by Kristina Piel

Created on: September 07, 2009

I was so upset when my horse, Daisy, progressed from being "off" once in a while to refusing to work because of the pain in her hock. I called in my local veterinarian to see what he thought we should do and whether she would be able to continue to compete in dressage. She was only 10 years old and was just getting worse and worse. He did a "flexion" test on her and decided it was simply arthritis in her left hock. He prescribed Adequan IM for her, beginning with a loading dose of one vial once a week for 4-7 weeks depending on how she responded to it, then monthly after that. I was skeptical about it, even after we started because I wasn't seeing improvement for quite some time. I think it's important for anyone deciding whether to begin or continue Adequan because they don't think it's working initially.

After the first dose, Daisy actually showed minimal improvement within a day. I was encouraged to say the least! By the time she was due for her second shot, however, she was back to being compromised just as bad as she was before. We gave the second shot and again saw minimal improvement that dissipated by the end of the week. This went on for a few weeks-sometimes there would be some improvement, other times there really wouldn't be any. By the end of the 7th week, though, we DID see a lot of improvement! She still wasn't perfect, but after that last shot, within two weeks, she was back to her normal, beautiful trot. She is relearning her canter again now, mostly because I think she believes it's going to hurt when she starts. Since she has seen that it doesn't hurt anymore, she will now take her correct leads as soon as they are asked for.

Daisy still has an off day here and there, but she works out of any stiffness that comes her way. We are currently at week 10 and I see no sign of any lameness. We have had no side effects to her medications other than a bump that forms occasionally at the site of the injection. The bump is about quarter sized and has disappeared within 2 days every time. To give her the shots, we first clean the site where we are going to give the injection with alcohol-typically we use the muscular area of the neck since she tends to kick out when we use the rump. We use a 22 gauge needle and a 5 cc syringe and try to make the injection as fast as possible. We always give a treat with the injection and afterwards to reinforce the idea that it's not that bad. During the time that the Adequan was really starting to work but she was still not quite right, we gave a scoop of equine aspirin to help as she was becoming well enough to start working. Eventually that was not necessary anymore, but we do keep it on hand in case we need it again.

Hopefully, if you or someone you know are considering or beginning Adequan IM for your horse, this will reassure you that even though you don't see an immediate relief to arthritic pain, it IS coming. Give the injections two months to get the full effect.

Learn more about this author, Kristina Piel.
Click here to send this author comments or questions.