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  Discussion on NECK ARTHRITIS OR SOMETHING ELSE?
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Member:
suemc

Posted on Friday, Feb 15, 2013 - 11:29 am:

Hello everyone out there in horse advice world

I have looked but cannot find any specific area that this comes under and having searched the internet can't find that many references to my poor mare's symptoms. Decided this is best place to start the thread

Ellie is 22 y/o arab and Ive owned her 21 years. Fit and well all this time apart from a nasty injury front shoulder when she was 8 and ran into a sharp metal object (big op to sew muscles back in. Skin died and big scar but sound since)

On Sunday gave her feed as usual but she couldnt put her head down to eat it. Thought colic at first till I realised she wanted to eat just couldnt lower head. Rang vet - said to bute. Gave 3g bute (2 sachets) and next morning she could lower head but awkwardly. Had vet out yesterday - sorry to say but the one that came is not my favourite but cant choose which one the practice sends. Said maybe arthritis and nowt we can do other than give pain killers.

She cant flex neck great to right or left
either. Seems tense about the middle area

She eats fine if bucket is hung about waist height- eats her hay fine, appetite fine. Had to put her water in hang on buckets too.

She's been mainly out 24/7 except when weather really bad. Out again now. Not sure if its better for her to move her neck (ie encourage her to flex to floor or not)

Not sure if she could have fallen in mud? Some areas of pasture very muddy and she has been out with much younger horse who is a bit boisterous. he's now been moved to his own field.

Really worried about her. Has anyone else ever come across this - was it arthritis?

She seems okay in herself - just not quite as lively (not racing up the field etc)but if her neck hurts when she puts it down I guess it will also hurt when she walks about

Any advice most appreciated. I lost my lovely horse Copper aged just 11, two years ago and could do without this. Thanks everyone.
Member:
rdewitt

Posted on Friday, Feb 15, 2013 - 12:39 pm:

At the age of 12 one of our jumpers suddenly began violently twitching in his head & neck and couldn't lower his head past his withers to eat grain or hay. He was, bizarrely enough, able to eat grass. When we rode him he also began to have tremors in his neck and face. We went to USF and spent all day, along with a sizeable amount of money, to no avail. We did note, however, that he was much worse from the trip up there, and we reasoned having his head tied up made things worse.
We worked with a saddle fitter and got a new saddle, fitted to perfection. We worked with a fantastic holistic person who did wonders for him, and announced his back, hocks, neck, you name it, were all out and he was obvious excruciating pain.
How did he go from great to really bad in one day? We didn't know, no one did.
Another holistic person, a cranial therapist or something like that, came out and said his nuchal ligament was very, very bad. She worked on that area for several months, all the while we did not ride him.
I began riding him bareback with a trainer on the ground, and he was fine, no head twitches, no problem eating, etc. (all of that took some time to go away, he was off almost 8 months total, the pain killers & muscle relaxers all worked, but symptoms would come back right away after meds were done and it was only after being laid off for 3 months all reluctance to put head down, head twitching, etc) disappeared.
When we began to ride him in earnest, the twitching came back, but not the spasms or whatever it was in his neck that caused him to originally not be able to eat hay/grain except waist high (again, he could graze, but if we put grain on the ground he would not eat it or if he tried he would throw his head up violently and twitch).
We injected his hocks, we put him on a grain free diet, we added about $300.00 a month in holistic supplements, plus the chiropractor/holistic people, bit less bridle, no saddle, we did it all.
He still would twitch and get sore in his neck, and he was much to young, to fit, and too full of life to retire, so the vet suggested previcox, one tablet every other day, and that is what we have done for the past year and he is 99% perfect. Occasionally after a rigorous day at a show he will twitch a few times but that is all, and his appetite and ability to eat on the ground stays good. That is what we watch for the most now, any change in his ability to eat- because if that happens then he must be laid off 100% again.
And we check his kidneys/blood work, etc every 4 months to make sure he isn't getting a reaction to the previcox.
We had also observed some bizarre kicking and explosions in the trailer prior to his nuchal ligament issue.
We observed what caused this bizarre kicking and going crazy behaviour just last week when we still had the trailer doors open and Dominic slipped and fell, caught only by his halter. He went insane trying to get up, and it seriously stressed his neck. That, we believe, is what happened to his nuchal ligament. He trips, falls, whatever, during a trailering in, panics, and rips his neck out. We cannot stabilize his ride anymore than we have, we have a slant load trailer, top of the line etc., but now we at least feel like we MIGHT know what caused the initial injury, and I personally think it's chronic now and we have to do our best to keep him comfortable and if at all possible, avoid it happening again.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Feb 16, 2013 - 10:43 am:

Hello Sue Mc,
A stiff neck is a common problem in horses and there can be many reasons for this. Yes trauma with or without arthritis is certainly possible. But trauma may hurt the muscles too. Is there any evidence of trauma? I presume the vet took the horses temperature and there was no fever? The most common reason I see a stiff neck is soreness around a injection site in the neck.
DrO
Member:
suemc

Posted on Tuesday, Feb 19, 2013 - 5:31 pm:

Thank you very much for the feedback about the experience with your horse oldjumpergal, and for yours Dr O.

