Tie-back gone wrong. Any ideas? Is it a hopeless case?

[LouB]

I bought my horse a few months ago at Doncaster sales, and afterwards contacted his trainer to find out a bit more. It transpired he had had a wind op 6 months prior to the sales which was 'successful'.

However, having come in from the summer break it has become apparent the op made the hole too big, conseqently food often goes the wrong way and he chokes quite often.
It doesn't seem to bother him too much but the vet thinks he will difficult to keep him healthy and he will be prone to infection. He is currently coughing in his warm up at the moment, blood test showed he has got something about him at the mo, hopefully powders will clear it up.

But, we think this might be an issue we will always be cursed with, the vet says nothing can be done. I just wondered, so many horses have wind ops nowadays, some must go wrong. Has anyone been in the same situation? Is there anything we can do to prevent infections as much as poss?

Many thanks

 

[Tickles]

I don't know anything about the condition but googled and found this http://www.clydevetgroup.co.uk/equine/newsletters/dec05.htm.

It seems that as a worst-case there is another op as an option.

Another random thought - could you ask your vet for advice on the best angle for him to swallow at? Normally feeding from the floor would be most natural of course. It could be he might have less trouble with choking that way than from say a raised feed bowl or haynet?

 

[Cazzah]

You can have it reversed in certain cases - just found this post:
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/3569677/an/0/page/72

Could be worth discussing with your vet?

 

[cptrayes]

I'd think very carefully before you reverse it. Having had one done and another who needed one not done, it's very clear that the inability to breathe clean upsets them mentally as well as physically. It can be very difficult to keep weight on them, and much easier once the operation is done. It also had a marked effect on my horse's feet and I know of one other the same. The vet believes that is because of a reduction in stress hormone levels in his blood.

Feed from the floor. Don't feed when travelling, that's when mine is worst at breathing in bits of food. Feed food damp. Feed with a brick in the bucket to slow him down. make feed time totally peaceful so he has no incentive to rush or breathe heavily while eating. Possibly even shut the top door on his stable. Soak hay or feed haylage (from the floor too). I have no problem with cubes, and if he does get a bit stuck it will disintegrate into fine particles. If you feed muesli foods the pieces are bigger and can get stuck more easily, so I'd go with cubes not mixes.

You don't mention him spitting food down his nose. If he doesn't do this, he is far from being a bad case, so try not to worry too much if you like him.

Hope that helps. Good luck.

 

[Quarrybank]

[ QUOTE ]
You can have it reversed in certain cases - just found this post:
http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/forums/showflat.php/Cat/0/Number/3569677/an/0/page/72

Could be worth discussing with your vet?

[/ QUOTE ]

I was the person who replied to this post about my experience of the reversal.
18 months on, my horse is now BSJA at British novice & just starting to work at Elementary BD - we represented Eastern region at Prelim at the Inters this year.

He was a very bad case & in my situation it was either have the op reversed or have him put down as he couldn't continue as he was.
He has put weight on & this summer was actually a bit fat

Something I'd never thought I'd say about him.

I'd discuss it with your vet & see what his thoughts are, but if it's bad the reversal is definately an option.

If you need to know any more please ask or PM me. Good luck

 

[VictoriaEDT]

My horse had a tie back and hobday 2 years ago and he was a grade 5 LH case so i knew him before and after, before he would wheeze a lot and tired easily during exercise.
After he was a different horse! No wheezing, can canter for a good time without tiring and is generally so much happier. However, as an ex race horse his larynx would have been tied back to the max to allow max airflow to the lungs. When my boy was done, his work load was taken into consideration when the decision was made as to how much to tie it back as opening the larynx too much would increase the risk of infection and liklihood of choking etc.
My boy was tied back enough to hunt so quite a fair amount. He does cough at the start of exercise (which is normal) and once he has cleared everything he is ok. Also he will choke in the stable occasionally but that is the side effect I expected and is far better than him not being able to breathe whilst trotting in the field! Also he has had no infections. So I stand by my decision to have the op and would never reverse it