusing he may not need injections anymore and he may be much more comfortable but of course this is not guarenteed and his career may be cut short. I am very devestated by this, his first round of injections lasted almost a year so I was not expecting this to come up so quickly. Has anyone had any successful fusions? Anything I can do to help him more? I already am in the process of getting PHT hock boots. The vet advised for now he is still able to run however, but he will be on equioxx everyday. Does anyone happen to know how long it takes to fuse? I guess I just would like to know the process others has been through, and when do you realize the fusion did not help the pain and when it is kindest to retire. He is very stoic so I can't really count on him to tell me. I didn't even have a gate issue last show I went to a couple weeks ago, and he ran better than he usually does in that arena. Edit: My boarding center has an equivibe and I use it about 3 times a week.
Edited by simplytaylor16 2020-10-02 8:37 AM
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 Expert
Posts: 1515
 
Location: Illinois | If he's going to be on Equioxx daily have your vet check him periodically. I know 2 horses that were recently lost because their organs began to fail due to the toxicity of the long term drug. It does say toxic after 14 days on the bottle, but vets never seem to care. So make sure you're checking on that periodically so you don't end up with that issue. Neither of them gave any indication until it was too late and both were within 6 months of being on 1 pill daily. As far as the fusing, I have one that took about 6 months. Only one hock fused though, the other never did or started to. He was kicked to pasture for the time and he never really came back, but that was from a tendon injury sustained, not the hock. There's a ton of horses running fine with fused hocks, its generally not an issue once they're fused, its the process that sucks. Put liniment on them before & after you ride. Go ahead and have him injected more often if your vet suggests doing, it should help keep him more comfortable through the process as well. | |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 362
| JLazyT_perf_horses - 2020-10-02 9:47 AM
If he's going to be on Equioxx daily have your vet check him periodically. I know 2 horses that were recently lost because their organs began to fail due to the toxicity of the long term drug. It does say toxic after 14 days on the bottle, but vets never seem to care. So make sure you're checking on that periodically so you don't end up with that issue. Neither of them gave any indication until it was too late and both were within 6 months of being on 1 pill daily. As far as the fusing, I have one that took about 6 months. Only one hock fused though, the other never did or started to. He was kicked to pasture for the time and he never really came back, but that was from a tendon injury sustained, not the hock. There's a ton of horses running fine with fused hocks, its generally not an issue once they're fused, its the process that sucks. Put liniment on them before & after you ride. Go ahead and have him injected more often if your vet suggests doing, it should help keep him more comfortable through the process as well.
Okay I will defnitely ask the vet about the toxicity issue! Did your horse have a spur though? I just hope fusing solves that issue as well. | |
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Expert
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Location: Illinois | No, the one that fused the hock had no spur. However my 21 year old (that retired this year after he got hurt in a fall around the 2nd barrel last year) has 17 spurs between both knees and hocks and he never had a soundness issue. He had over 20 when he was 7 but a few disappeared or broke off between then and the last time we xrayed him at 18. None of the ones still existing ever changed either. Never injected his knees, just his lower hocks every year and he was fine. He still is fine and could probably go back to running next year after this year off to rehab. I just didn't want to force him to come back next year at 22 after he's alredy given me 12 solid seasons. | |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 362
| JLazyT_perf_horses - 2020-10-02 11:18 AM
No, the one that fused the hock had no spur. However my 21 year old (that retired this year after he got hurt in a fall around the 2nd barrel last year) has 17 spurs between both knees and hocks and he never had a soundness issue. He had over 20 when he was 7 but a few disappeared or broke off between then and the last time we xrayed him at 18. None of the ones still existing ever changed either. Never injected his knees, just his lower hocks every year and he was fine. He still is fine and could probably go back to running next year after this year off to rehab. I just didn't want to force him to come back next year at 22 after he's alredy given me 12 solid seasons.
