Horse with Bone Demineralization?

[annairb]

Hi everyone,

I’m looking at getting a horse that has bone demineralization (specifically, “demineralization fragment” according to the current owner’s vet). I do NOT plan on jumping this horse high, if at all. I am more curious other’s experiences with horses with this issue and what, if anything, I would be able to do to help re-mineralize (?) the bone. I understand it makes the bone a bit more fragile to breaks, not sure if there’s anything else that I should be aware of.

Thank you for any additional info in advance! There isn’t much out there on this, surprisingly.

[GoodTimes]

Do they know the cause? History of malnutrition? Osphos? etc
Is this body wide? Or is this limited to a specific area ie pedal osteitis?

[GraceLikeRain]

What bone(s) are involved? How was it diagnosed and how long ago?

[annairb]

They aren’t sure the cause. He’s a registered (and very nice) warmblood so doubt there was a history of malnutrition. It seems he may have been born with it. He is a larger built warmblood. Their vet did suggest Osphos but they have not done it due to costs. It very well could be pedal osteitis. The PPE described “slight damage to navicular on both forefeet with the right being slightly more prominent.” The right front foot is the one with the demineralization.

[annairb]

It was only diagnosed a few months ago and is in the right front foot. The PPE also described “slight damage to navicular on both forefeet with the right being slightly more prominent.”

[Renn_aissance]

At the end of the day, what you need to do is have your vet and farrier look at the x-rays together and tell you what they think about how to maintain and address the problem.

If you’ve got an active inflammatory problem in that foot, then you have a different situation than a horse who had a problem last year which is now resolved, and is now showing demineralization as a follow-on condition.

[GoodTimes]

How old is this horse? And what is he currently wearing for shoes in order to be sound?
I agree with @Renn_aissance that you should go over the x-rays with your vet and farrier and see what they have to say.

If the horse is young and you’re seeing changes on x-rays I would probably move on. If the horse is older, is currently sound and performing at the level that you would require, and your farrier feels that he can manage the feet than I would go might go ahead.
I say this as someone who owns two horses with hoof issues that have caused lameness, yet neither one has bony changes on x-rays.

[annairb]

The vet said that he basically had a “less dense” bone in his foot, making it more susceptible to being fractured. I am not concerned about the demineralization being something else. I have facilities to retire this horse if it came to it, and it wouldn’t be an issue at all.

I’m more looking to see if anyone had experiences themselves with this, as it seems to be a rare issue, and how their horse got along in life with it.

[GoodTimes]

I wouldn’t call it a rare issue. Nearly every horse with reported bony changes has demineralization. There’s a loss of density and this can be seen on x-ray. So pedal osteitis, navicular syndrome that affects the navicular bone itself, etc.

Demineralization is a result of something. Either acute or chronic trauma, or a severe nutritional deficiency. Untreated bone bruising can lead to permanent damage, ie demineralization.

There is no supplement out there that will remineralize bone. The only medications out there that are approved for this type of thing are bisphosphonates (Tildren and Osphos).

[annairb]

Ah, ok. It sounds like “demineralization” is the colitis of foot bones, pretty vague. I appreciate this insight! I will look into it further with my vet.

[IPEsq]

Does he have any foot pain? If no, then I’d probably leave it alone for now. Ensure he has good farrier care.

[CHT]

Demineralization in the foot can also be caused by poor farrier care. I

would be curious as to the current status of the hooves.

[GoodTimes]

Yes, I lumped poor farrier care in with chronic trauma.

@annairb Inflammation (-itis) of bone causes edema, remodeling, degeneration, and eventually demineralization.

As an example, I’ve got a 7yo mare who we x-rayed in January due to some subtle and not so subtle intermittent lameness issues. X-rays came back normal. Balance was good, good sole depth, no bony changes. Tried putting her in shoes and pads with minor improvement. Things got worse again after the first reset so we sent her for an MRI. On the MRI they could see bruising and edema of the coffin and navicular bones.
She’s currently on stall rest and when we bring her back into work it will be with shoes and pads. While she has good feet she has fairly upright, short pasterns. She doesn’t have the shock absorption through the fetlock that she should, and it’s resulting in concussion in her front feet.
If we had of kept pushing her without letting those bone bruises heal those navicular and coffin bones likely would have started to remodel and demineralize.

[PonyApocalypse19]

I would caution buying something with an known issue. I know buying any horse is like throwing money in a trash can and lighting it on fire, but you’re already seeing the result of some inflammatory process. I would worry that in a few years that it gets to the point where the issue is no longer manageable and it’s not about retiring the horse but quality of life discussion. Horse could be fine until one day it’s not. I’ve seen this happen and it was heartbreaking for everyone involved.

[Peggy]

LSS. I bought one with demineralization in P3. It did not end well. Would not recommend. Expensive mistake.

FWIW. We initially treated with Tildren. There were other issues so maybe with just the demineralization we might have been OK. Horse’s name was Skipper if you want to do a search.