# Pedal bone fracture-any experience?



## sabel (26 August 2009)

Hi, my horse has just been diagnosed with a fractured pedal bone 
	
	
		
		
	


	




 and I wondered if anyone had any experience they could share with me?


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## CBAnglo (26 August 2009)

PM Nats_UK as her horse had this (along with almost every other injury!) so she will be able to give you info.


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## sabel (26 August 2009)

Thanks, will pm.


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## Marnie (26 August 2009)

My mare is just recovering from one - she fractured the wing of hers.  She is back in work now, although we have a slight set back in that she is 1/10 lame on a hard circle on that leg, although fine on the straight and on a surface.

Where is yours fractured?


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## mrussell (27 August 2009)

Going through it at the moment...  wing tip fracture of hind foot.  Oddly, he was 3/10ths lame on the soft BUT only 1/10ths on the hard.  The vets missed it at our local practice but scintigraphy found it.

Our boy has been on box rest for 3 weeks. He goes back for xrays in 3 weeks time.  Hes been reshod in wide webs but no bar shoes as yet. His pedal bone actually tips backwards which is what the vets think led to the fracture.


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## sally2008 (27 August 2009)

I have experience of horses who have been successfully treated for bad fractures.  Box rest, plaster casts and / or surgery are the traditional treatments but there is now a specialist farriery option which is proving to have good results, with a very high proportion of cases being returned to soundness.  

There are three things which will pull apart a fractured pedal bone: Pressure on the sole, stress on the deep digital flexor tendon, and leverage on the toe.  To counteract these, they put a hard plastic hospital plate to prevent sole pressure, shoe the horse with an early-breakover shoe (Natural Balance) to prevent leverage on the toe, having trimmed back the frog quite hard which has the effect of making the foot contract and form a natural cast to support the break and enable healing.

I have a paper on the treatment somewhere if you would be interested to see it.


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## snaffle (27 August 2009)

yep - mine had one 2 years ago; like Marnie  was 1/10 lame on hard tight cirlce on lunge but now hacking no probs. dont jump - cos i dont, nothing to do with the fracture. had 3 months box rest &amp; bar shoe plus bone supplement. most recover - depends where the fracture is and if you get knobbly bits during healing.

where is yours fractured?


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## Marnie (27 August 2009)

To add....

Muppet originally went lame around last November, was blocked and xrayed with nothing conclusive other than it was a problem in her foot.  She was fitted with bar shoes as damaged to the deep digital flexor tendon in her foot was suspected, she had box rest then handwalking.  At the new year she was reassessed and was lame in both front feet at which point she was referred to Newmarket for MRI.  They worked her up again and found the fracture - x rays below.  The fracture is thought to be related to the fact that she has sidebone which has affected the 'biomechanics' of her foot.  Edited to say - lameness in other front foot turned out to be bruising due to bar shoes!

She was on total box rest for around 2 months with no shoes and on a conforming bed (e.g. shavings).  She then had wide webbed shoes with no clips and was handwalked twice a day on a surface, starting at 5 minutes, building up to 45 minutes, at which point she could be ridden at walk - this was by 4 months.  She was re-xrayed then and the fractured had healed sufficiently and she wasn't lame so went back in to full work - building up as you would any horse who wasn't fit.

She has been doing some dressage and local showing and it was watching a video of dressage that I thought she occasionally looked 'off' and found she was still 1/10 lame on the hard circle.  Vet has told me to carry on though, just being careful of the ground and to have pads fitted.

X rays below, feel free to ask if you want any more info!

Collateral cartilage marks the sidebone...

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## oofadoofa (27 August 2009)

Yep, my boy did his on 2 January.  He had 3.5 months box rest and is now in the field, but still lame.  He did a proper job on it though.  We are just going to see what happens.  What sort of fracture has yours got sabel?


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## sabel (27 August 2009)

Thanks everyone for your replies, only picked him up from the vets today as I have been away on holiday so as yet haven't seen the xrays. 
I believe it is a fairly straightforward (if there is such a thing?) fracture of the wing tip of the pedal bone.
He has been shod with bar shoes and is now on box rest so we will wait and see how it progresses.
If I can I will try to post the xrays on here once I have them, if I can fathom out how to do it!!


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## Marnie (27 August 2009)

If you have digital copies, put them into something like photobucket and then post them as you would a normal picture.  Would be interested to see!


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## little_pink_piggies (27 August 2009)

My 14hh pony fractured his in the field in Jan 06... Aug 06 (he had 3 months box rest and then refittening him etc) he won a BE open novice, Sept 07 represented GB at a pony international competition and Oct 07 won a PN and was second at a 3day... Never taken a lame step on it since coming off boxrest. We caught it very early on, and he had a heartbar shoe fitted with extra clips. It took a long time for it to disappear on Xray (to be honest I'm not sure it's even disappeared now!) as appareantly where it recalcifies is always visible. Fingers crossed for you


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## only_me (27 August 2009)

My friends horse fractured its pedal bone, it did come sound but then it re-did the pedal bone injury, and has only come back hack sound


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## Nats_uk (28 August 2009)

[ QUOTE ]
 PM Nats_UK as her horse had this (along with almost every other injury!) so she will be able to give you info. 

