Oscar, a KPWN Dutch Warmblood was bred and started in Europe, where he was internationally trained and competed up to Small Tour in UK and Netherlands.
Oscar arrived in Australia at the age of 12, and through fate bringing them together was spotted and purchased by Katerina Hoare in November 2019, aged 16.
However, it was during the pre-purchase vet check, that Oscar failed the flexion test in his hind due to what was soon discovered to be arthritis. Despite this, Katerina went through with the decision to buy him and slowly brought Oscar into work. The lameness became more prominent as the loading on his hocks increased and by May 2020 (aged 17), he was clearly lame when asked to perform a medium trot.
This was the point at which Katerina reached out to Dr Emma Wood of Advantage Equine who recommended ArthramidVet® alongside 4Cyte and they began treatment immediately. Oscar was treated in June 2020 and after 2 days rest in his paddock, he began the standard post-treatment rehab programme.
“Within 6 weeks Oscar felt super springy again, it was like this new gear was just unlocked – especially in the trot. And he started to feel good and just passage around like a 3yo!” Says Katerina.
A steady conditioning programme and kind, patient riding took Oscar from being an “unconditioned, older, unsound horse” to competing Advanced & FEI Prix St George’s tests without a lame step, just 12 months later.
After a successful season, Oscar was beginning to lose “power” behind and was once again treated with ArthramidVet in March of 2021. By this point, he was fit and competing up to FEI level dressage, which was putting a lot more pressure on his hocks with the advanced movements.
This treatment gave him another few months of soundness and comfort, however, Katerina was unfortunately forced to retire him in December of that year due to a farrier injury which resulted in damage to his annular ligament and superficial digital flexor tendon (SDFT).
In an effort to keep Oscar sound and comfortable in his retirement, Katerina had one final treatment of ArthramidVet injected into his injured coffin joint to relieve inflammation around the joint.
“I am so grateful to have used ArthramidVet with Oscar – without it we never would have been able to achieve what we did, and he never would have been comfortable enough to offer me all the power and harmony that he did under saddle. I owe so much of that to this wonderful product. I have no hesitation in using ArthramidVet and will recommend it to everyone. Hopefully, there is a human version around for when I need joint injections!” Says Katerina
Watch Oscar’s transformation over a 12 month period here:
