SARAH: "I recently discovered that my horse has ringbone."
Bummer.
"He is on a joint supplement for now,
but what else can you do to treat and prevent ringbone?
What exactly is it, and how long until I will see side effects?
I am in close contact with my vet, as well."
She's obviously heard your answers before.
"My horse is a four-year-old OTTB gelding."
DR LYDIA GRAY: Four-year-old ringbone.
That's a little bit sad, because ringbone is progressive.
OK.
So, her questions are kind of embedded in there,
and one of them was, "What is it?"
SARAH: Yep.
DR LYDIA GRAY: So, it's clearly a layman's term
that we use to describe this, but it's really bony growth
around either the short pastern bone, the long pastern
bone, or the pastern or coffin joints.
So, depending on where it is, you
have a little bit different prognosis.
But at four years old, that's fairly early.
SARAH: And so, for people who aren't
familiar with all those different bones, where are
we talking about on the horse?
DR LYDIA GRAY: So, if you start at the ground,
the bone that's in the horse's hoof
is called P3 or the coffin bone or the first phalanx.
Then the second bone, and the joint is right at the level
where the hoof stops--
so the coronary band-- the second bone
is the short pastern bone, or P2.
And the next bone is P1, or the long pastern bone.
Then you get to the ankle, fetlock, and the cannon bone.
So it's that short distance from the hoof to the ankle.
The pastern.
If it's articular-- meaning the new bone growth--
because of instability, maybe trauma,
perhaps poor conformation, poor shoeing or footing--
if the new bone growth is around the joint, then it's articular
and it's arthritis.
If it's on the pastern bone itself,
then it's periarticular, it's not arthritis.
Still not great, though.
What other questions does she have?
We covered what is it and how to diagnose it.
SARAH: How long until she'll see side effects.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I'm curious what prompted her to get her vet out
to diagnose it.
But the things you see with ringbone
is a short, choppy stride, perhaps
some tripping or stumbling or shuffling,
and it can be outright lameness, like head bobbing,
I don't want to put weight on this leg, it hurts.
But it's really a range of motion is affected.
So they can't break over at the pastern ankle or hoof.
And, sometimes the hoof itself gets
squared off-- the toe get squared off,
because they're just not breaking over.
They're not lifting the foot up above the ground.
So, hard to say, without knowing where
it is, how long it will be.
But she must be seeing something already if she already
has a diagnosis.
SARAH: One of the other questions
hidden in this question was prevention,
which is always a tough one.
Is there anything that people can
do if they are starting with a young horse?
And, obviously, we love acronyms here at SmartPak.
But for those of you not familiar,
OTTB, off-the-track Thoroughbred.
DR LYDIA GRAY: Oh, OK.
I'm like, there was an acronym in there?
SARAH: I know, it was hidden.
DR LYDIA GRAY: I'm acronym blind.
SARAH: It's true.
So, obviously having a horse come off the track,
you can't do much about what's already happened.
But if somebody were starting a young horse,
is there things that put their horse more at risk
or less, in terms of prevention, being proactive
about this kind of problem?
DR LYDIA GRAY: Well, when you're getting a new horse--
this is going to sound terrible--
but that's one of the reasons you do a pre-purchase exam,
to find out what the horse has going on,
and if it's something that has a good prognosis
or a poor prognosis, will it continue
to degrade or degenerate.
The only thing you can do is really make sure
that your hoof care is of high quality.
So, it doesn't matter if you're barefoot or shod, or whatever,
just that the angle's appropriate,
that the hoof angle matches the pastern angle, that you don't
go too long between trims.
You've really got to have a good working
relationship with your hoof care provider, your farrier.
And, you know, footing, and working, conditioning,
and that sort of thing.
But really, it comes down to the hoof care,
I think, is the only thing you can really do.
She's already on a joint supplement,
that's a great idea.
I really can't think of anything else.