My boys recovery from a fractured leg

[maxapple]

In November, my beautiful boy Joe was found in the field unable to move. Cue a call to the vet, trip to the clinic and a xray that immediately showed a nasty fracture to his radius. The vets felt it was far too risky to try and move him again, so he spent 10 weeks cross tied at the vets. He had a big Robert Jones bandage and a splint.

He coped so well, but after about 6 weeks he developed nasty pressure sores. The vets tried to take the big bandage off and a larger splint instead.

That made him too uncomfortable, and the sores were at risk of getting infected, so on New Years Eve they had to take all of the bandages / splints off and we had to just hope for the best. The next day his leg blew up with a nasty infection. Thank goodness he was at the vets as they were able to get antibiotics in by iv and get it under control. but he was a poorly boy. The weird head collar is due to him getting sores on his face also from having to wear it 24/7 - we tried fur wraps but they uspet him - so we ended up padding it out with cotton wool and vet wrap.

He is a fighter and dealt with all the complications. This is the day they were unable to take him off his cross ties.

We were finally able to bring him home, and after another 2 1/2 months of box rest, last Saturday he was finally allowed out in a teeny turn out pen. It was the best feeling in the world seeing him grazing in the sunshine.

He has to do another three weeks in his tiny pen, then another four in a slightly bigger one, before he can go in a small field with a friend. It is just wonderful to have our boy back

 

[MrsMozartletoe]

What excellent news, as in that he is coming right now. A long time, but he looks very much worth it hunny

 

[binkymerlin]

wow your/his story is amazing. i was just saying to my mom, horses with fractured leg/s are given more of a chance nowadays. spose it also depends on the horse and the fracture obvs but i think things have come a long long way. well done you deserve lots of cookies lovely strong boy aswell.

 

[JoBird]

What a lovely story with a happy ending. He looks visibly glowing now! I think I would have gone out of my mind seeing him a stable for so long so I am glad you both coped so well with the confinement. Polos all round!

 

[Angelbones]

Wow, he's a handsome chap, and that's quite some story - well done for seeing him through it all, can't have been easy on either of you. Hope he continues to go from strength to strength

 

[brighteyes]

Can you get a pic of his x-rays so we can see? They'd be very interesting! And of course, huge sigh of relief for you. Not far to go now...

 

[quirky]

How lovely to have him home. I bet you had to pinch yourself to believe it after such a time away.
I hope his recuperation is stress free and that you have many happy times with him in the future .

 

[Holly Hocks]

It's a lovely feeling isn't it? My old boy fractured his radius about 4 years ago now. We didn't do the cross-tie thing as vet knew he would not stand for it, but he had the huge bandage on and was on box rest for what felt like eternity. My boy came back sound and has suffered no complications, although we did a very slow and controlled return to work with swimming twice a week which I'm sure was what made him sound, as the vet said that he would never be sound again. Good luck with the rest of his recovery. x

 

[Louby]

What great news, glad to see him on the mend.
My boy did the same 4 yrs ago, it seemed like it went on forever, cross tying, box rest, tiny stable sized turnout etc etc but we got there in the end and you would never know he had had such a bad injury.
In a few months time it will all be a distant memory.
Good luck, you are over the worse now

 

[ebonyallen]

My heart goes out to both of you, this brought it all back to me with my girl, so pleased it all worked out so well for you, its very tough to get through but my girl is now five years on and doing great,take care

 

[misst]

What a lovely story and outcome He must be a real fighter. Bet you feel as if you have been through the mill too! Congratulations to you and your lovely boy.

 

[ashlingm]

WOW! That is a long 'ol time to be stuck in one place...and unable to move. I'm sure must have been so happy to be back at home with some nice fresh grass!

Do you have any idea how he managed to fracture his leg?

 

[Elf On A Shelf]

It's a fantastic feeling even just letting them loose for the first time in their stables let alone out in a field! He is looking really well for his confinement! We had one who broke the bone in the back of his knee so he had a big stookie on too. He should have been cross tied but he was a box walker. We ended up splitting his stable in half by building a wall out of Bedmax bails andhe stood perfectly fine like this, never tried to box walk once. Being a box walker, cribber and generally not the most settled horse in the world we were amazed that it was 4 months of confinement before he colicked! We were expecting it in the first week.

Good luck got the future with him!

 

[maxapple]

Thanks everyone for your lovely replies

He is a special boy! I genuinely did not think he would cope with being cross tied, and his sharer and I agreed to just assess things day by day and if he was distressed / uncomfortable to call it a day. But he amazed us all with how he did cope - he really did seem to understand he was poorly and needed to get better, and never once showed signs of giving up.

We had so many things to worry about - laminitis in the other leg, pneumonia, his back legs (as he has locking stifles) but he defeated all the odds. He has a wonderful 2nd mum who I couldn't have coped without, and one of us (often both of us) would visit him every day at the vets and give him a nice groom / massage and lots of kisses. Because of the laminitis risk he wasn't allowed any treats, and in the first few weeks he was to poorly to groom, so we would just give him a scratch and talk to him.

We assume he was kicked in the field as he was found in the middle of it with just a tiny puncture wound to his leg but unable to move. We were at a livery yard, but have now moved to a small private yard where he will eventually just be turned out with our two other ponies.

It has been a tough winter! Driving the 20 miles every night after work to visit him at the vets, and then having him on DIY when he came home was hard work - but even at 6am in the depths of winter, seeing his face looking over his stable door made it all worth while.

 

[china]

what a lovely story. My neighbours horse is currently cross tied with a broken leg above the knee, she was also seen in the field not moving while the owner was there, she turned her back and when she walked back round she wasnt bearing weight, she hoped back to the stable and the vet was out and x-rayed it. its 50/50 at the mo but she has nearly done 6 weeks i believe as she had a check up the other day. she also has a rather impressive bandage and splint like yours.

 

[maxapple]

China - sounds very similar to my boy. Our prognosis was less than 50/50 I think at that stage too and we made it. If your friend wants to email me with any questions etc please tell her to feel free (I'll pm you my email)

I had lots of support from people on here who had been through the same thing, and a local lady. It really helped to talk to other people who had been through the same issues.

 

[charlie76]

My horse fractured his radius in January. He was kicked in the field. He was cross tied for 6 weeks with a RJ bandage and splint like your boy. We also had the rubbing headcollar senario so I vet wrapped his as well and he had a Prolite pad on the noseband. Its amazing how they adjust though isn't it!
He also had to have the RJ bandage removed as his leg began to swell inside it. He ended up with big oozing lumps on the back of his knee and front and back of fetlock so we left it off( he now has white hair where the rubs were).
He was untied and box rested for another 8 weeks.
With my horse, they didn't see a fracture on the first 3 sets of x rays, it was the 4th lot that the saw it, by which time I had been ( under the vets advice) riding and lunging him in walk and trot! Scary eh!??
Because of this he was able to redeem normal work pretty quickly once the final x rays had shown it to be healed.
4 months later I have been given the all clear to compete him in 2 weeks time and he has started jumping small fences again.
Did you find your boy was lame on the other leg when you first took the RJ bandage off? Mine was, sent me into a panic!
He is fine now and back out in his field with his friends.

Meeka cross tied:

First time free:

and when in work: