Neck Arthritis

[charl]

Has anyone got any experiences of this with their horses? My 6 year old Hanoverian has recently being diagnosed and it currently having rehab to see how she copes with being brought back into work and whether there is any permanent neurological damage prior to her having a CT scan in January (she is currently very mildly ataxic). It was diagnosed following to a recent fall in the field (while having a mad 5 mins!) and landing on her neck - obviously the fall didn't cause the arthritis but it the trauma to her neck has aggravated it and highlighted the issue. She also sustained collateral ligament damage in her right fore when she had the fall which was diagnosed via MRI but 2 months of rest & remedial shoeing she is now sound. Any experiences, good or bad, would be interesting. Thanks

 

[lauren123]

Hmm... I know of a mare that has neck arthritis and she is back in work she had injections I believe. But shes gone from a competition horse to a happy hacker I think.

 

[charl]

My vet has said that she should never be jumped, which isn't a problem at all as I prefer all 4 feet on the floor these days! Lol I did have unaffiliated dressage plans for her but I'm not sure now that she will be able to do that and lateral work is probably out of the question too. To be honest though happy hacker and light schooling would be fine by me as long as she is happy and pain free

 

[Trewsers]

Chloe had a strange stiffness that appeared out of the blue in her neck and meant she struggled bending down to eat grass (most unlike her!). Vet came and examined her and given that she is 27 he suspected one of two things: either she rolled and landed badly and twisted it or that she was starting with age related arthritis. We agreed the way forward was to monitor and give her Danilon as and when required. After a week or so we saw an improvement but when we dropped the danilon off completely she seemed to suffer again. He did say it might seem worse some days more than other, so now we just treat as and when needed. But, she is on devil claw and that has helped enormously, she looks fab now and really comfortable.

 

[charl]

Deli is currently on vetroflex, vitamin E and turmeric. She is not on bute/danilon at the moment as she has improved so much over the time frame (4 weeks on bute with total box rest, 5 weeks no bute with box rest and 10 mins twice a day hand walking - which was interesting to say the least!) I'm hoping that she continues to improve now that she is being brought back into work. The vet seemed to think that starting ridden work again would be a good test of how she copes neurologically and pain wise. She has muscle wastage on her left shoulder due to the trauma to the nerves in her neck at the time of injury - the muscle wastage was as fast as a week for now its walk work 5 times a week under saddle for 20 mins, increasing by 5 mins each week then after a month introduce trot before she goes back to the vets in January for a potential CT. Everything is very much up in the air at the moment regarding her future but I'm keeping everything crossed that she comes right, at least to be a happy hacker or comfortable field ornament. She's got age on her side and she's very sensible really for a warmblood which always helps for rehab I think.

 

[charl]

Chloe had a strange stiffness that appeared out of the blue in her neck and meant she struggled bending down to eat grass (most unlike her!). Vet came and examined her and given that she is 27 he suspected one of two things: either she rolled and landed badly and twisted it or that she was starting with age related arthritis. We agreed the way forward was to monitor and give her Danilon as and when required. After a week or so we saw an improvement but when we dropped the danilon off completely she seemed to suffer again. He did say it might seem worse some days more than other, so now we just treat as and when needed. But, she is on devil claw and that has helped enormously, she looks fab now and really comfortable.

I'm glad Chloe is better now and comfortable 27 is a very good age!