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Discussion on Abscess, coronitis????
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Member:
dzaccheo
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Posted on Sunday, Jan 4, 2009 - 12:48 pm:
Hello everyone!!
I am having a hoof problem that is taking a long time to resolve. Hoping for some good advice on where to proceed. My horse is a friesian and I believe the problem stems from having so much hair interfereing with hoof growth at the corona. His feathers seemed to actually be growing out of the corona causing very poor hoof wall quality. His hoof wall on looks like cracked paint. The heavy feathering at the front of the hoof also trapped moisture and bacteria and in short I believe he has developed an infection in his hoof of long standing.
There is heat at, and just below and above the corona, there is also swelling above the corona along the front part of the hoof where there is poor hoof quality. He is lame when he circles in the direction of the infected hoof, but not when going straight.
My treatment so far has been to shave all hair off the front of all four feet as the poor hoof quality affected all feet somewhat but nowhere near to the extent of his right front. I now shave them every week and his hoofs are growing in great.
I have soaked the foot in epsom salts with betadine. Then I apply icthimol (spelling?), and then wrap it. I have been hoping to draw out the infection and pus has been coming out very little at a time from the skin over the corona where there is swelling. I had been expecting an abscess to open up like with a gravel, but this is not happening. I have been treating the foot in this way for about 10 days
I am wondering if there is a time when antibiotics should be administered either by injection or topically.
Should I just continue on this course of treatment since pus has recently begun to be drawn out and it seems that the swelling has become more localized. Also, he is less lame on it. It just seems like it is progressing so slowly, although I believe, in hindsight of course, that this has been brewing for about a year, as he became resistant to perform spanish walk on this foot about that time.
I am sorry this post is so long. I hope t is clear.
Any insight would be appreciated!!
Thank you
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Member:
mrose
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Posted on Sunday, Jan 4, 2009 - 1:33 pm:
I wonder, too, if he should be on antibiotics? Has your vet seen his foot? Maybe Dr.O will have some input. Is this common in horses with feathers? It's one thing with the Arabs I am unfamiliar with.
Isn't "Hindsight" great? Too bad we don't have as good a "foresight!"
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Member:
scooter
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Posted on Sunday, Jan 4, 2009 - 2:03 pm:
I know this sounds weird and I'm sure dr.O. will correct me if I'm wrong.
We have cows and when one of them get an abscess or pinkeye and we can't catch them, hubby puts pennicilion (I can't spell that) in a syringe and shoots it on the abscess or directly into their eye(vet told him to do this) and it works!
So using this theory when Hank had a gravel I squirted the cow mastitis stuff on it...didn't have any pen. figured it couldn't hurt anyway. It really seemed to work. It comes in it's own little plastic syringe with a plastic applicator so it's easy. After squirting the stuff in it and all over. I put icthomol on it but didn't wrap it....again my theory, but figured it could drain better if it wasn't wrapped tight.
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Member:
dzaccheo
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Posted on Sunday, Jan 4, 2009 - 4:04 pm:
A vet has not seen the foot yet, as I thoughtthings would progress faster, and initially I thought it was a gravel as he had on his left front foot a year ago. However on this foot, no bruise point or tenderness could be found when he was shod last week.
I do not believe this is a common problem with horses with feathers as I have never seen feather growth so low onto/into the coronary band in any other friesian we have imported. Common sense should have told me to clip the front part of his feathers along time ago, as part of them reached to the end his hoof and I saw the hair embedding in the coronary band/new hoof growth. Instead I tried every hoof product under the sun. As I said new hoof wall growth seems intact since I keep the hair clipped.
Now the question is how to get the infection cleared up. As I said I seem to be making slow progress, but it seems too slow.
Thanks!!!
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Monday, Jan 5, 2009 - 7:23 am:
Hello Danita,
The basic premise of "the problem stems from having so much hair interfering with hoof growth at the corona. His feathers seemed to actually be growing out of the corona causing very poor hoof wall quality" really does not make sense to me.
