Mellow went for his X-rays yesterday, the first one here was most concerning. Changes consistent with the onset of ringbone, and not sure what is going on with the navicular.
Not sure how much I should be panicking. Have sent full set to farrier, hoping to come up with a plan….
Will upload full set in post 2
#1- I’m not a vet, I’ve just seen a lot of xrays. So, take everything else I say for whatever you think it’s worth.
#2- These are pretty crappy xrays.
#3- The area circled in blue is not the navicular.
#4- Your vet did not take all of the xrays needed to properly evaluate the areas you are concerned with.
Is this horse lame? Has the horse been blocked? Honestly, even without knowing the answer to those questions, just based on the quality of the xrays, I would be seeking a second opinion before I made any shoeing changes or decided how concerned I would be.
Yes he is intermittently low grade lame.
I chose not to block him when I decided to haul him for X-rays, what else would blocking given me? We already knew we wanted to X-ray these areas, and I’m not fond of sticking needles in unless it will give a benefit.
As to the quality of X-rays…that’s what we have, that’s all there will be, no more done, the distance and cost involved are kind of beyond me now.
They are going for review by another vet, then we have to work with what we have.
Sorry, she said she was concerned, somewhat by the navicular bone appearance. Also by the whatever it is in the blue circle, impacting his DDFT
Agree. Blue circle is not navicular bone and also many of the angles by which the X-rays are taken are skewed, not at all level. Has pedal osteitis ever been discussed ? I’d get a good foot series at a specialty clinic. Does your horse have a history of laminitis ?
Sorry just read you did ship to a clinic. Good idea to have another vet view your films.
Well, if you blocked him, you would know if he was lame in the foot. The ankle, the high suspensory, wherever and you could spend your money appropriately imaging the area he’s lame rather than shooting in the dark. 
As I said, these images don’t examine the areas you are concerned with very well. There are no real obliques of the pastern and no navicular skyline.
His sesamoids look a bit questionable, there looks like there may be lipping in the ankle. But, with the quality of the images available and no blocking, who knows what’s relevant. Never mind being able to accurately access his palmar angle.
Nope, goes to look it up.
If a competent farrier/trimmer gets the toes under control, there’s a good chance the bit of ringbone there won’t progress or, if it’s pretty new, even resolve.
Does the horse stand base-wide with his front legs? That would explain the angle of the rads from the front. Or was each leg pulled out to put on the block? Were both fronts up on blocks when each was xrayed?
I know this horse left the barn already, but want to state for the record that blocking is every good lameness vet’s best friend.
Just an aside for future vet stuff, the two areas you have circled could be isolated if you block. A good vet can block just the rear portion of the hoof, and this can really assist in diagnosis. If this horse blocked out sound when you blocked the heel, or was significantly better, that helps you assign levels of importance to the x-ray issues shown. This has been extremely helpful for me…
I[quote=“JB, post:8, topic:776404, full:true”]
If a competent farrier/trimmer gets the toes under control, there’s a good chance the bit of ringbone there won’t progress or, if it’s pretty new, even resolve.
Does the horse stand base-wide with his front legs? That would explain the angle of the rads from the front. Or was each leg pulled out to put on the block? Were both fronts up on blocks when each was xrayed?
[/quote]
I don’t know, we got thrown out while the X-rays were taken
This one hasn’t left the barn, he is my horse, more info here
Funny though, the owner of the mare who left is being tagged in posts by a local farrier who is trying to get hold of her!
I really don’t know how well this farrier is serving you and may be contributing to the horse’s lameness. The difference in palmar angles in pretty concerning. The way the right front is trimmed is putting stress on the tendons and over lower limb structure. I looked at the pictures from the other thread and truly, I’m concerned with your farrier’s ability to see the issues. If he can not see the issues without xray, I do not know if he will be able to change his technique and correct the problems even with xray. Sorry to say this because I know how difficult it can be to find a good farrier.
I think before being overly concerned about everything else, you have to address the hooves which are without a doubt impacting the over all limb. Once corrected, you will have a better assessment for lameness and how to manage the horse.
@Warmblood1, I have already told him that I don’t require him any more. I have sent the X-rays to a new guy (to me) who is spoken of highly in a local English barn, going to see if we can come up with a plan.
I keep coming back to a couple of years back, when we were sightseeing in the UK and I was crippled in pain with my feet. Threw away the runners I was waiting, got a new pair of walking shoes….and the relief was immediate.
I know it’s not the same, but it goes to show that the wrong trim, or shoes can cripple a person!
That is great. I really hope that the new farrier works out for you. There is enough going on here hoof wise IMO that could warrant unsoundness. I’m am hoping for you that you see improvement just by addressing the feet. That would be easy to control, for sure. Did your new farrier seem interested in viewing the radiographs?
Well he was scheduled to come out before, but I said I would leave him barefoot until the X-rays so we knew what we were dealing with, he was ok with that. He was also happy for me to forward the X-rays to him, so crossing fingers that he is happy to take on the challenge. 
my next challenge is to wait patiently for him to respond, and not nag the poor guy, but I don’t want him to forget me either.
Yes, and I’d hardly call blocking “sticking needles,” but rather an invaluable tool. When an abscess lingered around a little too long a few months ago (and I was rightfully getting panicked), it was a block that confirmed that something was still going on in the foot and saved me the money of chasing X-rays up and down the horse’s leg.
the reference was to the fact that the vet already left, there’s no going back to do the blocking
Blocking would have given some frame of reference for where to start with xrays. In this case, I wouldn’t have blocked either, as the feet are obvious a problem. But if the feet had looked pretty good, no real outward indication of issues, then blocking from the bottom up, to narrow down where the pain is coming from, would be a good idea. It might have meant you started xraying the knee, for example, not the foot.
The “sticking needles in” for blocking is very different from needles used to inject a joint, there’s no joint invasion with this blocking process.
So in THIS case, I wouldn’t have blocked either, it wouldn’t have been worth it given the outward condition of the feet.
Ah, gotcha. No option for mobile X-rays here, so had to haul him up to the clinic. When she came out to do the lameness evaluation we were sure that the issue was in the areas where we were going to X-ray, so decided together that blocking would not move us forward.
I don’t disagree with you about the feet, in this case, obviously needing work. And I understand that OP has made up her mind how she wants to handle the situation. However, I strongly disagree about the need for blocking.
I have seen so many people do imagining before blocking and end up chasing red herrings. Any older horse (or young horse who has done a lot of work) has issues that they deal with. That’s just part of it. That doesn’t mean that those issues relevant at the time, or ever will be particularly relevant.
It’s a bit like the people who want to buy a low level packer, X-ray the entire horse, find a something in an ankle or a knee that has never bothered the horse to do the job they want, and pass on the horse at the vetting.
IMO, in the case where you own the horse, it’s even worse. You often end up spending money diagnosing and treating something that isn’t the horse’s primary issue and and still may not have a sound horse at the end of it.
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