Punctured Joint Capsule in Front Pastern

[brownhorse]

I have a horse that punctured the joint capsule in the front leg between the 1st and 2nd bones of the pastern. He has been hrough surgery 3x's to flush the joint. It is now in the process of fusing. He also tore all the ligaments on the outside of the pastern between the joints. I wondering if there are any other options besides just letting him heal and hoping he is pasture sound. He is in a cast right now and will be for a while, however, there is no scar tissue forming around where the ligaments were cut...does that mean they are healing or going together or will they not heal??

 

[tanflislibs]

is the flesha round it bright red and clean? there should be some paler skin around the edge which means it is starting to close

 

[tanflislibs]

how did it happen!!! it sounds terrible, i wish the best of luck for a full recovery!!

 

[aran]

this sounds awful - poor you! How did it happen and how long ago?

if you were going to puncture any joint this one has the best outcome as they are happy with it fused and many return to work sound. Is it fusing naturally or did they make it fuse (surgery/chemicals etc).

What has your vet said about the ligament damage? Have they done anything to get it to repair?

 

[brownhorse]

Buddy got his foot caught around a t post and worked it out of the ground. The flat metal part of the post caught the pastern and ripped it to shreds. It happened back in November and he is still in a hard cast. He has started to fuse the joint and is walking better, however there is no scar tissue forming at all where the ligaments were and the stability of the joint is still severly compromised.

He is walking better with the hard cast on and the skin has almost completely closed. He just has some proudflesh that is refusing to cooperate with me and stop growing so I can get the rest of him healed.

He is stall bound and completely off of Bute, however I am keeping him on B-L Solution and on another supplement called Duralactin. From the stall rest, he is rather interesting to handle now...not as bad as I thought he would be, however he is pretty sure that he is 100% the king of the barn world. (He has completely terrorized the goats)

I am letting him out of the stall and into the barn aisle as much as I have time to be around for and he moves alot better, however his muscles are atrophied from not using them and since I have been letting him out, he has started to get sore. One of the muscles is swollen around the side of his rebs and he is very tender to the touch, however, I am massaging it and it seems to be coming around.

How long after the initial injury does the horse return to work? I really need a riding horse, however, if he is not going to return any time soon, I will need to find another one. If anyone has any ideas, let me know, or approximate times of recovery. This injury was one the the worst the university veterinary has seen...at least that is what he said...

thanks again!

 

[Tia]

Just to let you know - my buckskin horse in England had his O/R long and short pasterns fused together. He was totally unperturbed by this although he did have a slightly odd gait in walk. He competed XC 3 or 4 times every week, was never unsound and was a fab little horse.

Here is a picture of him - it is his white foot which was fused:

Just be careful with trotting on roads and once he is fully recovered he should be fine as a riding horse. Best of luck with helping him heal.