Anyone dealt with a broken coffin bone? Looking for experience and what kind of work the horse returned to, if any. A working hunter of mine broke a hind coffin bone, about mid-way between dead center and 9 o’clock (to the outside). He was non-weight bearing for just a few days, but can now walk on it (even run like an idiot), and stand with his good foot resting. Since the fracture is not of the wing and a little more inboard, the joint is involved some. But I don’t know how bad “partially involved” means. It’s a good thing it’s not dead center though. He now has a shoe with 5 clips on it, obviously on stall rest. Just curious what all to expect from here on out. And what supplements (if any) your horse was on to heal. I have ordered Platinum Osteon (recommended by vet), but would also consider Equibone. Thoughts?
Well a wing only fracture is a better situation than what you have, but, being a hind limb rather than a front is a good thing IMO. If you end up with some slight damage in the joint between the coffin bone and the short pastern bone, low ringbone, the joint may be slightly compromised. But could be still functional for many disciplines. These things are always a “wait and see” situation, no one can foretell the future with certainty. Time and good feed and care will heal the horse. Pumping more nutricuticals above and beyond what is required won’t help. Then you find out what you have in terms of functionality. Keep a positive attitude in the mean time. Good luck!
We had an 8 year old ranch horse with such a break in a front foot.
He was out to pasture and came in very lame.
His was more at the 8 hour mark, more towards the front than yours.
He did present with abscesses, why the vet x-rayed and found the break.
It took him a good three months to heal where he was given the clear by the vet.
He didn’t have any problems from it and kept being a fine ranch horse for years after that.
We did have a mid teens ranch horse that broke a wing on a front foot in a way it interfered with joint function.
He was in a cast for several months and it never healed and was doing damage to the joint.
Those horses were lame decades ago, today vet medicine is light years ahead and so much more can be done, the only that is the same, those injuries take time to heal, more than other bones do.
I have an eventer who broke his coffin bone, but it was only a small stress fracture with a displaced chip. He only presented as mildly lame, on and off, with abscesses, so we kept chasing the abscesses until we realized that it was the bone itself. He had surgery to take out the chip, flush the infection, and debride the dead bone, and has about 75% of his coffin bone remaining. He has actually healed beautifully.
I basically retired him from jumping after he rehabbed - we’ve done occasional jumps for fun, but nothing like schooling. He was barefoot after the surgery, and then wore glue-ons for a year while his hoof healed, then regular shoes, and is now finally back to barefoot. I don’t know if he could jump. He’s 20 now, and I was ready to be done eventing due to life circumstances, so I haven’t pursued it seriously.
I think they’re eminently recoverable as long as you keep them still and keep monitoring. I had him on higher levels of biotin and on alfalfa for calcium, no specific bone support.
(if you want the whole gruesome story, 8 million photographs, and every possible detail and agonizing decision, I blogged the whole thing right on through, link in my profile - the “abscess” and “surgery” tags will get you everything, it was a long and miserable process of discovery and learning)
As a farrier rather then an owner I have worked on 5 over the years. All returned to the same level of riding after stall rest and clips.
No supplements have been shown by actual research to speed healing of a fracture in humans or horses. Save your money for vet bills and just make sure he has an adequate diet and something to keep him quiet and not let him “run like an idiot”.
Only known a few that suffered a coffin bone fracture. One was put down, the others healed but were limited as far as jumping and heavy work. It took 6 months easy before they returned to any regular work.
I agree that I’d save my money on supplements and instead look at some sort of therapy.
Also, should he be turned out right now? Horses don’t always know best when it comes to not reinjuring themselves.
I know one that healed well (but it was a wing, no joint involvement). Horse was kept on strict stall rest with hand-walking only for 3 months. Horse was well managed - no opportunities to trot/canter/be silly. If there was a situation where the horse might have become upset, he was aced preemptively.
Yours sounds like it’s at 4:30; mine was at 4:00. Articular wing fracture - horse 3 legged. Cast for 5 months, then a shoe. Difficult horse to manage; did best in a 12 x 24 pen to keep him quiet vs stall kept. In spite of vet’s ‘sorry’, horse has been sound since cast first applied; flat and jumping. A recent review paper re: coffin bone fractures was published in Europe. Hind limb coffin bone fractures like my horse’s fracture (and sounds like yours), had an over 80% success rate w/ horse returning to previous work level.
I only know a horse who shattered his coffin bone (RF). So broken they couldn’t see it on X-ray. He healed well and was sound, but his coffin joint was compromised so he wouldn’t have stayed sound in work. He was mid-late teens at the time anyhow, with many many other issues, so it was retirement for him. He sure ran around in the pasture just fine though!
