Hobday op

livvyc_ria

livvyc_ria

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Anyone had any experiences, and how much did it cost, was it covered by insurance?
My big lad is roaring terribly while being broken and is very likely going to need the op.

Need all the info i can get......very very worried!!!!!:(
 
i had a 2 year old that was bred to event that was diagnosed with type 5 laryngeal hemiplegia(one sided paralysis) 5 being the worst i bel and 1 being less!! It was concluded that he have a tieback and hobday at 2 to give him time to recover and give him the best chance of an event career! He had both done under general ansthetic and he recovered as per text book!! Totally successful and never ever looked back!! He did after the op become more lively and his general condidtion improved(just an owners obs) He currently is as per normal event horse no noise and no problems after at all,,, I do know that other experiences are not so successful etc and hopefully on this forum you will recieve a good all round view! The hobday when my horse had it done was a bit messy in its healing process and i bel now they do it by a non operative method! Which eleminates that whole healing process!!
 
My horses has been hobdayed nad we have loads on the yard that have had various wind ops. They cost around the £1500 mark - that includes a week stay in horsepital. After the horse needs to be rested and have the whole in the throat cleaned every day, preferably twice a day. You will get a full discharge note explaining what to do. All of our ops have been sucessful in terms of the op going well, healing fine, wind fine after - doesn't necesarily make the horse run any faster or have any more ability but some in improves no end!

If you are going to go down that route get him scoped - most vets will ask that they do some hard-ish work so they can get a real good look at what is going on. It may be that he doesn't need a Hobday he may need to have is soft palate causterised or have a tie back.

Your horse will also no longer be able to whinney or neigh properly afterwards - sometimes thats a blessing in disguise!

It's not the end of the world, its a very straight forward op done thousands and thousands of times a year. Discuss it with your vet and get your horse scoped so you know what your dealing with.

Also, given that he is young and has probably never had to do so much work in his life nor use his windpipes as he now is he could just be clearing them out and he may grow out of it.There is a small chance of this.
 
My boy who also events had a hobday and tieback the winter before last. It also was a complete success also and you would not know now he ever had any problems except for his hoarse attempt at neighing .
The operation cost just over 2k and was totally covered by his insurance minus excess of course, however you must make sure the op is done within a year of diagnosis or the insurance will not pay.
 
lannerch said:
My boy who also events had a hobday and tieback the winter before last. It also was a complete success also and you would not know now he ever had any problems except for his hoarse attempt at neighing .
The operation cost just over 2k and was totally covered by his insurance minus excess of course, however you must make sure the op is done within a year of diagnosis or the insurance will not pay.
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so glad to hear your boy is doin well L!!

my horse was also done on insurance and total cost was just under 2k!!
 
Nothing has been confirmed yet, he is off being broken and person breaking him says hes roaring while cantering. However doesnt do it in the trot and will work in an outline, will canter with his head in the air and not do it, but as soon as he is asked to carry himself a bit more and come abit rounder he starts to make a terrible noise.

I am a little bit dubious as i can free school him for a solid 15 mins in canter and i have never heard him really huff and puff. I can set up jumps and he wont huff or puff. I can also lunge him in side reins and he'll trot happily in an outline without making the noise.

He does however grunt when hes scared (hes a very nervous chap) and he is very unfit, with no muscle condition. Could it be he physically isnt strong enough to carry himself in the canter with 6ft 5 bloke on his back?
 
livvyc_ria said:
Nothing has been confirmed yet, he is off being broken and person breaking him says hes roaring while cantering. However doesnt do it in the trot and will work in an outline, will canter with his head in the air and not do it, but as soon as he is asked to carry himself a bit more and come abit rounder he starts to make a terrible noise.

I am a little bit dubious as i can free school him for a solid 15 mins in canter and i have never heard him really huff and puff. I can set up jumps and he wont huff or puff. I can also lunge him in side reins and he'll trot happily in an outline without making the noise.

He does however grunt when hes scared (hes a very nervous chap) and he is very unfit, with no muscle condition. Could it be he physically isnt strong enough to carry himself in the canter with 6ft 5 bloke on his back?
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i spent ages wondering if the noise he was making was due to being young,unfit, tall , etc in the end i just had a gut instinct that it wasnt a noise i was happy with!! My vet did say that the op just allows them to get more oxygen(obv amongst other things) therefor if faster work or career is where they are aimed they would perform better if they can get undisrupted air into their lungs etc! I hear the noise alot so not eveyone goes down the tieback and hobday route and can still showjump dressage hack etc!! I think if your breaker has raised it, before you spend any more time money etc with his breaking is worth having a chat to a vet!! My horse was quiet in trot but as soon as he cantered the vet knew!!!
 
TBH I would leave him for a wee while and see how you get on. You could try a tongue tie and see does that help but i would be inclined to wait until fit before deciding whether or not to operate
 
Sorry to be negative but my friend lost his horse last year after the op went wrong.

