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Veteran
Posts: 277
 
Location: North texas | I am getting back into horses after a long break. I board, so I have one horse at a time. I am looking at a horse to purchase that xrays showed hock arthritis. Vet suggestion was to inject hocks to be comfortable and joint will be fusing in next 1-2 yrs and should be better after this. I hate to have a horse that will be in pain for the next possible 2 yrs since this is all I have to ride. Do most horses have this happen at ages 6-8? And so if I buy a horse in this age bracket this is to be expected??
I have read as much as I can find, but I don't really understand. Can anyone point me to a good article or reference on this? |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
 
| Most horses don't fuse properly on their own.
Injections only last a period of time depending on the horse, activity level, medication injecting into joint, etc.
You need to ask yourself can you afford the maintenance? |
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Veteran
Posts: 277
Location: North texas | Probably a bad idea. Thank you!! |
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| I have a 10 year old who has arthritis in her hocks and they haven't completely fused yet. I ran her for a couple years with injections only lasting 3 months at the most. I am not sure if I would buy one knowing their hocks aren't fused yet. JMO but they may never fuse and it does cost a lot to keep them running without being in pain. |
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 I don't speak Portuguese
Posts: 4883
Location: West River - SoDak | cheryl makofka - 2014-10-23 3:58 PM
Most horses don't fuse properly on their own.
Injections only last a period of time depending on the horse, activity level, medication injecting into joint, etc.
You need to ask yourself can you afford the maintenance?
I had a very in depth conversation regarding this with my vet and this is basically what he said as well. He said that complete hock fusion almost NEVER happens in performance horses. The only way to insure your horse fuses sound is to have the hocks fused surgically. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 306
| If you plan to run barrels, any horse you own will require some sort of maint. Running barrels is very hard on them. If you like the horse I would not be scared of it, if lower hocks are its only problem, as injections will maintain them.
As for the fusing, more than likely wont happen on its own. We have a 13 yr old 1D horse that injections quit helping. We took him to Dr Hague in Edmond, OK and had a laser treatment done to fuse his hocks. After a little rehab, he is back to work with no more issues. |
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