Ring Bone
Case history
The patient is a 15 year old Andalusian gelding. He is and always has been barefoot. He has been displaying signs of intermittent near fore lameness for about 6 months. Initially the owner followed veterinary advice on managing the visual signs, however, after little improvements radiographs were taken which brought about the diagnosis of ringbone.
After various discussions with the veterinary surgeon it was decided to begin a course of INDIBA radio frequency.
Treatment
The coronet band was the focal area of treatment (see image. Note this horse has shoes on and is not the horse discussed here)
The pastern area was well soaked with water prior to treatment and then generous amounts of cream / gel was applied.
The treatment course was once a week for 4 weeks then a follow up treatments 2 weeks after treatment 4 and a further one 2 weeks after session 5. 6 treatments in total over 8 weeks
Treatments 1, 2, 3
Capacitive treatment at 10% for 15 minutes.
Unable to achieve a connection with Resistive
Treatments 4, 5, 6
Able to get a connection with resistive on these visits so treatment progressed to
Capacitive treatment at 10% for 10 minutes
Resistive treatment at 10% for 10 minutes (this did warm up quite quickly to keep a close eye on temperature feedback)
Notable feedback from owner, and observations.
Horse 3/10 lame with head nod noted on day 1. This gradually improved throughout treatment. Horse observed both on the hard and on the lunge at the end of the treatment and observed as sound.
Owner also observed improvements in his supporting limb. For as long as she could remember his off fore would tremble when he stood still and at times it would appear as though his knee gave way. This has stopped and no signs observed since the second treatment.
Hoof wearing has also changed. Barefoot trimmer and owner previously observed greater medial wear of near fore hoof. This has evened out with a less obvious imbalance being created.
Horse also appears more active in the field and has re-commenced gentle ridden work.
Cotswold horse and hound physiotherapy – Hannah Ashton BSc qualified as a Veterinary Physiotherapist in 2009. Hannah treats animals of all shapes and sizes, specialising in the treatment of race horses, show horses, dressage horses, hunters, eventers and companion horses.
She also works with competition, show and companion dogs and farm animals.
Based near Stow on the Wold, areas covered include parts of Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Warwickshire.