Fractured Lower Jaw

[LauraJo]

Hello!

My beautiful horse has tonight been diagnosed with a lower jaw fracture. I'm not sure of the technical terminology but it is an open fracture on the right hand side where the bit would sit. I'm absolutely heartbroken - he was treated for choke on Friday morning and the fracture is thought to be the causing factor.

Thankfully he hasn't been ridden in the last week so I'm positive it's nothing caused by that - most likely a blunt trauma such as a kick in the field or he's bashed himself somewhere.

However, my questions are as follows -
Has anyone ever had this experience with their horse before? What is the prognosis and how do they get on when healed? He's not used for any serious competing etc just leisurely activities.
And also has anyone got any top tips on administering all the drugs and vitamins etc that he needs to have? I can't give them him orally as he hates it at the best of times and I am unwilling to force him now that I know whats going on inside that poor mouth. He still has a great appetite but I think (despite my best efforts) he can still smell the "nasty" ingredients.

Any info/tips will be greatly appreciated!
Many thanks,
Laura x

 

[chillipup]

So sorry to hear about your poor horse. I'm afraid I know nothing about lower jaw fractures in horses but I wish you both well and hope it gets sorted soon. Do the vets recommend surgery? Or can it be left to heal on its own? Meanwhile has your vet not advised you regarding feeding, i.e. soft food maybe? anything?

 

[LauraJo]

So sorry to hear about your poor horse. I'm afraid I know nothing about lower jaw fractures in horses but I wish you both well and hope it gets sorted soon. Do the vets recommend surgery? Or can it be left to heal on its own? Meanwhile has your vet not advised you regarding feeding, i.e. soft food maybe? anything?

Hiya. Thanks for your reply! The x rays have been sent to the Royal Veterinary College of London & the specialist has said that provided he's still eating we should wait a couple of weeks before he is sent down for a CT scan which will confirm whether he needs surgery or not. My vet has been fantastic yes, I was more enquiring about what to put in his feed to disguise the nasty tasting drugs!
Thankfully he's eating grass - but he can't have too much as I know he'll guzzle & that then runs the risk of colic! Catch 22

 

[ycbm]

if all else fails, as it does with one of mine, you might find that he will agree to be 'force fed'.

I put the feed in a small soft trug bucket and pop it over his nose, holding it there with one hand. Then I take a bit of food and stick it in the hole where the bit goes. You'll obviously have to do this on the side that isn't fractured! Most of what I put in drops out, but I carry on, and he's perfectly happy to have me do this, he's not tied up, and in the end he eats it all. It takes about a ten morsels in to get him to actually swallow each one, but we get there in the end. I praise him mightily every time he swallows!

I've heard of lots of broken jaw cases where the horse recovers fine. You might need to change to a bitless bridle, but he should be fine.

 

[ycbm]

I tried:

Grated carrot
Grated Apple
Apple juice
Mint

And every type of food.

The best for mine was HiFi molasses free, which has mint and fenugreek in it and is also a good texture to mix and hold the stuff.

 

[Goya]

I haven't had personal experience, but I do know a horse who fractured his jaw a few years ago.
He was successfully treated. At the time he had been Novice eventing.
After at least a year being turned away he returned to eventing and successfully completed Blenheim 3star this year.

 

[Birker2020]

One night at the yard someone came running to me to say there was a horse dripping blood but she couldn't see where it was coming from. The horse looked quite happy with his head over the door and didn't look in distress. I started to look in his nose as the most obvious place and then when I opened his mouth I nearly passed out, his lower jaw was completely broken in two with one half in the correct position and the other half at a weird angle. We already had a vet on site looking at a horse with suspected colic so she came right over and injected him with pain killer.

Then the owner was called and they took him to horspital where his jaw was wired in an operation under GA. He was about 24 years of age. He was then box rested for a few weeks. THe owner and her partner cut him grass as it was the summer and he had a constant supply of freshly cut grass to keep him going for a while before being allowed to hand graze and then be turned out.

It healed really well and he is back to normal. She didn't ride him very much anyway but he's been lightly hacked since and was fine.

It was a hell of a shock seeing a jaw completely visibly broken in two I can tell you.
We think it happened as he wanted feeding and was waiting for his owner to arrive at the yard and had grabbed on of those red hook things see link: http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...8a26d5dec1d184cc039e112ada9f6do0&mode=overlay
and had got his teeth stuck underneath. Having no doubt been told off in the past for messing with it, when he saw someone approach he must have snatched his jaw back and shot back into his stable to avoid being told off (bless him), and we think that's how he broke his jaw.

 

[EventingMum]

Our 2* horse broke his jaw in two places, one an open facture. It took four hours to wire it and it was wired for 12 weeks, unfortunately he kept loosening the wires so they had to be retightened several times. Due to the wires supporting the jaw he didn't produce new bone sufficiently over one fracture so it healed lopsided. Whilst healing he wasn't allowed any grass as the action of grazing would be detrimantal. We had to flush out his mouth a couple of times a day and watch for food being caught in the wires, he was also on antibiotics. He was a model patient throughout and recovered well, due to the lopsided healing he has a gap between his incisors on one side but his molars are in occulsion so he eats fine but he does need regular dental work. He was scheduled to go back to eventing however in his final fast work before his come back event he injured a tendon This necessitated more time off and by then he had managed to miss three seasons, he was always very strong xc and the injury has made it less sensitive so we decided the excitment of a return would just be too much.

OP I'm suprised the vets haven't looked at wiring your horse's jaw or addresses the risk of infection through an open fracture. As regards hiding meds molasses is good - if the sugar isn't a risk factor - as it's quite a strong taste overwise NAF mint is quite good too, or peppermint cordial. Good luck with his recovery!