Broken Dock???

[XmisshorsestyleX]

I had the physio out to have a check up on my 4 year old yesterday and she found her dock to be broken and was confused about how she could have done it.

Has anyone else had the same experiences?

 

[MaverickMD]

I posted this the other day on the forum re my fella - dont know if its much help ..... but its our experience of a broken tail / dock !

My boy had a broken tail - he did it as a foal. He was being treated for another injury - on antibiotics - and it wasnt until they noticed that he wouldnt let anyone go behind him that they discovered the problem - by that time it was too late. They reckon he did it by rubbing his tail as he had a mite infestation !!! The vet ran his hand down the tail and half of the bone came away in his hand - the skin had already healed round the broken end of bone !!!!

I was horrifed when I was told this story when we bought him (years later) that no one had noticed his problem - I was disgusted.

He now has a very short dock - and subsequently short tail hair as there is not enough dock for the hair to grow on to make a long tail. Therefore, in the summer he cant swipe himself from the flies and gets quite pestered by them. When we have woven a tail in for him - he hits the roof as he is not used to anything touching his hocks in this manner.

He carries his tail like an arab when he is excited and it looks like a pompom - bless him.

When people see him - they think he is a youngster (esp as he acts this way as well) ...... He is 17 years old now.

His lack of tail does not affect his balance, but it means he cant be shown and we get some "funny looks" off judges etc and people thinking we are riding a "foal" !!!

But I cant help but think that if the breeders had bluddy noticed there was something wrong - he would have the most lovely liver chestnut tail now.

All the best

MaverickMD

 

[BigRed]

I had a friend who's 2 year old broke its tail. It was messing around in the field, reared and fell over backwards. The tail ended up being partially paralysed.

 

[ashabarab]

my rising 12 homebred arab gelding got himself attached to a gate as a foal and dislocated the bones in his dock..[was rubbing his rear end on gate]
apart from it being a bit of a wierd shape and being tricky to bandage it has never really bothered him
vet merely shook his head [this horse has two left feet!]
however, if anyone looks at his passport they usually ask..dislocated tail?
if he had not actually been attached to the gate and waiting for somebody to rescue him l doubt if it would have even been discovered..and it was only after closer examination that l realised it was broken/dislocated...l have since been told it is quite a frequant injury..but goes unnoticed
it sure doesn't bother him!
ash