Competing & jumping with Sidebone - pls tell me your experiences?

[Sunflowers]

My 7 year old has recently been diagnosed with huge sidebone on the inner side of both front feet - to quote my vet: 'It's the biggest I've seen'

He has been barefoot all his life, is quite pigeon-toed, and while he's never been un-level exactly, he has 'felt the ground' when on rough terrain this year, hates doing rein-back, has been more reluctant jumping, and I think his stride is not as confident as it used to be.

Please can any of you competitive riders out there share your experience of sidebone, good or bad?

I had hoped this horse would jump... am I going to have to retire him aged 7?

(Sorry, know this should be in the vet forum, but it's you competitive folk's experiences i was hoping for. thank you x)

 

[Cheiro1]

mt little mare has VERY impressive sidebone, its like devil horns especially on one of her fronts. Its never caused her a problem, we jump, hunt, do fun rides all quite happily.

We only found out fue to her having Xrays for other issues, but our vet said 90% of the time sidebone causes no issues and personally we would never of known about it without her having other problems.

 

[coedcae]

My boy was diagnosed with in the vet's words "huge sidebones" when he was 5yrs old. In fact the vet wrote him off and said that he would never event and wouldn't be sound on any unlevel going.
We've just finished another season BE (our 3rd in a row) and he's jumped 8 double clears BE100 out of 11 completed.

He's also done loads of RC stuff, including sj teams at the National Championships.

I do think he feels it on drop fences cross country and he also isn't keen to rein back but I can't see why that would be to do with the sidebones.

So I try and pick my courses but having said that he has done quite a few hilly events this year, Aldon and Upton House.

I was told to just get on with the horse, by another vet and I think this is probably the best piece of advice I have had.

 

[Kelpie]

I went through a total drama with this a couple of years ago as my guy was quite lame with his sidebone (apparently when they're forming they can cause soreness).... so he had some time off but then last year did a really full season at BE90's then up to BE100's and was fine.

For my guy at least, the key is to avoid hard ground and even more so avoid lumpy/ unlevel ground (you know, the stuff where a clay field isn't rolled and then sets when it drys up in the spring with lumps all over it - something I have to watch like a hawk as my fields are clay and even just being in the field if it was lumpy would cause him to get sore). In particular, I made a point of going to proper gallop tracks for fast work fittening, rather than cantering round the fields.

Funnily enough, my guy is barefoot too (tho hasn't always been)..... tho when the ground hardened up last year I did put shoes on (back off now), but they were a specialist type of glue-on shoe that actually gave him some concussion relief. I swear that really helped him get through (and naturally when the ground went solid we didn't jump - tho fortunately Tweseldown isn't too far from me and that's sandy so always good even if the ground is hard elsewhere so we could still keep fit/ practice on that). pm me if you want any details on the shoes!

So, definately don't give up, but manage your horse like a hawk/ keep a diary of soundness/ what ground he does or doesn't go well on/ what your field is doing in terms of hardness/ whether he's sounder for having more time in or out, etc, etc, and with careful management you should still be good to go

 

[ofcourseyoucan]

side bone can be uncomfortable/ lame ing when forming and often needs rest, but once solidified and formed, whilst can be unsightly shouldnt cause too much problem for working. again be careful of ground that you work on, hard rutty ground doesnt do any horse any favours. see i would wonder if he was footy through his feet on hard going or whether it is actually the side bone giving the problem? if the side bone is still forming give him an easy couple of months and then do his fitness work and see where you are at. No i dont think you should need to 'retire' him at 7, he has plenty of years to work at some level. sidebone is not the end of a useful life.Hope he comes right for the job you have in mind.

 

[foxy1]

My 6 year old barefoot horse also has huge sidebone, but reinbacks like a pro! As far as jumping etc goes I'm just going to be careful about the ground (as I would anyway) but so far no problems

 

[MegaBeast]

Two friends have had horses with side bone. The first is back SJing at 1.30m level and the other has been PN eventing. Pair of them were diagnosed six months apart three years ago and still going strong.

 

[Sunflowers]

Thanks guys, maybe there is hope! It looks so massive on the xrays my heart sank, but I'm going to take time over the winter and see how things go x