Pardon my ignorance, Im not sure what previcox is OJG but will look it up. Im currently giving her 1.5 grams bute a day split into two 0.75g doses am/pm but hoping to give as one dose at some point as I think that would be better for her stomach? This is keeping her comfortable and she can graze okay at that although when she first puts her head down after it's been up for a while you can see she is stiff. Once her head is down then it seems to loosen up and she's okay. I am hoping it's muscular rather than arthritic but as time goes on and she isn't right then I am thinking not muscular... Anyway if we have to keep her on bute long term/life long then even though I dont like it.. I have little choice.

In response to your comments re injuries Dr O, No sign of trauma to neck but incidentally she does have a grey flat sarcoid at base of neck (front) that over the years has grown very slowly to about the size of the bottom of a small tin can. It has never bothered her and isn't ulcerating or anything so I usually leave it alone but thought Id mention just in case as she does occasionally show a little resentment to being brushed over the top of it!

Oh and no the vet did not take her temperature!! I should have asked at time and did wonder why not after he had gone but I had him vaccinating my three other horses after he'd examined Ellie and it slipped my mind. I don't think she has a temperature though as no other indications of this but will make a point of checking myself. Is there a chance it could be a viral/bacterial thing then? She's up to date with vaccinations against flu and tetanus.

Also - based on your comments OJG, over the years, Ellie has always been one to have sudden panic attacks when tied up and to pull back which is why she's always tied to string that breaks relatively easily (as are my other horses who don't have the same problem) Wonder whether many minor injuries over the years have now resulted in an arthritic condition??

What am I doing now? I spoke to a horse physio/chiropracter the other day to see if she thought she could help and she is coming out Tues 26th Feb. She was recommended to me by my friend who had a horse who threw his head a lot when ridden. Ive never used one and my apologies to any genuine ones out there but I worry about cranks taking/wasting your money!! Anyway thought I would give her/it a try for Ellie's sake. One of the young horses I bought from a dealer last year (or should I say saved from a dealer!)shakes his head occasionally too both when being ridden and driven (teeth checked okay) so she can have a look at him at same time.

I spoke to this lady before agreeing an appointment and she said that in her experience older horses with arthritis in their necks have usually had it a while without showing it until an injury/fall etc suddenly sets the pain off and then it's a matter of settling it down again. She sounded very good actually so we will see!

I will post on here afterwards with my thoughts and news of Ellie's progress

It would be a sad world without horses in our human lives. Best wishes to true horse lovers and their lovely horses. SueMc
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Monday, Feb 25, 2013 - 11:56 am:

Sue, Previcox is a tablet meant for dogs but it turns out to be a good dosage for a horse and cheaper than purchasing the equine equivalent.

I have used it many times for my horses and it is supposed to be a little kinder on their stomachs, which I have found to be the case. Supposedly there is less risk of using it longer term as opposed to Bute.

I have an old gelding -- 28 this year, who strangely did not want to eat his grain out of a floor pan either over a period of time although he would eat hay off of the ground and graze the grass.

His neck is kind of stiff to one side but has been for years.

The other issue that I suspect may have been causing a problem for him is that he had a tooth that had cracked that was bothering him.

Hope you get things back on track with your horses.

Good luck to you.
Member:
gramsey1

Posted on Monday, Feb 25, 2013 - 6:22 pm:

Careful with the Previcox. 1/4 of a 227mg tab is the dose for a 1000 lb horse. And, after a few days you can probably cut back to every other day. There is a good discussion of dose calculations here. And why you don't need to dose horses every day.

https://www.horseadvice.com/horse/messages/5/282119.html
Member:
vickiann

Posted on Tuesday, Feb 26, 2013 - 2:04 pm:

The size of Previcox tablet that I use is 57 mg. Sometimes I have used a full tablet for a 900 - 1150 pound horse for quite a time (without problem) but for lower level of pain and inflammation I have used a half of a tablet daily.

some folks will alternate every other day -- you just have to experiment a bit for your particular circumstance.

Thanks, Guy -- I had forgotten all about a larger potency of tablet being available.
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