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Discussion on Longterm shoeing for old coffin bone fracture
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Member: Skappes
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Posted on Wednesday, Sep 24, 2003 - 2:18 pm:
I have a 10 year old fox trotter mare that became moderately lame a year and a half ago and was diagnosed (via bone scan) with a healed coffin bone fracture, moderate degeneration in the coffin joint, and mild degeneration of the pastern joint. The coffin bone fracture apparently happened sometime before I bought her 5 years ago. My vet thinks that she must have kicked something and irritated the old injury. I confined her to a small paddock for a year and had a bar shoe with toe clips put on her. She does not seem to be obviously lame anymore and I would like to try a regular shoe on her. However, with the joint degeneration that she has I'm wondering if that is good idea or not. I have her on an oral hyaluronic acid joint supplement (Hyalun). I basically use her for light trail riding. I took her for a short trail ride last weekend and she did great except for a thick twig got stuck under the bar in the shoe. So what is the best long-term shoeing for an old coffin bone injury? I have read the articles on treating an active fracture but may have missed the info on longterm treatment. Also, since she has the joint degeneration I have basically taken the stance that she will always be potentially lame and that I just need to manage it appropriately with the joint supplement and shoeing. Is that correct? Thanks, Sandie
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Moderator: DrO
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Posted on Wednesday, Sep 24, 2003 - 5:48 pm:
There are no special shoeing requirements for a healed coffin bone fracture. Your last question is more difficult: all horses are potentially lame but on the other hand radiographic changes can be poor prognosticators of future problems. Also when throw in that the cause of the lameness sounds like it was a little uncertain it sounds like specific shoeing instructions are best done by those who can see the horse and radiographs. With signs of DJD in the joints the supplement is probably prudent. DrO
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