HJ77
Member
Hi I was hoping for some advice and or information.
I have a 16.1 hh middleweight hunter type. He is 14 years old and just a hobby horse. I have had him from a foal and know him very well. He came in from the field on the 18th December behaving in a very odd manner. Usually a very well behaved and well mannered animal, I fetched him from the field only to be bolted with through the gate and away he headed off on his own thankfully he did stop I caught him and then a few minutes later on being put into the stable did the same thing.
I immediately realised there was something very wrong with him as this was completely out of character, I thoroughly checked him and found he had an enormous hock, swollen and very hot. I called the vet and they came out immediately and diagnosed what they first thought was a luxated SDFT. Box rest and anti inflammatory medicine was prescribed with a follow up visit a week later to do X rays and ultra sound scans.
After much investigation via the above means (and then sending the results off to a specialist orthopaedic surgeon in Newmarket) the vets collaborated and concluded that his injury was in-actual fact a gastronomieus insertion injury. The prognosis was guarded. I was told three months box rest and review and shock wave therapy. At the end of the 3 months we sedated him and took him to the ménage, he reacted quite badly at first bolting away from us snatching the affected leg up very violently, as the minutes went by things eased and we managed to get a half decent walk out of him.
My vet suggested further box rest would be preferable with hand walking but at this stage my horse was becoming seriously upset by box rest and had become a flighty spooky animal that at various points throughout the day would run around the stable and was potentially quite dangerous. The vet opted instead for very restricted turn out. (A small enclosure, roughly half the size of a tennis court.) This seemed to improve his general mental health although he was still a little spooky compared to his normal self.
During the first week things seem to progress very well with the turn out arrangement, this being out for a few hours then back into the stable. We even managed to go for little short walk abouts in between. He did have the odd twang where he would react to the sensation or pain coming from his hock but was certainly more manageable than when he first came out of the stable after the 3 months.
However we have had a set back in that he came out of his paddock the other day minced about abit in anticipation, twanged , reacted, twanged again and then bolted. He narrowly missed another horse owner as they drove onto the yard in their car and eventually stopped a little way up the car parking area. I grabbed him to walk him back and he did so with out problem.
Now this horse does have a very occasional bolt in him, always has had, especially if he was doing something he didnt want or like, e.g. being loaded onto the horse trailer. Im just confused if this bolt is a set back or him just being a bit of a you know what?
I am told this is a very rare injury and I am struggling to find resources or people with similar experience. I have also had no luck in finding anyone who can relate to their horse reacting to an injury in such a way. If you have any experience or knowledge of this kind of injury good or bad I would be very grateful to hear from you.
I have a 16.1 hh middleweight hunter type. He is 14 years old and just a hobby horse. I have had him from a foal and know him very well. He came in from the field on the 18th December behaving in a very odd manner. Usually a very well behaved and well mannered animal, I fetched him from the field only to be bolted with through the gate and away he headed off on his own thankfully he did stop I caught him and then a few minutes later on being put into the stable did the same thing.
I immediately realised there was something very wrong with him as this was completely out of character, I thoroughly checked him and found he had an enormous hock, swollen and very hot. I called the vet and they came out immediately and diagnosed what they first thought was a luxated SDFT. Box rest and anti inflammatory medicine was prescribed with a follow up visit a week later to do X rays and ultra sound scans.
After much investigation via the above means (and then sending the results off to a specialist orthopaedic surgeon in Newmarket) the vets collaborated and concluded that his injury was in-actual fact a gastronomieus insertion injury. The prognosis was guarded. I was told three months box rest and review and shock wave therapy. At the end of the 3 months we sedated him and took him to the ménage, he reacted quite badly at first bolting away from us snatching the affected leg up very violently, as the minutes went by things eased and we managed to get a half decent walk out of him.
My vet suggested further box rest would be preferable with hand walking but at this stage my horse was becoming seriously upset by box rest and had become a flighty spooky animal that at various points throughout the day would run around the stable and was potentially quite dangerous. The vet opted instead for very restricted turn out. (A small enclosure, roughly half the size of a tennis court.) This seemed to improve his general mental health although he was still a little spooky compared to his normal self.
During the first week things seem to progress very well with the turn out arrangement, this being out for a few hours then back into the stable. We even managed to go for little short walk abouts in between. He did have the odd twang where he would react to the sensation or pain coming from his hock but was certainly more manageable than when he first came out of the stable after the 3 months.
However we have had a set back in that he came out of his paddock the other day minced about abit in anticipation, twanged , reacted, twanged again and then bolted. He narrowly missed another horse owner as they drove onto the yard in their car and eventually stopped a little way up the car parking area. I grabbed him to walk him back and he did so with out problem.
Now this horse does have a very occasional bolt in him, always has had, especially if he was doing something he didnt want or like, e.g. being loaded onto the horse trailer. Im just confused if this bolt is a set back or him just being a bit of a you know what?
I am told this is a very rare injury and I am struggling to find resources or people with similar experience. I have also had no luck in finding anyone who can relate to their horse reacting to an injury in such a way. If you have any experience or knowledge of this kind of injury good or bad I would be very grateful to hear from you.