Oh! Thanks for telling me that, it helps to give me a little hope. :) | |
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Location: Rc | JLazyT_perf_horses - 2020-10-02 6:47 AM If he's going to be on Equioxx daily have your vet check him periodically. I know 2 horses that were recently lost because their organs began to fail due to the toxicity of the long term drug. It does say toxic after 14 days on the bottle, but vets never seem to care. So make sure you're checking on that periodically so you don't end up with that issue. Neither of them gave any indication until it was too late and both were within 6 months of being on 1 pill daily. As far as the fusing, I have one that took about 6 months. Only one hock fused though, the other never did or started to. He was kicked to pasture for the time and he never really came back, but that was from a tendon injury sustained, not the hock. There's a ton of horses running fine with fused hocks, its generally not an issue once they're fused, its the process that sucks. Put liniment on them before & after you ride. Go ahead and have him injected more often if your vet suggests doing, it should help keep him more comfortable through the process as well. Ditto. I knew someone who got 'duped' (as I like to call it) by their vet. The horse ended up getting kidney failure and had to be put down. Is this the same horse that has had previous hock/joint issues?
Edited by Tequila1275 2020-10-02 10:50 AM
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 362
| Tequila1275 - 2020-10-02 11:47 AM
JLazyT_perf_horses - 2020-10-02 6:47 AM
If he's going to be on Equioxx daily have your vet check him periodically. I know 2 horses that were recently lost because their organs began to fail due to the toxicity of the long term drug. It does say toxic after 14 days on the bottle, but vets never seem to care. So make sure you're checking on that periodically so you don't end up with that issue. Neither of them gave any indication until it was too late and both were within 6 months of being on 1 pill daily. As far as the fusing, I have one that took about 6 months. Only one hock fused though, the other never did or started to. He was kicked to pasture for the time and he never really came back, but that was from a tendon injury sustained, not the hock. There's a ton of horses running fine with fused hocks, its generally not an issue once they're fused, its the process that sucks. Put liniment on them before & after you ride. Go ahead and have him injected more often if your vet suggests doing, it should help keep him more comfortable through the process as well.
Ditto. I knew someone who got 'duped' (as I like to call it) by their vet. The horse ended up getting kidney failure and had to be put down.
Is this the same horse that has had previous hock/joint issues?
Yes, but his first hock injections lasted almost 12 months before needing done again. This time it wasn't the case. | |
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 Born not Made
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Location: North Dakota | simplytaylor16 - 2020-10-02 8:36 AM
Hello, so long story short I took my horse to the vet yesterday and the hock injections did not last very long this time so the vet recommended x-rays. We only did the left side since that was the side mainly bothering him and his hock started fusing but he also has a spur. He recommended coming in every two months for injections to try to speed up fusing. He advised after fusing he may not need injections anymore and he may be much more comfortable but of course this is not guarenteed and his career may be cut short. I am very devestated by this, his first round of injections lasted almost a year so I was not expecting this to come up so quickly. Has anyone had any successful fusions? Anything I can do to help him more? I already am in the process of getting PHT hock boots. The vet advised for now he is still able to run however, but he will be on equioxx everyday. Does anyone happen to know how long it takes to fuse? I guess I just would like to know the process others has been through, and when do you realize the fusion did not help the pain and when it is kindest to retire. He is very stoic so I can't really count on him to tell me. I didn't even have a gate issue last show I went to a couple weeks ago, and he ran better than he usually does in that arena. Edit: My boarding center has an equivibe and I use it about 3 times a week.
