MizElz
Well-Known Member
Just wondering how many of us on here have owned/known horses who have broken a leg and survived? And whether or not the horse continued to work as before once the break had healed?
I know of two...one was a yearling belonging to my trainer, by Voltaire. He slipped on ice and went down, and fractured his pedal bone. It wasnt a displacement fracture, and so they managed to destabilize him with the use of straw bales, for about 6 months I think. The fracture healed, leaving only a white ring just above the coronet. He went on to jump in the 4 yr old champs and the BN/Discovery second rounds, but didnt show enough scope to be taken further, so was sold on to a girl who wanted to event him.
The other was my mother's pony, whom she bought secretly, aged 14, from Stow fair. One day she found him (when he was 6, I think) crippled in the field; they thought he had tripped over a stone - a real freak accident! The break was more severe in his case, and the vet wanted to put him down, but Mum sought a 2nd opinion and he was put into a cast. He recovered enough to be able to hack and do flatwork, but he never jumped nor hunted again, for fear of putting stress on the bone. We believe he is still alive now - at 31 years of age!
I know of two...one was a yearling belonging to my trainer, by Voltaire. He slipped on ice and went down, and fractured his pedal bone. It wasnt a displacement fracture, and so they managed to destabilize him with the use of straw bales, for about 6 months I think. The fracture healed, leaving only a white ring just above the coronet. He went on to jump in the 4 yr old champs and the BN/Discovery second rounds, but didnt show enough scope to be taken further, so was sold on to a girl who wanted to event him.
The other was my mother's pony, whom she bought secretly, aged 14, from Stow fair. One day she found him (when he was 6, I think) crippled in the field; they thought he had tripped over a stone - a real freak accident! The break was more severe in his case, and the vet wanted to put him down, but Mum sought a 2nd opinion and he was put into a cast. He recovered enough to be able to hack and do flatwork, but he never jumped nor hunted again, for fear of putting stress on the bone. We believe he is still alive now - at 31 years of age!