Side bone

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Horsegirl25

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Massively stupid question but what is side bone?
My pony went through various lameness assessments a last month due to a loss of performance, long story short after a large amount spent on examinations all that was required was a holiday…
Anyway, part of the X-rays he got done was his front feet which didn’t show anything other than side bone. The vet wasn’t concerned and neither was my farrier today but he did say it explained a lot about his feet.
We have taken his shoes off for the winter, this was recommended by both vet and farrier.
Anyway I still don’t really understand what it is, is it a problem? I know it’s rather stupid I never spoke more in depth about this with the vet but it was kind of brushed over as a lot else was going on.
I’ll attach screenshots of the x-rays if anyone is interested!
 

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It's basically where cartilage has calcified.
You can often see it where a horse unevenly loads a hoof so the calcification has acted as a protective mechanism.

My old boy fractured his and that was an issue. Recalcified but then he went charging around when the hunt came through and totally demolished it 😢 He had other arthritic problems but I wish it hadn't all come to that.

With my pony who has it (very quirky feet) I avoid fast work on hard ground so I don't trot on tarmac for instance
 
Mine has them too. He now wears Equine Fusion boots as he began to dislike the farrier hammering his shoes on plus the boots give him extra suspension. As he was getting on we also stopped jumping him and don’t hammer him on the roads although I do think it must be more comfortable for him to trot on a flat road rather than hard uneven ground (he’s happier on soft ground these days).

Photo below is when he was first x-rayed.

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My boy has it slightly in front. He has pads and actually prefers trotting on softer ground or a flat hard surface - he hates trotting on hard and uneven ground so we obviously don’t.
 
Ohh interesting thanks everyone! I honestly had no idea he had it just coincidence it showed on the x-ray, he didn’t show any discomfort on roads etc.
He wears pads on his front feet in the summer, different reason but we were helping the side bone I suppose without knowing it was there!
Thanks everyone, I presume it’s quite common?
 
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