Michen
Well-Known Member
I am gutted to be writing this but always expected to be at some point given his history. Cutting a long story very short for those who don’t know he had very mild bruising of the coffin joints diagnosed via MRI two years ago. I took his shoes off to reduce concussion and could never get him quite comfortable, he would go footy after too much roadwork and grew very upright feet with a broken back HPA but I never understood why as he never landed toe first.
Can a horse get ringbone if none on x rays 8 months ago!?
He was shod just over a year ago and has been under the watchful eye of Chris Tuffnel (very good vet who works closely with Rockley). He’s worked hardish, low level eventing and hunting throughout the winter. Has always been very sound, always kept a watchful eye and never run on hard ground. He has a tendency to land outside heel first on his right hoof. After much deliberation, x rays etc we decided to trim him “wonkyâ€, the way he seemed to want to wear his foot, in order to get him to land level. He’s never been quite consistently level on this hoof but pretty damn close,you have to really slow mo and watch hard to see it. we couldn’t find anything higher up and he’s had regularly soundness checks. Vet was happy with where we got to and felt it was as good as possible. We’ve quite literally spent hours trimming a little, walking him up in slow mo, trimming a little more etc with both vet and Farrier together. The idea being that it was preferable he landed level, than had a level looking hoof.
He’s now lame, most notably on a right hard circle. This actually happened a couple of weeks ago, he came out of the stable lame but marginal, I turned him out and he was totally sound the next day inc hard circle so I thought very little of it. Now however it’s happened again and he’s not come sound the next day. Pretty damn lame on a hard circle on that right fore, can also feel it on the turn when on board which happened very suddenly. I’ve also noticed he has lumps on both sides of both fores under the fetlocks, where you’d expect to feel ringbone, in all honestly maybe they’ve always been there but they certainly suddenly seem “big†though he didn’t have ringbone on x rays end of last year.
I have just had him re shod this morning and checked for bruising etc for now to keep things consistent, I’m also taking him off the grass for a couple of days to see if it could possibly be at all related. Will be booking in with vet as soon as I can next week.
My first step assuming this carries on will be shoes off, barefoot rehab but I am worried because of how he grew his feet last time in the upright broken back fashion. Here’s a video of his current landing, you can see the right fore, as I’ve said we’ve never got it “perfect†but it’s toe first now as well as unlevel (or at best maybe it’s outside first but flat...). Luckily, being somewhat neurotic, I have videos from at least every three weeks so I know this toe first landing can’t have been going on too long.
No idea what to do from here, he feels the best he ever has, jumping so well etc. I ran at elmwood last weekend and the ground was at the hardest I would be comfortable running on (by no means “hard†, they had worked it really well) Last year he ran on similar with no problems but of course I’m kicking myself. Of course it could be something higher up and not hoof related, or this could be the rumbling reason for why he’s always wanted to land in that way, but no idea where we would start given he’s always passed flexions, had everything x rayed etc.
Any thoughts and suggestions are most welcome, I am beyond upset but also accepting that when I chose to shoe and “use†this horse there was the potential for him to break down given he had had hoof problems as a 5 year old. I had thought perhaps I the fact his angles were much better in shoes than the upright growth he gets barefoot meant perhaps I wasn’t doing more damage than good. I’m adding things up in my head, a freak mistake he made jumping a few weeks ago etc and expecting the worst
Any thoughts welcome but go easy on me, I am gutted and adore this animal, he has a home forever regardless of what he can or can’t do and the only reason I’ve re shod him is incase it’s totally un hoof related and he comes sound quickly, I can’t truly assess lameness if I take the shoes off now as he will likely be sore on the stoney area we have to use for lameness test. Assuming he’s still the same this time next week and landing the same he will be going in for x rays and shoes will be coming off.
Bleh.
[video]
Can a horse get ringbone if none on x rays 8 months ago!?
He was shod just over a year ago and has been under the watchful eye of Chris Tuffnel (very good vet who works closely with Rockley). He’s worked hardish, low level eventing and hunting throughout the winter. Has always been very sound, always kept a watchful eye and never run on hard ground. He has a tendency to land outside heel first on his right hoof. After much deliberation, x rays etc we decided to trim him “wonkyâ€, the way he seemed to want to wear his foot, in order to get him to land level. He’s never been quite consistently level on this hoof but pretty damn close,you have to really slow mo and watch hard to see it. we couldn’t find anything higher up and he’s had regularly soundness checks. Vet was happy with where we got to and felt it was as good as possible. We’ve quite literally spent hours trimming a little, walking him up in slow mo, trimming a little more etc with both vet and Farrier together. The idea being that it was preferable he landed level, than had a level looking hoof.
He’s now lame, most notably on a right hard circle. This actually happened a couple of weeks ago, he came out of the stable lame but marginal, I turned him out and he was totally sound the next day inc hard circle so I thought very little of it. Now however it’s happened again and he’s not come sound the next day. Pretty damn lame on a hard circle on that right fore, can also feel it on the turn when on board which happened very suddenly. I’ve also noticed he has lumps on both sides of both fores under the fetlocks, where you’d expect to feel ringbone, in all honestly maybe they’ve always been there but they certainly suddenly seem “big†though he didn’t have ringbone on x rays end of last year.
I have just had him re shod this morning and checked for bruising etc for now to keep things consistent, I’m also taking him off the grass for a couple of days to see if it could possibly be at all related. Will be booking in with vet as soon as I can next week.
My first step assuming this carries on will be shoes off, barefoot rehab but I am worried because of how he grew his feet last time in the upright broken back fashion. Here’s a video of his current landing, you can see the right fore, as I’ve said we’ve never got it “perfect†but it’s toe first now as well as unlevel (or at best maybe it’s outside first but flat...). Luckily, being somewhat neurotic, I have videos from at least every three weeks so I know this toe first landing can’t have been going on too long.
No idea what to do from here, he feels the best he ever has, jumping so well etc. I ran at elmwood last weekend and the ground was at the hardest I would be comfortable running on (by no means “hard†, they had worked it really well) Last year he ran on similar with no problems but of course I’m kicking myself. Of course it could be something higher up and not hoof related, or this could be the rumbling reason for why he’s always wanted to land in that way, but no idea where we would start given he’s always passed flexions, had everything x rayed etc.
Any thoughts and suggestions are most welcome, I am beyond upset but also accepting that when I chose to shoe and “use†this horse there was the potential for him to break down given he had had hoof problems as a 5 year old. I had thought perhaps I the fact his angles were much better in shoes than the upright growth he gets barefoot meant perhaps I wasn’t doing more damage than good. I’m adding things up in my head, a freak mistake he made jumping a few weeks ago etc and expecting the worst
Any thoughts welcome but go easy on me, I am gutted and adore this animal, he has a home forever regardless of what he can or can’t do and the only reason I’ve re shod him is incase it’s totally un hoof related and he comes sound quickly, I can’t truly assess lameness if I take the shoes off now as he will likely be sore on the stoney area we have to use for lameness test. Assuming he’s still the same this time next week and landing the same he will be going in for x rays and shoes will be coming off.
Bleh.
[video]
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