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  Discussion on Pedal Ostitis
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Posted on Wednesday, Oct 20, 1999 - 10:21 pm:

My 10 year old Arabian mare has just been diagnosed with Pedal Ostitis. At the end of July, she came up "off" while I was riding, esp. to the right. The farrier examined her, and based on her reaction to hoof testers and that he did not find a bruise on the sole, said that she had an absess. So we rested and soaked 2x a day for one week and then 1x day for another week. During this time, she was moved from being out most of the time with the whole herd to a schedule of up at night in her stall & run and out in a paddock with short grass with two other "dieting" mares. No abcess came out, but the soreness was better. I started riding again, gradually returning to normal work by the end of Aug./beginning Sept. After a conditioning ride (in preperation for our first 50 mile endurance ride) she was lame again (inconsistant on straight, more consistant bobbing on circles to right, about every other step), so I had the vet out for a lameness exam. The vet diagnosed strained tendons or ligaments (horse fussy during flexion tests and slight increase in head bobbing on trot-out) and prescribed stall rest, icing, wrapping and hand-walking (slowly increasing time out). After 3 weeks, there is very little noticable improvement in the horse's trot, so we do nerve blocks and x-rays. The lower (first)nerve block produces a noticable improvement in the gait on the circle (always the worst) of about 80%. The x-rays showed no signs of founder and some changes in the navicular bone but she thought consistant with a horse of 10 years. She was concerned about a irregular outline on the wings of the coffin bone and suggested pedal ostitis. A consult with an equine radiologist said the same thing. The vet has agreed that since it is on one foot and seemed to happen suddenly, the condition was trauma induced and has prescribed pads (along with balanced shoeing) and 3 months rest and quiet turnout and then wait and see.

Does pedal ostitis sound like a reasonable diagnosis or is it a term for "we're just guessing"? Can this be trauma induced and what is possibility of the trauma area healing? Is there anything else that I can do such as special nutrition or supplements? What can be expected for this horse's career path - looks like endurance may be out of the question (although my vet said that she wanted to wait until after the rest period to say)? Thanks, Lyn Dunbar

Posted on Thursday, Oct 21, 1999 - 6:40 am:

Hello Lyn,
That is very difficult to say Lyn, the coffin bone is notoriously irregular even when healthy but you have two professionals telling you the radiographs are consistant with the diagnosis.

Unless the radiographs were absolutly diagnostic I would also want a block on the coffin joint (always suspicious to me when I get a remrkable but not complete improvement with the PDN block). If this did not block out the lameness, and it should NOT if it is pedal osteitis, I them like to block the foot just on the side of the lesion and see if I get some improvement. If the lesion is near the midline this cannot be done.

The reason for the joint block is that the treatment of coffin joint pain is different than bruising of other soft tissues of the foot.
DrO
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