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• The Elderly Horse •

 

What problems may the older horse encounter?

Horse diseases.

Older horses and ponies may encounter a whole host of age related issues and horse diseases, some of which we may be familiar with as we grow older. Chief among these will be joint problems and osteoarthritis which can severely affect the horse's ability to lead an enjoyable and useful life. This area will be discussed in more depth below.

Certain gastrointestinal complaints also increase in frequency with age. These vary from dental problems through to chronic low grade intestinal disease causing an inability to absorbe nutrients and hence weight loss/poor condition. Additionally a lifetime spent grazing pastures that may contain plants not suited to a horses metabolism can lead to organ specific problems such as liver disease.

Sadly the occurence of tumours both superficially in the skin and around the eyes and anus as well as internally (most commonly in the abdomen) are seen in the practice more frequently in older animals. The effects of these can be potentially life threatening and the veterinary profession still lags some way behind our human counterparts in the management of these issues particularly in horses.

 

Osteroarthritis In Horses

Many years of severe stresses and strains can lead to chronic low grade damage to joint surfaces and can predispose to the development of potentially crippling arthritis and joint pain in horses.

Particular joints are seen to be affected more frequently than others by the Links Veterinary Group. Chief among these joints are the hock (the horse's equivalent to the ankle joint), the fetlock and the interphalangeal joints (the equivalent of out various knuckle joints).

Arthritis in the hock is commonly referred to as bone spavin and can lead to alterations of gait, ability to work from behind and difficulty with tight cornering. As in many painful condition the symptoms may at first appear to be distinct to the underlying cause. For example horses with spavin are often thought to be suffering from back pain due to a prolonged period of improper movement by the horse due to a painful leg.

Arthritis of the fetlock and interphalangeal joints can be equally debilitating and if affecting the forelegs can have an even more marked effect on the horse's locomotion. We encounter a high proportion of older larger horses suffering from ringbone which is an arthritic condition affecting one or both of the joints below the fetlock. The name ringbone purely reflects the body's attempt to stabilise a painful articulation by depositing new bone in a 'ring' around the joint itself.

Complete assessment of the best treatment for an arthritic joint for long term return to use entails localisation of the source of the pain by regional local anaesthetic techniques such as nerve blocks and X-rays of the affected areas. This information allows a treatment plan to be drawn up possibly involving the administration of drugs into the joint itself (intra-articular medication), anti-inflammatory drugs given orally, disease modifying agents such as glucosamine and chondroitin, therapeutic farriery and also physiotherapy to preserve muscle mass and release tension.

Gastrointestinal and Liver Disease

We commonly encounter older horses who struggle to maintain condition despite having good access to quality forage and dried feedstuffs. Occasionally they have intermittent or permanent diarrhoea and sometimes low grade abdominal pain. These horses may be suffering from a malabsorption where the lining of the gut has become damaged and thins with time and so cannot absorb the nutrients from the food that has been eaten. This can be due to tumours invading the guts or from chronic worm damage especially cyathostomiasis, but can equally be due to inflammatory bowel disease.

Malabsorption can be assessed by among other things a test called the Glucose absorption test. This is a simple test whereby a strong glucose solution is administered orally to the horse and serial small blood tests show a rise in the horse's blood sugar shortly afterwards. If there is a malabsorption the blood sugar rises to a lesser degree as a proportion of the glucose passes through the guts into the faeces. Further diagnostic work can entail the use of abdominal ultrasound to show thinning of the gut wall or tumours etc. These conditions can actually be controlled to a degree by oral medications and we have had successful outcomes in returning horses to a far better condition and invariably a happier, more energetic state.

Liver disease in ageing horses is invariably due to the long term ingestion of liver damaging plants such as ragwort in our experience. The signs of liver disease in horses can vary from lethergy and low grade colic to skin disease and loss of condition. Ultrasound scans may show a damaged liver as may blood tests. The definitive diagnosis remains liver biopsy though whch can be done in the field with the horse lightly sedated and via the flank and only necessitates an incision the size of the end of a pencil. Liver disease can be a difficult horse disease to manage but advise can be given on the correct feeding regimes and supplements to give so as to reduce the symptoms of disease and slow progression.