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boon
Posts: 2
| Hi everyone!
New to the forums, but not to horses or barrel racing.
Last year I bought a gelding from an Acquaintance.
He was six at the time. They were very open with me about his medical history.
Apparently he was injured (tarsal fracture) in a practice race as a two year old. The joint and bones stayed in place, so surgery was not required. They stall rested him for 9 months and he healed up.
They didn't do much with him over the next 3 years and he had intermittent lameness issues, which turned out to be due to his fusing Hocks.
When I purchased him, he had been completely sound about 8-10 months and x-Rays confirmed both hocks were completely fused.
I've had him about 15 months now and pretty much completely restarted him. Other then 1 abscess, we haven't had any major soundness issues, but I'm finally starting to pattern him and I'm getting some stiffness to the left.
It's never flat out refusal but he has the tendency to want to nose out of a left turn, and as I've become more aware of it I feel it in his Circle work as well.
I've been told it could be hocks or stifles, and we have an appointment next week for X-Rays/flexion test to see what else we can figure out.
Does anyone else have experience with barrel horses with fused hocks?
Have your horses with fused hocks had stifle issues as well?
How long do your joint injections last?
What other supplements etc are really helping?
*he is on Injectable Acetyl D Glucosamine every 2 weeks. He was on Adequan from age 2-5 post injury but had been off a year when I bought him. I am planning to put him back on it after our vet visit.
*side note he had his teeth Floated August '14 and February '15, and was checked again in August '15 but vet said his teeth were great. Chiropractor comes every month. Last check was last week and nothing was out*
I originally assumed it was stiffness in his neck, so I've spent the last two months flexing his neck every day but I am still getting tension.
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 Owner of a ratting catting machine
Posts: 2258
 
| Could easily be a suspensory injury as well. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
 
| Could be the si joint, or stifle
If the hocks are fused completely (this generally doesn't happen on their own especially both, but if it did you are lucky) the upper hock could be affected (the high motion joint)
If the hocks didn't fuse completely, even if there is a 1/4" that didn't fuse, this will cause a shearing action and cause pain
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 Veteran
Posts: 237
Location: Ava, Missouri | Get a video of him going to the left at a lope. If he is swinging his butt out, stabbing with his inside toe in the turn, its a hock issue. Stifle problems are usually pretty noticeable, they can't bend their hind legs well at all. |
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 Lady Di
Posts: 21556
Location: Oklahoma | Barrel_Racer_77 - 2015-10-25 3:39 PM
Get a video of him going to the left at a lope. If he is swinging his butt out, stabbing with his inside toe in the turn, its a hock issue. Stifle problems are usually pretty noticeable, they can't bend their hind legs well at all.
This is not true. They can bend their legs with stifle issues. In fact, many times stifle issues are mistaken for hock issues. Sometimes they will drag their toes at a walk or trot; sometimes they will act like they miss a step in the back or stepped in a hole. I would just listen to your vet and go with his recommendations, but I agree that if both hocks are fused, you are very lucky. Usually they partially fuse, but will still need injections. If in doubt, make sure you go to an equine specialist and get an opinion from him/her. If the vet doesn't have digital X rays, thermograph and ultrasound, at the very least, I'd say you need to go somewhere else because it could be a myriad of things causing the stiffness. It might be as simple as a visit to an equine chiropractor. |
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boon
Posts: 2
| Thanks for the replies. We'll see what the vet says. I am not using my normal vet for this one though, we are seeing a performance horse specialist. According to our X-Rays at purchase both hocks were completely fused. Vet said it was definitely not typical, but would save some trouble down the road. Chiropractor checks him about once every 4-6 weeks depending on how he seems to be feeling so it should be a chiropractic issue. He does tend to have a Pelvic tilt to the left which may play into it as well.
We will see.
I've never had to inject before so I just have a lot of questions, and want to do what's best for him. |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | this may already be posted but, if he is completely fused in both hocks, there is nothing to inject in the hock joint. The tibiotarsal joint is rarely if ever injected, and you don't want to be injecting that joint in the hock as its a high motion joint.
this doesn't mean the pain isn't coming from the hocks, but if it is, the two joint spaces that you inject drugs in are gone in your case because he's fused |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | Agree with Casual that if the hocks are completely fused, you CAN'T inject them because you won't get the needle in them. Are both of the lower joints fused? Are the upper joints affected at all?
Hypothetically, once the hocks are fused (the lower ones, that is) that they won't cause any more pain; so long as they are completely fused.
My gelding had a fusing hock on the right side. While it was in progress, the injections were amazing. I had a whole new horse on my hands. They worked great. Now he is completely fused and he seems to be doing fine. He does also have a catching right stifle. We tried injecting it but ti didn't really help much. Fortunately, his isn't too bad and it is managed by good exercise. For him, he was cross-riding in back on his turns, and he has the typical "stepped in a hole" feeling if I let him trot strung out. If I keep him collected at the trot, he won't do it.
As you are already doing, a full vet workup is in order!
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You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | theres just a lot of stuff going on in the distal limb..
hind limb suspensory pain can block to the distal hock, and distal hock pain can block to the suspensory. you can also have bone pain from the origin of the suspensory on the cannon bone.
Then theres stifle pain that can flex positive to upper limb flexion (the hock will too).. what you would do at that point is start with your nerve blocks and see what blocks out. you can also palpate for changes in the stifle and hock that may tip you off.
what do you mean by nose out? I had one that started lunging out of her left turns, she ended up having an OCD in her stifle. |
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