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Expert
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Location: In the land of peanuts and cotton | My better horse has been fighting a bad bone spur in side her coffin joint for years. We've been able to keep it managed with injections and prevocox when she needs it plus I don't run her everywhere any more either. We were told from the beginning that the injections would only work for so long but how long that was depended on her. Here we are 3 years later and the injections just don't work anymore. She beeds to be injected every 8 weeks to even keep her half way sound. As bad as I hate it I just can't do that. I don't have $280 every 8 weeks. Plus I don't want to do that to her because to me that just doesn't seem fair. Our only options is to either de-nerve her or retire her. Neither of which I like but I've got to make a decision. I said from the beginning I would never de-nerve her but now that I'm faced with it maybe it's not as bad as I think? She's only 11. We tried to breed her last 2 years with the idea of retiring her but she never would catch. Tell me about de-nerving. Is it as horrible as I think it is?
I will say this because for some reason it's sticking with me. I loaded all my other horses for a barrel race a couple weekends ago. She couldn't go because she's not sound enough. When I leave her home she has ALWAYS chased my trailer all the way down the drive way. This particular when we left I turned to look for her and she was under the tree eating grass. Like she didn't care that she got left. She loves to run more than any horse I've ever had but could that be her way of saying "hey mom it's ok I'm ready"? |
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | If she s hurting that bad I would just retire her. |
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 Expert
Posts: 5293
| Tried Osphos??? Or Tildren with Regional profusion to that foot??? I have used both on a horse with some pretty nasty coffin joint arthritis. We started with the coffin joint injection. It worked and lasted 7 months first time then only 3 months second time. We did Tildren regional profusion and it was amazing and lasted close to a year but it was 900.00. THats just when Osphos came out we tried that instead and its 225.00 a dose. So far I have only had to give it once a year!!!
Having said all of this..... my mom went to the NFR on a nerved horse in BOTH front feet and he was fine. But you just have to watch where you stall them and check their feet all the time. |
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Expert
Posts: 1477
Location: In the land of peanuts and cotton | FLITASTIC - 2016-06-18 11:19 PM
Tried Osphos??? Or Tildren with Regional profusion to that foot??? I have used both on a horse with some pretty nasty coffin joint arthritis. We started with the coffin joint injection. It worked and lasted 7 months first time then only 3 months second time. We did Tildren regional profusion and it was amazing and lasted close to a year but it was 900.00. THats just when Osphos came out we tried that instead and its 225.00 a dose. So far I have only had to give it once a year!!!
Having said all of this..... my mom went to the NFR on a nerved horse in BOTH front feet and he was fine. But you just have to watch where you stall them and check their feet all the time.
I've never heard of Osphos. We discussed Tildren a couple times but he doesnt think that it would do her any good. She wears soft rides any time she's in a stall and gets 6 bags of shavings. What would I be watching/checking for? |
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Expert
Posts: 5293
| Have to check for nails cuts etc in those feet because they can't feel their feet so they can damage them and not know it. Moms horse ran down and ally and through headers box and caught his shoe on the score line for the team Ropers. It used to be set with a rope and 2 nails into ground. Total flook but it came up and nail went through his foot and he never felt it. Also they can't feel an Abcess either. |
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Expert
Posts: 3514
 
| Go to Medicine Bag .com. I have been researching the product. And talked to the owner Friday. Its not expensive and might be worth a try before retiring her or nerving her. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| It all depends on where the bone spur is.
Is it causing any tendon or ligament damage or potential for damage?
Is the spur in the joint? If this is the case the joint may try and fuse.
What treatments are you doing on a daily basis to prolong the injections?
I have been told it isn't necessarily the running that is detrimental, it is the keeping them in shape and the hauling.
I won't nerve a horse, as if they develop an abscess they will be unable to feel it until it is really bad. If they get cut up, or caught in a fence they also have a sensory impairment.
There is a medication that consists of snake venom a vet can inject into the nerve, it blocks the pain receptors but the horse can still feel their feet. It lasts anywhere from a month to three, the cost is around the same for an injection |
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2937
Location: North Dakota | I've not personally had to denerve a horse but my Red may need it someday if I choose to do it.
I think the thing that would depend is what part and how much of the foot you need to denerve. In my case, if Red needs it, he only needs it on the very back of the heel. So only a small area would be numb. He would still feel the sides, bottom, and toe of the foot no problem. My vet says he'd be an excellent candidate **if** injections and shoes ever stop working.
So in your case, I suppose it would just depend. On one hand, retirement is a great choice. But sometimes if the horse still loves to go and loves to run barrels, it can be hard to retire them. Definitely a thorough conversation to have with your vet!!
Also, denerving is not permanent. Some can last as little as 2 years and the nerves can regenerate. My vet said it can usually be done a second time without issues, but it can be really hard to do it a 3rd time due to the scar tissue.
Edited by r_beau 2016-06-19 7:26 PM
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Expert
Posts: 1477
Location: In the land of peanuts and cotton | cheryl makofka - 2016-06-19 10:41 AM
It all depends on where the bone spur is.
Is it causing any tendon or ligament damage or potential for damage?
Is the spur in the joint? If this is the case the joint may try and fuse.
What treatments are you doing on a daily basis to prolong the injections?
I have been told it isn't necessarily the running that is detrimental, it is the keeping them in shape and the hauling.
I won't nerve a horse, as if they develop an abscess they will be unable to feel it until it is really bad. If they get cut up, or caught in a fence they also have a sensory impairment.
There is a medication that consists of snake venom a vet can inject into the nerve, it blocks the pain receptors but the horse can still feel their feet. It lasts anywhere from a month to three, the cost is around the same for an injection
if it's effecting any tendons or ligaments I've never been told. It's inside her coffin joint. She gets corrective shoeing and the injections along with Prevocox as needed. I'll agree somewhat with what you said about keeping them in shape. For a while if she stood up for a while she got cripple faster but it doesn't seem to matter either way now. I see her at least twice a day and my dad is home all the time so if she gets cut or something obvious we will know about it. It's the not so obvious that I worry about. |
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