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?
2 Likes
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.
14 Likes
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…
9 Likes
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.
1 Like
@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!
5 Likes
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?
1 Like
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.
2 Likes
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.
4 Likes
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.
2 Likes
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.
1 Like
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.
11 Likes
I guess for me it’s very much chicken and egg.
When she did the lameness check we of course discussed the blocking, but for me, if we blocked we are still going to run the same films so at that stage I didn’t feel it would gain anything. After the consults over the films, maybe we would want to block in the future. Shrugs, you make the best choices you can at the time. Lol, from the safety of a mounting block, far away from the action as I had Covid at the time, and had to get clearance from all parties to be there,
1 Like
But if he didn’t block out at the level of the hoof you may or may not have take those films and you would have looked higher up the leg until you found the source of the lameness.
His feet can be a disaster and his primary issue could be a front suspensory or arthritis in his knees or or or. And you just don’t know if you are addresssing the cause of the lameness with your approach.
I think it’s fair to work on his feet and see where you end up but that is different from saying that it would not be worth blocking. You may get his feet in better shape and then have to go back and block anyway.
10 Likes
Fair enough, but when my vet says she is sure it’s below the knee, I tend to trust her.
Need to try and address the feet first, while I catch up on my vet bills, then see where we are.
1 Like
Of course, I don’t know your situation and we all make the best choices we can, with the information we have.
My thought process runs more towards: if we block the lameness we’ve identified the lameness. In that situation, I may then only do balance films (two shots of each foot) of the feet to help the farrier, then put the rest of my money and time to imaging the source of the lameness.
4 Likes
I just wish we could code them like we do with the vehicles. Run a scan, and it tells you where the adult lies.
ETA: where the adult lies? WTF?
Where the problem lies, how on earth did that become adult?
4 Likes
Being an adult is a problem for me 
4 Likes
