Sidebone lameness - feeling down...

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AnitaStreet

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Feeling a bit down about my six year old. He went lame nearly five months ago, after X-rays and MRI we think the cause is inflammation and sidebone, probably some sort of trauma injury to it although they can't see an actual fracture. He's now barefoot (inspired by Nic Barker and her work), has never been lame in walk but is still 3-4/10 lame in trot (started off 6/10 lame). I know I'm being impatient as was told in June that he needed 6 to 9 months rest, but I wish I was seeing just a tiny bit more improvement. I want him to get better so badly :-( He's turned out on field rest and is very fat and happy. Does anyone have any experience of a similar situation with a happy outcome?
 
Hi there. I have a horse who after several months of intermittent lameness has x-rays and MRI scans and the only thing the vet interpreted as being wrong was sidebone (chose not to mention the very flat feet with thin soles, collapsed heels and insanely long toes). Said horse was also becoming more and more dangerous to shoe (vet and farrier both swore it must be behavioural... I still to this day disagree) and had been through 3 farriers in the short time I'd owned him.

We tried a few variations of remedial shoeing (including some shoes made especially for him at the forge) but he was still experiencing periods of lameness with no apparent trigger and was always worse on hard ground.

Eventually I decided to take him barefoot as if nothing else it would avoid us dicing with death trying to get shoes on him. With my vets permission he was sent to Rockley Farm for rehab and he hasn't really looked back. (Coming up to about 18 months since his shoes came off now)

Not saying it's all been easy because it hasn't. Turns out he's got some rather large grass sensitivity problems and so needs managing like a laminitic during the Spring / Summer if I want to keep him comfortable! I've also had to overhaul his diet and I'm very careful what treats I give him as well. In the end I've recently moved yards to try and give him a more suitable environment (so far so good!)

The payoff is that he now hacks on all surfaces (still doesn't like stones but I'm working on it... honestly not sure he ever will as uneven surfaces are supposed to be hard for horses with sidebone anyway), competes at showjumping, dressage and le trec and I'm hoping to take him hunting this season (we've been hacking with bloodhounds the other month already and he loved it)

It has taken a lot of work to get to where we are now involving lots of handwalking / work inhand, months of being very careful what surfaces I work him on / leading him over surfaces he couldn't cope with yet.

To be honest though I would query the total rest theory. Steady work over a variety of surfaces within the horses comfort zone tend to make hooves healthier and more capable. There is only so far rest will get you. (Not sure on the exact other injuries involved but may be worth consulting your vet and your trimmer / farrier on when may be appropriate to start inhand walking?)
 
Brilliant, thank you for replying Boulty. I did get in touch with Nic and sending him there is my next step if he's still lame in the spring next year. Glad to hear your horse is on the mend, that's awesome, really pleased for you. Just one question for you - was you horse lame when you sent him and did he return 'sound'? I know what you mean about rest, vets would have him on box rest but we did a month at the beginning and it made him worse so I'm refusing! I'm sort of tempted to walk him to see if it improves things but am going to wait until after Christmas, by then we are reaching the time when the vets say he should be more or less sound (albeit they firmly told me that without box resting him I'm putting that at risk of course!) He was initially landing toe first but I've got him landing heel first now shoes are off and I treat thrush daily - nearly there with it, massive improvement in frog quality. Small steps forward, I just wish he were just a bit less lame by now...
 
If you have him landing heel first I would definitely start walking him in hand on tarmac. I've had two long term lameness horses who were rested, one for years. and they didn't come sound until they worked. I had two unbroken four year olds last year sensitive on stones and they lost that when they worked. It's so difficult to go against the advice of your vet, though, but you already have so you have a head start in that respect :) Good luck.
 
