To not risk taking the Duckett's Dot thread off on a tangent I'm posting this here about the radiograph of the banana coffin bone. That radiograph was not from a horse I actually work on, but I have worked on ones in similar condition. I wonder what has been the experience of others who have worked on similar ones. (Tom, you mentioned you work on a few like that?) In my limited experience, (and absent venograms) I speculate there is not adequate blood supply to the coffin bone to maintain structure. Over time, (in one case, 10 years time) the loss of bone continues until there is no bone and very little hoof. I think even if there is a shoe protecting the coffin bone from ground forces there will still be loss of bone occuring. Or am I wrong?
Denise, the one I currently have on my books I've been working on for 2 years and I have history from the previous farrier who had shod the horse going back at least 7 years before that. Case history - The horse had his first radiographs following a laminitis episode 3 years ago. Prior to that no radiographs were taken because the horse was serviceable/sound and the owner rode the horse on a regular basis. The previous farrier referred the client to me after moving out of the area. So I have almost 10 years of history, but only 3 years of annual radiographs (actually I just requested the 3rd set) from which to compare bone remodeling changes. Due to diet and medication adjustment with good vet/farrier/owner followup, the horse has not had another laminitis episode since the initial onset 3 years ago. Biggest hoof management issue with this horse is dealing with the laminar wedge and the fungus that wants to grow there and work its way around the quarters to eat away at that area, which is doing double duty supporting the weight of the horse without having any wall bearing weight in the toe. Due to the tip of P3 curling up and out, the dorsal wall cannot grow down in a straight line. Despite not having radiographs going back 10 years, the previous farrier had been successfully dealing with the laminar wedge/club foot/ hoof rot since he started the account. To the previous farriers credit, he managed to keep the horse sound enough that the owner had been riding the horse without lameness issues up to the point of the metabolic laminitis episode. IMO it is safe to assume that the chronic laminar wedge is evidence that the bone had remodeled to the curled up stage long before we (the previous farrier and I) have any history on the horse. Today the horse is still ridden on a regular basis and since soaking with clean trax every other shoeing the fungus growing in the laminar wedge has been well controlled. The vet and I will be comparing the past 3 years of radiographs looking for remodeling changes, but I expect to see nothing drastic as there were no discernible differences between the previous two years. I believe that whatever significant deterioration/remodeling that has occurred in P3 during this horse's life happened more than 10 years ago before this horse was in the care of the previous farrier and subsequently in my care. There is nothing in the history to indicate otherwise - sound is as sound does. Though, being an Arab, the horse just might not know any better.
