8 weeks after fractured pedal bone and its D-day!

BigGinger

BigGinger

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Sorry it could be long

It's coming up to 8 weeks of box rest and so the vet is coming to see my lad after somehow fracturing his pedal bone amongst some other issues. Please see my original thread...

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My big worry was that he wasn't going to cope well with box rest and he hasn't. The past 8 weeks have been such a worry, have tried everything to keep him occupied and will give him credit he's coped better than I imagined as he will stay calm most of the day but then all of a sudden will have a big paddy thundering round the stable rearing up kicking the walls. Many times he has ended up in a heap at his stable door and kicking chunks out of the concrete. Through all of this he has had 4 feeds a day (he has a low sugar, high fibre diet so just split his usual feed down), swapping his Haynets so he has fresh new Hay to distract him. Buckets of grass. Lucie bricks, uncle jimmys, equi ball and lots of attention to break his day up. Plus he's been sedated twice a day.

Vet is due at lunch to take x rays to see if the fracture shows up this time (it previously only showed on MRI) I'm assuming he will want to see him walk and trot up which I am dreading. He's not been out so we have been practising which went ok till yesterday when he started broncing in the barn rather violently and point blank refusing to go back in his stable but go backwards and upwards At the same time instead :o

The original plan after 8 weeks box rest was to start inhand walking but I don't see how this is going to work without being to dangerous for both of us..before strict box rest he was on his back legs and galloping circles at any chance he could set off and then trying to kick out whenever he was walked.
I can't give him Sedalin to walk out because he's on 2.5ml twice a day so can't really up that and to be honest I don't *think* it would have much further difference than what it does.

I'm also not prepared to box rest him any longer.. I was reluctant to in the first place. I had a very sweet horse that's turned into a very angry violent one and do feel he could lash out once he gets a taste of freedom. I do feel like asking of there any stronger sedatives and just throwing him in the field and hoping for the best and see how he goes.

This is so hard!!:(
 
Feel for you, I'm in the same situation, except my lads had the fractured bone removed and a huge chunk of foot, keratoma, and is in a cast currently, luckily for me he is usually a ****** but has been an angel, I think he understands bit trying to find things for him to do has been an epic mission, our local supermarkets are on the verge of banning is from buying swedes :-) good luck, really hope results are good
 
I think you've done amazingly well to contain him for this long. I think you are right, at some point the horse has to go out and either be sensible (with some chemical help) or not, sometimes they do themselves less harm once out than stuck in the stable.

Go with your instinct, and hope all goes smoothly and the X ray results are good.
 
I hope you get some helpful news today. Vets prescribe box rest but they're not the ones that have to live with the horse ;)

When our little chap did his pedal bone (OK it was a chip rather than a fracture so not quite the same) we were lucky with the timing because our YO had her 'yard' set up where she'd yarded her babies over winter, so he went in there for a few weeks as a halfway house. It meant he was on a soft surface but had space to mooch and chill out. He was fairly relaxed then when he did go out.
 
I don't envy you. I have a mare that had a pedal bone and sesamoid fracture. She was much Quieter by the sounds if it. She was on 12 weeks box rest and 4 weeks walking in hand. When it came to turning her out she was sedated. She happily grazed immediately. About an hour later she was tearing around the field like a maniac repeatedly jumping over a ditch in the middle. Que spontaneous heart attack for me. By the time I caught her she just wanted to graze again. She didnt injure herself and she seemed to just need to get it out if her system. After all that time locked up a horse is bound to have an explosion regardless if they are in hand or turned out. If you fear for your safety or the horses long term sanity then turnout into a safe paddock might be wise. The grass being tasty and the ground not too hard is in your favour. In a few weeks time the ground might be like concrete
 
minimilton said:
I don't envy you. I have a mare that had a pedal bone and sesamoid fracture. She was much Quieter by the sounds if it. She was on 12 weeks box rest and 4 weeks walking in hand. When it came to turning her out she was sedated. She happily grazed immediately. About an hour later she was tearing around the field like a maniac repeatedly jumping over a ditch in the middle. Que spontaneous heart attack for me. By the time I caught her she just wanted to graze again. She didnt injure herself and she seemed to just need to get it out if her system. After all that time locked up a horse is bound to have an explosion regardless if they are in hand or turned out. If you fear for your safety or the horses long term sanity then turnout into a safe paddock might be wise. The grass being tasty and the ground not too hard is in your favour. In a few weeks time the ground might be like concrete
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This is what I'm thinking.. But I'm pretty sure the vet is not going to advise this. I think by the time I manage to get him down to the arena to walk him he could try and set off and then he's on a circle running round which is the least recommended if I can't keep him under wraps and I don't blame him for wanting to let rip after being cooped up. I keep thinking if he's in the field maybe with the lovely grass he will soon realise and stop and graze and atleast run in straight lines. And If he's going to injure himself then atleast he goes happy running round free not whizzing round with me on the end of a lunge line.

We have thought about having two people lead him, one either side but I'm going to struggle as I could ask my mother but she is late 50's with a bad shoulder and don't want to risk injuring her and I don't want to ask other liveries as he can be unpredictable and if he injures anyone... I just can't take that risk either these days. So what can you do! Know one else I know would be confident enough to handle him with me.
 