I do agree with your later evaluation that heavy feathering does trap moisture and make skin infections more likely. If you continue to believe that excessive moisture is leading to a superficial local infection you should consider treatment as we describe in Diseases of Horses » Skin Diseases, Wounds, and Swellings » Hair and Coat Problems / Itching / Irritated Skin » Coronary Band Disease: Coronitis. If you feel your local treatment is not working well or you have a deep infection of the foot I strongly recommend you get your veterinarian involved.
Concerning protecting the hoof wall from excessive moisture we have recommendations at Diseases of Horses » Lameness » Diseases of the Hoof » Wall Cracks and Thin Sensitive Soles.
DrO
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Member:
dzaccheo
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Posted on Monday, Jan 5, 2009 - 2:08 pm:
My vet is currently working in Dubai. He is an orthopedic specialist and affiliated with the University of Perugia. I will be emailing photos to him tomorrow. I really do not have much faith in the other equine vets in the area.
I am not sure how to better explain the hair growing into the corona, other than to say that if you lifted his feathering from the base, at the front of his foot, part of the corona (or hoof textured tissue)(very hard) would pull away with the hair. When I shaved the hair away, hoof material was embedded with the hair. This left the corona not intact and subsequent hoof wall growth very poor. Now that I have been shaving the hair away every week for 3 weeks, the corona is wonderfully intact and the new hoof wall is coming in beautifully!! It is strange, I admit.
Hopefully my vet will be able to give me some help with photos and emails. He said, if not he could send a colleague, but I must say I have not had good luck with equine vets in my part of Italy. There is one near me who is fantastic for dentistry and AI, but he himself admits that outside of his specialties, he is very limited.
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Member:
sdms
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Posted on Monday, Jan 5, 2009 - 5:39 pm:
Hi Danita. I can't offer any advice since I haven't dealt with horses with feathering. I do have to admit I'm very curious to see what you're dealing with and wonder if you might post the photos you're sending to your vet. It might also give others a better idea of how to answer your questions. Best of luck!
~Sara
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Member:
dzaccheo
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Posted on Tuesday, Jan 6, 2009 - 8:51 am:
Ok, I am going t try to upload some photos. I m afraid the are nt resized correctly. The foot that is wet is the one with the infection. you can see the swelling above it and some hairloss where it seems an abscess wants to erupt. The other photo is of his other front hoof. Hopefully you can see the hair regrowth coming in very low, into the corona, which I believe has compromised his hoof wall quality.
As I said before, I don't think this is a typical problem in horses with feathering. I have only encountered it in my horse. What luck huh?!!!
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Member:
dzaccheo
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Posted on Tuesday, Jan 6, 2009 - 8:55 am:
I do not see some of the photos I uploaded of his bad foot here so I will try to reupload.
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Member:
dzaccheo
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Posted on Tuesday, Jan 6, 2009 - 10:01 am:
Here is a link to us on you tube. As you can see. he was moving good 2 months ago.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZZT6OJ6xGk
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Wednesday, Jan 7, 2009 - 7:25 am:
Hello Danita,
The quality of the hoof wall horn looks OK but the coronets look remarkably swollen in some photos. The condition appears chronic as it has effected the last month's growth creating both a ring and abrupt change in the angle of hoof growth at the top of the foot. As the quality of the skin itself looks fairly normal, it is not evident in the images why the coronets are swollen. Neither do I see anything odd about the hair growth itself. Be sure to recheck the list of causes in the article on coronitis (referenced above) to see if any of these seem applicable to your case. If all four feet are effected nutritional, toxic, and autoimmune diseases should also be considered along with infectious agents. I would consider having this problem examined by your veterinarian to get a good working diagnosis for the cause of the swelling.
Lastly it appears the farrier is aggressively removing the toe wall in some photos but again I cannot see why from these images.
DrO
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Member:
ajudson1
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Posted on Wednesday, Jan 7, 2009 - 9:02 am:
Hi Danita,
I have a part Friesian who has the feathering, so I am following your post here. I wonder if it's like a dermititis?(Sp?) Something in his environment; shavings? Grooming product that just puddled there and caused a reaction? Leg wraps have something in them?
