Ruby
A week ago Thursday or Friday Ruby came up sore on her right fore. My first hope was an abscess as I couldn't feel any heat. She has had ringbone in that foot since before we bought her as a six or seven year-old in '06. She was an Amish horse and our best guess is that she suffered an injury that caused damage to the bone. She has some external scarring going into her coronary band that is usually hidden by her feather. She bowed the tendon on that leg as well about two years ago in some freak accident while turned out as she wasn't in much work at the time. We have done a few x-rays over the years that show some pretty impressive remodeling spiraling across the front of her short and long pastern bones. Her last set about two years ago showed some fusion in the joint, which explained the slight hitch in her get along as she has reduced shock absorption with the joint progressing towards fusion. The good, big lady also has shivvers, which shows up in her right hind, especially when you try to pick the foot up too fast, but also occasionally when she steps off after standing a while.
I had Kevin deop by Tuesday to hoof test her (I should get a pair someday...) and he didn't find anything of concern. The one spot I thought was a little soft was just some dead sole needing to come out anyway. Drat. He did note that her ringbone lump was larger than he remembered and he also poked at her shoulders a bit to see if she wasn't sore further up.
So I got her on some Bute twice a day and put her back on a loading dose of MSM because I have been bad about getting it to her regularly, but come Friday she wasn't moving any better and was actually pointing her right fore and very reluctant to move. Arthritis gets better with movement, but as the uncontested benevolent overlord Ruby moves for no one and she barely has to shift her weight to send the others back pedaling. I put a call into the vet Saturday and given her size we upped her to three grams morning and night. We also shaved her pastern, which revealed that it was actually convex and I could feel some warmth on it. We slathered it with hydrocortisone and DMSO gel on top to help it carry into the joint.
Today she is no longer pointing that leg and while still limping seems to be more willing to move around. I hope she continues to improve. We're going to set up to have the vet come out and do a new set of x-rays on her to see where it is now.
I really hope this is just a blip as the joint finishes fusing. Ruby is not one we would necessarily be looking for a replacement when she goes, but I really would hope she sticks around a few more years. She's only 16(ish). She has given us nine pretty much sound years despite coming to us with a substantial case of ringbone to begin with. I don't have delusions about nine more, but maybe four?
Ruby and Charm-N geound driving together (you can see Chris' leg back there). We haven't quite gotten to hooking the pair to a cart. They are surprisingly well-matched.
Ruby and the boys last year.
I had Kevin deop by Tuesday to hoof test her (I should get a pair someday...) and he didn't find anything of concern. The one spot I thought was a little soft was just some dead sole needing to come out anyway. Drat. He did note that her ringbone lump was larger than he remembered and he also poked at her shoulders a bit to see if she wasn't sore further up.
So I got her on some Bute twice a day and put her back on a loading dose of MSM because I have been bad about getting it to her regularly, but come Friday she wasn't moving any better and was actually pointing her right fore and very reluctant to move. Arthritis gets better with movement, but as the uncontested benevolent overlord Ruby moves for no one and she barely has to shift her weight to send the others back pedaling. I put a call into the vet Saturday and given her size we upped her to three grams morning and night. We also shaved her pastern, which revealed that it was actually convex and I could feel some warmth on it. We slathered it with hydrocortisone and DMSO gel on top to help it carry into the joint.
Today she is no longer pointing that leg and while still limping seems to be more willing to move around. I hope she continues to improve. We're going to set up to have the vet come out and do a new set of x-rays on her to see where it is now.
I really hope this is just a blip as the joint finishes fusing. Ruby is not one we would necessarily be looking for a replacement when she goes, but I really would hope she sticks around a few more years. She's only 16(ish). She has given us nine pretty much sound years despite coming to us with a substantial case of ringbone to begin with. I don't have delusions about nine more, but maybe four?
Ruby and Charm-N geound driving together (you can see Chris' leg back there). We haven't quite gotten to hooking the pair to a cart. They are surprisingly well-matched.
Ruby and the boys last year.