Bad news re sidebone

[Norah2903]

Hi
My pony has been on off lame for few years now, diagnosed with xrays last year as significant sidebone causing problem.
She is sound in walk and almost sound in trot now but not in school on right rein her worst side.
Farrier has her in wide rolled toe shoes he has made which are good. however
Farrier reckons once sidebone is there, hoof can no longer work as it should and hoof will continue to deteriorate and eventually become unshoeable. he says there is no way to know how long this deterioration will take, could be short term or years. barefoot will not help either as hoof needs support from shoes and trimmed in a way to help that cant be done barefoot. she is on micronized linseed, turmeric, happy hoof and does appear a lot better this past month.
Anyone been told this very poor prognosis too regarding sidebone please?

 

[Joanne4584]

Hiya. I have no experience of sidebone but I just wanted to say I know how horrible it feels being so uncertain about your horse's future ((((hugs)))). I'm sure someone will be along soon with some advice x

 

[Norah2903]

thank you joanne x

 

[Kelpie]

My lad has sidebone........ it went through a phase of bugging him and causing intermittent lameness a couple of years ago but now it seems to have settled, he's absolutely fine. I still wouldn't trot/ canter on a hard surface but so long as I stay away from hard ground, he's fine - and indeed events at BE100 level

So don't be too glum, sidebone really shouldn't be that bad.

 

[Jnhuk]

My ID's lateral cartilage started to ossify (sidebone) when he was five after a field injury. He ended up having the farrier cut in to the wall of the hoof to deliberately weaken it to relieve pressure and he had a special shoe on with a lateral extension. It meant that he was on box rest for a good number of months but he is now nearly 18 and always been very sound for most of his life. However it was a long year or so to get back to where we were and thankfully where we liveried had excellent set up for long term box rest. The farrier was VG as the vet wanted to send him possible for some major hoof section in at the local vet hospital and after much discussion the farrier did the treatment and was very successful. I was advised to put him on limestone flour at that point in time as well. Things may have changed in recent years but hopefully things won't seem as bad in time as they do now.

 

[Meowy Catkin]

Farrier reckons once sidebone is there, hoof can no longer work as it should and hoof will continue to deteriorate and eventually become unshoeable. he says there is no way to know how long this deterioration will take, could be short term or years. barefoot will not help either as hoof needs support from shoes and trimmed in a way to help that cant be done barefoot.

It would be really interesting to get a reply on the 'ground/BF v shoe support' from a barefoot expert (Lucy Priory will hopefully spot this thread).

This horse -

had both sidebones and ringbone and she was much sounder unshod.

 

[Replay]

Had an advanced horse that developed sidebones, which stopped him competing at high level / on the hard ground. However veterinary treatment in conjunction with remedial shoeing by our farrier enabled horse to have many years of a second career as very good hunter. The vet prescribed a course of treatment - I think Navilox, but it was a long time ago so I may have remembered that wrong. Farrier did remedial shoeing (again, if I remember right it was flat wide front shoes) and grooves in the sides of the hooves to help give a little more room in the foot. The foot did not deteriorate and the horse had a sound active life for many years.

 

[Norah2903]

Thanks for very good replies, sounding like my farrier was giving me the worst case scenario! Hopefully she has many years ahead of her, will stick to gentle hacking on nice ground and just enjoy. I have to say micronised linseed and turmeric has really helped. The barefoot trimmer I contacted hasn't got back to me yet with her view but for now, I'll calm down and try not to fret so much! Cheers

 

[Boulty]

Hi there. I've got a horse who was diagnosed with sidebone in the Autumn through x-rays and MRIs ruling out every other possible cause of lameness in the area he blocked to and finding no other damage. At the time was told by vet at referral centre remedial shoes should settle it down over several shoeing cycles so I found an excellent remedial farrier who has improved the shape of his feet considerably and he did come sound. He still has whacking great lumps near the coronet band at both sides of both feet though.

Sadly a few weeks ago he went lame again prompting a chat with my usual vet and got the impression that i n their experience a lot of horses with it continue to have flareups throughout their lives and that the frequency of them doesn't always seem to have much reasoning behind it and if it was the case with my horse (as it would appear) then he advised a short course of bute each time to settle things and field rest followed by a period of gentle work. Also mentioned that fast work on hard / uneven ground is likely to aggravate and should be avoided.

Cue me doing some internet researching about barefoot. (Pony is an absolute nightmare to shoe and is probably a candidate for sedation and was particularly bad on prev shoeing which is what partly prompted said research). Did some chatting with my vet and farrier and neither has any serious concerns about the idea so although further talking and organising needs to take place (including getting my vets to sort out their part of the paperwork) pony is now on the waiting list to go to Rockley Farm for barefoot rehab (he was very footsore when shoes removed for MRI so absolutely zero chance of this working without somebody who knows what they're doing starting things off). Not expecting a miracle cure (I'm still fully expecting some flare-ups from time to time) but am hoping that this may reduce the concussion going up his legs (cos the bits of his foot that CAN still work as they should will have the chance to do so) and slow the process down a bit and maybe extend his useful life (he's 9!) and make any flare-ups that do happen a bit further apart. We shall see