I had one on box rest for over 3 months, different injury, he was getting very distressed and had become seriously angry so with vets permission I walked him as much as I could for 2 weeks, it extended his time in but conditioned him to some extent. I had a small secure field with loads of grass ready for him, he was sedated by the vet both im and iv to extend the time and he was turned out with a sensible friend and left for 3 weeks. He totally relaxed and has come back to almost how he used to be but I think if I had gone the recommended daily restricted turnout he would have either injured himself with the daily explosions, twisting in a small area or done me damage getting him there each day.
Vets do not always appreciate how bad horses can get when they are so stressed, once they can relax and stay out they can usually stop the running around, it is the first time out that is high risk but it needs to be done at some point.
 
Well vet has been...he advised against turnout for the moment as we don't no how fully healed the fracture is. X rays didn't show much which he advised was in a way good! That the fracture hasn't displaced and gone larger and that it really must be very small. And that he couldn't see any arthritic changes that showed on the MRI so these must be very mild and this is good too.

He wants to skip walking out in hand and sedate and turn out but this means he could be in for longer. Amd we can't turn out until he's been for another MRI scan. He is due to go for an MRI in 4 weeks but vet said theres no reason why we can't bring in forward so said ring Leahurst in the morning and see if they can fit him in the next 2/3 weeks.

Plan is if fracture has healed then iv sedate and turnout in small area. If fracture hasn't healed then I won't put him through more box rest. I have tried and its obviously not working for us and so would take a big risk and turn out and again sedate. If he comes back in hopping then atleast I tried and he had some freedom and pts a happy horse in the field with his friends or if he's looking ok then field rest for 6months


Horses eh!???
 
I had to box rest my foal for 8 weeks when he was born (now 7 years old and fine)... but I knew his mum would not stay chilled, so I made an area in the paddock had a tree in the middle of it for shade as it was August and very hot here then, (slightly bigger than a stable) and would turn them both out into it everyday, and she coped with that, as in her head she was being turned out....

hope you boy recovers ok
 
2 more weeks (hopefully) box rest and then turnout is better than 4 weeks walking him in hand by the sounds of it. Best of luck with him. They really are such a worry!
 
Goodness you have the patience of a saint :(
I am afraid I sedate and t/o, forgoing anymore MRI, as you said either way he is going out....? Save your pennies and MRI maybe after the 6 months field rest? Then you can see any changes, if he is sound win, if he lame you have done your best :(
Sending vibes to the big man, he hasn't really had the best of times has he... Xx
 
Buds_mum said:
Goodness you have the patience of a saint :(
I am afraid I sedate and t/o, forgoing anymore MRI, as you said either way he is going out....? Save your pennies and MRI maybe after the 6 months field rest? Then you can see any changes, if he is sound win, if he lame you have done your best :(
Sending vibes to the big man, he hasn't really had the best of times has he... Xx
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It really has been one thing after another.. I only started riding him again this January after 18months off after having issues with ulcers then fracturing his skull, then he fell in the field and cut his knee open badly. Finally thought we were getting somewhere then he goes lame and been in stable since end of feb.

He does need the MRI in the next few weeks but have thought about another one further down the line... But if he still wasn't right 6months down the line then maybe its time to call it a day.. It's not like I haven't tried and I don't want to put him through anymore stress than he has to but will cross that bridge when we get to it I guess
 
Just want to say I feel for u, I had a pony who didn't do box rest well and certainly didn't do walking in hand (more like bucking on the spot in hand!) she's only 13.1 but there were only 2 of us that would take her out! She never came 100% sound but is a lovely field ornament! I have decided I will not box rest her again and would PTS. I think it does her too much damage. Bit like you I was willing to give it a go and even the field rest, U never know she may come sound one day (though its been 18 months .....) it was a suspensory issue with her so different problem. I think your plan of action sounds good and I wish u all the best
 
I would say, try to stick with it. We had a jumping pony that fractured both hind pedal bones when it double barrelled a stone wall.

We did four months box rest then another month in a very small paddock before doing a month walking under saddle. She came back as good as new & carried on sj & xc for many years.

We were lucky that she was ok with it as she actually didn't leave the stable in all that time as once out of the box no-one could hold her & she would bomb off.

It is such a stressful time for you. Good luck, hope he can go out soon.
 
Real feel for you and your horse. We are going through the same thing with our 6yr old. He has broken his pedal bone and coffin bone in a freak accident in the filed!
He has had a MRI at the start as the break wasn't showing up even after a 3 week gap at the start.
He has just finished a 12 total box rest not aloud out at all. He was on between 5-8mls of sedalin daily for the first 8 weeks then started to except boxrest with the help of a rescue pony for company and the wall taken out at chest level so they could see and touch each other.
He is now 3 weeks into a 3mth pen rest. We brought some Harris panels to make a large enough pen to be stable size and more panels which we have added 1 every now and then when he is getting more used to being out.. he started with 1hr of turnout on 8mls of sedalin and now is up to 4/5 hours with just 2mls..he has been fairly good with just a few moments of mental blow outs not a surprise after being stuck in for so long!! We did pad his foot up for the first 2 weeks to help if he reared which he did a couple of times. And we use two people to turn him out for his and our saftey. But I can normally get him in on my own.
He seems sound.
After these 3mth pen rest he goes of 3mths paddock rest then re-MRI and hopefully come back slowly into walk. His future looks hopeful but not certain.
It's amazing talking to people who have gone through this injury how different the vet's seem to manage it.
 
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