jkitten
Well-Known Member
7 year old heavyweight cob x ID with a lot of sidebone (vet says he hardly has any cartilage left) and 'mild' arthritis in both front feet. Lame on the front right 2/10 in a circle on the left rein, better on the right and in a straight line but still lame. Blocks out in coffin joint.
I got him in December 2023 and in spring 2024 he started going intermittently 'footy' but it was very mild and inconsistent. His front feet were long so initially vet suggested remedial farriery. Lameness became more consistently front right and pronounced (2/10) as described above as the summer came on and x-rays showed significant sidebone (vet says he has hardly cartilage left) and minor arthritic changes, which according to the vet 'shouldn't' cause him to be lame. As we were investigating this he suddenly went 5/10 lame overnight in August and MRI showed a very small fracture in the sidebone on the front right.
Cue bar shoes and very restricted turnout until January where lameness had gone back down to 2/10 as it was before the break and the MRI showed the fracture healed. Vet felt that even though the arthritis 'shouldn't' be bothering him something obviously was, so he has steroid injections and raised heels (still with bar shoes). This improved things for a couple of weeks but then he went lame again. He then had an Arthramid injection in February and his shoes were changed to spiderweb with full pads (no raised heels), which made absolutely no difference whatsoever. The vet says that even after all that he has far too much fluid in his coffin joint and said fluid is of very watery consistency. He said he would have expected at least some improvement after an injection.
We are now trying him without shoes (vet and farrier both agree he is a good candidate and it's worth a shot) and a course of Sungate injections but frankly it's a hail Mary. I just don't know what it do. It's doubly upsetting because the lameness is so mild and yet nothing seems to touch it. Has anyone had a horse come back from something like this? I just want to hack, do basic schooling and maybe go out for xc a couple of times a year. He is a wonderful horse and my first (effectively, the first one I bought only lasted two months which is another long and depressing story) and I just feel so said and despairing about the whole situation.
I got him in December 2023 and in spring 2024 he started going intermittently 'footy' but it was very mild and inconsistent. His front feet were long so initially vet suggested remedial farriery. Lameness became more consistently front right and pronounced (2/10) as described above as the summer came on and x-rays showed significant sidebone (vet says he has hardly cartilage left) and minor arthritic changes, which according to the vet 'shouldn't' cause him to be lame. As we were investigating this he suddenly went 5/10 lame overnight in August and MRI showed a very small fracture in the sidebone on the front right.
Cue bar shoes and very restricted turnout until January where lameness had gone back down to 2/10 as it was before the break and the MRI showed the fracture healed. Vet felt that even though the arthritis 'shouldn't' be bothering him something obviously was, so he has steroid injections and raised heels (still with bar shoes). This improved things for a couple of weeks but then he went lame again. He then had an Arthramid injection in February and his shoes were changed to spiderweb with full pads (no raised heels), which made absolutely no difference whatsoever. The vet says that even after all that he has far too much fluid in his coffin joint and said fluid is of very watery consistency. He said he would have expected at least some improvement after an injection.
We are now trying him without shoes (vet and farrier both agree he is a good candidate and it's worth a shot) and a course of Sungate injections but frankly it's a hail Mary. I just don't know what it do. It's doubly upsetting because the lameness is so mild and yet nothing seems to touch it. Has anyone had a horse come back from something like this? I just want to hack, do basic schooling and maybe go out for xc a couple of times a year. He is a wonderful horse and my first (effectively, the first one I bought only lasted two months which is another long and depressing story) and I just feel so said and despairing about the whole situation.
