Advice needed on likely sidebone issue

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janengretel

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This year I finally got my 11year old ISH up to BE Novice and, despite persistently difficult showjumping it felt really good to be back there. 3 weeks later he is slightly to profoundly lame on first one and then the other of both front feet. He is worse on a circle and our hard rutted ground does make it worse. There is no swelling, heat or tenderness to indicate that it is above the foot and I went down the route of looking for gravel/abcesses first.

He has poor front limb conformation and a history of remedial shoeing for collapsed and sheared heels. He has huge feet, fitted with heart bar shoes. He was x-rayed 6 years ago when he was struggling with pain in his fronts and they showed sidebone changes as a 5/6 yr old. Since this he had been sound for 5 years.

I am really reluctant to start x-raying and scanning. Last time it cost a fortune and the answer was just a good farrier and taking things steady. This time the guy who sorted him out has done his back in, poor man (get well soon Huw) and my lovely vet who always uses his eye and rarely a machine is retired. I feel a bit hysterical! I'm in Yorkshire.

So my questions are; who should I take him to? Do you think I am unwise to shortcut the diagnostics and go straight to what I hope is the remedy? I remember last time we were working on him, on maybe his 3rd visit, he visibly sank into his shoe and relaxed, as if it was the first time in ages his feet had been comfortable. I suppose I m hoping to find a similar effect this time if we review his shoeing. But there is always the possibility that things have gone beyond that point now. Does anyone have any experience that would help? Comments greatly appreciated. Tell me what you think, I have broad shoulders!
 
He does sound like an ideal candidate for a rehab at Rockley Farm if your Vet would refer him and Nic thinks that she can help him. It's certainly the route that I would explore given your description of his hooves.
 
I think a work up would be my start point to seek to isolate what's causing the pain that might be easy or it might be complicated if the horse has several things going on.
I would get a good vet with experiance in this type of work to do it.
A start of some trot ups and flexions and lunging on the soft and hard perhaps some nerve blocks then see where you are at .
Then you have a better idea of what your are dealing with and can disscus options and costs with the vet .
If it's a foot balance issue caused by the change in farrier you have to act quickly before further damage occurs .
My advice would be seek help from a experianced equine vet who does a lot of work ups I would ask around some competition riders in your area see who they advise .
I would not disagree with Faracat that this type of horse often benefit from a break from shoeing but I would want to know what I was dealing with first .
I would be preparing myself for a least a bill for the work up and front feet X-rays at the very least .
I would make a guess at that costing a ball park figure of £600 .
 
Unfortunately performance horses cost a bit to keep on the road, it's all part of it I'm afraid. I'm not sure second guessing is worth it in the long run, is just send him to the vets for blocking and xrays/scans.
 
X-rays are a must, otherwise how can you know what you're dealing with? UK vet costs are scandalous; my lad with sidebone has cost me £180 all in for two sets of x-rays..........
 
Many and various options to go for from here.

Personally I would at least look into nerve blocks and x-rays (or if you're certain it's foot and vet agrees then you may get away with just x-rays) as this shouldn't come to mega-bucks and should rule a few things in or out as a starting point (up to you where you go from there)

I'd get vet to advise on farrier if you've not got one in mind (Although I am possibly in your neck of the woods (Yorkshire's a big place!) so could give a few names if you're really, really stuck) or even ask the currently injured one who he'd recommend

Going to admit that after trying a few different farriers and a few different styles of shoe and still having an intermittently lame horse who was getting progressively more dangerous to shoe and whose feet were deteriorating I opted to to send my horse with sidebone to Rockley Farm and take him barefoot. Not going to say it's all been plain sailing because it hasn't but the issues I've encountered since have been down to his grass sensitivity issues rather than anything else and he's been more consistently sound since his shoes came off and is in the highest level of work I've ever had him in. He is still dodgy over stoney ground and needs to pick him way across rutted ground but he's on a gradual upwards curve of improvement. I did have some insurance backing but it still wasn't a cheap option. Without a doubt the best money I've ever spent though and would have paid several times that for what the end result is shaping up to be.

I do not compete at your level and probably never will (certainly not on this horse as he's only 14.3 and we both lack the guts to jump much above 2 or 3 foot... plus he adds a foot to whatever he jumps anyway!) but I do know several people who event very successfully on barefoot horses just as a point of interest
 
Boulty said:
Many and various options to go for from here.

Personally I would at least look into nerve blocks and x-rays (or if you're certain it's foot and vet agrees then you may get away with just x-rays) as this shouldn't come to mega-bucks and should rule a few things in or out as a starting point (up to you where you go from there)

I'd get vet to advise on farrier if you've not got one in mind (Although I am possibly in your neck of the woods (Yorkshire's a big place!) so could give a few names if you're really, really stuck) or even ask the currently injured one who he'd recommend

Going to admit that after trying a few different farriers and a few different styles of shoe and still having an intermittently lame horse who was getting progressively more dangerous to shoe and whose feet were deteriorating I opted to to send my horse with sidebone to Rockley Farm and take him barefoot. Not going to say it's all been plain sailing because it hasn't but the issues I've encountered since have been down to his grass sensitivity issues rather than anything else and he's been more consistently sound since his shoes came off and is in the highest level of work I've ever had him in. He is still dodgy over stoney ground and needs to pick him way across rutted ground but he's on a gradual upwards curve of improvement. I did have some insurance backing but it still wasn't a cheap option. Without a doubt the best money I've ever spent though and would have paid several times that for what the end result is shaping up to be.

I do not compete at your level and probably never will (certainly not on this horse as he's only 14.3 and we both lack the guts to jump much above 2 or 3 foot... plus he adds a foot to whatever he jumps anyway!) but I do know several people who event very successfully on barefoot horses just as a point of interest
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Many thanks Boulty. I would gladly hear your recommendations for good remedial farriers up here. Thanks for that. Good to hear feedback on the barefoot rehab. I looked into it last time and had just about made my mind up to get in touch with them when I had the breakthrough trip to Huw, where it looked like he d finally got the horse comfortable. Anyway, some good news: my fab vet is still seeing a few clients so I m sure he will suggest x-rays and I know he ll glean everything there is to be gleaned. Wish me luck! Good luck with your little chap!
 
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