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Discussion on Young horse diagnosed with osteoarthritis of fetlock joint
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New Member:
calgirl
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Posted on Sunday, May 9, 2010 - 8:39 pm:
At the age of 3 1/2, my warmblood was lightly backed ( 2 months of natural horsemanship training) and sent to a dressage trainer to begin his initial training. After a week of lunging, he became lame in the right front leg with a noticeable head bob at the trot. We took him to UC Davis for examination and X-rays and radiographs of the right metacarpophalangeal joint (fetlock) revealed "a joint inflammation and bony changes over the first phalanx with moderate bony remodeling on the dorsal aspect of the first phalanx. These findings indicate osteoarthritis of the fetlock joint." We were devastated, as this horse has an EXCEPTIONAL temperament, conformation, and talent level and was expected to go all the way to the top in any discipline we chose. We were advised to place him back in the pasture after 3 weeks of stall rest until after he turned 4 years old. He is now sound and ready to start back into training, but I am unsure of what level of training activity is best for his long term health and soundness. Should I forego all jumping in his future in order to prolong his long term soundness or would jumping him up to the level of preliminary eventing be OK? Should I restrict training to 3 days a week or less? Do I wait until any lameness presents itself again and then treat the symptoms as they occur? I'd much rather take a proactive route and do all I can to protect his soundness BEFORE lameness presents itself again and even reverse the degenerative process if possible. I have read all I can regarding supplements, IRAP treatments, even stem cell treatment which looks promising at some point in the future (but I still have questions about the long term benefits of the procedure and expense). I LOVE this horse but still want to compete him at some level without pain and discomfort. I am concerned about making poor decisions in his early years that might accelerate his condition. He is on Performance CJ and Osteon. If this was your horse, what would you recommend in terms of starting back in training/ proactive treatment choices to insure his future health ? I've been pretty much advised that his condition is a "deal breaker" for an upper level career but am very unclear in how to proceed forward. Thanks for any advice.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Monday, May 10, 2010 - 6:58 pm:
Welcome call girl,
Your questions about what is going to happen in the future with your horse cannot be answered by anyone. No one knows what the future holds for your horse. I see sound horses jumping with "moderate bony remodeling" in the fetlock joint. On the other hand there are many horses with sore fetlocks and clean radiographs. But these questions will flesh themselves out in time and you will have to patient and take developments as they come and be prepared to be flexible rather than setting up a rigid plan for the future now.
Most simply you should start as slow as you can stand and then build slowly. I think ring work is very hard on horse so I would start with short light trail rides increasing the distance and difficulty every 21 days to build strength in the ankle before returning to the arena. As to proactive treatments certainly oral nutraceuticals are sensible, see the article associated with this discussion area and link to the article on nutraceuticals for specific recommendations. You should also consider post exercise Surpass of the ankle. Recent research has found this to actually benefit an inflamed joints environment. If I were going to look closely for a high tech proactive treatment consider IRAP. We have had several members of this site with good outcomes with its use. This also is discussed in the article but has a link to a specific article on IRAP.
The article goes into greater depth on the management of horses with a diagnosis of osteoarthritis, spend time reviewing it and following the links to specific treatments, I am sure they will help.
DrO
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Member:
stek
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Posted on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 - 11:28 am:
Hi Calgirl, what a bummer about your horse. Just wanted to second Dr. O's recommendation not to go right to ring work or lunging, that can be so stressing to joints. Even at 4 years old, the bigger breeds to tend to mature more slowly so he's still just a baby.
If he were my horse I would focus on flat work for a long time and make sure he was sound at that before considering jumping.
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New Member:
calgirl
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Posted on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 - 7:21 pm:
Hi Dr. Oglesby,
Just wondering whether the purchase of a product like the following would be beneficial to get in the practice of using after exercise or a training session for my horse's right front leg. This boot goes down to below the fetlock area. Has anyone had any experience with these ? Waste of money or could they have some benefit?
wonder
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Thursday, May 13, 2010 - 7:30 am:
Following work, icing down the legs of horses with chronic ligament or tendon disorders helps limit acute inflammation and swelling. I am less certain about its application for osteoarthritis. The principles would be similar and could be something you might try if you have problems.
DrO
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