I agree with DrO, not sure what your farrier is doing with his hooves. Was he foundered?
Beautiful horse btw!
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Member:
twadwis
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Posted on Wednesday, Jan 7, 2009 - 1:29 pm:
Not to add to your concerns but those are some pretty unhealthy looking feet. I would wonder also if he had foundered at some point. Very hard to see because of the angles of the photos, but the feet look to have very little slope to the hairline and very high heels for a freshly shod horse.
That backed up toe sure looks like a foundered foot, actually he has two completely different looking feet. Don't remember if he has been x-rayed, is that possible?
He sure looks like a happy boy in the video.
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Member:
dzaccheo
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Posted on Wednesday, Jan 7, 2009 - 2:28 pm:
He has been x-rayed about a year ago, and has never foundered. The vet instructed the farrier to take hi toes back to help his roll-over and to keep him in aluminum because he has arthritis problems in fetlocks, knees, hocks...
In fact the horse is kind of just one huge problem. I bought him this way two years ago, not knowing about all the problems, and his passing a vet check. However, he is my horse of a life-time and we have a special connection. I has been trying to treat all the problems and I feel I have the arthritis stabilized. Now it is this foot. I have a call in to a equine podiatrist/vetrinarian. Hopefully he will be available to come out soon!!! He can also address shoeing issues and say how the horse should be shod.
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Member:
twadwis
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Posted on Thursday, Jan 8, 2009 - 1:48 pm:
Does he have to be in shoes? He has enough foot that he could go barefoot and let his feet relax. We now know that shoes increase concussion which is not good for his arthritis issues. It is also felt that circulation will increase with shoes off and perhaps that would help with the coronary issues too.
So do you know of all his past issues/problems and what has been done to 'fix' them ? Maybe some answers there.
You said he had x-rays last year and was OK....what I'm seeing on that right front is 'tight' new growth recently but below that there is trouble, the toe flares out and appears detached. So did something happen to him in the past couple of months?
Just looking for reasons for his problems.
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Member:
dzaccheo
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Posted on Thursday, Jan 8, 2009 - 3:28 pm:
My vet responded to my email and said it is a cutaneous infection which is common to friesians. I should put gentalin beta on it for 10 days and it should clear up. The podiatrist/vetrinarian is coming out Monday. He is supposed to be one of the best in Europe. He is from Holland (as are friesians) and believes from the description also that it is coronitis which he said is very common in friesians. Will have him review x-rays and give me instructions on how to shoe him with his conformation and arthritis problems.
I believe this has been a very long standing problem (since before I bought him). I did not catch it because of all the hair, until he went off on that foot. Nothing new has happened to him recently, in fact he has been going exceptionally well. He does not get hard work due to his issues, mostly walk with some trot for 30 minutes to keep him moving and limber, and keep him interested, as he loves his road work. The only place I have to ride when our arena is wet is on our dirt road which is very rocky. He performs a couple of shows a year which last only 2 - 3 minutes, which he also loves as he is quite a ham.
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Member:
leslie1
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Posted on Thursday, Jan 8, 2009 - 6:39 pm:
Please keep us updated on him.
Best wishes
LeslieC
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Friday, Jan 9, 2009 - 7:46 am:
Danita, did your veterinarian name the infection? Knowing its genus and specie would help us.
DrO
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Member:
lsweeney
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Posted on Friday, Jan 9, 2009 - 3:19 pm:
I agree with the person who mentioned founder. The growth coming out of the coronet band usually is indicative of the angle of the coffin bone. The way it is DrOpping down, it does look like some rotation could have occurred?
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Sunday, Jan 11, 2009 - 1:48 pm:
While rotation or DrOpping of the coffin bone can cause a depression it does not cause enlargement like seen above. On the other hand some inflammatory changes of an acute founder or a founder associated with an undraining abscess may cause swelling of the coronet. The history is not consistent with an acute founder. On the other hand the swelling does not rule out founder in the past or present.