[/ QUOTE ] 

Oi!!! 
	
	
		
		
	


	





Okay, B came in lame in the end of July 4 years ago and after a couple of weeks of box rest he wasn't any better. He went to the vets for all sorts of tests and he had fractured the wing of his pedal bone. He had eggbar shoes put on and then was on complete boxrest until the December. He then was rexamined and I was allowed to bring him into work. After 3 months of bringing into work he got the all clear and I was allowed to start jumping again.

2 years later he sprained his coffin joint (completely unrelated) and had that area x-rayed again (as a precaution) and the vet said that the pedal bone had completely healed and you couldn't even see where the fracture was.

B now competes at BD Elementary level, BSJA Newcomer height and also hunts and occasionally XC's - the pedal bone fracture hasn't held him back at all (**touch wood**)

PM me if you want to chat or swap box rest tips


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## sabel (28 August 2009)

Thanks again everybody for your replies. They are all very encouraging, I am telling myself that it is better than if the damage was tendon or ligament. 
I'm just a bit gutted as I have only had him two months so we have not really got going yet


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## Nats_uk (28 August 2009)

[ QUOTE ]
 I'm just a bit gutted as I have only had him two months so we have not really got going yet 
	
	
		
		
	


	





[/ QUOTE ]

I know how you feel - I had had B for a month when it happened - I was bringing him in from the field for our first jumping show when I realised he was lame


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## peleowner (22 October 2010)

Hey Everybody, I am just enduring the boring bit. I have a 17.2hh warmblood gelding who jumped out of his field, galloped up the track and when he hit to tarmac drive lost his footing and crashed into a brick wall. The foot that hit the wall broke the pedal bone, a wing fracture on a bizarre angle only detectable in MRI. He was only mildly lame for the first 5 days then suddenly wallop, was hopping. Spent three months with a cast and on box rest, and luckily just when he was at the point of becoming too difficult to handle (at that size it doesn't take much) was turned out. Despite one evening where he went on an expedition round the farm again he now seems fine but bored out of his mind. Has had a bar shoe since the cast came off. he is 6 and had just begun to event properly so I was gutted but I am heartened by stories that they seem to come back. He is to be reviewed at the end of February. I'd love to hear from anybody who has had an event horse with such an injury who has returned to eventing proper? Fingers crossed that there is something to sustain me in the cold winter months.


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## Mahoganybay (22 October 2010)

My mare fractured her nearside hind pedal bone in Aug 08, she did it in the field, bucked and kicked the metal water tank, was on three legs in an instant, vet came, suspected pedal bone fracture, i took her to the practice that afternoon for xray's and sure enough was a massive wide fracture, she did a proper job...

9 months of complete box rest, heart bar shoes, magnesium, comfrey and she was deemed sound in May 09, after all the box rest i sent her to a rehabilitation centre for 6 weeks with swimming, hydrotherapy, horse walker & individual turnout.

She is probably still 1/10th lame on a hard surface but she is just my little hacking buddy.

I do expect she will be arthritic on her hinds in the future as she is still slightly weak behind, but i hope to keep her sound as long as possible.

Hope your horse is ok.


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## beccabear (26 December 2010)

recently bought a horse and after working him for 3 months (jumping/dressage) he went lame.  After xrays,  turned out he has had a fractured pedal bone approx 18 mths/2 yrs ago.  The break is in the middle of the pedal bone and hasn't healed properly.  It has calcified above the pedal bone and inpinges on the coffin bone and has formed spurs on coffin bone and pedal bone.  The vet has told me nothing can be done to help him!
He is only 4 yrs old, hannovarion, by Demonstrator with a temperament to die for and oodles of talent.  
Anybody got any useful help??


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## Cathy487 (28 December 2010)

My previous horse broke his hind coffin bone, we never did find out what he did.   At first we thought is was an absess, but after it drained the lameness and swelling came back and we discovered a hairline fracture on the pedal bone.  He had bar shoe and plate put on to immobilise the foot and hoof and was placed on 4 months box rest followed by hand walking and then turn out in a tiny paddock. After 6 months we brought him back in work doing dressage.  He went on to complete and get regularly placed.  The bone healed fantastically and you couldn't even see the fracture on the xrays in the end.  I also gave him a homopathic remedy - would have to check which one - something that is supposed to ensure the ossification.  Will never know if it made a difference. 

So, I agree, that tendon or ligament injury can be much more damaging in long term.  I do hope your horse has the same outcome.


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## Honey08 (28 December 2010)

A friend's horse broke it's pedal bone (talking 25yrs ago) and after box rest and a slow recovery to fitness, it returned to everything that it had been before - doing RC teams and SJ/XC without any lameness...  It stayed sound all the rest of it's life.  Hope your ones mentioned above do too...x


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