Horse Degenerative Joint Disease – Care and Prevention

by

Jared Wright

Horses are heavy animals and when a human is placed on top, the stress on the joints becomes even greater. What’s more, horses who reach an age around fifteen years will begin to experience a slow shift in their metabolism that will make their joints more susceptible to conditions such as degenerative joint disease. While not found solely in older horses, it is certainly more common.

This is a condition that befalls most horse during their lifetime unless the horse is largely let alone to pasture and is never ridden. While a horse certainly is a wonderful mode of conveyance, the horse’s body did not develop and evolve with a large amount of weight on top in mind. With this in mind, joint care should be an important aspect of your horse overall health care.

Degenerative joint disease is the name given to the condition that arises and progresses as a horse’s joint becomes worn. The membrane within the joint is slowly worn and inflamed to where it no longer produces the fluids found in a joint regularly or in sufficient quantities. The limited amount of fluid causes the cartilage of the joint to thin and possibly even tear which will be painful for your horse. If degenerative joint disease is left untreated, a horse will experience lameness in no time.

Your first sign that your horse may be having joint problems is a little bit of puffiness around the joint areas. Unless you are looking for this, you are unlikely to notice it, and a horse that exhibits no other symptoms might still be on the path towards serious joint disability.

More overt and obvious symptoms involve clear pain in the joint areas, and your horse may be very reluctant to do work. A horse at this stage will also have puffiness around the joints. You may note that your horse movements and gait seems to be stiff when you first brought her out and that they improve as she warms up. If you notice that maneuvers that usually would have been easily performed are now very difficult or your horse refuses to do them, this may also be a sign that degenerative joint disease has indeed set in.

If you notice or even suspect that your horse may have developed degenerative joint disease, give your veterinarian a call. The vet will perform a flex test in which the joint or joints are flexed. Afterward you will likely be asked to lead your horse to walk around briefly which will give your vet a chance to get a look at the horse’s gait. At this point, your veterinarian will advice if your horse is required to take x-ray to confirm the condition.

There are several therapies you may use to help treat your horse’s joint disease. After working, you may choose to spray down your horse’s joints with cold water. This simple exercise will help to reduce the swelling in the area. You can consider to reduce your horse’s activities to those that stress the joints lesser.

Last but not least, your veterinarian can administer injections, made out of your horse’s own blood, that go directly into the joint to help mitigate the pain and inflammation.

Akhal-Teke, a horse breed who lives in Russia can survive for days without food and water. To learn more about horses, including more

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