DrO
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Member:
dzaccheo
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Posted on Monday, Jan 12, 2009 - 3:10 pm:
The specialist will be out Tuesday afternoon. Could not come today. Will let everyone know what he has to say. He has not foundered in the 2 1/2 years I have had him. He has be only slightly lame on this foot. Nothing like I would imagine if there were a founder,although I have no experience with founder.
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Member:
dzaccheo
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Posted on Monday, Feb 23, 2009 - 1:49 pm:
I thought I would give everybody a update on Zorro. It seems he had more than one problem going on. He had coronitis especially on the front. I cleared it up by shaving the area, applying gentalin beta to clearup any infection and then Zorac which is used to treat psoriasis (sp) in people. I now keep the area shaved as I think too much hair contributed to the problem. His hoof wall growth is now without the crackled appearance.
The lameness and swelling was/is arthritis of the coffin joint. He had a flare-up due to poor shoeing. I had a specialist out and he was put in colleoni rock and roll B shoes and his feet were balanced. My farrier was leaving the outside heel much longer than the inside, and also left the heels too high. As Zorro toes out, this was really stressing the joints. For a horse that has arthritis, NOT GOOD!!!
I feel so guilty about not catching the poor shoeing sooner. I am amazed by this horses rebound power. After being lame since November (first only slightly, and steadily worse), he is now perfect after a week in these shoes, bute and icing it. He is now off bute and I am slowly starting him back to excercise.
The goal was to long rein him at a walk for 10 to 15 minutes. It turned out to be an impossible task for a stallion that has been boxed for over a month. He basically passaged for 10 minutes!!!
I was terrified he would be lame again the next day, but he was fine and continues to be fine.
I am keeping my fingers crossed. Arthritis demands such a delicate balance.
Thank you everyone for your thoughts!!
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Member:
leslie1
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Posted on Monday, Feb 23, 2009 - 2:12 pm:
Im glad you got to the bottom of it! Now atleast you have a clear course of action.
PS I bet he looked beautiful in passage!! All that Friesan hair flying!
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Monday, Feb 23, 2009 - 5:34 pm:
Thanks for sharing this up-date, Danita.
Don't feel bad about not catching the farrier problem earlier. There is a lot of that going on consistently amongst those with the best of intentions.
We depend upon others to know how to do their jobs, but in many cases the way foot care has been taught has been flawed.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Monday, Feb 23, 2009 - 6:39 pm:
Thanks for the update Danita, what are the chances of some new photos to show the progress?
DrO
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Member:
dzaccheo
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 - 6:50 am:
Here are some photos that I took today. The corona area may look strange as I just shaved it which I do once a week. Whoever invented these shoes deserves a prize as they are miraculous, at least for horses that are not straight in their conformation. The horse can move as he needs to, and Zorro's way-of-going has changed dramatically!!
I also added a couple other pics so you could put a face with the feet
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Member:
hollyw
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 - 7:17 am:
The profile of his foot looks much better and more even and balanced and healthy.
He's gorgeous! I love the red halter photo.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 - 8:04 am:
I still see swelling or prominence of the coronet region though it does not appear as remarkable as before. Do both front feet look like this? Is this a recent change?
DrO
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Member:
dzaccheo
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 - 9:46 am:
He is still a bit swollen on this foot. Although there is no heat or tenderness. I am not sure if it will be permanent or not, as I let it go since November, treating for other things instead of arthritis. Zorro My regular vet is back a few days from Dubai and he was prepared to come out, but since he is not lame anymore, he said we should not touch it. If he has problems again, he said we will inject it. I am attaching a front view also. 
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Member:
leslie1
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 - 10:04 am:
My Goodness! What a Beautiful horse!! Mane down to his knees!
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Member:
erika
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 - 10:39 am:
Certainly is a beauty! Lovely pictures.
I think the feet look remarkably better. Yes, there is a bit of swelling still, but the hooves themselves appear much more comfortable-looking.