Depends what you vet meant by the bone spur. If it is "part" of the fusing process, the bone spur will go away when fusion is complete and (hypothetically) will no longer be a problem. But if the bone spur was located elsewhere (not on the site of fusion) then it is a different issue. Personally, I have not heard of injecting more in order to make it fuse faster. So I don't understand that. (You also know my thoughts from prior, with your vet blindly injecting the hocks without ever doing xrays first. But I've stated that before.) Fusion happens a lot in a lot of barrel horses. Two of my three horses have fusion changes. Inject when they need it, and use Equioxx to pick up the slack if needed. Some fuse fairly quickly; some never at all. For those, then you might want to consider surgical/chemical intervention. But I think it's pretty generally accepted to keep using and keep riding the horse b/c that usually encourages it to continue fusing. My horses never had any gate or behavioral issues whatsoever. But, they would crossfire and "hop" on their hind legs on the backside of the turn. That's how I knew something was wrong. This is why videos of your runs can be invaluable to watch for issues, in how the horse moves. You learn to recognize when something is not right, even when the horse keeps trying in spite of it. | |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 362
| r_beau - 2020-10-03 1:23 PM simplytaylor16 - 2020-10-02 8:36 AM Hello, so long story short I took my horse to the vet yesterday and the hock injections did not last very long this time so the vet recommended x-rays. We only did the left side since that was the side mainly bothering him and his hock started fusing but he also has a spur. He recommended coming in every two months for injections to try to speed up fusing. He advised after fusing he may not need injections anymore and he may be much more comfortable but of course this is not guarenteed and his career may be cut short. I am very devestated by this, his first round of injections lasted almost a year so I was not expecting this to come up so quickly. Has anyone had any successful fusions? Anything I can do to help him more? I already am in the process of getting PHT hock boots. The vet advised for now he is still able to run however, but he will be on equioxx everyday. Does anyone happen to know how long it takes to fuse? I guess I just would like to know the process others has been through, and when do you realize the fusion did not help the pain and when it is kindest to retire. He is very stoic so I can't really count on him to tell me. I didn't even have a gate issue last show I went to a couple weeks ago, and he ran better than he usually does in that arena. Edit: My boarding center has an equivibe and I use it about 3 times a week. Depends what you vet meant by the bone spur. If it is "part" of the fusing process, the bone spur will go away when fusion is complete and (hypothetically) will no longer be a problem. But if the bone spur was located elsewhere (not on the site of fusion) then it is a different issue. Personally, I have not heard of injecting more in order to make it fuse faster. So I don't understand that. (You also know my thoughts from prior, with your vet blindly injecting the hocks without ever doing xrays first. But I've stated that before.) Fusion happens a lot in a lot of barrel horses. Two of my three horses have fusion changes. Inject when they need it, and use Equioxx to pick up the slack if needed. Some fuse fairly quickly; some never at all. For those, then you might want to consider surgical/chemical intervention. But I think it's pretty generally accepted to keep using and keep riding the horse b/c that usually encourages it to continue fusing. My horses never had any gate or behavioral issues whatsoever. But, they would crossfire and "hop" on their hind legs on the backside of the turn. That's how I knew something was wrong. This is why videos of your runs can be invaluable to watch for issues, in how the horse moves. You learn to recognize when something is not right, even when the horse keeps trying in spite of it. He did x-ray it, that's how he found the spur. He advises doing cortosone injections to break down the remaining cartilage so the fusion will happen faster, advising we are not trying to save cartilage anymore as the fusion has already started. He said the spur is a part of the fusing process, so I would assume he meant that the fusion should take care of it, but of course it is not guarenteed.
Edited by simplytaylor16 2020-10-06 12:03 PM
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Born not Made
Posts: 2931
Location: North Dakota | simplytaylor16 - 2020-10-06 11:59 AM
r_beau - 2020-10-03 1:23 PM
simplytaylor16 - 2020-10-02 8:36 AM
Hello, so long story short I took my horse to the vet yesterday and the hock injections did not last very long this time so the vet recommended x-rays. We only did the left side since that was the side mainly bothering him and his hock started fusing but he also has a spur. He recommended coming in every two months for injections to try to speed up fusing. He advised after fusing he may not need injections anymore and he may be much more comfortable but of course this is not guarenteed and his career may be cut short. I am very devestated by this, his first round of injections lasted almost a year so I was not expecting this to come up so quickly. Has anyone had any successful fusions? Anything I can do to help him more? I already am in the process of getting PHT hock boots. The vet advised for now he is still able to run however, but he will be on equioxx everyday. Does anyone happen to know how long it takes to fuse? I guess I just would like to know the process others has been through, and when do you realize the fusion did not help the pain and when it is kindest to retire. He is very stoic so I can't really count on him to tell me. I didn't even have a gate issue last show I went to a couple weeks ago, and he ran better than he usually does in that arena. Edit: My boarding center has an equivibe and I use it about 3 times a week.
