Stone bruise to the frog - how long to heal? Your experinces?

[KFC1177]

So on April 1st I got to the farm and my guy was off, very off.
He has a bit of swelling above his fetlock on the left front. He was just shod that day and it was also the first day out is 6 days due to heavy rain in our area.

Kept him in that night, cold hosed, poultice and wrapped.
Talked to vet as well as the clinic.

Clinic came out the next day and they jogged him. He was better but still off. All swelling was out of the leg.

They hoof tested his sole and he was a bit reactive.
We decided to block his foot to see if it was in the leg or in the foot.
They jogged him again and he was much better…so the thought was that it was in his foot.

Stall rest for a few days and should be good.

He’s been on stall rest since then.

Farrier looked at him on Wed 4/7. He hoof tested all of the nail heads and he wasn’t reactive, also wasn’t reactive to the sole of his foot, but was very reactive to the frog area. Did the other foot for comparison and he didn’t do anything.

So vet and farrier both suggested stall rest and wrapping every night with animalintex. Time is what a stone bruise needs.

So its now 4/12, he’s been in since the 1st and he is still off.
I’m concerned about continuing with the animalintex b/c its making the foot softer which could cause its own problems.
I’m also concerned with keeping him in longer b/c he has had ulcers in the past and coliced last October.

Planning on calling vet again today to disucss but wanted to get your thoughts.

Have you had a stone bruise to the frog?
How long have stone bruises taken to heal for you?
Did you keep horse on stall rest or just put out into field?

Thanks in advance,

[Jazzy_Lady]

Depends on the severity of the bruise. My guy had one so bad he was on stall rest for a month before starting back up. Then he was in pour in pads after that, and then I had him switched to leather pads and he’s been in them ever since.

It really depends on the type of bruise it is and how bad it is. Animalintex poultice is what I used too. I did it twice a day until when I wrapped there was no longer and grey goo in it when I took it off.

[KFC1177]

Thank you for the reply.
Have no clue on severity of the bruise, I guess time will tell for that.

I did ask the farrier about putting a pad on and he said no when I asked, but I think I will revisit that as he is scheduled to be at farm on Thursday.

So your guy was on complete stall rest for a month…i’m almost two weeks now. He is getting better but not sound yet.

Did you hand graze him on soft ground or was he in all the time?

What do you mean by the “grey goo”. I’m not sure I’m seeing grey goo. Oh - wait - I see goo on the back of the poultice pad when I take it off. Is that what you are referring to? I can only get to farm once a day so I do the wrap at night and go every night.

Thanks.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

Did you xray his foot? Mine did something similar…long story short, after a standing MRI…we discovered he had an imcomplete fracture of his coffin bone. It didn’t show up on xrays…but sometimes might. (we did the MRI after he had been on stall rest for almost 2 months).

My guy was VERY lame for the first day…then just a bit off after that…tough bugger. Stall rest for almost 4 months…then slowly back to work and he is 100% (and it shouldn’t cause him any issues).

A bad bruise can take just as long as a fracture sometimes.

I did hand graze my guy for as long as he stayed quiet.

Good luck. I hope it is something simple that heals quickly.

[Jazzy_Lady]

Yes, I agree. Get x-rays because my guy did the exact same thing. Fracture of the coffin bone. That required 6 months off to heal and he’s fine (except I always have him in pads).

My guy when he was recovering from his bruise (which happened a few months after he was back in work after his fractured coffin bone) was actually in bar shoes for a bit. And I was wrong, he was 6 weeks stall rest, no handwalking but I did take him to graze on soft footing anyway. He takes stall rest very well though.

And ya, grey goop on the pad. lol. Best as I can describe it.

Just take your time, but do have film taken.

[KFC1177]

UPDATE - 4/26 - 4wks - still not sound

So the bruise happened on April 1st (happy april fools day mom)…lol
He’s been on stall rest for just about 4 weeks now (this thrusday will be a full 4 wks).

He is now sound at the walk (actually he was sound at the walk by week 2), but he still isn’t sound at the trot. Almost when going straight but still visibly off on the circle.

I am keeping him on stall rest and trying to hand graze him daily on some soft grass.

I never did get films b/c there was positive improvement, but now i’m wondering if i should have since we are at nearly 4 wks and still not sound. . but from what i’ve read some said up to 6-8 wks.

Question for those that have had stone bruise…

• did you keep horse on stall rest until sound?
• how long did it take to get sound?
• did you do xrays?
• once sound did you ride before turnout?
• once you started to turn out did you do it in normal field or in smaller medical field?

Thanks in advance.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

I would do xrays.

I would keep him on stall rest until he is sound…and no turnout until he is sound and back into work.

Sounds a lot like my guy who had the incomplete fracture of his coffin bone.

Does he have heat in his foot? Or a plus?

[KFC1177]

There is no heat and no pulse.
I put a call out to the clinic today, waiting for the call back…

[bornfreenowexpensive]

@KFC1177;4829891

There is no heat and no pulse.
I put a call out to the clinic today, waiting for the call back…

My horse had a very small amount of heat…but no pulse.

Hopefully it is just a bruise. If that is what it is…I still wouldn’t turn him out until he is sound.

I’ve had very good luck with this stuff helping their feet when I was dealing with bruising or hard ground.

http://www.steedfeed.com/products.html?sku=69&cart=11095483617

[KFC1177]

Clinic is coming today at 430pm and plan to do xrays. Thanks for ye feedback.

[KFC1177]

So -
clinic came out yesterday.
Trotted him, he was the worse he’s been since day 1.
Wks 1 - 3 he seemed to be improving.
During wk 4 it seemed to get worse again.

Trotted him straight and on a circle.
Flexion test - didn’t react to it.
Hoof testers - didn’t react to it.

