Sidebone might be Normal in Swedish Cold-Blooded Horses

Researchers found that sidebone does not appear to affect horses’ performance and could simply be a normal characteristic of cold-blooded trotters and Ardennes horses.
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Sidebone, a condition that occurs when the cartilages on either side of a horse's distal phalanx (coffin bone) ossify, or harden into bone, has puzzled researchers for more than a century. It has a high heritability, particularly in Swedish cold-blooded horses, so most breeders exclude horses with sidebone from their programs to prevent perpetuating the potentially performance-limiting condition.

For 70 years, Swedish trotter and Ardennes breeders have bred selectively to reduce sidebone incidence in the country's horse population. But has it worked? Ove Wattle, DVM, PhD, a senior lecturer in equine medicine at the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, and Ulf Hedenström, DVM, lecturer at National Equine Education Centre Wången, conducted a study to find out, and Wattle presented their results at the 2013 International Equine Conference on Laminitis and Diseases of the Foot, held Nov. 1-3 in West Palm Beach, Fla.

Swedish cold-blooded trotters are a slightly heavier version of the typical Standardbred. Their lengthy racing careers span anywhere from three to 15 years, during which time they train three to five times a week on hard surfaces. Ardennes are medium-sized draft horses.

In Wattle's study he looked at distal phalanx radiographs from 58 Ardennes and 229 cold-blooded trotters with average ages of 3 and 4, respectively; 74% of them had raced. He also measured their body and hoof sizes and noted the degree of sidebone on a scale of 0-5, with five being most severe. After at least four years had passed, he re-examined 63 of the original study horses twice

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Alexandra Beckstett, a native of Houston, Texas, is a lifelong horse owner who has shown successfully on the national hunter/jumper circuit and dabbled in hunter breeding. After graduating from Duke University, she joined Blood-Horse Publications as assistant editor of its book division, Eclipse Press, before joining The Horse. She was the managing editor of The Horse for nearly 14 years and is now editorial director of EquiManagement and My New Horse, sister publications of The Horse.

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