Depends what you vet meant by the bone spur. If it is "part" of the fusing process, the bone spur will go away when fusion is complete and (hypothetically) will no longer be a problem. But if the bone spur was located elsewhere (not on the site of fusion) then it is a different issue.
Personally, I have not heard of injecting more in order to make it fuse faster. So I don't understand that.
(You also know my thoughts from prior, with your vet blindly injecting the hocks without ever doing xrays first. But I've stated that before.)
Fusion happens a lot in a lot of barrel horses. Two of my three horses have fusion changes. Inject when they need it, and use Equioxx to pick up the slack if needed.
Some fuse fairly quickly; some never at all. For those, then you might want to consider surgical/chemical intervention. But I think it's pretty generally accepted to keep using and keep riding the horse b/c that usually encourages it to continue fusing.
My horses never had any gate or behavioral issues whatsoever. But, they would crossfire and "hop" on their hind legs on the backside of the turn. That's how I knew something was wrong. This is why videos of your runs can be invaluable to watch for issues, in how the horse moves. You learn to recognize when something is not right, even when the horse keeps trying in spite of it.
He did x-ray it, that's how he found the spur. He advises doing cortosone injections to break down the remaining cartilage so the fusion will happen faster, advising we are not trying to save cartilage anymore as the fusion has already started. He said the spur is a part of the fusing process, so I would assume he meant that the fusion should take care of it, but of course it is not guarenteed.
I was referring to the other time the vet injected your horse without doing xrays. (not this time) I can't reference the specific studies (but I know there are those on here who can) but the steroids used today are not the same steroids used years ago, and they are NOT believed to break down healthy joint cartilage. Unless your vet is talking about using an "older" different steroid to accomplish this? I have not heard of that. I myself would not be sticking a needle into a joint more than I have to. | |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 362
| r_beau - 2020-10-06 8:38 PM
simplytaylor16 - 2020-10-06 11:59 AM
r_beau - 2020-10-03 1:23 PM
simplytaylor16 - 2020-10-02 8:36 AM
Hello, so long story short I took my horse to the vet yesterday and the hock injections did not last very long this time so the vet recommended x-rays. We only did the left side since that was the side mainly bothering him and his hock started fusing but he also has a spur. He recommended coming in every two months for injections to try to speed up fusing. He advised after fusing he may not need injections anymore and he may be much more comfortable but of course this is not guarenteed and his career may be cut short. I am very devestated by this, his first round of injections lasted almost a year so I was not expecting this to come up so quickly. Has anyone had any successful fusions? Anything I can do to help him more? I already am in the process of getting PHT hock boots. The vet advised for now he is still able to run however, but he will be on equioxx everyday. Does anyone happen to know how long it takes to fuse? I guess I just would like to know the process others has been through, and when do you realize the fusion did not help the pain and when it is kindest to retire. He is very stoic so I can't really count on him to tell me. I didn't even have a gate issue last show I went to a couple weeks ago, and he ran better than he usually does in that arena. Edit: My boarding center has an equivibe and I use it about 3 times a week.
Depends what you vet meant by the bone spur. If it is "part" of the fusing process, the bone spur will go away when fusion is complete and (hypothetically) will no longer be a problem. But if the bone spur was located elsewhere (not on the site of fusion) then it is a different issue.
Personally, I have not heard of injecting more in order to make it fuse faster. So I don't understand that.
(You also know my thoughts from prior, with your vet blindly injecting the hocks without ever doing xrays first. But I've stated that before.)
Fusion happens a lot in a lot of barrel horses. Two of my three horses have fusion changes. Inject when they need it, and use Equioxx to pick up the slack if needed.
Some fuse fairly quickly; some never at all. For those, then you might want to consider surgical/chemical intervention. But I think it's pretty generally accepted to keep using and keep riding the horse b/c that usually encourages it to continue fusing.
My horses never had any gate or behavioral issues whatsoever. But, they would crossfire and "hop" on their hind legs on the backside of the turn. That's how I knew something was wrong. This is why videos of your runs can be invaluable to watch for issues, in how the horse moves. You learn to recognize when something is not right, even when the horse keeps trying in spite of it.
