BTB: Harvey's X-rays: Finding #1

Posted: 24 Jun 2010 01:29 PM PDT

Harv had his first x-rays taken in March -- recall that he went lame on the LF this spring. I reported on his progress and return to soundness, but I never shared the x-rays because I lost the disk. Well, I found the disk, so I'll share a few items of interest.

Harv overextends himself
If you click to enlarge the image and follow the yellow arrow below you'll see a tiny bone fragment between the pedal bone (P3) and the short pastern bone (P2). The vet told me that this is often caused by hyperextension of that joint, causing the top portion of the pedal bone to chip off. This strikes me as just the kind of injury you'd see in a racehorse or ex-racehorse, and apparently it's pretty common.

How serious is it?
It may or may not cause lameness. In Harv's case, the nerve blocks didn't show that area as a problem. Harv's probably lived with it for awhile. It's what they call an incidental finding -- no clinical relevance.