Side bone?????

S

Sam Wileman

Active Member
Joined
5 June 2010
Messages
48
Location
Up North
Visit site
Following on from my would you loan this horse...

Have spoken to the rescue centre and they have agreed that he can be signed over to me once they have done a home visit, then she drops into conversion that the horse has side bone and prone to mud fever. He is a heavy horse with lots of feather so the mud fever doesn't bother me so much, but I know nothing of side bones, quick google tells me a little.

He had been a cart horse and I asume due to the side bone he could no longer do this and thats how he ended up a rescue horse.

Already maddly in love with him, and I dont really want to give up on him now.

I dont want a hundred mile an hour horse, just a nice hack out on the weekends.

Please tell me your stories of side bone to help my decide what to do for the best.
 
My old mare had side bone. (As well as tie-up, poor thing!)
It would cause her to stumble a lot. She deteriorated until she was 12, when she fell over completely with someone, and at that point we thought it was best for her to retire her.
I would get a vet out to evaluate and get their opinion on what the horse is capable of. But bear in mind that just if they are capable of doing light hacking now, it doesn't mean that necessarily they will be able to do that in 6 months, or a years time.
 
Thanks for your relpy, he is already 14 and loaner says he hasn't been lame since she has had him, but he hasnt been riden since back end of last summer and she has only had him a year.

I just dont know what to do.
 
Side bone is a bit of a mystery to me. Most Internet articles claim that side bone causes no or little complications. I have a Welsh D who is rising 7yo. At the age of 5 he started to get a bit pottery and intermittently lame. Naturally I got him vet checked and x-rayed. Side bone was the diagnosis. Over the following 4-6 months the side bone fused in such a way that his toes started to turn in and the stumbling got worse. Under vet advice, I can lightly hack him in walk only.

If he’s a quiet lad, then I can’t see the occasional plod at the weekend causing any problems. My only concern is, how did they find out he has side bone? He has obviously been lame in the past. Also that fact he hasn’t been ridden for some time….. You could be setting yourself up for a lot of heartache.
 
I had an old pony with sidebones - he was never completely sound on a circle.

However, what alternative did we have? Shoot him or ride him and ignore it? So I rode him. We hunted, XC, SJ (indoors), hacked and had immense fun - he would jump anything and everything and was pretty famous in these parts at RC level for a few years.

I did, however, take it very gently in the summer on the hard ground.
 
Side bone is caused when the cartilages osscify in reaction to imbalance, to try and stablise the foot. This can happen post injury where the horse is weighting the foot unevenly due to pain, but is most commonly caused by unbalanced feet (through poor foot care).

Once hardened and the feet properly balanced they don't tend to cause the horse any further problems.....but there is always the exception.......

I wouldn't discount a horse for sidebone, but I'd be very picky over who looked after his feet.
 
No, I wouldn't have him.

I knew a mare with sidebone (on my old livery yard) and she had to be retired from ridden work at 13 because she not only stumbled but fell right over with no warning. I would not want to hack a horse with sidebone as it's too dangerous and therefore he wouldn't be able to do the job you want. The mare I knew got worse and worse and TBH she wasn't even field sound by the time I moved away.

There are lots of horses out there that would be ideal as a weekend hack. Keep looking, I'm sure you'll find one that you can love just as much and will do the job you want. :)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top