He did x-ray it, that's how he found the spur. He advises doing cortosone injections to break down the remaining cartilage so the fusion will happen faster, advising we are not trying to save cartilage anymore as the fusion has already started. He said the spur is a part of the fusing process, so I would assume he meant that the fusion should take care of it, but of course it is not guarenteed.
I was referring to the other time the vet injected your horse without doing xrays. (not this time)
I can't reference the specific studies (but I know there are those on here who can) but the steroids used today are not the same steroids used years ago, and they are NOT believed to break down healthy joint cartilage.
Unless your vet is talking about using an "older" different steroid to accomplish this? I have not heard of that.
I myself would not be sticking a needle into a joint more than I have to.
He did not say what type of sterioid it was so I am not sure. My bill I believe just said Depo? | |
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Expert
Posts: 1515
Location: Illinois | r_beau - 2020-10-06 7:38 PM
simplytaylor16 - 2020-10-06 11:59 AM
r_beau - 2020-10-03 1:23 PM
simplytaylor16 - 2020-10-02 8:36 AM
Hello, so long story short I took my horse to the vet yesterday and the hock injections did not last very long this time so the vet recommended x-rays. We only did the left side since that was the side mainly bothering him and his hock started fusing but he also has a spur. He recommended coming in every two months for injections to try to speed up fusing. He advised after fusing he may not need injections anymore and he may be much more comfortable but of course this is not guarenteed and his career may be cut short. I am very devestated by this, his first round of injections lasted almost a year so I was not expecting this to come up so quickly. Has anyone had any successful fusions? Anything I can do to help him more? I already am in the process of getting PHT hock boots. The vet advised for now he is still able to run however, but he will be on equioxx everyday. Does anyone happen to know how long it takes to fuse? I guess I just would like to know the process others has been through, and when do you realize the fusion did not help the pain and when it is kindest to retire. He is very stoic so I can't really count on him to tell me. I didn't even have a gate issue last show I went to a couple weeks ago, and he ran better than he usually does in that arena. Edit: My boarding center has an equivibe and I use it about 3 times a week.
Depends what you vet meant by the bone spur. If it is "part" of the fusing process, the bone spur will go away when fusion is complete and (hypothetically) will no longer be a problem. But if the bone spur was located elsewhere (not on the site of fusion) then it is a different issue.
Personally, I have not heard of injecting more in order to make it fuse faster. So I don't understand that.
(You also know my thoughts from prior, with your vet blindly injecting the hocks without ever doing xrays first. But I've stated that before.)
Fusion happens a lot in a lot of barrel horses. Two of my three horses have fusion changes. Inject when they need it, and use Equioxx to pick up the slack if needed.
Some fuse fairly quickly; some never at all. For those, then you might want to consider surgical/chemical intervention. But I think it's pretty generally accepted to keep using and keep riding the horse b/c that usually encourages it to continue fusing.
My horses never had any gate or behavioral issues whatsoever. But, they would crossfire and "hop" on their hind legs on the backside of the turn. That's how I knew something was wrong. This is why videos of your runs can be invaluable to watch for issues, in how the horse moves. You learn to recognize when something is not right, even when the horse keeps trying in spite of it.
He did x-ray it, that's how he found the spur. He advises doing cortosone injections to break down the remaining cartilage so the fusion will happen faster, advising we are not trying to save cartilage anymore as the fusion has already started. He said the spur is a part of the fusing process, so I would assume he meant that the fusion should take care of it, but of course it is not guarenteed.
I was referring to the other time the vet injected your horse without doing xrays. (not this time)
I can't reference the specific studies (but I know there are those on here who can) but the steroids used today are not the same steroids used years ago, and they are NOT believed to break down healthy joint cartilage.
Unless your vet is talking about using an "older" different steroid to accomplish this? I have not heard of that.
I myself would not be sticking a needle into a joint more than I have to.
Depo Medrol injected frequently will destroy the cartilage, it has not changed. | |
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