This is an archived Horseadvice.com Discussion. The parent article and menus are available on the navigation menu below:
HorseAdvice.com » Diseases of Horses » Lameness » Joint, Bone, Ligament Diseases » Arthritis and DJD: An Overview »
  Discussion on Recovery time
Author Message
Member:
Mwebster

Posted on Tuesday, Oct 3, 2006 - 8:57 pm:

Dear DrO,

My husband's gelding (28yr old morgan, 16h3) has been going great since he got a stifle injection and started on 1g/day bute for his ringbone. And we did start him on pergolide as he's borderline Cushings (1cc/day). He's been offering up canters, and actually getting a bit strong again, i.e. wanting to jet around.

Then, 2 weeks ago, we took him to the beach. We rode on the hard packed sand at the water's edge at low tide. We walked and trotted, no cantering at all.

He finished the ride looking completely normal, happy, sound. After the trailer ride home (1 1/2 hrs in traffic), we turned him out to graze. Still looked perfectly normal, sound.

Next morning, he could hardly move. He was limping and obviously achy in all of his joints, especially that stifle and both front feet (he has some ringbone on the xrays in the front). He looked just ancient and very uncomfortable all over. We were horrified, and just felt terrible about it. In retrospect, I'm sure sand in general (even wet, hardpacked sand) must be tough on the joints.

He's had 2g/day bute for the last 2 weeks, and of course no work, just the usual 24hr turnout. He's definitely much better, but still not fully recovered, i.e. still not sound.

I'm surprised that it is taking so long for him to recover from what obviously was "too much". Is this pretty much what you might expect for an oldster like this horse, or is there something else we should be thinking about? The only thing that came to mind is tying up, but that's not what it looked like: he just seemed like an achy old fellow and preferred not to do a lot of moving around. Given a little incentive (clover hay) he moved right to it, just looked like everything hurt. It reminded me of how I felt after a half marathon when I was in my 30s, every joint ached for a few days. The bute helped right away, though we're keeping the dose low.

Thanks for any thoughts on this,
Melissa
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Oct 5, 2006 - 9:36 am:

At 28 many horses would find extended exercise difficult and sand is hard on the muscoskeletal system. As always to accurately judge seriousness and prognosis, we have to first know what is causing the lameness and that is not clear from your post.
DrO
Member:
Mwebster

Posted on Thursday, Oct 5, 2006 - 10:14 am:

Thanks, DrO.
We have not taken the horse in for an extensive workup. But we and our primary care vet agree the horse seems to be suffering from pain in "all the usual" joints where we know he already has some arthritis, front feet and that stifle, just "more so". And since it appeared the morning after the ride, we all think it was the direct consequence of "doing too much".

The ride was about the same distance but much slower than his usual daily hacks, but it's clear that even hardpacked wet sand meant a lot more work and more stress on those joints than harder footing does. We'll continue to rest him and let him tell us when he wants to go for a hack. And we'll stay off soft footing from now on.
Melissa
Member:
Mwebster

Posted on Friday, Oct 6, 2006 - 8:31 pm:

Rebel is looking much better today. He was eager to go for a walk (in hand) and was moving very well, seems to be returning to pre-ride comfort. Had his old 2-print overtrack at the walk, and looked a lot more limber. Maybe the cooler weather has him energized, also. Anyhow, we're feeling more optimistic he'll be back to "normal" soon. And no more beach rides!
M
Home Page | Top of Page | Join Us!
Horseadvice.com is a BBB Accredited Business. Click for the BBB Business Review of this Horse Training in Stokesdale NC