ringbone in horses

Miniature Horse Talk Forums

Help Support Miniature Horse Talk Forums:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

MBennettp

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2004
Messages
838
Reaction score
2
Location
Shawnee, Oklahoma
Does anyone have any experience with this? A friend has a champion competition Quarter Horse gelding, 5 years old that has ringbone. She asked me today if I would like to have him. The vet evidently told her he might recover enough to be sound enough for light riding but will never be able to work cattle or do the competition reining again.

They are heavy into the showing of reining horses and cutting horses and she said she would like for me to take him, she said he would make me a good horse for riding around the farm. I told her I couldn't take him right now but would think about it.

I have no experience with ringbone at all and know nothing about it.

Any input?

Thanks,

Mary
 
do you know if she had it x-rayed or not? Reason I ask I have a reining bred 2 year old( grandson of Hollywood Dun it) that we had thought had the same problem. Even my vet. Took him back in on Sat. and told the vet that the stall rest and bute was not getting the swelling out or helping much for that matter. So he give me new instructions and I told him to x-ray it just for fun.. Well he had broke his leg right above the Hoof. Not the better news. He believes he will recover 100% with time and rest.

With Ringbone he told me that it depends on how bad it is. If you catch it from the get go with stall rest and meds they can get over it but takes some time to heal.. Then I've been told that with daily bute they can stand light riding.
 
Yes they had it x-rayed, she did tell me that. They were at the state championship show, he won his class, they took him back to the stall and within a couple of hours he had heat and swelling and they immediately called the vet.

I talked to my vet this evening and he told me the horse would probably not ever be sound again but that they could do surgery and fuse the joint and keep him more comfortable.

I am not going to take him, I don't have the time or the space for another right now and really don't want to feed another big horse through the winter. I sure don't need any more pasture decorations.

She did tell me that unless a VERY special home came along, they would keep him.

Mary
 
well that will be great that they keep him if a special home doesn't come a long.

guess it depends on the vet, mine said if you can treat it early enough and stay up with the treatment that it is possible that they can have a job with light riding but nothing like what he is doing now or was doing. Early treatment is the key.
 
Just as an interesting fact....

I know of a horse who had severe ring bone. He was a grand prix level dressage horse. My coach had him for a little over 6 months while his owner was in Florida for the winter, and she was to get him back in shape...if possible. This boy had surgery for the ring bone. Anyway, with MUCH management with proper shoeing, feed, turnout, safe footing, etc, he did come back 100% at the same level....but then his owner came back, rode the crap out of him (literally...the first day she came back, she rode him for over an hour doing very hard work... pirouette after pirouette :DOH! we were all disgusted!!) and he's been lame ever since. Don't know how long, or if he would have stayed sound if he had stayed with my coach, but I just wanted to say they can come back if they are carefully looked after and managed. And yes, early treatment is very important....

~kathryn
 
My mini gelding developed a limp two years ago at the age of 12. We had it xrayed and his diagnosis was ringbone in the pastern joint just above the hoof, not the fetlock joint. The vet said that joint typically will fuse on it's own, but my be painful. There was a surgery option, but since he doesn't breed or show anymore, that was an expense I couldn't do. AND it wasn't full proof, the surgery literally melts the bone together and then uses bolts and screws to keep it stable, to "help" the fuse prosess and then later they can remove the bolts. Plus lots and lots and lots of stall time. Sure he might not be sore anymore after that, be will always be gimpy, kinda off. So what was the point?

We opted to use Cetyl M joint supplement on him and even the vet is now a believer in this stuff. It has stopped the fusing process and Twix isn't limping anymore unless he is worked hard in circles, like a roundpen, but just to ground drive and even hook him to drive, he is fine on soft ground. It's been a catch 22 situation, you either put off the inevitable by using the supplement and keeping him pain free, or let it go it's course, be in pain, but it once it is fused, it won't be sore anymore, and that can take years. He has followup xrays once a year, and they look as good as the second one did after using the cetyl m. The difference between the first and second xray was six months and the new growth was amazing, in a bad way. So we have stopped that growth and he has become a pasture pet to enjoy and keep comfortable with the occasional drive time. There is not that much cost to maintain the therapy if you just want a pet, but to push back into hard work, he will NEVER be the same.

He is my baby and we will be together until one of us dies.
 

Latest posts

Back
Top