He had a lovely 10 yr old mare who was going fairly well at intermediate BE and they were looking to upgrade to advanced but the its wind was holding her back. The vet said get it hobdayed but a couple of weeks after the horse had the op she was retired to dressage/sj as could no longer do any gallop work whatsoever. 8 weeks later she was pts as she had a real struggle to breath just standing in the field and she had dropped a lot of weight even though she was on really good grass. He has absolutely heartbroken and he thought that the vet was negligent.

I think Matthew Wright has a horse that was hobdayed and it's back competing at a good level. Good luck.
 
I have just got an exracer who was hobdayed whilst in training, and then raced, he was just too slow on the track, but his wind op was a success, he is just a little "hoarse" when he neighs..if you excuse the pun! He will hopefully have a career as an eventer now.
 
I think hes going to be scoped at breakers yard to see if there is anything down there. He was bought to event to a decent standard, but with rising BE costs he could be ...dare i say it.........BSJAing it!!:p

At the moment we just need to confirm for sure what is going on, i just want to know anyone who's horse had wind issues did the noise happen constantly or was it only in the canter.

Jerry can canter happily with his head in the air with a rider but this is the first time today hes been asked to canter in an outline and hes come out roaring. I just dont want to jump the gun to find out hes just a very weak upside down boy who cannot hold himself yet.

This is also the first time he has been cantered under the saddle full stop today......and he is a very nervous horse who grunts like a piglet when he gets worried. And i mean majorly grunts!!

Thoughts?
 
The op usually has the horse on box rest for 6 weeks. And exercise is reintroduced very slowly. The vet said a hobday without a tieback was little more than cosmetic as yes it does reduce the noise however does not really improve the air flow.
My boy started with a slight noise at canter particularly when in an outline but the desease Is progressive and eventually it was noticeable at the trot. You need to get your horse scoped and then make a decision based on what if anything it shows.
The operation Is very common particularly in the racing industry.
 
thing is if hes a squeeky grunter type it could be summut but then nout!! My chap was noisy sometimes and then not others the only time the noise was constant was in faster work,, hence why i think now they pop them on the tredmill and scope to see exactly whats goin on down there!! There are sooo many things it could be and i think getting it checked out is the only thing for peace of mind esp with a young unbacked type horse!
 
B used to make funny little squeaking, whiney noises when asked to work harder as a youngster, I was concerned about his airway and the vet scoped him and he was fine. He was sure it was a stress (or more likely annoyance) response to being asked to work his fat little bottom, by the time he was 6 he had stopped doing it completely. I have seem lots of horses through racing that have had various wind ops and they have all gone on to do well and recover completely.
 
My horse had a Tie Back done last year and I am very happy with the results! I let him off for 3 months after it and brought him back slowly. His condition improved immensely, it didn't make him faster but his staying power is incredible now. We waited until he was 6 for the op as recommended by the vet!!!
 
livvyc_ria said:
I think hes going to be scoped at breakers yard to see if there is anything down there. He was bought to event to a decent standard, but with rising BE costs he could be ...dare i say it.........BSJAing it!!:p

At the moment we just need to confirm for sure what is going on, i just want to know anyone who's horse had wind issues did the noise happen constantly or was it only in the canter.

Jerry can canter happily with his head in the air with a rider but this is the first time today hes been asked to canter in an outline and hes come out roaring. I just dont want to jump the gun to find out hes just a very weak upside down boy who cannot hold himself yet.

This is also the first time he has been cantered under the saddle full stop today......and he is a very nervous horse who grunts like a piglet when he gets worried. And i mean majorly grunts!!

Thoughts?
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First, wind ops seem almost a "done thing" for some racing trainers, now. When I was working at a racing rehab yard recently there seemed to all sorts of horses that had had it done merely for "loss of performance" not even because of an obvious pathology. Questionable, perhaps, but it does mean they are doing the op a lot, which always makes it a safer bet, in my opinion.

On the actual noise front, though, I would be inclined to scope or wait a bit and scope. I've had a few big young horses make a noise at first and grow out of it - a vet explained that because the structures of the throat are not all the same tissue, they don't necessarily develop at the same rate/times and it's possible to have a short term "problem" that sorts itself out. This seems particularly common with big, long necked horses.

Also, there are horses that "make a noise" (it's a judged "unsoundness" in North American hunter competitions so people are paranoid about it because even a small noise can render a horses completely unsuitable for that market) when they are young/unfit but stop when they get fitter and stronger. It's up to you what you do, if you have a horse like this, but it's probably worth seeing if he might be the type.

Thirdly, I'm a bit suspicious when you say he makes the noise ridden but not loose or on the longe. While it's very possible he has a structural "problem" that only really affects him when he's ridden, it's also quite possible to "close the throat" on some horses and produce a noise when the horse doesn't make one normally. Impossible to tell without seeing and, again, up to you whether something like that warrants more intervention, but if that is the case, it's a riding issue not a health issue.
 
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