Second bad back leg in 2 years.

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TheCrossCobDales

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I'll try and include as much as I can without writing an essay!
Last year (2015) my horse fractured her long pastern bone in her right hind. She did this beginning of April and we finally found out what it was after an expensive trip to Leahurst a couple of months later as none of my vets could pin point it. Boxrest and bute prescribed followed by small amounts of turn out. Recovered well, but didn't get back into full work due to my own health and the weather being very wintery.
This year (2016) she had a slight lameness in her left fore that was just a tweak, so we went back to light work once that was sorted, then before I could up the game a bit she started with coughing which we then found to be asthma so appropriate steroids and inhalers were given and that's all hunky dory now. But about 3 weeks ago (mid September) she came out of her stable lame in the morning, thinking it was her stifle (she had a sticky stifle when I bought her but we did lots of hills etc. and it sorted itself out) she was put back in her stable and the vet was called. Trotted up to be 6/10 lame, had a course of anti inflammatories and a couple of days of bute and she seemed a bit better, vet came back out and decided she still wasnt right and told me to ride her lightly for a few days to see if it worsened and it did. So we did a work up with an iphone taped to her bum (fancy new app on it) and she blocked just below the hock, left it for a few days with normal turnout and they came back to scan (ultrasound and x-ray). The ultrasound showed the check ligament to be abnormal and the x-ray showed a fracture of the splint bone but it also shows a fracture of the cannon bone. The fracture is currently in alignment and she's on boxrest. I'm a bit worried that she's kicking at the walls of a night as there appears to be a few new dents in the breeze block. I'm worried this will worsen the fracture... She's quite "spirited" in the sense she will have a buck and a fart at every opportunity, followed by a gallop.
She's not coming out the stable unless Leahurst decide they want to see her when she'll have to be travelled. I'm assuming this won't be great on her leg...
I'd like to ask what you think the recovery will be like? Will she come back into full work? Or will she just be up for light work or would early retirement be the best option? I know no-one can say for sure except a vet. But with her having fractured both back legs almost a year apart I'm thinking she might be significantly reduced in her ability to do what she used to (we liked eventing, just local stuff but we had great fun). If anyone has a story like this please let me know!
Thanks for reading :)
 
TheCrossCobDales said:
I'll try and include as much as I can without writing an essay!
Last year (2015) my horse fractured her long pastern bone in her right hind. She did this beginning of April and we finally found out what it was after an expensive trip to Leahurst a couple of months later as none of my vets could pin point it. Boxrest and bute prescribed followed by small amounts of turn out. Recovered well, but didn't get back into full work due to my own health and the weather being very wintery.
This year (2016) she had a slight lameness in her left fore that was just a tweak, so we went back to light work once that was sorted, then before I could up the game a bit she started with coughing which we then found to be asthma so appropriate steroids and inhalers were given and that's all hunky dory now. But about 3 weeks ago (mid September) she came out of her stable lame in the morning, thinking it was her stifle (she had a sticky stifle when I bought her but we did lots of hills etc. and it sorted itself out) she was put back in her stable and the vet was called. Trotted up to be 6/10 lame, had a course of anti inflammatories and a couple of days of bute and she seemed a bit better, vet came back out and decided she still wasnt right and told me to ride her lightly for a few days to see if it worsened and it did. So we did a work up with an iphone taped to her bum (fancy new app on it) and she blocked just below the hock, left it for a few days with normal turnout and they came back to scan (ultrasound and x-ray). The ultrasound showed the check ligament to be abnormal and the x-ray showed a fracture of the splint bone but it also shows a fracture of the cannon bone. The fracture is currently in alignment and she's on boxrest. I'm a bit worried that she's kicking at the walls of a night as there appears to be a few new dents in the breeze block. I'm worried this will worsen the fracture... She's quite "spirited" in the sense she will have a buck and a fart at every opportunity, followed by a gallop.
She's not coming out the stable unless Leahurst decide they want to see her when she'll have to be travelled. I'm assuming this won't be great on her leg...
I'd like to ask what you think the recovery will be like? Will she come back into full work? Or will she just be up for light work or would early retirement be the best option? I know no-one can say for sure except a vet. But with her having fractured both back legs almost a year apart I'm thinking she might be significantly reduced in her ability to do what she used to (we liked eventing, just local stuff but we had great fun). If anyone has a story like this please let me know!
Thanks for reading :)
Click to expand...

