Help! horse has arthiritus?

Question

my barrel racing horse has atheritus in his hocks. i want to find something to wrap on his hocks after i run to relieve swelling and pain.

should i use ice horse wraps or magnetic wraps?

please understand the benefits of both types of wraps before answering.

thank you.

Answer 1

"""Arthritis "", is very pain full and since YOUR STILL running him ,,,, Nothing will help !

Every time you do, you are causing it to get worse!!!



So nothing is going to help.  Until you stop running him ,,



Sorry But I have nothing to help you with,, Only to stop running him,

One day you'll understand the pain he is going tho,, and that one day he will fall down,,

Because he will be putting more weight on his front end to ease his pain in the back end ,,

Your just making his career shorter !

  

Very cruel if you ask me ,,

Sorry But put your place in his shoes?

Now,that  I know more

I would ICE before and after !!for heat and for swelling ""

and use mags every other day to keep the blood flowing

Answer 2

I would go with the Ice wraps...I'm not really familiar with the magnetic but i think you should use water...it will reduce swelling if you keep it iced and possibly help with pain...I had a gelding with arthritis in both front fetlocks...I had to get Joint injections every 4months. I gave him BUTE for pain before every ride (competition or trail riding) sorry to say but I had to get a new horse she is awesome but it's my gelding i'm sorry about. My horse was in such pain that he would rare up at the 1st barrel and refuse to turn. I couldn't afford the vet bills for injections monthly so I decided to turn him out i still ride him but not much beings how he can't tollerate long workouts, just enough to keep the weight off of him LOL...BUT your horse could be totally capable of runnin till he don't have the heart left. I hope this helped but I would definately go with Ice wraps, Joint injections as often as you can afford, and pain killer every ride!

Answer 3

Ice wraps use cold to reduce swelling and heat, magnetic...well, I've never seen magnetic wraps, but I have seen magnetic hock boots...increase blood flow to an area, speeding healing, both are beneficial and I would recommend a combination of the two, using cold hosing and the ice wraps immediately after and up to 24 hours later (not continuously of course! but for 20 mintues at a time), then for 3 to 4 days later I would apply the magnetic boots for a half hour to an hour a day.  Hock injections help but I would also recommend looking into a chondroitin and glucosamine supplement.  Bute masks pain and a horse could hurt himself if he doesn't know he isn't 100% and long term bute can actually cause stomach problems such as ulcers by deteriorating the lining of the stomach and can eventually break down the joints, doing the opposite of what you want.  I suggest no pain killers at all unless your vet tells you to use them as lameness is a sign that you need to take it easy.  These are all standard methods of dealing with arthritic changes which are common in jumpers and dressage horses.  This does not mean you can't continue to run barrels, as long as a vet is comfortable with your horse performing this activity, rest easy that you are doing your best to help your animal and not harming him.