more Pictures please

[Ann Collier]

Thanks so much for all the info on this site... sometimes its way more then i can understand... all tho.. when talking with my vet ,farrier, or friends, conditions / ideas will be brought up and i can follow some what educated just because of my reading on this site... Thanks...

ok all the kudos for now... Ring Bone... do any of you have a picture of what a horse's hoof/pasturn looks like with ring bone externally? ... my understanding is that there is a hard lump/ swelling on the inside of the leg..?

TIA ... :)

[calshoer]

You can not see most ringbone from the outside at all until it has developed SO large that a lump can be felt at the the location. Usually it is in the joint between the coffin and second pastern bones (low ringbone) or in the joint between the second and first pastern (high ringbone). Go the anatomy section of horseshoes.com if you need to reference the bones. Those in the lower most joint ar the most painful and will not be visible on the outside for years, when they become so large the deform the coronary band and the hoofwall. (a "buttress foot)
A lot of horses who have a noticeable abnormal bone lump in the pastrern area do not have true ringbone. They may have a big enlargment but if it is not in a joint it is often painless. Those can come from an injury to a short connecting ligament (one that conects one pastern bone to the other) that the body reacts to by developing extra bone around it. (called "false" ringbone in some old texts)
The vast majority of horses will exibit lameness from ringbone when it is still in the early stages, very,very small bone changes (arthritis) that is rubbing in a joint. It can be VERY tiny little bone spur, just one or two mm in size, but if it is in a joint it would feel like having a large grain of sand in there, very painful when th foot moves a certain direction.
That is why it is SO important to get a good veterinary workup when you are trying to discover the source of a lamaness, because sometimes only a full set of GOOD quality Xrays will locate the actual problem. Knowing exactly WHERE it is in the joint it helps the farrier to decide the best trimming or shoeing course to take.
Patty

[Ann Collier]

re the buttress hoof, this will also show up with an extensor processor injury/fracture..??... i have seen this shape of a hoof, it was on a hoof with an old chip off the extensor processor....

can the mishaped hoof also be in another location besides the front/ point of the hoof...??

TIA...