When my six year old Oldenburg/Thoroughbred Milo came up lame in late August of 2009, I wasn’t immediately deeply concerned. During the course of the six months I had owned him he had come up sore twice already with stone bruises, and after small abscesses had becomes sound again fairly quickly. A heavily built and flat-footed individual, we were working on building up his heels to take weight off his soles, but the progress was slow, so the stone bruises were understandable. He was working only three to four times per week in August due to my busy schedule, and none of it was intense work, so I didn’t suspect more than yet another stone bruise. We put the hoof testers on him and confirmed that he reacted to pressure on the inside of his sole, not near the shoe, and sat back to wait for the abscess.
When it didn’t come, we became concerned. After pulling the shoe and calling together farrier and vet to discuss the situation, we decided to x-ray. Sure enough, x-rays showed Milo had fractured his coffin bone. The doctor’s prognosis was possible recovery, but as we all know, coffin bone fracture recoveries are hardly a sure thing.
Because Milo was completely sound at the walk, and because he was known to almost never exceed the walk during turnout, the vet gave him the okay to continue with normal half-day turnout during his rehabilitation period. Though unorthodox, we knew this was the only way to keep this horse sane. An extremely herd-bound horse, he was known to become stressed to the point of losing appetite, becoming dehydrated, pacing himself into a lather, and generally just bringing himself to the brink of colic and starvation if separated for any significant time from his turnout buddies. The last thing a horse with a broken coffin bone needs is constant walking and added health concerns, so we felt there was no choice but to allow him his turnout and hope for the best.
Our farrier decided against any type of barred shoe in favor of glue-ons that would serve multiple helpful purposes. First of all, the glue-ons would eliminate the bone-jarring concussion that comes with pounding nails into a hoof. This was important in minimizing the trauma and impact to this now structurally fragile foot. He also felt he could maintain better control of the hoof’s angles with the glue-on, a crucial part of keeping the foot stable and consistent in its form. Also, for a large but flat-footed horse like Milo, the glue-ons offered an instant raised heel that would keep his weight off the sole wherein lay the coffin bone.
We waited, and approximately every four weeks we x-rayed. With each passing x-ray the vet would point out small but significant signs of improvement. The bone began to fuse itself, the edges to smooth, and after about four months, Milo was once again sound at the trot and canter. X-rays showed a complete bone recovery.
Some who hear the story marvel that an injury that almost always requires a long and ardent stall rest period that stresses both horse and handlers could be cured with nothing but glue-ons and regular turnout. It certainly wasn’t a textbook way of handling the issue. However, all of those involved in Milo’s recovery knew him well and knew that he could not handle long-term stall rest and that he was reliably quiet and more healthy when given his regular turnout. In the end, our method proved successful, and by December he was a sound and sane horse ready to start back into work once again.
From Erika Preve