So we blocked his foot and then trotted him again.
He came up 90% sound (which I guess is a successful block)

Did a full set of xrays.
good news - good xrays for a 12 yr old QH paint
bad news - still dont’ know whats going on

next plan:
clinic is going to come back out today.
going to block the coffin joint.
if he goes sound with that block we will then inject the coffin joint and wait the 24-36 hrs and see if he’s better.

if he doesn’t go sound then the thought seems to be that it could be a soft tissue injury in the foot. not good.

anyone have this situation and have clean xrays?
Any experience with soft tissue injury in the foot? What type of treatment? Did you do an MRI to confirm?

URGH.
Thanks in advance.

[bornfreenowexpensive]

@KFC1177;4833556

anyone have this situation and have clean xrays?
Any experience with soft tissue injury in the foot? What type of treatment? Did you do an MRI to confirm?

URGH.
Thanks in advance.

Don’t panic…just take it one step at a time. My guy was similar in that it blocked as his foot and his xrays looked clean. We did the coffin joint block as well. We also thought it was a soft tissue injury…not great in a young potential **** horse. I did the standing MRI and that was when they found the incomplete fracture of his coffin bone. So that was actually good news as those sort of fractures heal well with no effects to his long term performance…soft tissue injuries are tougher and if that had been the result, I’m not sure I would have been aiming him at a career as an event horse.

I had another that presented with some similar issues. Blocked out as her foot. She improved with the coffin joint injections…She was on and off ok…but ultimately I did an MRI on her (yeah two in the same year…ouch). Ended up that she has a bone cyst under her coffin joint. Very unexpected. It was not good news for her as an UL performance horse (but she will still have a good life).

I’ve dealt with several horses who have had different types of soft tissue issues with their foot or pastern. Some successfully came back and others did not. First thing…you just need to sort out what is wrong and then take it from there. An MRI can be a very useful tool…but talk with your vets and take their advice. For me, getting the MRIs done was expensive but worth it from the perspective of really finding out what was going on.

Hope that you get good news soon.

[Jazzy_Lady]

Luckily my guy’s fracture in his coffin bone showed up in digital x-rays, but he didn’t have a pulse either and very little heat in his foot. Barely reacted to the hoof testers, but was the lamest the day he went to the vet (I love when that happens!) My vet has extremely clear x-ray machines and still looked at that film for probably 20 minutes until she found the fracture. Hard to tell in those. I could barely see it even after she pointed it out.

MRI was the next step, but she didn’t want me to have to pay for that. Often soft tissue damage is done with a break or a fracture anyway, but we didn’t MRI in my case because the tissue would have healed in the amount of time it took for the bone to heal, so we left it.

He’ll likely need to be injected at some point. He’s come back and run intermediate and long format CCI* no problem with the foot, although I always have him in pads just to be on the safe side.

Don’t stress yet. Think positively. Good luck!

[mjrtango93]

My young rider horse did this to me once…she was always sound, came out and she was just short of non-weight bearing overnight. Called vet, he blocked, definately in foot, barely any heat, no pulse, no extremity swelling. Vet x-rayed, they looked really good for a horse her age with the mileage she had, didn’t see any fractures, says lay her off for a couple weeks go from there.

6 weeks later, somewhat sound at walk, not even remotely at the trot. We had her in eggbar’s with no pad, doing the daily poultice pack, no hard ground.

At 8 weeks she went to the vet hospital had her foot soaked and ultrasounded looking for soft tissue tears, re-did x-ray to see if there stronger equipment picked up anything…nothing! Was sent home saying give more time.

At 10 weeks she was due to be re-shod again and this time when the farrier started paring out her sole and frog the entire thing was a giant bruise! Turns out she had stone bruised her frog so deeply that it abcessed internally and spread throughout her foot. She was never positive to hoof testers besides crappy thin sole TB. She jumped a bit when he hit the spot in her frog and it finally drained out. You could actually hear the hiss from the air escaping, poor girl! Insta-sound horse, we packed her and put her in a pad with the egg-bar to protect everything and she was completely sound by morning.

Here’s hoping to a whopping stone bruise/abcess!

[KFC1177]

Thank you for the feedback.
I am meeting the vet at 4:30 again today and we shall see. I will post and let you know.
Fingers Crossed!

[LSM1212]

Fingers crossed for you. My horse had a pretty deep stone bruise about this time last year. He was off for 6 weeks or so. But he was just slightly lame (only on the circle… not straight line) and we did turn him out during this time period.

The Vet came out first and suspected that was it (he hoof tested him but didn’t pull his shoe) and my guy reacted. The Farrier was coming out 2 days later so we had him hoof test after pulling the shoe. And sure enough, you could see it after the shoe was removed (1/2 of it was under the shoe) and he was still pretty reactive. I did the Animalintex for a few days and then just gave him time.

Worked for us.

[KFC1177]

Update -
4/28 - Clinic came out to farm. we trotted him again just to see …he was obviously the same, still off both straight and on circle. Flexion test didn’t bother him. Hoof test didn’t bother him.

We blocked the coffin joint and then did a serious of trot tests at 1 min, 5 min, 10 min and 15 min.
1 min = 75% improvement
5/10/15 - all 90% improvement

She is coming back out today to inject the coffin joint.
Then we wait and see if he improves or not. If yes then we are on our way.
In not then we will discuss the MRI option or just treating as if soft tissue injury.

Fingers crossed for progess with injection.

If this is a soft tissue injury I sence from the replies that you all do suggest confirming what is really wrong with an MRI? Right?

If it is that then I would imagine I can do one of two things:
1 - stall rest over x months and then supervised walks/turnout over time
2 - toss him into a field for x months and not know if it will really heal

Would have you done and what do you suggest after going thru the experience?

Thanks again as always.