Well needed advise

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Sammie26

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Hi,
Just wondering on people's views/advice on my horses situation ...
I have a 15 year old Belgium warmblood which is mainly used for show jumping who, in May, had a fall and caused trauma to her pastern joint since may she has been lame and unridable however whenever is put into a field goes bucking and rearing with excitement however is only lame in trot, after extensive vet visits and X-ray they have suggested to me that the only options are to have an operation to fuse the joint together which means that we will never be able to jump again ..... Leave her for a few more months to see if the bone is healing correctly or have her put to sleep .... The X-rays are currently showing a piece of bone growth in the wrong place which is causing the lamness
Has anyone ever had the same problem or know someone who has who's horse has made a recovery after months of box rest?
My only other option is to put her in foal but then again what happens after the foal?
This may be a long shot as it's an odd injury but wondering if anyone has had the same problem !
Thank you !
 
I am sorry I cannot help in detail with the injury as have never come across it, but please do consider very carefully about putting her in foal. I would be very concerned that current injury, with extra weight and strain may even worsen, or cause more pain to your mare.

Hope all works out for you and horse though.
 
You say you could never jump her again, but at age 15 you would only have a limited number of years left jumping in any case. Would she be able to do flatwork or hacking?
 
I wouldn't put her in foal just to make her useful, end of the day shes 15 and had ridden all her life i assume. If you want another horse, buy one or buy a foal if thats what you want and if you can afford two. The other horse would want company anyway. If you can't afford two or don't want two then you need to consider PTS or maybe loaning your mare as a companion. I don't like the idea of fusing joints to POSSIBLY make a hack or possibly not, and i'm struggling to see how it would help anyway if there is bone growth? Would it not make more sense to get rid of the bone that is making the lameness..
 
I've not come across this exact scenario. All I can contribute is that when spavins in both hocks were diagnosed for one of mine, as he wasn't insured (discovered after an expensive afternoon at the vets on the insurers initial OK - changed minds after the invoice came in the g*ts) rather than go for fusing the hocks we turned him away for about a year and he came sound enough for light hacking. He was about 16 at the time and only finally retired last year at 25 (back probs rather than the hocks). To be honest, he was sound as a pound legwise once the bones had fused naturally, it's just that I didn't want to risk him with fast work and jumping in case I upset things again or caused more problems. His hocks are a bit lumpy with the new bone growth, but it causes him no problems and there was no pain once the growth had settled down. So if you have time I would give her a chance to fuse naturally, just don't hurry it or you'll make it take longer.
 
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