As many of you know, Ranger has had some lameness issues over the past year. Last year, his pelvis was twisted and locked up, and Dr. Grover helped him heal from that with chiropractic and acupuncture. He's been moving and feeling good since then.
Last month, Ranger started short-striding again. That means that one of his hind legs (the left, in this case) doesn't reach as far underneath him as his right. It's just a tiny bit--maybe less than an inch--but it causes imbalance and uneveness. His uneveness was so slight that I thought I was imagining it because I'm an overprotective mommy, and because everyone I asked said that he was moving fine.
We started lessons with a new instructor two weeks ago, and she noticed it immediately. She said that it was so slight that it was almost unnoticable, but that it was there. The chiropractor came out and worked on Ranger last Thursday, since I suspected more pelvic problems. Ranger had the weekend off, then we had another lesson on Wednesday. He was way worse--very uneven, and Timmie had me get off immediately.
Generally you can ride a horse through mild lameness and it will often resolve, but it was clear that this was something worse. He didn't seem in pain--his ears were up and he was very happy to be working. Normally, horses in pain will pin their ears, swish their tails, wear a sour expression, buck, kick and act out. Ranger didn't at all--he was his happy self. But I called the vet immediately. Dr. Olds specializes in lameness issues and comes highly recommended from people at the top of the performance horse world.
Dr. Olds came out yesterday and did a complete lameness exam. When I took Ranger out of his paddock, he was really stiff and sore, so I knew that something was really wrong. She did everything--watched him move under saddle, worked him on the longe line, did flexion tests and started to isolate soreness in his hocks and in his left front hoof. She "blocked" him, which is injecting novacaine at the lowest suspicious joint in order to deaden the leg below; if that's where the lameness is, the horse will move normally because there is no pain. The blocks confirmed that he had pain in those 3 legs.
She thoroughly x-rayed him, and we found that he has a a fractured sidebone in his left front hoof. There is a bone inside the horses' hoof called a coffin bone. It is the last bone on each leg. It has a small cartilage "wing" on each side that slants at about a 30* angle towards the rear of the horse. That "wing" is usually about 1" long and about the size of the tip of your pinky, and stops in the soft tissue adjacent to the top of the hoof. As a horse ages, that cartilage ossifies, or grows bone-like. (Bones calcify, and cartilage ossifies)
Ranger's sidebone had clearly been fractured within the last year. While healing, it has gone nuts in ossification and bone growth. His outside side bone juts about 1 1/2" above his hoof, causing a bump that I thought was just a bump. Thus, it's about 10 times the normal size--about the size of a large thumb. It is pressing on his coffin bone and the first pastern joint, inhibiting his movement and causing him pain. The sidebone has been healing for many months, but is just now causing impingement and pain.
Last month, Ranger started short-striding again. That means that one of his hind legs (the left, in this case) doesn't reach as far underneath him as his right. It's just a tiny bit--maybe less than an inch--but it causes imbalance and uneveness. His uneveness was so slight that I thought I was imagining it because I'm an overprotective mommy, and because everyone I asked said that he was moving fine.
We started lessons with a new instructor two weeks ago, and she noticed it immediately. She said that it was so slight that it was almost unnoticable, but that it was there. The chiropractor came out and worked on Ranger last Thursday, since I suspected more pelvic problems. Ranger had the weekend off, then we had another lesson on Wednesday. He was way worse--very uneven, and Timmie had me get off immediately.
Generally you can ride a horse through mild lameness and it will often resolve, but it was clear that this was something worse. He didn't seem in pain--his ears were up and he was very happy to be working. Normally, horses in pain will pin their ears, swish their tails, wear a sour expression, buck, kick and act out. Ranger didn't at all--he was his happy self. But I called the vet immediately. Dr. Olds specializes in lameness issues and comes highly recommended from people at the top of the performance horse world.
Dr. Olds came out yesterday and did a complete lameness exam. When I took Ranger out of his paddock, he was really stiff and sore, so I knew that something was really wrong. She did everything--watched him move under saddle, worked him on the longe line, did flexion tests and started to isolate soreness in his hocks and in his left front hoof. She "blocked" him, which is injecting novacaine at the lowest suspicious joint in order to deaden the leg below; if that's where the lameness is, the horse will move normally because there is no pain. The blocks confirmed that he had pain in those 3 legs.
She thoroughly x-rayed him, and we found that he has a a fractured sidebone in his left front hoof. There is a bone inside the horses' hoof called a coffin bone. It is the last bone on each leg. It has a small cartilage "wing" on each side that slants at about a 30* angle towards the rear of the horse. That "wing" is usually about 1" long and about the size of the tip of your pinky, and stops in the soft tissue adjacent to the top of the hoof. As a horse ages, that cartilage ossifies, or grows bone-like. (Bones calcify, and cartilage ossifies)
Ranger's sidebone had clearly been fractured within the last year. While healing, it has gone nuts in ossification and bone growth. His outside side bone juts about 1 1/2" above his hoof, causing a bump that I thought was just a bump. Thus, it's about 10 times the normal size--about the size of a large thumb. It is pressing on his coffin bone and the first pastern joint, inhibiting his movement and causing him pain. The sidebone has been healing for many months, but is just now causing impingement and pain.
This photo shows a similar case of severe sidebone (but on this horse's right front foot--Ranger's is on the left), with the same kind of "fingers" growing out of the back of the sidebone, wrapping around his pastern joints--but Ranger's are about twice as long, and his sidebone is about twice as thick. This is the coffin bone (the curved hoof-shaped portion of the specimin), with a severe sidebone on the far side and a normal sidebone on the near side (the little piece sticking up). This is a horse's right foot, and Ranger's would be a mirror image on the left foot. If you imagine a hockey-puck-shaped joint resting inside the coffin bone--and you can see the curve of the "shelf" on which that hockey-puck-shaped short pastern joint rests--you can visualize how the sidebone would press on the joints due to the growth on the inside of the sidebone.
This xray example is not Ranger's, but shows a very similar severe sidebone with a fracture. That fracture is almost horizontal, and might actually be part of the sidebone that isn't ossified yet. Ranger's fracture is vertical. You can also see the short pastern joint--the long pastern joint is next to the circles, and the short joint is below it. Below that is the coffin bone.
To compensate for the discomfort, he's been shifting his weight to his rear end, which has caused some mild arthritis and moderate soreness in both hocks. That's easily managed with rest and joint supplements at this point. The big problem is the sidebone. Dr. Olds said that this is probably the worst case she's ever seen.Ranger is assigned to stall rest for the next six weeks, with 10 minutes of hand-walking per day. He'll start a course of shock wave therapy on Thursday, in an effort to cause the body to acknowledge the extra ossification and hopefully demineralize it and absorb some of it back, opening up the space between the sidebone and the joints. He'll have 2 or 3 treatments over the next few months. Because his sidebone is so bad, she can't begin to give me a prognosis. Shock wave does generally have pretty good results, but she doesn't know how good it can be with this much damage.
If it doesn't work, he will never be rideable again. There are additional surgery options, but the success rate is not high, and if they don't work, it could mean that he could live in pain or have to be put down. I won't take that risk. If it means that he has to be a pasture ornament for the rest of his life, well, at least I have him to hang out with even if I can't ride him. As you probably know, though, my heart is broken because my little horse hurts.
Please keep Ranger in your thoughts and prayers, and please send good healing energy to his left front foot. Thanks from me and Ranger.
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