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  Discussion on Mineralization or Foreign Object in Hoof
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Member:
Runningj

Posted on Monday, Oct 28, 2002 - 1:04 pm:

Have you ever come across or know of anyone who has ever heard of my above title? I have a 6 YO barrel racing mare that came up sore over the summer. Her symptoms were first, a change in her right turn (1st barrel), also not wanting to pivot to the right. Then, soon after, she wouldn't carry her right lead, she would flip to her left. Then after this, she went to flipping to her left lead, then breaking to a trot. I took her to the vet about 3 weeks after first symptom. She tested negative on everything except her right front hoof. We took a picture and found what looks like a mineral buildup or foreign object in the soft tissue, between the coffin bone and hoof wall. It was a little fuzzy, but very white, like bone, looked like it was floating in space, and about 1-1.5 inches long (like a stick or sliver), in the exact same angle as her coffin bone, and hoof wall. It was just floating right in the middle. The soft tissue thickness started at 18 mm from the top, and was 21 mm when you reached bottom. X-ray of left front was 18 mm all the way down.

I'm sorta just waiting on time now with her and am hoping to maybe get some other opinions. My husband is a farrier and we plan to take her x-rays to the laminites symposium in Jan to hopefully find someone who maybe has seen this.

The vet, very rupatable track vet in business for many years, said he hasn't ever seen this before, which of course is disappointing as I now don't know what to do or expect.

First treatment was Isox and Bute for 4 weeks, riding was ok, but no cantering. She wouldn't canter anyways, what she would do was canter, tuck her head, and hike her hocks way up underneath her to carry the weight. It hurts her to pound the foot, but not put weight on the foot. She is "sound" at a trot and walk. Also she will canter when in soft and real fluffy footing, but not anything less than that.

After 4 weeks of "rest" and meds, we didn't have any improvement. We then put pour-in pads on her front and then we had about 60% improvment. She still wouldn't canter on hard ground, but was more tolerable on sand.

Due to a pre-entered national finals, we got the ok from the vet to go ahead and try her back on barrels, still on meds. Fortunately the grounds in both the warm-up and show ring couldn't be more perfect, and only had a slight shaking of the head at the first barrel, just as she would have to turn hard behind the barrel and even won the second go-round.

That was her last run (end-Sept)and decided to give her the winter off. We will re-x-ray in 8 weeks to see if this "thing" has grown out any. I get the impression the vet's goal is to maybe grow this out. I put her on Farrier's Formula and magentic bell boots to help promote foot growth.

I'm not upset with this vet at all. That is not why I am asking for others' opinions. I just figured if I spread word that MAYBE I might find someone who had the same thing.

If you have ANY suggestions at all, please let me know. I'm feeling like I've got a gold mine in the barn (she won a saddle this year and many other awards and money) that has just been tapped out and has no future. She is a wonderfully talented & big-hearted mare. She isn't papered so breeding isn't an option for me (plus, would this problem possibly be inherited?).

Thanks so much.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Oct 29, 2002 - 7:40 am:

Hello Dawn,
I don't see any of the important questions answered:
  • is this horse lame on this leg
  • if so does the lameness refer to the area in question?

If there is no fresh wound then this has been there for sometime and may or may not be the cause of your problems listed above.

Hmmmmmm...a bone density (not metal right?) object a little over 1 inch long. I would recommend you take a number of pictures at slightly different angles so that it can be further localized to either the horn or the sensitive tissue. But first be sure the outside wall is very clean, even some fluids like betadine can be radio-dense but may appear as though they are in the wall. Ultrasound may further characterize the nature of this finding.
DrO
Member:
Runningj

Posted on Tuesday, Oct 29, 2002 - 8:53 am:

Gosh! Thanks for such a quick reply!

Well, I can't say she's sorta lame, that would be like being sorta pregnant. So yep, she's lame.

During exam, he flex tested all legs. Negative on all three, positive on right front. (Testing done on pavement). Didn't do any numbing injections, um, I can't think of the technical terms, but nothing to determine if the lameness was anywhere else in the leg. I don't know what made him go right to the hoof.

When I walk her, no unsoundness. When I trot, no unsoundness EXCEPT when I trot the barrel pattern, the ONE step she takes in a LEFT circle that she pushes off the "hardest" with the right foot (outside foot)(we're just trotting so it isn't that hard) at the back of the barrel, you will notice a difference in the way she picks up and places the foot for that one stride only. I have it on video, and you don't feel it, you will only see it. Almost like she is placing it carefully.

When you canter, if you're lucky to pick up the right lead, she will flip to the left, then break to a trot. She will canter on the left lead in a circle, but without my constant outside leg for momentum, she will also break to a trot. If you canter on really soft and fluffy ground, you will have difficulty picking up the right lead, but when you get it, it's like she takes a couple strides and will actually relax and realize the ground is soft and it doesn't hurt so much. The week at nationals, after the first day of loping in the warm-up pen, I had no troubles cantering. But now at home, my ground is just dirt dragged with a disk, and she won't keep that lead. She tucks her hocks way up underneath herself and gets as light as she can on her front end, then gives up. I rode in a pen that was only dragged where the pattern was. When I picked up the lope in the dragged portion, no problems, as soon as we hit the hard ground, she flipped, then broke. If we stayed on the pattern in the dragged sand, no problems.

The x-rays taken were a couple different views, (I'm sorry, I don't know what they are) including a magnified one. It doesn't look to me like metal because it is a little fuzzy on the edges, like bone. A hoof nail looks so clear, so that is what I would picture metal to look like. I understand what you said about the radio-dense fluids, but I don't use anything on her hoofs. They also taped a metal plate on the hoof wall on one of the pictures to show the wall in the x-ray. This "thing" was definietly inside. I want to say closer to the coffin bone than wall, but it probably was right in the middle.

No wounds that I'm aware of. She's never been lame before and I've had her since she was three. Previous owner did nothing, she was just a pasture ornament. We did not do an untrasound. I like the sound of that idea.

I started her on barrels last December, so she hasn't been doing this for very long. Showed lameness in July, had her at Vet on August 3rd.

In an extreme case, would debriding be an option? Or some sort of surgury to get to the object? I assume we will find out when we get more pictures to see if it has moved next month. I feel so helpless for her.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Oct 29, 2002 - 7:34 pm:

Wat you describe is not a clear sign of pain. When lunged to the R on a hard surface does her head bob up in an exaggerated manner when the right foot is placed on the ground?
DrO
Member:
Runningj

Posted on Wednesday, Oct 30, 2002 - 1:33 pm:

Yep, but just slight. And no problems at a walk.

Isn't the negative flex test a sign of pain? Or are you thinking this flex test was showing pain in another location?
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Oct 31, 2002 - 7:30 am:

No, the flexion test is not very diagnostic, see The Diagnosis of Lameness for more on this. In cases where it does exacerbate a low level lameness, I would not think that this type problem would worsen with flexion.

Since the leg is lame the next step is to localize the problem, again see the article on Diagnosis. Though the radiograph is intriquing I do not think it is diagnostic that this is the cause.
DrO
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