Thanks for your reply.

If I had to do it again, I would not do the sodium hyluronate/steriod joint injections again. In the hunter world we've all done it as regular maintenance. My horse did have arthritic changes in his stifles that required injections. However, now there is IRAP, were they take healthy cells, process them then re-inject into the joint. It only has to be done one to three times then the healing begins. The horses that have had it done at my barn saw fabulous results. Two in particular - a 14-year old veteran hunter that has been shown every year over fences since he was 4 or 5 and another 17-year old ex top EQ horse that is taking a new rider to long stirrup. Both are moving like they did when they were youngsters.

I only wish I had done IRAP instead. My horse would still be going strong. It just stands to reason, the more you inject, the higher the risk is of a bad batch or infection. It is rare, but it happens. About twenty years ago another vet in my area got a bad batch and ten horses were put down. I guess they didn't flush joints back then. He retired.

In time, if we have progress, that's what I'll do. If I buy another, I'll definitely opt to spend more money on the front end for IRAP.

Oh, well. Hind sight is twenty-twenty.