Fractured jaw recovery

Cowpony101

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Hi everyone,
does anyone have any experience with a horse with a fractured jaw? one of our horses has just fractured his lower jaw in the stable. We don’t really know how but we suspect he either caught it on his salt lick holder or on something else, or possibly got cast. He seems to be recovering well and is eating fine but I have heard things about horses not liking the bit and not riding well in general after breaking their jaw which I am slightly worried about. Also the vet said he could be ridden in a bitless bridle for the next 2 or 3 months until they take off the wire, but I have absolutely no knowledge about bitless bridles so would love any advice. Other than that, I was thinking of doing a bit of in hand work and lunging as I don’t want him to completely lose his muscle and fitness, this has happened just in the middle of the eventing season!?‍♀️
 
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We had a horse at the yard that basically tore his lower jaw in half at the front. No idea how! He had it wired back together and was ridden in a hackable for a couple of months. He was ridden 4 days after he did it with no problems what so ever. It hasn't changed his way of going at all or what he is like with the bit but it depends on where the break is as to how they will respond to it.
 

eggs

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I also had a horse that tore his lower jaw in half at the front - was not a nice sight to be greeted with in the morning. He went to Newmarket to have it wired back and the vet described it as a challenge .....

I didn't ride him until the wires were out but he was on box rest anyway having had chips removed from his fetlocks. He has been ridden in various snaffles ever since with absolutely no difference to how he was before.
 

ycbm

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In fairness if you had wires in your face would you want to have a bridle or hackamore on ? Just let him recover from his injuries, he isn't a machine and doesnt need ridden.


Quite possibly if I was a fit event horse in the middle of the season and enjoyed being out and about and the hackamore didn't hurt.

And if I was the owner of said horse and feared that it was going to do itself even more damage if left unexercised, definitely.
 

Parrotperson

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they generally recover extremely well with no lasting side effects. If the vet says its ok ride if you need to. as ycbm says if the horse is fit and needs it then it might save further injury.
 

Birker2020

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I saw one at our yard with a broken jaw, luckily the vet was with a recumbent horse at the time which was later pts. The bottom jaw was completely at a right angle and we reckon he'd caught it on one of those hanging hooks and got stuck and panicked. I wouldn't have one within reach of my horse after that.

So I told the vet as soon as he was discovered and the vet was able to administer pain relief until his own and her vet could visit the yard.
He was very old (28 or 30) but they wired it up and he recovered well and she had him for another five or six years.
He had to have very sloppy feeds for a while after and then she introduced in hand grazing to get him used to eating grass again.

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Asha

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We had a yearling that managed to fracture her jaw. She recovered really well with no lasting damage. We sold earlier this year ( purely because she was going to be too big for us ) , and her owner has bitted her without any issues. The vets where all in agreement that they usually do recover well from this. She had sloppy feeds for a few weeks, but after that went back to normal
 

Roasted Chestnuts

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Yes had an older Arab mare in the yard a long time ago (I was in my teens so about 20yrs) who had narcolepsy and broke it on the stable wall. Wired up and mouth syringed frequently and she healed up well.
 

EventingMum

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Our horse fractured his jaw several years ago. It was a diagonal line across his lower jaw, open at one side. He ended up wired for 16 weeks as he kept loosening the wires by wiggling his jaw constantly. In the end, he wasn't laying down new bone to properly heal the fracture so when the wires came off unfortunately his jaw was lop-sided. He was ridden happily after the wires came out but due to the misalignment, his tongue stuck out when he was relaxed as there was nothing to hold it in, if he was tense he drew it back in, not ideal in an eventer who had to do dressage but didn't bother him at all! We didn't attempt to ride him while the wires were in. He has been retired for several years now and still wanders around with his tongue out.
 

SusieT

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horses are rarely fit and 'need' exercised nor do they care about an event season. He is injured, let him heal in peace. A hackamore puts pressure on the face and the horse can't tell us whether he's tolerating it or not sore.
 

ycbm

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horses are rarely fit and 'need' exercised nor do they care about an event season. He is injured, let him heal in peace. A hackamore puts pressure on the face and the horse can't tell us whether he's tolerating it or not sore.


How about you stop telling people how to manage their horses that you haven't seen and don't know, who are being given good advice by their vet as to what the horse can and should do?

Of course the horse can say if a hackamore is sore, it will wave its head around. But as long as its not tightening around the bottom jaw, there's little reason that it would be.
.
 

ycbm

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Why don't you just let the woman follow the advice their vet is giving them in peace?

Ten years later I still remember you telling me I was wrong to PTS an ataxic horse who couldn't walk without wobbling and had a 4th neck vertebra in 4 pieces.
.
 
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horses are rarely fit and 'need' exercised nor do they care about an event season. He is injured, let him heal in peace. A hackamore puts pressure on the face and the horse can't tell us whether he's tolerating it or not sore.

This is very true. Some horses make it very well known if they won't put up with something others are too polite and will quietly suffer for our sakes.

Every horse is different.

I think I still have the pics of our horse.
 

Cowpony101

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Thank you so much everyone for the replies, they have been really helpful. He has had 2 weeks off now which I think has allowed him to take it easy for a bit. Im planning on getting a dr cook bitless bridle as from my research I thought it seems more ideal for the situation than a Hackamore. However his fracture is more at the front (see pics from before & after the operation) so it doesn’t seem as if it will be that much of an issue having a bit of pressure on the underside of his jaw/ lower jaw, correct me if I’m wrong. Obviously I don’t want to cause him pain at all so we‘re just going to follow the vets advice and keep checking to make sure he’s happy with the bridle & not uncomfortable.
if anyone has advice about the bitless bridle do let me know as the only knowledge I have of them is from the internet or on here!E039870F-EECD-42C7-9E72-83499FE3AD0E.jpeg46A3AF03-8A90-4826-8A83-D9143E353928.jpeg
 
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