I've been thinking....

I called this blog 'Red's journey' I am now thinking I should have called it 'Our journey', I am learning so much!

I have been reading about 'stress shearing', a situation where a stronger material applied to the body (ie: plaster cast, hip replacements, METAL HORSE SHOES,) takes more strain than the body and, therefore, leads to the bones in close proximity loosing density.

Bone Remodeling of the Equine Distal Limb

This got me thinking....

Why was Red sound jumping up to 1m before he fractured his radius but then wasn't sound in trot (and, depending on the ground, walk) 4 months later?? That's a massive deterioration in a relatively short space of time!

If he was already developing this cyst prior to his fracture but then was cross tied for 8 weeks and had a further 2 months COMPLETE box rest (not even being lead out!) then the bones hadn't received sufficient weight-bearing stress and, therefore, loose density....increase in size of cyst???!

So as far as the navicular bone was concerned, standing still was the worst thing for it :-(
When Red came off box rest the bone had deteriorated so much he now couldn't walk/trot 100% comfortably.

This has backed up my decision to remove his shoes and allow the hoof to function better, leading to an increased blood supply to the foot and it's bones. Hopefully it is not too late to save his navicular bone.