Neck injury Long road to recovery

pistolpete

pistolpete

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Long story but my horse is believed to be recovering from a neck injury. It happened in July and he hasn't been ridden since then. I am now allowed to walk him out in hand for half an hour every other day and vet has said he could go out led from another horse. Sadly I only have one horse! I obviously don't want to undo the healing but anyone else had experience of this and were your horses ok again after a long rest and slow rehab? Would love to start slow ridden work but totally against vet's advice at the moment. Good vibes please!
 
I saw this post last night, no reply as I had no experience but will ask a few questions, you say he is believed to have suffered a neck injury, that is rather vague, has he been diagnosed? if so are you dealing with bone, ligament or some type of muscle damage, without knowing it is hard for people to offer any advice.
Depending on the cause have you had any treatment done, physio may be appropriate as long as they work with the vets knowledge.

I would be pushing for more info from the vet, if he does not know what is wrong with your horse a second opinion or referral would be the way to go.
 
Thanks BP, he had xrays bone scans and buckets of steroids. Vet just been vague really. He had physio under sedation before incident and possibly just after. Guess they think damage is nerve/neurological. He has had a difficult year being diagnosed with navicular too. In himself he seems really good now.
 
I do have experience with neck injuries in horses, ranging from fractures to arthritic changes (with and without neurological signs) to soft tissue damage.

The problem is I cannot give you any sort of an answer as there are just too many variables and not enough information here. I presume because you say he's had X-rays but don't list any damage that there is no damage to the spine, correct? Did they inject steroids? That's kind of an odd thing to do without identifying a specific injury.

Do I understand he was fine, had physio under sedation (what for?) and then presented with a neck injury and then had more physio under sedation?? How did the neck injury present? Was there any other trauma at the time? (I once asked someone that question multiple times before they finally said, "You know, there was that day. . ." so it doesn't have to be an immediate connection. I saw one horse slip, hit its neck on a post, then get up and canter away. His symptoms did not start to appear noticeably for a couple of hours (until we brought him in to feed) and worsened over a day until he was X-rayed. It was only by fluke we saw the accident.

As far as "recovery", again that depends on the detail. If the injury was muscle, say, and the horse has had a careful regime of anti-inflammatories, rest and physio it might well get back to "new". Arthritic changes can't be "cured" but can sometimes be very successfully managed. Fractures make me nervous because I've seen the horses return to looking okay but they are in fact very fragile. That said, I suspect horses injure themselves and recover all the time and we just don't know about it!

If your horse has neurological damage you should be very careful and have a good chat with your vet before you start riding again, as this can be a dangerous situation. Good luck and stay safe.
 
The issue is I cannot provide you with any type of an response as there are just too many factors and not enough details here. I think because you say he's had X-rays but don't record any harm that there is no harm to the backbone, correct? Did they provide steroids? That's type of an odd factor to do without determining a particular damage.

Personal Training in Pasadena
 
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Sorry I have seemed vague. Vet not really made it all that clear to me! Xrays showed no really clear damage. Couple of suspect areas, one near the poll and another near the withers. They had him on oral steroids for a month. He seemed no different. He does seem much better now. Slight medial placement of left hind occasionally. No more difficulty in standing for the farrier. He did struggle with that before. Who knows what is going on!
 
I would be asking the vet why it is so important to lead from a horse. What is the difference (to your horse) between being lead from the floor and being led from a horse?
If he understands you don't have a horse to lead from he may be ok to leading from the ground but specify you must/ must not do xyz.
 
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