Lameness, which affects more than 10 percent of horses, can limit or
end an animal’s useful working life.
But David Wilson says it doesn’t have to be that way.
“It is a big loss to the industry every year, and often there is
treatment available that may improve the situation,” said the equine
surgeon from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine at the
University of Saskatchewan.
According to a 1998 report by the United States Department of
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Agriculture’s National Animal Monitoring System, between 8.5 and 13.7
lameness cases occur in every 100 full-sized horses annually.
The study showed that treatment cost an average of $432 US, down time
lasted an average of 110 days, and fatalities were 2.5 percent.
Lameness cost Americans $678 million in 1998 – $35 million in
fatalities, $195 million in drug costs and $448 million in lost use.
“We can expect that Canadian horses experience similar instances,”
Wilson said. “They lead pretty much the same lives.”
For many working horses, lameness becomes a problem in “middle age”
when the animal is in the peak of its career.
While the problem may be hard to define, in many cases chronic heel
pain can end a horse’s usefulness unless treated properly.
Some signs of joint disease may include lameness, swelling, excessive
synovial fluid and pain when the limb is turned.
“Often something can be done and the earlier we diagnose a problem the
better the outcome is likely to be.”
Wilson said injuries at ages four to seven may go untreated or the
animal may continue to be used without proper healing time, which
exacerbates the degeneration of the affected joint.
Drug therapies can help ease pain and get horses back to work.
Joint lubricators may be added to an arthritic or damaged joint.
Injections of polysulfonated glycosaminoglycan or Adequan can increase
joint fluid and thicken damaged cartilage.
Some practitioners suggest that its use may also cause the body to
build its own joint lubricators, and can be given orally to find their
way to the joint on their own, but researchers say this remains only a
theory.
Treatment with hyaluronic acid “will make the joint slippery again.”
Corticosteroids can also be used to reduce inflammation in lower motion
joints, such as the distal tarsal and pastern. These drugs are well
known and cost effective, said Wilson.
Nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs control tissue swelling and help
reduce pain, but the latest generations of this group are costly for
veterinary treatment.
Drug therapies over the medium term also allow lower joints to continue
breaking down until natural fusing takes place, at which time the
therapy may no longer be needed.
Surgery is an option when the pastern joint has become so arthritic
that it no longer functions without pain.
Pastern arthrodesis is the mechanical fusing of the pastern joint with
placement of three parallel screws and a bone plate. It stabilizes the
joint and within a year eight out of 10 animals are able to return to a
normal working life.
The surgery costs between $2,000 and $3000 at the WCVM.
“It may sound like a lot of money, but if you think that a good saddle
horse will bring $3,000 to $5,000 and it’s $2,000 or $3,000 to get you
six to 10 more years of service with a horse you know, heck, that’s a
pretty good investment,” Wilson said.
Proper hoof maintenance will prevent many injuries and disease in
horse’s feet.
Long toes or heels can cause an imbalance in the foot, resulting in
leverage on the distal joints of the limb and increased tension on the
tendon at the back of the foot.
This may result in chronic pain or injury that would be unnecessary if
the balance and loading of the foot were taken into account during hoof
trimming and shoeing.
For racing animals, chips in the joints may be simply treated with
arthroscopic surgery, which can allow them to return to the track the
following season.
Wilson said North American researchers are searching for therapies that
involve resurfacing cartilage.
“That will revolutionize everything.”
