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  Discussion on Road Thrush????
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New Member:
Barc67

Posted on Friday, Sep 1, 2006 - 6:57 pm:

Has anyone ever heard of something called 'road thrush'?? My farrier has no idea. The reason I ask is that I sold a horse to a person who now claims that her farrier told her that the horse has 'stress thrush' or 'road thrush' from being jumped too much. The horse was very well cared for and jumped maybe once a month and only when it had been in consistent work for a couple of weeks each time. Just curious because I think she's pulling one on me!
Member:
Hwood

Posted on Friday, Sep 1, 2006 - 7:13 pm:

Welcome, Barclay.
Most likely, the person got "thrush" mixed up with the word "founder." There IS such a thing as founder due to concussion.
Member:
Canyon28

Posted on Friday, Sep 1, 2006 - 7:56 pm:

I also agree that the horse probably has road founder, which is concussion injuries to the coffin bone from being jumped or run on hard surfaces, like a road. I had an older mare with this, she apparently had been run down pavement or hard roads during her life, and the tips of both of her front coffin bones were actually split. She got along pretty well with pads for three or four years after I bought her, then due to toxic plant poisoning, another problem entirely plus cushings I think, she started to get abcesses that could not be controlled. I lost her to infection from the abcesses which got into her coffin bone in one foot. If the horse has been road foundered, he should never be jumped again. The only way to really know is to have xrays done to see what damage has been done.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Saturday, Sep 2, 2006 - 8:59 am:

Pulling one? Farrier has mistaken notion? Mistakes what the farrier said? All are possible, ask the person exactly what changes they are seeing in the foot that makes them think something is wrong.
DrO
New Member:
Barc67

Posted on Sunday, Sep 3, 2006 - 6:42 am:

I agree that the person most likely meant stress founder or road fonder as Holly and Christine noted. I still do not fully believe it as the horse is only 5 and hadn't done any extensive jumping that I know about (it was a teenager's horse, and only under my care for about 9 mos.) - also they did not x-ray and she was not lame when she left our barn. Thank you everyone for the insight though.
Member:
Hwood

Posted on Sunday, Sep 3, 2006 - 7:36 am:

It IS possible that the horse has some coffin bone deterioration from concussion.

I was a teenager once . . . almost 40 years ago, and one of my favorite things was to race my horse (all the cowboys did it on TV) . . . and she pounded the ground when she ran . . . and after three years of ownership, she developed chronic lameness. After x-rays, the vet diagnosed "deterioration of the coffin bone" and "possible navicular." The mare was my first horse and she was only 9 . . . I was devastated, and it wasn't until years later that I realized that it may have been my rash ignorance that caused her lameness. I had the mare for 23 years until I put her down . . . but I always cautioned others, especially my own students, to NEVER race on hard surfaces . . . nevertheless, I have seen many teens AND adults racing horses on pavement or hard-packed dirt roads.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Sep 4, 2006 - 9:23 am:

Holly how long wound you race for and how often? I think while certainly lots of running will aggravate any muscoskeletal issue, there probably were conformational issues also. We have always raced our horses for short distances on hard packed dirt roads a couple of times a day, 2 days a week, during the riding season and I really don't expect lameness issues.
DrO
Member:
Hwood

Posted on Monday, Sep 4, 2006 - 9:48 am:

Really? Well, the mare was really HOT . . . but only six when I got her. She had nice, straight legs, but did wing out with her feet at the trot. She just pounded the ground . . . was all on the front end. I used to run her quite a ways (hard to actually say since it was so long ago), and one of the only places I had to ride was along the paved, class B highway in Wisconsin where the farm was located. This mare always wanted to GO when a rider was on top, and I was too stupid to know that I shouldn't let her run whenever she wanted to run .. . and if I did try to hold her back, she would flex her nose to her chest and just jig in place (felt kinda neat but got me disqualified from pleasure classes). Standing mounted wasn't something this horse ever knew how to do (until her later years when I finally learned how to train) . . . But she wasn't lame until after I had her for three years, and all I know is that the vet said she had deterioration of the coffin bone (LF foot,) and he was scared to death of her and almost killed her trying to get tranquilizer and anestheic into her in order to get close enough to get an x-ray.
She was never shod . . . hated farriers . . . almost killed one . . . and that is how I started to learn how to do my own trimming.
I know that if horses are conditioned to running with they are young that their bone density increases and I expect that they are just better able to handle the stresses in all the joints of their bodies . . . but I'm not sure this mare had that kind of conditioning before I got her and started "riding" her.
Member:
Hwood

Posted on Monday, Sep 4, 2006 - 12:45 pm:

Dr. O.,
Was thinking as I mowed the lawn this morning . . . could her coffin bone have been shattered due to concussion? Maybe a rock underfoot?

She was lame on her left front until the day she died . . . some days were worse than others. She had the typical navicular stance -- LF forward and downhill . . .

Always felt that somehow I helped cause her lameness out of ignorance and misuse. If I remember correctly, the vet told us: "Deterioration of the coffin bone or shattering." We were such new horse owners, and this was back in 1971-72 . . .
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Monday, Sep 4, 2006 - 4:54 pm:

Running on asphalt is a bit different than hard ground, almost no matter how hard the ground is and there are many reasons one should not run on asphalt. There is just no give. But there are so many factors in your particular case, it is hard to say. I just wanted to not over do the caution of racing on dirt, even hard dirt, as it is not a frequent cause of lameness in my experience. Of course this is not a recommendation to exhaust your horses on a packed dirt surface. Keep it reasonable.
DrO
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