Amber is lame

Abi90

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Oh I’m so sorry AE. It might not be as bad as it seems, Rosie’s pastern looks horrific, so horrific that the vet couldn’t understand why she’s not lame and why she’s not even lame on flexions.

I know nothing about DDFT injuries but feel free to PM me if you want a chat about bad luck and to see some gnarly x rays!
 

Wheels

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just remember that there are a number of soft tissue areas within the foot. M was off games in September / October due to a soft tissue injury in both front feet. His feet were unbalanced so after 5 weeks of rest I also pulled the shoes so I think he probably had 8 or 9 weeks off altogether and then built him up slowly (mostly due to the recent barefoot)

we didn't get as far as MRI because he came sound pretty quickly so not sure exactly which soft tissue was injured but it shows that they can come back from feet issues.

good luck
 

ycbm

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Abnormal xrays. Navicular bone looks ragged. Vet thinks DDFT injury running into foot. MRI to confirm or rule out.


Its bad news but it's not disastrous news.

Abnormal xrays are in fact pretty normal, rarely related to the degree of lameness or subsequent prognosis, and Rockley Farm and others have rehabbed many, many horses with ddft injuries inside the foot to full work.

Your difficulty will be if your insurance cover means you have to follow vet and farrier advice and if those two insist that the answer is shoes. Because without a doubt the best chance she has of jumping again is a barefoot rehab.

We are a few miles apart, AE, and should you choose to go down the barefoot route I would be happy to do anything in my power to help you with it.

.
 

Abi90

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Its bad news but it's not disastrous news.

Abnormal xrays are in fact pretty normal, rarely related to the degree of lameness or subsequent prognosis, and Rockley Farm and others have rehabbed many, many horses with ddft injuries inside the foot to full work.

Your difficulty will be if your insurance cover means you have to follow vet and farrier advice and if those two insist that the answer is shoes. Because without a doubt the best chance she has of jumping again is a barefoot rehab.

We are a few miles apart, AE, and should you choose to go down the barefoot route I would be happy to do anything in my power to help you with it.

.

Sorry AE to jump on your thread, YCBM do you have any thoughts on barefoot for ringbone? PM if it’s easier so as not to clutter up this thread
 

SOS

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Sorry to hear that AE. I have a positive story re DDFTs.

I had a horse very, very slightly lame so much that they questioned whether I was sure I wanted to MRI when taken to horsepital. It had tore 80% of the DDFT in its foot on right fore, it should of been crippled. However it was sound within a month, turned away for 18 months barefoot on hills and crunchy ground and is happily hacking and enjoying low level life with his new owner who adores him. I was going to keep him as he could of hunted lightly (I would always avoid repeated circles/tight turns wirh this injury) however the chance of reoccurrence is high so I decided it was in his best interest to find someone that would love him for the perfect hack he is. Yes he didn’t come back to eventing and hunting with me but I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. Sound, happy horse.

Time, time, time and listen to the horse. The vet said the horse wanted to be sound as they were as shocked as us at the MRI and I believe that. It wanted to come right. Others are not so lucky.
 

ycbm

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Sorry AE to jump on your thread, YCBM do you have any thoughts on barefoot for ringbone? PM if it’s easier so as not to clutter up this thread

I think its OK here? Let us know if it's not AE.


I've seen one barefoot horse develop it and sail through it with no lameness but definite changes of foot shape to accommodate it as it developed. I've owned a horse with hock spavins who did the same. He grew internally wonky hind feet to take the pressure off the hock joint and was sound enough to hack with no medication.

I would never, if I could avoid it, put metal on the end of a leg with any arthritic condition because it adds to the concussion and prevents adaptive changes in the shape of the foot.


.
 

Abi90

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I think its OK here? Let us know if it's not AE.


I've seen one barefoot horse develop it and sail through it with no lameness but definite changes of foot shape to accommodate it as it developed. I've owned a horse with hock spavins who did the same. He grew internally wonky hind feet to take the pressure off the hock joint and was sound enough to hack with no medication.

I would never, if I could avoid it, put metal on the end of a leg with any arthritic condition because it adds to the concussion and prevents adaptive changes in the shape of the foot.


.

Thanks. Those were my thoughts, to prevent concussion and it getting worse (although it’s nearly fused as it is!) she’s not overtly lame on it and never has been but if I can keep her more comfortable. Will speak to my farrier on Friday and see about taking her hind shoes off.

Very ugly x-rays and pretty sound horse, amazing really but don’t want to make it any worse than it needs to be!
 

HelenBack

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Its bad news but it's not disastrous news.

Abnormal xrays are in fact pretty normal, rarely related to the degree of lameness or subsequent prognosis, and Rockley Farm and others have rehabbed many, many horses with ddft injuries inside the foot to full work.

Your difficulty will be if your insurance cover means you have to follow vet and farrier advice and if those two insist that the answer is shoes. Because without a doubt the best chance she has of jumping again is a barefoot rehab.

We are a few miles apart, AE, and should you choose to go down the barefoot route I would be happy to do anything in my power to help you with it.

.
Just to say that if you did decide to go down the BF route, my vet fully supported it and between us we got the insurance company on side too. My horse didn't go to Rockley but did spend some time at a barefoot place and the insurance helped with this.

I expect you can't really make any decisions until you've had the MRI. The only reason I'm mentioning it now is because although my vet immediately said yes when I asked about taking the shoes off, I don't think he would have brought it up if I hadn't. I suspect the usual recommendations of remedial farriery etc are partly because that's what most owners expect and want. I think you've tried barefoot before though and so this might be something you're considering, so I thought it would be helpful for you to know this now.
 

DressageCob

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Fingers crossed the MRI gives a more positive picture.

I'm heartened to see you can get a vet for a lameness workup, despite the current circumstances. It saves the owners the agony of trying to decide if their precious horse being uncomfortable is an "emergency" or not.

I do hope you get better news after the MRI.
 

ester

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Abi, at the very least it can be an interesting exercise to see what they do hoof wise. Frank had a wonky hind way before he was ever lame enough to notice (spavin that side).

Obviously anything soft tissue hoofy I am a barefoot rehab advocate if that is the only thing going on.
Sometimes you need to mention to the vet that you are ok to do that and prep for a longer haul/rehab time as they tend to presume owners just want a fix asap. Fwiw my insurance said would have paid for barefoot rehab, but it wasn't worth bothering in the end. (They also said that after said rehab they would have to be done by a registered farrier to comply with the cover requirements, they have hopefully sorted out that contradiction by now!)
 
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