Haha yes I certainly have Ycbm - thank you for your advice! Interesting... I don't think much of vets to be honest, find them very narrow. Will be a pleasure to defy them again :-)
 
Hmm interesting question. At the time he actually went to Rockley he would have fitted most people's definition of "sound" for a shod horse (in a straight line at least!) as he was going through one of his better periods. He was however landing toe first and was twisting his feet as he landed and wasn't quite level behind either. (A few months prior to that he'd been about 4/10ths lame in a straight line on tarmac and maybe 1 or 2/10ths lame in the arena when going through a bad patch)

Initially when the shoes came off I'm not gonna lie he was uncomfortable on anything but grass and the track surfaces at Rockley (it took an age to walk him across the concrete yard) and he didn't like arena surfaces.

When he initially came home he was sound and heel first on tarmac, grass and arenas with a good surface. (Didn't like the horrid school surfaces of yard I was on at the time as they were quite deep but adapted to them) However he took all of about a day to break himself hooning around on rock hard ground (at the time I was panicking about the specks of grass in the paddock or the hay he'd stolen from his friend but I think it was more likely the charging about all night like an idiot in hindsight) and so consigned himself to a few weeks boxrest (we wanted to rule out whether it HAD been the grass) followed by a very gradual reintroduction to both turnout / grass and ridden work. I think this setback did play a part in how long it took to get him in proper work and also made me more cautious about pushing him for a while!


All that said if he's heel first and comfortable in a straight line on tarmac then I don't see that gentle walking out inhand would harm if you feel he's not going to explode / be daft about it (tbh I think the reason vets err on side of caution with these things sometimes is to reduce the risk of catastrophe if the horse does have a silly moment)
 
I'd be asking the vet to be looking harder for the reason as horses are rarely lame with sidebone. My beautiful 6yr old was Xrayed at pre-purchase check (She's not mine anymore) and side bone was found in both front feet on both sides - she's only ever been lame with an abscess, always sound otherwise.

Has he gone further up to check back and neck for problems?

One of my TB horses went lame with a bruised pedal bone, he was boxed on woodchips for 6 weeks and came right.

I'd be inclined to send him to Rockley Farm - they seem to have a great reputation for fixing foot problems.
 
My OH's new horse went lame in front (4/10ths in trot) in June, he had terrible frogs, sheared heels, long toes etc etc - had xrays, nerve blocks- did not have MRI as vet surmised that it was definately a soft tissue injury in the foot and the MRI would simply confirm this, he was shod in bar shoes (strict 6 week cycles) and was immediately only 1/10th lame in trot, then he threw a splint, he was on box rest and is now on 9 months restricted rest (limited area but not confined to a box- ie can move gently but not hooley!) and is not currently lame. His frogs are coming good, the sheared heels are no more, he will hopefully be sound for return to work in jan/ feb.
 
No Tnavas, we haven't looked harder but he does respond to nerve blocks on the sole and comes almost sound (I struggle to see the lameness). I know what you mean about sidetone rarely causing issues and the first vet didn't think it could be for your reasons. However it's quite severe for a six year old and the MRI confirmed inflammation to that part of the foot (close to pedal bone). They think it could be a trama injury and there is soft tissue inflammation as well as the bone ossifying. They can't see a distinct fracture but it could be v small fractures. Also he was landing v toe first so there are definitely issues. Yes good advice thanks - if he's not right in six months time I will pack him off to Rockley Farm.
 
Thanks Boulty - really interesting. My horse has good days and bad days, has since the beginning. Sometimes I think I'm going nuts but I'm sure some days he looks more sore, and others within touching distance of sound. Yes it certainly is challenging, this barefoot lark! Worth it though I hope :-) No, there's zero chance of an explosion - he's very laid back and extremely fat! He's living out so moves about a lot and they don't bother running around very much. Maybe I'll start taking him for 20 min walks up the lane then. You're right, it's not going to hurt him and should start conditioning those feet.
 
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Bumping this up to see if anyone else has a Sidebone lameness story? Six weeks on from original post I'd say he's closer to 2-3/10 lame in school and even better on grass. It's hard to see it from watching his legs, it's just his head is unsteady but you'd struggle to pinpoint leg if you didn't know. However definitely a good 4/10 lame on concrete. I've walked him in hand a few times but am nervous of upsetting existing inflammation. God... this is such a nightmare :-(
 
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