Fractures

[TallyHo123]

was hoping someone could help with what types of fractures can occur in the horse and what diagnostic techniques are used to asses the severity? Also what repair methods may be used?
Or just any experiences you have had with fractures and your horsie?

any replies greatly appreciated!

 

[AandK]

i should think all types of fratcure can happen in a horse!! from hairline to catastrophic.. some fractures do not need any repair methods, others may require surgery to stablise the fracture..
not much use i guess but i do have experience of a fracture with my horse.
he was very reluctant to weight bear when brough in from field, took a while to get to the closest stable, bless him! leg was x-rayed the next day and fracture of elbow (the non weight bearing bone, can't remember the name of it..) as well as a wound in that site. horse was cross tied and treated agressively with anitboitics to prevent the frature from getting infected due to close proximity of the wound. had one scary moment after a week, horse was getting much better and starting to bear weight (leg was like an elephants leg at this point!) but managed to escape his cross ties and got down to roll, yikes! wasn't weight baring at all the next day but vet was called and x-ray confirmed no need to panic, fracture was stable, phew!
anyway, to cut a very long story short, horse made fab recovery, started walking in hand after about 6 weeks. This happended mid Nov 2005 and horse was out eventing in March 2006

no probs since.

 

[Louby]

Hi, my horse fractured his radius. I found him non weight bearing, sweating badly and I initially thought it was his knee as it looked like it had been knocked sideways and was massive. Called the vet immediately who came to field expecting to PTS but he xrayed on the spot, seen the fracture on his radius and found a wound near his carpal sheath. He splinted him with a piece of drain pipe with a robert jones bandage and off to Leahurst we went. It was wierd as by the time I had signed the consent forms my horse was stood comfortably in the xray room on all 4 legs, no pain killers. He spent 2 weeks there cross tied and on loads of AB incase of carpal sheath infection and then came home to spend another 12 wks cross tied. Horrible time as he too got down at night which was a worry as I was told it could just snap. All this time he had robert jones bandage on and then as he healed we had to walk him in hand suppoingly building up to an hour a day. No chance, he was leaping everywhere even sedated. After a further 6 weeks normal box rest, bronking horse arround the stable he eventually he got turned out in a stable sized area, then small field, then normal field. He made a full recovery. He did have to have bone chips removed a few months later as they didnt dissolve and abcessed.
I dont know the technical term but his fracture went across the bone.

 

[Birker2020]

Flipping heck you were lucky Louby. Thank god you had a level headed and knowledgable vet

My experience was not so good. My horse the vet thought was kicked previously to his broken leg. He was playing in teh field, bucked, came down from the buck and his n/s hind leg slipped on the mud (it was a slight slope), his leg went underhim, he lost his balance and went crashing to the floor, all the weight on the leg. It just snapped and was a compound fracture of his tibia. Friend couldn't raise horse from floor, yard owner came and dragged him to his feet, saw the injury and the vet was there and he was shot within about 30 - 40 mins of the injury occuring. As a rule breaks above the knee and hock are usually life threatening, and in the case of a compound fracture are sadly, usually fatal. There are all sorts of breaks and this link helps explain them:

http://www.horses-and-ponies.com/health/bonebreaks.shtml

These are other links I have found.
http://www.examiner.com/x-3712-Horse-Examiner~y2009m3d26-Leg-fractures-in-horses
http://www.horseracing.com/blog/fractures-types-causes-and-prevention

I think that horses that are very light weight, and that are young, ie. foals have the best chance of a better recovery given that the injury can be recovered from.

 

[mrussell]

My fella got kicked back in May. Small puncture wound, sound in walk, lame in trot. Nothing seen on Xray. Scans showed fluid under the puncture wound so it was treated as an infection. 1 week later, I found him non weight bearing. Vet suspected a fracture so we travelled him on 3 legs to the surgery. It took 2 weeks for a hairline spiral fracture on the cannon bone to start to show.

He was cross tied for 6 weeks by which point the fracture was clearly visible on xray - from fetlock to knee. The vet was amazed that he survived. It was like a jigsaw.


He came home 4 weeks ago and is on box rest with 5 minutes in hand day and night while hes mucked out. We are 12 weeks in and hes almost totally sound in walk. (He had complications from pressure sores and a rope burn from getting his GOOD leg over the x-ties. He also has a lot of muscle wastage to deal with).

He is expected to recover fully.

ETA - hes 16 and a QHx so isnt a lightweight either!