Urgent help wanted about a georgous pony needing help!!!!

[zola is gr8]

There is a horse at our yard that was a gypsy's pony and was driven from a very young age. A person bought him to "rescue" him and he was unfit. She got him fitter and then he went lame, she called a vet out and he didn't know what was wrong with him. They took him to the vets to get some x-rays. They showed that he had a bone spavin in his hock. They told her to ride him to settle the spavin down but know he is very sore in his back. We all know this lady who communicates with the spirits above and that way she can talk to the horses. She listened to him and she said he said that his back hurt a lot and the only reason he has a bone spavin is because he is resting all his weight on his legs to get the pressure off his back. We called the vet out again tonight and he said that because he was driven at a young age he has athiritis and said there are two options to have him operated on or to give him a drug that hasnt yet been used on animals. :(

I looked it up on the web and it came up with a treatment called Gallium nitrate. Has any body heard of or used this product? :(

Can anyone suggest what we can do to help him? Shall we do surgery, do you have any other ideas of treatment etc etc?

[xxXLady_LuckXxx]

I would say it depends how fit the horse is :(

I mean do you really think she should be put through the stress of surgery and the possibility of no recovery, or used as a guinea pig for this new drug?

I feel your pain but sometimes you just have to know when to say goodbye, i'm sorry i could'nt be much help.

p.s i did once hear about something called an angel sling but i doubt it would work.

[zola is gr8]

Thanx Lady. Anyone else:(

[Kanuma]

i would first have to ask how old this pony is? if he is elderly is it realy fair to him to put him through an operation? does this operation require a local or general anasetic? if it is a general is he in good enough health otherwise to survive the anasetic? and what are the chances of success? and what are the chances of returning to a reasonable level of work?

as for the drug id be wary of that! if it isnt liscenced for use on horses then your vet can get in trouble for it and alot of nasty side affects can occur. how sure is your vet that this will work? what does she/he think the possible side affects and results will be? to use a horse as a guinea pig for a drug requires a special license from the government and several vets to counter sign it etc! (im currently haveing one of my horses used as a guinea pig for a new sweetitch vaccine)

have you tried getting richard maxwell to see this horse? he did wonders for my arabs back! if you relieve the pain in her back (which seems to be the cause of the rest of the problems), the rest might come right on its own! i would advise getting a chiropracter to have a look at her! where abouts are you? if you want i PM me and i'll give you Richard Maxwells number and the number of anouther very good backman! RM goes all over the country!

[sammywiskers]

is the lady that talks to horses the shiatzu lady? there is one that came to our yard an she was doing it on this ex polo pony that had been abandond and abused and stuff and tears ran down her face but she wasnt crying and she said that she was feeling the tears from the horse and she said the horses heart had been broken before..it was so sad!

[Brandy]

I wonder if the drug you mean is Tildren? It is currently undergoing trials for use in horses for bone spavin. It IS possible to get it over here (I have done recently) but there is a procedure to go through. Do a forum search or Tildren, if any more questions pm me.

[Susie xx]

Hi there, I signed up to this site today. If you go to www.coldcure.com you will find the arthritis html and navicular html. The site promotes gallium nitrate as a benefit for these conditions. See also www.arthritistrust.org/Articles/Gallium.pdf#search='gallium%20nitrate' and www.hss.edu/Professionals/Conditions?orthopaedics/Gallium-Nitrate_Enhances-Healing
I found these in my search to take to my doctor as most suppliers are based USA with expensive shipping. I have e:mailed MCP-group in the UK to see if they sell a soluable form of gallium nitrate or only supply gallium to the telecomms industry.
Hope this helps. Good Luck
Susie xx

[teabiscuit]

yes - it was in the papers as a cure for arthritis and navicular-oops calm down.
it was in the paper, people using it as a cure for lameness(didn't state cause) noticed improvement in their own arthritis- they rubbed it into the hoof wall and noticed improvement in their own hand arthritis.
type in gallium nitrate and arthritis into google and a good article comes up. I'm really excited about this as i read the article about 6 months to a year ago and i've been waiting for more info to come to light.
Wow i hope it works for this poor pony-let us know how it goes!

[kunama]

Bone spavin is artritis of the bones that do not move in the bottom of the hock, if he has it in one leg he will almost for sure have it in the other even if he shows no signs.The arthritis will change the spaces in the joint and new bone may appere. If the bones fuse he may become sound.
It is often mistaken for stiffness in the back , x raying will give a definate answer.
Bone spavin is usually caused by overloading of the hock so this would tie in with him being driven and worked when unfit, how quickly did she bring him into work , anything less than a build up over eight plus weeks is too fast for the young or never worked horse.
Treatment involves speeding up the fusion proccess in the bones, once they can't be inflamed by movement the pain dissapers. Generaly you can put the horse on drugs to block the pain while they work the horse till fusion occours, or surgery where they drill the bone joint surfaces and then let this encourage the naturall healing process, but he may never come sound anyway and alot of discomfort will be experianced.
It could also be a back problem that is makeing him use his hocks in an abnormal way overloading them and aggrivateing the spavins?