Hope it all works out in the long run.
Erika
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Member:
stek
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 - 2:44 pm:
Lovely pics Danito, thanks for sharing and glad your horse is doing better. Do you think the shoer that had caused the problems was trying to correct the fact that he toes out by leaving the outside heel longer?
We board a horse that toes in severely and his current trimmer thinks she can correct this with trimming. I think it's better to let him toe in so long as he's sound that way.
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Member:
dzaccheo
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 - 4:25 pm:
I don't know if he was consciously trying to correct him, or is just not very good at shoeing horses that are not straight. All the straight horses in the barn seem to be shod well (I looked after Zorro was reshod by the specialist). However, the one horse we have that toes in slightly was also out of balance. At the next shoeing, the specialist will be coming out to teach our shoer how to shoe Zorro. I also learned, it helps to put socks with the toes cut out over a friesians feathers when they are shod, as the feathering makes it difficult to see angles, etc.
Once a horse has finished growing, I don't think you can correct conformational defects. You need to leave them as they are in my opinion.
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Member:
stek
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Posted on Tuesday, Feb 24, 2009 - 5:33 pm:
Thanks Danito, I agree that you can't correct conformational defects after the horse is done growing, it can lead to problems like you experienced. The person trimming this horse and I do not see eye to eye on that! But his owner wants to believe the best. Whenever I come across something like this I try to share it with the owner to add to her base of knowledge.
Thanks again 
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Member:
dzaccheo
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Posted on Wednesday, Apr 22, 2009 - 10:02 am:
Hello All,
An update on Zorro. It appears that the problem is coffin joint arthitis aggravated tremendously by horrible shoeing. Within 15 - 20 days after the shoeing by the vetrinarian/podologist Dr. Hans Castelijns, Zorro was no longer lame, even trotting on a tight cirle on that foot (right front) whereas before it was even painful for him to put it down on uneven ground, just walking straight. However, the swelling remained. It reduced significantly, but was still there. The swelling would go away when on bute, but I would rather not keep him on bute all the time, at 11 years old, as I feel there will come a time when he will probably have to remain on it to stay comfortable.
I decided to try an additional joint supplement that I have read very good things about on a British forum. He is currently on cortaflx with additional hyluronic acid. The cortaflx has definately helped him, although he needs to remain on the loading dose. The new supplement is Pernamax from Maxavita in England. WOW it sure seems to work!!! There is no more swelling in the foot and his chronically enlarged, arthritic hock has also decreased significantly in size. He is moving like he moves when he is on bute, also stepping under much farther on his bad hock, I would even say equally to his other hock.
So far so good, I sure hope it continues!!!
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Member:
vickiann
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Posted on Wednesday, Apr 22, 2009 - 10:47 am:
Glad that it is going so much better.
I agree with Shannon about not correcting the toeing in and have seen a lot of big problems created by farriers who think that they ought to do that.
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Member:
leslie1
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Posted on Wednesday, Apr 22, 2009 - 10:03 pm:
Good to hear Danita
I am glad hes doing better and thanks for keeping us infprmed on him He is so beautiful.
As you probably know...several Polo ponies DrOpped dead after getting tainted supplements recently...(atleast that is the assumption) so careful, as Im sure you probably are.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Thursday, Apr 23, 2009 - 7:14 am:
Delighted to hear your horse is doing better Danita and correcting severely unbalanced feet will certainly do it. As to the joint supplement can you tell me what is in it, the concentration, and dosage recommendations?
DrO
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Member:
dzaccheo
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Posted on Thursday, Apr 23, 2009 - 8:58 am:
Amazing what good balancing and shoeing will do. I have learned never to underestimate the improtance of a balanced foot. If anyone may be interested, the vet/podiatrist who corrected Zorro has some great articles on his website www.farriery.eu. He is truely exceptional and I am lucky to have him so close.
