Natural ways to dissolve ringbone calcification?

[nandou]

Hi,

do you know or have any experience with natural/holistic ways to cure low articular ringbone?

I’ve found a couple of success stories, where either Homoepathy or a balanced barefoot trim (medial-lateral balanced) made the ringbone disappear again.

Please do not respond, if you don’t have anything productive to say, I know the common believe is that there is no cure for ring- or sidebone, so there’s really no need to comment on that all over, like in so many other threads. Just saying, it’s really not meant in an unfriendy way, so noone should feel offended.

[JB]

I think the only way to reduce or eliminate the growth is to catch it while it’s still hot, fix the imbalance (or remove the concussion), and wait and cross your fingers.

If you’re dealing with cold, set growth, you have what you have. At that point it’s just bone. Nothing more, nothing less. And you can’t spot-remove bone without surgery.

[sunhawk]

Have seen comfrey reduce bony growths, but haven’t seen it used on ringbone…at least it wouldn’t hurt to try it

[pony_baloney]

April Battles, who has some really amazing informative videos, has this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxIbHdx6PaM

I don’t know if this stuff is still available. Maybe you can email her and ask what she recommends now.

[JB]

I love Wound Balm. A lot.

But sidebone is very different from ringbone. And you can’t get to articular ringbone, like you can “get to” side bone.

[csaper58]

Is this what you are wondering about?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS5658DoFa8

I’m sorry, but no. A mixture of bentonite clay and liniment can not turn ringbone to jelly. The light boots are a gimmick, I did not watch long enough to see what they cost.

As the horse in the photos shows, good hoof trimming can help a lot.

If the ringbone was really gone they would be waving the before and after x-rays around at the NY Stock Exchange.

Their product is $22.95/3oz or $36.50/6oz

Bowie Clay is $16.95/50lbs add your own liniment.

[nandou]

Hi,

thank you for your responses so far.

As I said, I know the common believe regarding ringbone, but since it is a calcification “like” sidebone and often (if not always) caused by poor, imbalanced trimming, it should at least stop, once the cause is eliminated, shouldn’t it?

I’m not that much into Homeopathy tbh, but Hekla Lava for example can reabsorb bone growth.

I will later take a look at the videos you’ve posted, thanks.

[fordtraktor]

you can slather some things with products or give them time. Splints, for example, are bony growths that do “shrink” over the years. whether you put some natural product on it or not. So lots of people rub stuff like that with natural products, and think they helped, but really time did all the work.

I have never seen a horse’s ringbone “improve” in the same way. It does sometimes eventually fuse and then the horse tends to be more comfortable, which looks like improvement from the outside. Or you can inject with alcohol, which is a natural product and assists with the fusing process. But those are both just high ringbone, not low.

[NancyM]

The body will naturally re absorb some calcium deposits, over time, and with a demand for bone replacement. This is why splints etc can reduce in size over time, after they are set. Broodmares can experience this phenomenon as they require higher calcium for building a fetus. Excess boney deposits are the first to be re used. However, with articular boney deposits, their is usually continuing motion (until fusion takes place), and this keeps the bone growth active and somewhat inflamed. You can rub anything you like on the surface of this process, and tell yourself that it is “working” if you like, but the process is the same, and natural no matter what you choose. The joint involved will either wear clean with time, or be partially fused, or fully fused. Partially fused may be functional, and fully fused simply makes the joint solid and not bending any more, which may also be functionally sound for the horse. But other than the situation where the joint simply “wears clean” again, the bone growth is still there. Situations where a joint may wear clean usually involve very slight bone growth, a “boney lip” on a joint is an example of a situation that may wear clean, once the source of the original problem is removed, healed, and the horse is in light work.

[csaper58]

[QUOTE=nandou;8851127]
Hi,

thank you for your responses so far.

As I said, I know the common believe regarding ringbone, but since it is a calcification “like” sidebone and often (if not always) caused by poor, imbalanced trimming, it should at least stop, once the cause is eliminated, shouldn’t it?

I’m not that much into Homeopathy tbh, but Hekla Lava for example can reabsorb bone growth.

I will later take a look at the videos you’ve posted, thanks. :)[/QUOTE]

Sometimes when a horse suffers a hard knock on the pastern, that injury calcifies and is diagnosed as a high ringbone. I have seen those resorb naturally. Then the folks treating the leg then think the magic potion worked.

I will research the Hekla Lava, I have never heard of it.

[Edit to add] A quick scan of available info reveals Hekla Lava/Hecla Lava is ash from Mount Hekla in Iceland. It appears to be a homeopathic mineral supplement. It may not be properly balanced in Calcium, / Phosphorus ratios for horses.

There are many anecdotal accounts of Hekla Lava improving Plantar Fasciitis in people.

I find no scientific studies on it,. What info do you have on it, and how would you give it to a horse?

[Ghazzu]

Articular ringbone is essentially a form of degenerative joint disease.
If there were a “natural” way to reverse it, the pharmaceutical companies would be on it like white on rice.

[goeslikestink]

you cant its a decease of the bone

[JB]

@nandou;8851127

As I said, I know the common believe regarding ringbone, but since it is a calcification “like” sidebone and often (if not always) caused by poor, imbalanced trimming, it should at least stop, once the cause is eliminated, shouldn’t it?

“like” is very loose Calcified cartilage vs additional bone deposited.

But yes, for sure, remove the cause of the ringbone, and progression stops. And IF you caught the cause early while the new deposits are “hot” enough, bone can be removed.

