Pelvis Fracture

kahahak

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Hi,
Wanting to hear more stories around equine pelvis fractures - diagnosis of one on my horse, needs to be scanned to confirm though. Would like to know what your healing time, treatments and overall experiences were.
H
 

SEL

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Neither were / are my horse but horse #1 the fracture gave way completely while the vet was still on site. It must have been worse than the xray showed and obviously it was immediately euthanized.

Horse #2 is on my current yard and has been on box rest for 7 months now. I think she's down to 1 bute a day, not cross-tied and discussions are starting about stopping box rest. The owner did say that she's going out into a stable sized pen just outside the stable, will be heavily sedated and the vet will remain on site in case the fracture gives way.

Sorry neither are great good news stories but I think it very much depends on where the fracture is and the severity of it. I hope the xray / scan gives you clear answers.
 

kahahak

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Neither were / are my horse but horse #1 the fracture gave way completely while the vet was still on site. It must have been worse than the xray showed and obviously it was immediately euthanized.

Horse #2 is on my current yard and has been on box rest for 7 months now. I think she's down to 1 bute a day, not cross-tied and discussions are starting about stopping box rest. The owner did say that she's going out into a stable sized pen just outside the stable, will be heavily sedated and the vet will remain on site in case the fracture gives way.

Sorry neither are great good news stories but I think it very much depends on where the fracture is and the severity of it. I hope the xray / scan gives you clear answers.
Thank you, that is interesting. We had an internal examination already and they felt nothing out of the ordinary so no bones displaced by the sound of things. Most likely to be a hairline fracture - theyve told us 12 weeks box rest, as a guide for now. He is crossed tied as well. Fingers crossed all goes well with the scan, will leave an update.
 

bonny

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A lot of race horses fracture their pelvis and heal up well enough to go back to racing, just thought I would say that after you only got one gloomy reply !
 

Tiddlypom

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I know of a good end result from a suspected # wing of ilium. It was in a neighbour's hefty 16.2hh Shire X mare. She was found very lame in the field, and, long story short, three of us, the vet included, hand walked her very cautiously 200 yards down the road to mine, as neighbour was abroad on holiday. Vet thought that putting her in a trailer would be more risky than walking her.

She went on the cross ties in one of my stables for 9 weeks plus (can't remember exactly how long for now, it was a long time ago). She was forbidden to lie down, so she had her water bucket on one side and her hay net on the other. We mucked out around her. The # was never confirmed by x ray or scan, as this was before decent portable devices were available, but the experienced equine vet was 95% sure that is what she had done. Initially, you could hear the fracture graunching :oops:.

She did come sound, after a blip with laminitis in one hind, which is quite common in cross tied horses.

Good luck.
 

kahahak

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Its good to hear some recovery stories as well, thank you! We seem to be in a similar situation to your neighbours mare , Tiddlypom. I havent heard anything though - that sounds scary! Will be mindful of laminitis hearing that , makes sense but hasnt crossed my mind! We also have haynets and water hanging on either side for now! Just going to be a case of playing the waiting game.
 

Pc2003

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I had a pony as a child that had fractured his pelvis. He was a complete arse to ride. Not sure whether that was a part of it. Was sound though although no hard jumping.
My friends horse fractured her pelvis on the race course. Recovered sufficiently to do riding club and now on loan to a college doing day to day stuff. Is now in it’s late teens as well.
 
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If it isn't a displaced fracture then the horse will be fine. We have dealt with many in the yard over the years. 8-12 weeks box rest depending on how quickly it heals. We don't cross tie them. It's not nice for the horse and they end up with sores on their face from the headcollar no matter how much fluff you put on it. What we do is wall the stable up with bales of shavings to 3/4 horse height. The horse can shimmey sideways a bit and forwards and backwards but there isn't enough room to the sides to let the horse think it can lay down or even think about turning around- about a foot either side of the horse so it's more a very narrow stable. All food and water at chest height so they don't need to lean down.

Then they get a full stable for a few weeks before they start gradual walking work before turnout. So probably 6 months from injury to turnout. Another month or so in the field then back into ridden work. It's usually 9 - 10 months from injury to racing again provided nothing goes wrong and everything heals fine. These horses went on to jumps chase fences again successfully.

The horse usually then ends up lopsided so takes a fair bit of physio and work to get them straight and keep them straight. But it is perfectly do able and it isn't a death sentence or career ending. It's just a bit of a blip.
 

kahahak

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If it isn't a displaced fracture then the horse will be fine. We have dealt with many in the yard over the years. 8-12 weeks box rest depending on how quickly it heals. We don't cross tie them. It's not nice for the horse and they end up with sores on their face from the headcollar no matter how much fluff you put on it. What we do is wall the stable up with bales of shavings to 3/4 horse height. The horse can shimmey sideways a bit and forwards and backwards but there isn't enough room to the sides to let the horse think it can lay down or even think about turning around- about a foot either side of the horse so it's more a very narrow stable. All food and water at chest height so they don't need to lean down.

Then they get a full stable for a few weeks before they start gradual walking work before turnout. So probably 6 months from injury to turnout. Another month or so in the field then back into ridden work. It's usually 9 - 10 months from injury to racing again provided nothing goes wrong and everything heals fine. These horses went on to jumps chase fences again successfully.

The horse usually then ends up lopsided so takes a fair bit of physio and work to get them straight and keep them straight. But it is perfectly do able and it isn't a death sentence or career ending. It's just a bit of a blip.
Thats a really good idea about reducing stable - might have a think about doing that! Great to hear that you have had success stories. Hoping there is no displacement, but we will have ultrasound to tell us the results.
 
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The horses are mentally a lot better for not being tied up, they still feel like they have some freedom whereas actually they probably have less movement walled in than x tied. We give then a small bed - enough to soak up the pee etc and it is never fresh bedding. We use shaving that are still relatively clean from another horses stable. There is nothing more inviting than a nice fresh shavings bed to roll in so we dont give them that. We muck them out fully twice a day because there isnt a huge amount of shavings to deal with, it keeps everything drier too. Since we have been doing this (done it with 6 or 7 horses over the years) nothing has colicked, nothing has got lammi, nothing has turned nasty for the confinement etc. 2 horses got a touch of thrush in their hind feet but thats because you dont want to be picking them up and picking them out for a while.

We have had horses with displaced fractures. One returned to racing, 2 went on to 'normal' riding club type horses and one was pts.
 

pastit

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Thanks EKW. That's such useful information. Touch wood this hasn't happened to any of mine, but I wouldn't have thought of it.
 
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