As for the supplement, I am not positive it is what added the final touches, but after 10 to fifteen days, all of Zorro's joints are remarkablely "cleaner". It is most obvious where there was more swelling, in his "problem" hock and front foot. He is moving much more freely and steping under much better.
This could be due to healing with time after being shod correctly, however it coincided exactly with the completion of the loading dose of this product.
Here is the info I copied of thier website www.maxavita.com.
First 10 days Maintenance
All horse sizes 8 tablets per day 4 tablets per day
Ingredients Info
Presentation: Tablets containing 250mg SupernaTM with a Peppermint flavour.
Daily Intake: 8 per day for 10 days reducing to 4 per day thereafter. Take with feed or treat.
Shelf-life: Two years.
Description: Plain, circular, bi-convex, 9mm diameter green speckled tablet with natural peppermint flavour.
Non-Active ingredients: Microcrystalline cellulose, Stearic Acid, peppermint Oil, Silicon dioxide.
Instructions for use: Some horses find the tablets strong to taste. Feed with food or treats initially. Experience indicates that most accept the tablet after a few days.
Contains a proprietary extract of Green Lipped Mussel (Perna canaliculus).
Manufactured in the EU.
In a couple of months I will start withdrawing the cortaflx and the pernamax, one at a time and see if there is any difference.
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Member:
jjrichar
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Posted on Thursday, Apr 23, 2009 - 1:12 pm:
Wow what a beauty of a horse! I love Friesians.... they are so majestic. Glad to hear he is doing better. I too, learned the hard way that a bad farrier/shoeing will lame just about any horse. I use a supplement called 'Joint Saver', that seems to work really well for my arthritic horses.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Friday, Apr 24, 2009 - 7:43 am:
Danita, Perna canaliculus was the original mucopolysaccaride/chonDrOitin joint supplement. I want to suggest that the remarkable changes you describe are not likely to be attributable to this or for that manner any oral joint supplement. That is not to say there may be some benefit, for more on this see, Treatments and Medications for Horses » Anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs, Steroids, Arthritis Rx) » Glucosamine, ChonDrOitin Sulfate, and their use in Arthritis.
DrO
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Member:
frances
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Posted on Tuesday, Jul 21, 2009 - 8:34 am:
Hi Danita, How is Zorro now? Hope he's continuing to improve.
I've been thinking of ordering some Pernamax for my horse based on your recommendation: now that some time has passed, do you still feel that it helped his joints? I'd love to hear your opinion.
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Member:
dzaccheo
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Posted on Tuesday, Jul 21, 2009 - 5:08 pm:
Hi,
Zorro is contining to do fantastic. Between the shoeing and the supplement, it is like he has been reborn. I heard about Pernamax from other discussion boards/forums. If you google Pernamax some of the discussions may come up so you can evaluate those as well. It has worked great for my horse, and as you will see by the other discussions, for many others, but not for all. Some people noticed no improvement. For me, enough people noticed a significant improvement that I wanted to give it a try. I do not believe that every supplement works on every horse. The trick is to find the one that works for yours. It is somewhat hit and miss. I have tried many, many that did nothing for Zorro, including most of the top rated ones like Recovery EQ. I am sure many if not most of them are great products, but they did not work for my horse. With Pernamax there is a definate improvement
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Member:
frances
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Posted on Wednesday, Jul 22, 2009 - 7:20 am:
Thanks Danita. It's great that Zorro is doing so well now and I think you're quite right about not all supplements working for all horses.
I might give the Pernamax a shot; did you have any trouble getting Zorro to accept the tablets at first?
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Wednesday, Jul 22, 2009 - 8:27 am:
Just to keep things on a even keel here, let me repeat an earlier post:
Danita, Perna canaliculus was the original mucopolysaccaride/chonDrOitin joint supplement. I want to suggest that the remarkable changes you describe are not likely to be attributable to this or for that manner any oral joint supplement. That is not to say there may be some benefit, for more on this see, Treatments and Medications for Horses » Anti-inflammatories (NSAIDs, Steroids, Arthritis Rx) » Glucosamine, ChonDrOitin Sulfate, and their use in Arthritis.
