Shoulder injury - nerve/ fracture?

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PalominoMare

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Hi,

I went to feed my horse tonight and after eating he turned to go and fell over.

30mins later he was finally back at his box with the efforts of 4 people. He is really very lame - the only way he can walk is to launch himself in the air with his hind legs and basically jump, despite this he will weight bare. We quickly realised this was a shoulder injury and vet (reluctantly!) came out - this a new vet to the practise who is newly qualified and over the phone thought it was just an abcess although agreed on the shoulder when she saw me try to move him forward and he went back on his hocks.

The prognosis given was 90% sure its the nerve running across the shoulder blade that has been kicked and causing this spasm. He's had 2shots of pain killers and is on 2 danillon twice a day decreasing dosage over 5days. If he's not better tomorrow morning i have to get the vet out again (think i'll get the senior vet however).

My question is, has anyone had anything similar happen? the only info i seem to be able to find is people describing gradual or slight lameness, nothing to the extent of my horse anyway so i'm a bit at a loss as to what to expect in the coming days and longer term?

thanks
 
Yes! This is exactly what happened with my old mare. We went out in the morning, she was holding her leg up and the only way she could move was to literally jump off her rear legs onto her sound front one. It was obviously her shoulder as there was no other part of her leg or hoof that was affected. We reckon she fell over scratching on a tiny tree in her paddock and landed really heavily on her shoulder. She was outside on bute for a day before we could even persuade her to move into her stable. It took a good four days on bute and then Devil's Claw before we could take her out again and she wasn't sound for about four to five weeks. She is now sound and happily hacking again so I assume it was a nerve or muscle injury.

ETA SHe went through days of looking much better and then her shoulder/leg would suddenly just give way again, totally involuntarily as she was walking along. These episodes got less frequent until she was completely sound.
 
thats reassuring to hear CM, thank you.

I'm hoping there will be no long term after effects - he's just back in work after 9months off as it is!

i'll let you know what the prognosis is tomorrow
 
Yep, same here - weight bearing but couldn't swing shoulder forward. Not the dramatic leaping that you describe, but she could kind of shuffle forwards in a sideways crab action.

Vet gave her a shot of local anaesthetic into the shoulder to calm the nerves, IV bute (or similar, it was a few years ago, can't remember now!), and left me with some bute sachets for her feed. We kept her in a stable sized pen in the field overnight - by morning she was right as rain.

It has happened once since then. Called the vet who refused to come out, saying it was definitely in the foot
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It wasn't as bad as the first time, and I had some bute left over from another injury, so I gave her some of that and left her in her stable overnight - again, she was fine by morning.

The 2 occurences were a couple of years apart, and it hasn't happened since, and no long lasting problems.

Hope your boy is better this morning
smile.gif
 
Hi - my 3 year old filly did her shoulder in last sept - she wasnt as bad as yours sounds in terms of lameness, but she had problems weight bearing as her shoulder would almost seem as though it was dislocating every time she put weight down her front leg. she was box rested for 3 months following an assessment at liverpool (lea hurst) as my local equine specialists had never seen anything like it. they recommended I sent her for physio where she went on livery for 3 months untill she was stable enough to go into a tiny paddock for approx 30 mins per day to start with. 9 months or so later she is turned out with others again 24/7 and although much better does still have some stability problems when turning on a left circle. It's not thought that she will be able to be ridden but is more than happy galloping around in the field. there are two types of damage to the nerve apparently the type that gets better very quickly (ie a matter of weeks) or the type my mare has that may never fully recover. I really hope your neddy gets better soon and best of luck with the rehab/TLC.
 
Thank you both.

YO called this morning to say he's still lame although not as dramatically - i'm aware however he will still of been under the influence of the shots he got so i will gauge for myself after work.

I guess the test will be to see how he does as his bute rations decrease. He's on 2sachets twice a day for 2days, 1 sachet twice a day for 2days and then 1 sachet once a day for 2days.

Its amazing how small the wound is where he must of been kicked, i'll take pictures of it tonight. will be insteresting to see if fluids begun to build up or a haematoma develops.
 
This sounds like Radial Nerve Paraylsis - see attached link http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=MQTRQ...lt&resnum=3

Radial Paralysis occurs when the Radial nerve is injured, Median Paralysis occurs when the Median nerve is injured. (Usually it isn't terribly important to know exactly which nerve is involved, only that one of these nerves is injured and the horse has resulting lack of sensation in the limb.) Frequently the nerve is just temporarily injured, sometimes it is seriously injured, sometimes it can be destroyed. The less trauma seen and the less severe the impairment the more likely the nerve is just mildly injured and will recover over time.

If the nerve is just mildly injured due to local trauma and swelling, then nerve function may resume as the trauma and swelling subside and the nerve and nerve coating (myelin) heals. This healing usually takes place in a matter of months.

If the nerve is more seriously injured it may need to regrow from the point of the injury, or from the spine. Nerves grow slowly, at a rate of about 1 inch a month, about 1 foot a year. If the nerve needs to regrow more than a foot the horse may be lame for a year or more and then slowly regain normal function in the area. During the time of lameness there may be muscle wasting, and when the nerve function returns then there will be another period where the muscles will slowly return.

If the nerve is not functioning properly due to being compressed, chiropractic care may release the pressure on the nerve and function may return more quickly. In some cases the results can be dramatic - the horse goes from lame to sound straight away.

Read more: http://www.justanswer.com/questions/lfix-prognosis-cases-equine-radial#ixzz0LzJvzYSY

Clinical signs - Inability to extend elbow carpus or digit – unable to weight bear.
 
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