DAN: "My older horse is currently developing sidebone
and it feels like there isn't enough information out there
as to what to do.
I would appreciate it if you guys could talk about it."
Well, here you are.
DR LYDIA GRAY: OK.
So she asked about sidebone And then, she
said the magic words pre purchase examination.
DAN: Yes.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So I went to my good buddy Dr. Kaneps.
DAN: Yes!
He's a good friend of the show.
DR LYDIA GRAY: He's done several videos on pre purchase exams.
And he is a lameness expert.
He has lots of letters after his name.
It's ACVS, which means he's board certified
as a veterinary surgeon.
And this one, ACVSMR.
DAN: That one's got lots of letters.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I know!
This one stands for the American College of Veterinary Sports
Medicine and Rehabilitation.
DAN: Sounds like the guy to go to for this.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So he was my guy.
OK.
So here's what he said to your question.
Side bone, which he defined as mineralized collateral
cartilages--
I'll help you with that in a minute--
is a common finding.
Instead of the word mineralized, you
could also say ossified, calcified, or plain
old hardened.
OK.
DAN: Got that.
DR LYDIA GRAY: All right.
DAN: We're back on track.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Good.
As long as the structure isn't fractured or infected--
and if it's infected, it has a name quittor.
DAN: Quittor?
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah!
DAN: OK.
DR LYDIA GRAY: There is usually no concern.
Presence of sidebone on a pre purchase exam, PPE,
does not affect my conclusions when the horse is sound.
When the horse is negative to flexions
and has no evidence of a previous injury to the side.
DAN: OK.
So if there's no infection, if there
is no fracture, and the horse is sound.
DR LYDIA GRAY: And no evidence of injury.
It's inconsequential.
DAN: So is it just basically a hard piece of cartilage?
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yes!
It's basically a hard piece of cartilage.
DAN: Summed up.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Now he says this in all caps.
However--
DAN: There's always a however!
DR LYDIA GRAY: There's always a however.
Sue Dyson's group out of the UK has
reported that there may be some association of sidebone
with heel discomfort.
I'll send the abstract.
DAN: OK.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Here's the abstract.
DAN: So one more time with that one.
DR LYDIA GRAY: There might be some association of sidebone
with heel discomfort.
So she's saying there might be more to it.
It might not be as simple.
DAN: As just a hard piece of cartilage?
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
Sorry.
DAN: I was so close.
DR LYDIA GRAY: And I read the abstract.
I highlighted some things that I think are important.
So here we go.
She says extensively mineralized or ossified cartilage
are significantly associated with injury of the collateral
ligament.
So those are the ligaments that are on the side.
They go from the short pastern bone or middle pastern bone
to the coffin bone, the hoof.
Those collateral ligaments-- there's
one on the medial side and one on the lateral,
or inside and outside.
If those have been injured, or if the coffin bone itself
has been injured and those cartilage
are really mineralized, that might be significant.
There might be an association.
DAN: So if there was this injury,
and there's this sidebone that's really ossified,
then there could be a problem.
DR LYDIA GRAY: It might have extensively ossified
because there was an injury, and it did it
as a protective mechanism.
DAN: Got it.
So this might be an indication of something else.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Exactly!
Oh, my gosh.
Ding!
Cookie treat for you.
So the point is normally sidebone itself
isn't the issue.
It points to something else being a problem.
So a lot of people say as my horse ages--
and they're typically bigger horses, heavier horses,
even draft horses--
he's developing sidebone I can see.
I can even feel it right above the coronary band on the sides.
Or we took a radiograph for some reason, and we saw it.
And they blame the unsoundness on the sidebones
It might not be.
Because now we have ultrasound and MRI, these new modalities.
We can see collateral ligaments and things.
And it might be other things.
The other thing she says is so extensively ossified
might be associated.
Markedly asymmetric.
You'll see we've got some X-ray images that we're going
to put up along with this.
DAN: Ah, yes.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Very cool.
He sent them.
He's wonderful.
Sometimes you'll see one side, there'll
be a little bit of the cartilage turned to bone.
And the other side is very tall.
So that's what she calls markedly asymmetrical.
Like this would be symmetrical.
DAN: Yep.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Asymmetrical.
DAN: OK.
So we think the sidebone's caused
because there's the asymmetry?
DR LYDIA GRAY: I'm exactly reading this, because I do not
want to get it wrong.
Markedly asymmetric ossification should
be considered at pre purchase.
DAN: OK.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Because it might indicate another problem,
an injury somewhere.
Maybe a previous injury somewhere.
So it just means dig a little deeper.
DAN: To your point-- so I broke my wrist when
I was in high school.
So when you get a break, your body
then goes in to add some more support there as it heals.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah!
DAN: So that's why that could be an indication
that there was an injury somewhere down the road,
potentially.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Yeah.
DAN: Well, that was super helpful!