Advice needed.....

[0310Star]

Bit of a rnadom bit of advice needed. As some people know from other posts my mare was recently diagnosed with high ringbone of the short pastern, side bones and DJD. We are currently trying to bring her back into work as she didn't cope at all with the light work thing- is the kind of horse that blows her brains unless she has good amount of work to release the energy!!

Last night (wasn't worked since tuesday with no problems) when coming in from the field she was a little short and there was alot of heat coming from her pastern area. I wasn't too sure what to do as hadn't had this problem before so I hosed for 10 minutes and gave her a bute and this morning there is no heat or swelling and she is fine!

My question really is would it be worth buying some kind of ice pack/bandage for her leg after working to help with cooling her leg down? Again I am not sure if this is going to be a reccurring problem etc as quite new to all of this (diagnosed 30th Jan)
I am going to speak to the vet about it and seek his advice but we are new at this and I am still learning what is best for her... Thought someone on here must have some good advice on this!!

Thanks in advance

 

[Birker2020]

I think you would be better saving your money and treating the horse for the ring bone itself by corrective shoeing, which supports the heels, bute for pain relief and to reduce inflammation, joint injections of steroid or HA. You could also look into the possibility of shockwave therapy or even fusion of the two bones in the pastern joints which eliminates the instability of the joint and will bring about reduced inflammation. Recently had my horses hocks fused by ethanol, early indications are that its helped a great deal, but whether they would use ethanol for this condition I'm not sure of.

I would even consider putting the horse on a decent joint supplement.

Apologies if you have already been down this route, not read your posts before.

Hope this helps Baker 190.

 

[0310Star]

Thankyou for your reple Applecart14.
She is on 99% pure Glucosamine supplement, Corn oil in feed, and Apple Cider Vinegar - all vet recommended.
We (the vet and I) have decided to keep her barefoot as she has VERY good feet, and tends to be a lot better without shoes on! The idea is we will stick at this until remedial shoeing is needed and then we will go down that route!

I hacked her for 20 minutes yesterday with the bute morning and evening and she was fine, today there is no heat or swelling and she is not short or lame so hopefully it was a one off!!

She isn't lame anymore, just short on her bad days which I xpect to happen anyway.

It is very hard to work out what is best when it is something new to the both of us. I think we just need to carry on and see how we go! Obviosuly if she is in any pain or discomfort I will adjust the workload accordingly!