Am I Crazy?

[Coppers mom]

Or are joint injections really just a cure all for anything from blinking funny to hobbling along on three legs?

I work at a barn that's sold a lot of horses this year, and my own beasts have their own little sets of problems (one is old, the other is suicidal). Consequently, I've met a lot of vets. We've probably had 15 vet visits/vettings in the last 6-8 months. I am absolutely astounded at the number of vets who suggest injecting without any real investigation into the problem. Some say the horse may need it in the future (which is fine, and likely), others go so far as to say that they have a "feeling" the horse should be injected. I even had one tell me that I should inject my then 3 1/2 year old's hock because it clicked when she walked.

One of the most extreme examples (not being specific so as not to point out the vet), young horse was tried out 4 days in a row by the client, and had a vetting on the fifth day. Beautiful flexions, sound on a 10 meter circle on concrete, sound under saddle, everything. But, the horse's back was sore (and rightly so, the horse had been working hard). The vet said "Yeah, he should probably have hock and back injections. I'd do that, wait two weeks, and then come back".

WHAT?! Am I the only one who thinks that that is a huge leap of logic? Why not x-ray if the hocks are possibly the problem? That would cost the client less (I see how that could be a problem for this vet, but that's beside the point), and actually finger/negate the hocks as a cause for soreness. Am I crazy to think that this is a little extreme? The horse is young, much too young to consider hock injections as a normal, maintenance type thing. Considering the previous hard weekend's work, the horse's young age, and back soreness being the only pimple on an otherwise good vetting, why would a vet suddenly jump to hock and back injections?

If I'm way off base here, tell me. But I'm just amazed that no further diagnostic work is being encouraged. The last two vets that came out didn't suggest x-rays, blocks, ultrasounds, or anything when they questioned something the horse was doing, just that the new owner should inject the joint. Am I nuts? Or are injections just being looked at as a cure all these days?

**note** I am aware that back soreness can be caused by issues with the hocks, etc etc.

[greysandbays]

I'm of the opinion that sticking needles in joints should be done only after a careful analysis says the guaranteed benefits outweigh the possible risks. You can poke holes in things that ain't supposed to have holes in 'em only so many times before the law of averages catches up with you and things go very, very wrong.

Having had several horses active way in to their twenties without ever becoming a pin cushion, maybe I'm biased. But IMO, if such stuff is becoming routinely necessary, either A) we're breeding some really piss-poor horses, or B) we are making inexcusable management errors, or C) we are asking too much of them. -- or some combination thereof. And we shouldn't be trying to fix any of them with a squirt o' this and a squirt o' that.

Mayhaps "joint injections" have become the "snake oil" of our time.

[lolalola]

And aren't they quite lucrative for vets?

[jaimebaker]

I even had one tell me that I should inject my then 3 1/2 year old's hock because it clicked when she walked.


I had some bloodwork done on a horse last month. I told the vet he was pretty lazy and wanted to make sure his bloodwork was normal. The vet said 'Well, he could be getting arthritis'. I told him that the horse did indeed click at the walk (no other gaits). Sounds like stifle to me but doesn't bother him, he's sound, etc.. The vet did all sorts of flexing and checking and couldn't find a single thing wrong. Checked him for back pain as well. And still, after the exam went on to tell me 'Ya know, we got in some rebates for Adequan. That would be something good to try'. Here's the kicker. This is an 8 year old horse that's not even ridden. AND the vet found nothing wrong with him. I'm 32 and my joints creak and click every time I stand up. I told him I would try a feed through but unless the horse was in pain I wasn't going to pump a bunch of money into the hocks of a horse that's not ridden, ESPECIALLY when he found nothing wrong with him. And of course, there was no other mention of getting x-rays or any other diagnostics AT ALL. Just 'lets start him on Adequan'. :mad: I really have to wonder what sort of kick back they are getting from these injections.

[ontarget]

Prepare for rant mode...

In the hey day of my "show years," all of my horses were injected without question. It didn't matter if there were really any issues going on or what age they were, they still got injected. If there were issues, well, they were injected anyway and to heck with the x rays unless they were on 3 legs. At the time, when I was younger and less knowledgeable, I never even thought about it. It was always that every 6 months, such and such horse had to have a couple days off and a week of light riding due to hock/back/stifle/pelvis/you-name-it-and-its-injected injections.

Honestly, there are many things I regret about that period (namely my clueless ignorance and lack of involvement on a horsemanship level), but this is probably one of the few accompanied by big, flashing, red neon lights. A number of the horses I rode became injured and broke down, and I feel that the injections were helping cover up these things until such and such horse had some ligament that was deteriorating to the point that the best thing for him was time off or retirement. I feel sick just thinking about it.

I remember taking my High Jr/AO stallion to the vet after problems with his digital flexor tendon. We nerved him two times in the same area in the course of probably 4 years (nerving should be done at most once every 4 years because it usually takes nerves 4+ years to grow back) and went about our merry way while the tendon continued to deteriorate. It finally got to the point where there was basically nothing left of the tendon, and I went to some supposedly awesome big name vet and asked him what my options were, and he suggested nerving again in a higher area. It didn't matter that the deterioration was so bad that he was lame even after injections and nerving. I mean, why don't we just saw off the whole lower leg and replace it with an artificial one??

Needless to say, I took a look at ultrasounds, got the opinion of several other vets, and decided that the best option for the horse (and really the only option) was to retire him. He now is a successful breeding stallion, but I can't help but feel miserable about the whole situation.

Now, here I am again with my two upper level jumpers. Both horses came from Europe and, during that time, had never been injected or even needed supplements in their life. One came to CA and was injected. Six months later and he is in my hands. I noticed some general stiffness/slight lameness so I take him to the vet. First thing vet suggests is injections. We investigate further, take a muscle biopsy and find out that he has PSSM, meaning that the stiffness/lameness was coming from the fact that he had been getting too much sugar in his diet and not enough turn out. Switch his diet and he has not had a lame step since (other than soreness from his foot issues of course, which are being resolved slowly, but nicely, and he is incredibly not lame for how thin his soles are). Definitely no need for injections!

I'm just waiting until something shows up in my other horse and the vet starts to recommend injections... Oh no! He clicked one time in his stifle at the canter for one stride! Let's inject!

As far as the whole clicking when moving thing... I thought I heard somewhere that this didn't necessarily mean anything, that it could simply be pockets of air getting stuck around the joints that make a popping sound when the joint moves. Is this wrong? I know that sometimes it can indicate a problem, but not always, so it's crazy to think a vet would automatically assume that injections are the solution.