My horse fractured his coffin bone in his RF a little over a year ago. No joint involvement for my guy. He was on stall rest for 6 months with a bar shoe with pads. After stall rest we handwalked for a few months, then started trotting on the lunge, then under saddle walk/trot, then canter. He recovered 100%. He has jumped up to 2’ since the injury no problem, and will be fine to go as high as we want. He has been sound since coming off stall rest. He is still in a bar shoe on that foot, but just for extra support (and because I’m paranoid… Lol), he would be fine in a regular shoe. Basically, my horse recovered 100% and was able to return to full work. The coffin bone injury will not prevent him from doing anything a horse without the injury could do. Our goal is 3’6-4’ jumpers.
The best advice I got was this: “Do a long, slow rehab and never look back.” (Sound cheesy, but is so true.)
I’ve dealt with 5 ranging from small cracks to one whose coffin bone was in so many pieces we had to finally euthanize him because we couldn’t keep it from abscessing. Other 4 did quite well after stall rest and a good show with clips. Back to full work including one who jumped up through 1.4 meters with no lameness. Time works wonders on these injuries.
One of my horses fractured his coffin bone 15 years ago. The fracture was difficult to find at first and was only found once we took him to the University. He spent several months on stall rest and the University felt certain he would never be ridable again. Fortunately, with corrective shoeing and anti-inflammatories, he recovered well and has been ridable and quite sound for many years. He was in bar shoes and pads for many years and would have some “off” days but what helped him the most was Equi-Pak hoof packing. Once we started using that, his soundness improved tremendously. He’s still working today at 27 years-old and his biggest issue now is hock arthritis, not the old fracture.
[QUOTE=ottbbabe;8225560]
The best advice I got was this: “Do a long, slow rehab and never look back.” (Sound cheesy, but is so true.)[/QUOTE]
^^^^ This. My horse broke P2, but after a surgery to pin it, I listened to some old timers and “threw him in a field” after the initial healing. For his injury he was in a cast for 6 weeks, then stall rest etc etc. Gradually he returned to a turnout schedule (not true “out in a field” but you get the idea). I gave him off for maybe a year. He returned to being sound, back to showing and is still eating my money in his late 20s (the injury was in 1997).
[QUOTE=Pennywell Bay;8225975]
^^^^ This. My horse broke P2, but after a surgery to pin it, I listened to some old timers and “threw him in a field” after the initial healing. For his injury he was in a cast for 6 weeks, then stall rest etc etc. Gradually he returned to a turnout schedule (not true “out in a field” but you get the idea). I gave him off for maybe a year. He returned to being sound, back to showing and is still eating my money in his late 20s (the injury was in 1997).[/QUOTE]
A year is a really long recovery, but for some horses is needed. The average time for a horse with no joint involvement is 6 months.
I’ve had really good luck with wing and articular coffin bone fractures in both front and hind feet. I’ve dealt with a lot of them with race horses, and then a few more in my own personal horses (I’m seriously cursed). All of mine have returned to work with no lasting complications. I’m even considering riding my retired broodmare who about 18 months ago had an open articular P3 fracture which involved a ruptured joint capsule, significant osteomyelitis, and a very poor prognosis. She looks perfectly sound in the field these days and is done having babies… so… why not?
I’ve never used a supplement. I’ve never done anything fancy-- just stall rest for several months, supportive shoeing, and turnout when they are ready. I’ve always followed the rule of thumb not to put them back into work for about a year.
Also, I think complications from coffin joint arthritis aren’t quite as big of a deal as they were 15 or 20 years ago. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not trying to minimize concern. But we have a lot of good pharmaceuticals that greatly help as well as arthroscopic surgical access for the worst cases.
[QUOTE=ottbbabe;8226058]
A year is a really long recovery, but for some horses is needed. The average time for a horse with no joint involvement is 6 months.[/QUOTE]
And as I stated “I” gave him off for a year. This was in 97, he had a pin to put the bone back together. Sorry, neither I nor New Bolton thought it was too long. Shrug. It got him back to jumping 3’6 and winning rated hacks. I could have sped his recovery, but why when he wasn’t physically ready to return to work.
Evil as a snake pony recovered perfectly fine.
[QUOTE=Pennywell Bay;8226354]
And as I stated “I” gave him off for a year. This was in 97, he had a pin to put the bone back together. Sorry, neither I nor New Bolton thought it was too long. Shrug. It got him back to jumping 3’6 and winning rated hacks. I could have sped his recovery, but why when he wasn’t physically ready to return to work.[/QUOTE]
Didn’t mean to anger you! I was just letting the OP know that most horses don’t need a year off.
[QUOTE=enjoytheride;8224340]
I agree that I’d save my money on supplements and instead look at some sort of therapy.
Also, should he be turned out right now? Horses don’t always know best when it comes to not reinjuring themselves.[/QUOTE]
To be clear, he is not on turn out since the diagnosis. When I thought it was just an abscess, he was in a small dry lot and I also put him out in the barn yard to mow the grass. Needless to say since diagnosis, he is in a stall.