Why is she kicking the walls of the stable at night? That would be my first question? If she has a lot of feathers she could have mites. If it is just high spiritedness then surely this would be evident in the day too? Could you put hessian or rubber matting on the walls to minimize any concussion from kicking the walls or is this not practical. For me this would be the first thing I would try to knock on the head, she will only continue to worsen the injury if she is kicking with her legs.

It might be worth putting her on Zyklene for a few days which is a calming sedative (based on natural protein similar to that in mares milk which is known to calm horses). Its expensive per sachet but might be worth it in the short term, it pacifies horses.

Off a web site:

Zylkene Equine Stress Relief Powder is a natural product that has been developed to help horses and ponies overcome difficult or stressful situations.

As stress becomes more excessive in horses, it can lead to severe behavioural problems. Zylkene Equine helps horses to cope with challenging situations and facilitates adaption to change.

Equine stress can be caused by many common situations including:
•Prolonged confinement e.g box rest
•A new environment
•New people or new horses
•Weaning
•'Breaking' or Training
•Travelling
•Clipping
•Vet visits

Zylkene Equine is an apple flavoured powder which should be mixed with a small amount of food once daily. Pack Size: 20 Sachets x 1000mg

Its £67 for 20 sachets, 1 sachet per day.
 
Hi, sorry for such long delay in reply! I thought my reply had posted!
She hasn't been kicking the walls since I first found her to be (farmer said he hasn't heard her, and comparing the dents to what was already there there is no further evidence of this behaviour) did ask vet about mites when they had her sedated and clipped for her scans and was assured they aren't a problem for her.
My personal thought is she isn't in need of any calming whilst she's in. The worst she does and always has done is pull faces at horses going past. I'm thinking it'll be a useful aid for when she starts turn out again (hopefully!).
 
Do you know what caused the fractures, if it's the kicking the walls I would get some padding up and also consider leaving her out all the time. Normal horses don't kick walls hard enough to fracture their legs (especially not more than once!).
 
Hi, fractures and ligament damage are from a direct blow to affected area from another horse. This had been established but forgot to mention before!
Unfortunately leaving her out full time isn't an option on any yard in the area. Plus she's needing to be confined so she doesn't race round etc.
**IMPORTANT** She has never kicked the walls. After finding the new dents (old dents from previous horse) the farmer said he came round a few nights before to find that it was her. After that night there has been NO other time she's kicked the wall.
I'm positive she was kicking at the wall due to her legs being completely bald for the scans. She had her tail tied up above her hocks for a while as I knew she'd be touchy about it on her legs and when I let it down she danced about with her legs, so knowing what she's like she's gotten irritated by that and kicked out a few to get rid of the irritation but caught the wall when she did this.
 
Put rubber mats on the wall? I feel you, my horse is a chronic wall kicker (she's very food aggressive and has a pile of other mental hangups due to past abuse). She doesn't kick when eating in the field, so I just feed her in a small paddock off by herself, doesn't sound like that's an option for you though!

Have you had bloodwork or scans to check her bone density? I wonder if she's just a little fragile after all the time off, or some kind of mineral imbalance that would make her more susceptible...
 
Yes padded up the walls, but she isn't one for kicking the walls or doors. Never has been, and still isn't. Knowing what she's like it was from the irritation of her tail on her legs, they've always been hairy.
What sort of scan would that be? And how many needles would it entail inc the bloodwork? She's really not keen on needles after last year, she'd always been fine but now she won't have them, two people holding along with vet and a twitch, with previous oral sedative to take the edge off... can't clip without an injected sedative either. So if anyone has any theory on how to over come this that'd be amazing! Was planning on staying at the yard for the facilities, but wanted to know on recovery as to whether a cheaper yard with less of the add ons would be more suited to what I'll be able to do with her, would mean if she's just up for hacking I'd have the spare money to be able to take her to fun places for it :)
 
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