When my horse severed his extensor tendon and in the process tore his fetlock joint capsule from hyperflexing it, xrays showed a bony growth where the capsule had been attached. Months later, xrays to check on things in general showed no sign of that. So, it was new, fresh, “hot” and because the cause was removed, and he was fed ample nutrition, the body was able to remove it.

I’m not that much into Homeopathy tbh, but Hekla Lava for example can reabsorb bone growth.

I will later take a look at the videos you’ve posted, thanks.

Well, no, it really can’t You can’t take a topical, apply it over a bony growth, and have that topical absorb the bone. You can use poultices to help remove the heat from the area and hope it’s fresh enough the body will remove the excess, but that’s about it.

[Kat_the_Horse]

I have a 10yo quarterhorse mare who has very prominent high ringbone. I bought her knowing she was would probably only be a pasture companion for my riding mare, but happy to pull her out of the auction routine. She was a heavily campaigned reiner who had obviously become too sore to work, but was kind and tolerant enough that her last ‘gig’ was working as a lesson horse. I got her right as she turned 8, already so broken she was dead lame in back. I have a real weakness for palominos…

Despite a good trimmer, mare’s back pasterns looked like two footballs shoved in the hoof capsule when I got her. I have since had her on every commercial product I could find to help her with the discomfort. She had to be given 'bute before she could have her back legs trimmed.

About six months ago I started her–and myself–on Golden Paste, which is tumeric, fresh ground pepper, and coconut oil. This stuff is supposed to help reduce inflammation and pain, something that both my mare AND I were suffering from a great deal of. It is really gack-worthy in taste to ME…but all three of my mares LURVE the stuff, actually licking it out of their food bowls. Each receive an ice cube sized (about 1.5 TBsp) every evening. I initially started Capri (ringbone) on 2 cubes worth, but in July reduced it to just once daily because I got hurt and making the paste weekly was beyond me. I was making triple batches and filling icetrays and freezing them. The paste freezes without separation and you can dump the trays into freezer containers, and just set up your feed early so the cubes defrost.

Anyway, upon starting the GP, a teaspoon 3 times daily, my hip pain was gone within 3 days. We are talking DEBILITATING pain, the kind that kept me from sleeping, sitting, and riding. I also used this to help with the pain of recovering from breaking my clavicle and messing up 5 vetebrae in a fall. I hate the taste, but it works for me, and I much preferred to avoid the hydrocodone that was prescribed for me for pain.

More to the point…Capri’s feet are no longer swollen, and although the ringbone is very apparent, she is much more likely to trot and gallop to her food bowl. Even my farrier says she is so much easier to trim, and I have, in fact, stopped dosing her with the 'bute for the trims.

Personally, I don’t think there is any way to remove the calcium deposit that is ringbone, but I DO think that by improving Capri’s hooves through judicious trimming AND reducing the inflammation that kept her swollen and in pain by use of the tumeric paste, she will not develop MORE calcium overgrowth. Not a cure, but certainly an improvement.

g

[csaper58]

[QUOTE=JB;8852402]
Well, no, it really can’t You can’t take a topical, apply it over a bony growth, and have that topical absorb the bone. You can use poultices to help remove the heat from the area and hope it’s fresh enough the body will remove the excess, but that’s about it.[/QUOTE]

I believe the Hekla Lava is a supplement that is fed.

www.shi.ch/english/hekla_lava.pdf

I would be hesitant to feed it. a lot of what they describe in the above pdf sounds like ‘big head’ from calcium imbalance.

[Twisting]

Except that it is homeopathic, and so doesn’t actually have any active ingredient in it, or do anything.

[csaper58]

[QUOTE=Twisting;8852861]
Except that it is homeopathic, and so doesn’t actually have any active ingredient in it, or do anything.[/QUOTE]

An Active Ingredient(AI) is an ingredient that is biologically active. There are very few inert ingredients in Hekla Lava.

[FranklinFulcher]

Magnesium oil helps relieve pain and restore movement.

[nandou]

One example of the “cases” I came across researching ringbone:

Hans Wolter, a German vet who worked clinically orientated with homeopathy wrote a book called "compendium of veternarian homeopathy. There is a passage where he describes treating a mare with Symphytum (also known as Comfrey), Hekla Lava, Viscum album and Calcicum carbonicum for ringbone in both front legs as well as for bone spavin in one of her hind legs.Furthermore used was a salve consisting of Symphytum, Viscum album and Mandragora alternated with a salve only containing Symphytum.

Both diseases have been verified via x-rays before, so that the actual cure, i.e the disappearance of the bone growth could be proven by comparing the x-rays from before and after the treatment.

The whole treatment took a little less than a year.

However, he states such a treatment is only possible by choosing differentiated and specific acting homeopathic medication doses, that are affin compared to the course of disease.

Therefore, it is not recommened start any exeriments on horses by yourself, as it is a very complex topic and not as easy as just implementing some vitamins and drugs into your horse’s diet.

The book is written in German and the treatment’s description starts on page 24. You can take a look at it, if you like:

https://books.google.de/books?id=2Vh0Cv-wKhkC&pg=PA24&lpg=PA24&dq=pferd+schale+homöopathie&source=bl&ots=G91cfNqKb2&sig=M4chCm0IHCIWeU1xp-VvEKH2TJE&hl=de&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiCyvihqZfPAhWBLsAKHYlJDwU4ChDoAQguMAM#v=onepage&q=pferd%20schale%20homöopathie&f=false

Of course, eliminating all causal factors is most important.

[Ghazzu]

So why not consult with Dr. Wolter?