To expound on this I would note that arthritis is a very variable disease with peaks and valleys that make assessment of any partiuclar treatmtent of individuals difficult. I would also note that often trimming can be remarkably helpful for some forms of osteoarthritis. And lastly you are comming off a serious lameness that had nothing to do with arthritis so recent improvements are almost certainly do to resolution of the hoof infection.
DrO
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Member:
dzaccheo
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Posted on Thursday, Jul 23, 2009 - 5:09 am:
I guess I have not been clear in my posts. The serious lameness was due to arthritis of the coffin joints which he has in both fronts, not a foot infection. The arthritis was aggravated by seriously unbalanced hoofs which thankfully the great people and vet on HA brought to my attention. I called the specialist out who brought him into balance and put special shoes on him. Zorro improved to about 95%. Zorro remained stable at about 95% improvement until I started Pernamax, which within the 10 day loading dose, he returned to 100%. I agree, it could be coincidence, and when I find the courage I will try stopping the Pernamax and seeing how he does without it. Right now I am just so happy to have a sound horse after 2 1/2 years of arthritis related soundness issues that I am afraid to change anything.
Also, he is managed very carefully regarding exercise, he is not worked too much, with a long warm up and cool down. This also has much to do with him staying sound.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Thursday, Jul 23, 2009 - 7:40 am:
I think I got it Danita and yes I think the management and trimming are likely the biggest reason for improvement but I do still have some uncertainties.
If you have documented osteoarthritis we do not recommend you stop using chonDrOitin/hyaluronate oral nutraceuticals. We just want to keep in place that these products do not cause "remarkable" improvements in lameness. Experiments with large numbers and that use controls have trouble documenting improvement though small effects are regularly found. Again I reference the article above on this.
The uncertainty I have is the with the diagnosis of arthritis of the coffin joint and complete return to soundness. Osteoarthritis of the coffin joints is not usually 100% treatable. Though proper shoeing and NSAIDs can help greatly there is usually some residual lameness that unfortunately is progressive over time. I presume the diagnosis is based on radiographic evidence of degenerative joint disease?
DrO
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Member:
dzaccheo
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Posted on Thursday, Jul 23, 2009 - 8:44 am:
I think it is the special Colleoni full rock and roll shoes that has returned him to full soundness. He was 95% a month or so after the first shoeing with these, and after Pernamax returned to 100%. The vet/podiatrist/farrier said to never take him out of these shoes as they digress quickly, but it is common for the horse to stay sound 10 years in them with proper management. These shoes are used extensively in Europe. The diagnosis was made with digital x-rays which I posted in another thread.
The vet who took the x-rays is an orthopeadic specialist at the University of Perugia. He also works extensively in Dubai with racehorses and endurance horses. He said my horse is remarkably full of arthritis: coffin joints, knees, hocks, etc. He said he handles it very well and perhaps he was born with the condition . He had his hock injected 1 1/2 years ago. As of now he moves as though there is nothing wrong with him, other than his one hock is slightly stiffer than the other, but he works out of it. If a person was not looking for it, they may not even notice.
The vet/farrier has a great article on his website that explains the function of the shoes better than I can: https://www.farriery.eu/. It is under therapeutic farriery and the article is called, "Flying Saucers and Rock and Roll."
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Member:
dzaccheo
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Posted on Thursday, Jul 23, 2009 - 9:02 am:
I phrased my last post incorrectly. I don't "think", I "know" it is the special shoeing that Zorro. However he did not return to 100% with the shoeing alone, even after a month or so. I think the supplement was the icing on the cake that brought him to 100%.
I just reread the above article myself and it reminded me that these shoes are especially helpful for horses that toe in or out. As Zorro toes out, they have really helped him.
I highly recommend reading the article as it has very good science behind it.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Friday, Jul 24, 2009 - 8:15 am:
We have long recommended "rock and roll" for many foot and joint problems Danita and have seen horses with chronic heel pain come sound with their use.
DrO
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