Sticks in the Coronary Band

Surgeons from a private equine clinic in Central Virginia used 20 years of medical records to identify and review 15 cases of horses with a wooden foreign body penetrating the coronary band.

Owners most reported the horses had either fallen or were jumping while foxhunting in wooded areas with the lameness usually presenting immediately after the injury. Owners or primary care providers had attempted removal of the foreign body in about half the cases before referral.

Most (93%) of the horses were Grade 4/5 lame at a walk-on presentation and had soft tissue swelling at the coronary band and increased digital pulses in the affected feet. The front feet were most affected in the toe area. While about half of the foreign bodies were visible, seven were not visible and in five of these cases, external portions of the stob reportedly broke off during those attempts. No synovial structures were involved in any of the cases. 

Removal was eventually achieved using standing sedation and nerve blocks of the distal limb in 80% of the cases with three requiring general anesthesia. A limited hoof wall resection was done in nine horses to facilitate the removal of stobs broken off at or below the coronary band. Following the superficial hoof wall resection, the stobs were removed through proximal traction and a gentle rocking motion facilitated by taking pressure off the foreign body, so it was no longer squeezed between the hoof wall and the coffin bone. The…