Fractured Pedal Bone

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Nash2

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My 3 year old pony went horribly lame last week and I took him to to the horsepital today for x-rays etc and it looks like he has fractured his pedal bone. Obviously I was distraught when she told me but I'm hoping with box rest etc he will be ok. Has anyone got any advice? Thanks.
 
We had a 16 yo that did this last year.

After the box rest and restricted walking in hand he has been 100% fine. Most horses recover very well. You do need to do the restricted exercise, as ours has just gone lame due to other reasons, and both the vet and ourselves though it could be his pedal bone again, but as he says if you follow the recovery period and allow the injury to heal fully (as we did) it should not cause any further problems, sadly he now has OSD of his pastern joint.

Hope you pony is well on the way to recovery soon, they do give us loads to worry about.
 
My boy fractured his pedal bone a few years ago. It was a long job of box rest and then turned away for a couple of months but he is eventing now and has been fine ever since.
 
My horse fractured his pedal bone when he was six - did it in the late July and was on boxrest with special (egg bar) shoes until just before the Xmas of the same year. I was then allowed to bring him back into work (with special shoeing still) and then was allowed to introduce jumping and normal shoeing at the end of the following March.
A few years later his foot was x-rayed again (for a unrelated injury) and it had completely healed (to the point the vet struggled to see the injury) and he is now 10yrs old and out competing at Elementary BD, 1.10m SJ, pre-novice height XC and also goes hunting.
**touch wood** it has never bothered him since although I am careful now with hard ground.

PM if you have any questions
 
Depending on how sensible your horse is about using his injured foot, forget box rest and just let him carry on as normal.

I know everyone who's had a vet out will disagree with me 100% on this, but I promise you turning out as normal worked really, really well with my Hunter Pony a few years ago. He was in at night and out all day before the break, and a very bouncy sort who played a good deal. We had a vet the day he became lame (he'd kicked a stable wall while rolling and wouldn't even put the foot down) and used 'bute for two days as instructed. On the third day he was bored and bouncy in the stable, rearing at me when I went in to feed him. So, I bit the bullet and turned him out, with no 'bute that day.

Okay, he danced about a bit until the silliness was out of his system, but he did it on three legs! Then he was just fine, doing little more than graze and snooze and frankly not moving about any more than he would have done in a frustrating period of box rest. I fed extra protein and had the option of using some 'bute (but didn't bother as he was coping well and the discomfort stopped him dashing about) then within a few weeks he was not only sound of body but happy in his mind too. Locking him up would have driven him mad!

Horses have managed without us and swan necks for many, many years, so I would strongly suggest turning out unshod if you think it would suit your horse better than months of boring, drugged-up box rest.
 
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