Fractured pedal bone, six months off :-(
Jonathan J Quick
A sad story:
Bella came in from the field lame a month ago for no apparent reason.
She went out sounds as a pound, but obviously injured herself during one
of her bits of larking around, and x-rays have finally shown up two
things; a fractured pedal bone, and a small section of nail from one of
her shoes still in the hoof. Neither are a serious problem, and more
x-rays thankfully ruled out navicular, but she has to have six months
off to be sure of a good heal. Typical that she'd just had a full clip.
Anyone in Devon want their horse exercised?
JJ.
--
Email: jjq...@dircon.co.uk
Homepage: http://www.users.dircon.co.uk/~jjquick/
Petra
>, and x-rays have finally shown up two
>things; a fractured pedal bone, and a small section of nail from one of
>her shoes still in the hoof.
I'm so sorry Jonathan - best of luck and " get well soon" to Bella
Petra
Jillie Gardiner
>A sad story:
>
>Bella came in from the field lame a month ago for no apparent reason.
>She went out sounds as a pound, but obviously injured herself during one
>things; a fractured pedal bone, and a small section of nail from one of
>x-rays thankfully ruled out navicular, but she has to have six months
>off to be sure of a good heal. Typical that she'd just had a full clip.
>
>Anyone in Devon want their horse exercised?
>
>JJ.
>
Mylo to Bella. Mylo went lame following a close encounter with a
speeding skip collecting lorry on the Dorset lanes last spring.
He had a hairline fracture of the pedal bone, basicly one of the wings
at the back of the bone had broken off. He was pronounced fit to resume
work by the vet last week and a full recovery is expected. He will
still have to have a bar shoe with clips front and rear for a while
longer to help support the foot as he resumes work, and he has to start
with road work only. The reason being that on the road the pressure is
passed through the shoe into the foot. In a school the soft surface
means that the foot sinks in, and sand or what have you will press
against the sole of the foot and so against the damaged tissues. So
over the next six weeks he has to work up to 2 hours of walking on the
roads. Then he can start including a little trotting before moving on
to canter on grass initially then moving back into a school. I have not
yet worked out how to quietly walk a horse that is now traffic shy on
roads for 2 hours at a time.
The break might not have just occured on that day. According to my vet
the break is often caused by compound stress on the bone which weakens
it before a blow will cause it to break. Mylo has a habit of pulling
his front shoes off with his rear feet and of stamping his front feet,
especially the one which was injured. This must have weakened the bone
and then the blow when he bolted down the road and stumbled was the
finishing touch.
Can I suggest that you add comfry to her diet, to help the body heal.
Also my vet has provided me with a calcium suppliement for Mylo both
while he was out of work and for the next 4 to 6 months. Mylo was
healing only slowly according to the first 3 sets of xrays. That is why
calcium was added and that seems to have helped to speed the process up.
--
Jillie Gardiner
Jonathan J Quick
Jillie Gardiner wrote:
>
>[snipped...]
> Can I suggest that you add comfry to her diet, to help the body heal.
> Also my vet has provided me with a calcium suppliement for Mylo both
> while he was out of work and for the next 4 to 6 months. Mylo was
> healing only slowly according to the first 3 sets of xrays. That is why
> calcium was added and that seems to have helped to speed the process up.
Thanks for the advice, especially about starting work on hard ground
rather than soft, and about the additives. It's interesting you
mentioned Mylo pulling front shoes off, as Bella was doing the same back
in the summer, so that maybe contributed to the injury (the problem went
away with a change of farrier). So Mylo was off for the best part of a
year? I had a brief discussion with the vet yesterday about maybe
putting Bella in foal again and giving her 18 month's off rather than 6,
and he seemed to think this was a good idea as the longer the break the
more complete the heal.
M Sheffield
> A sad story:
>
> Bella came in from the field lame a month ago for no apparent reason.
> She went out sounds as a pound, but obviously injured herself during one
> of her bits of larking around, and x-rays have finally shown up two
> things; a fractured pedal bone, and a small section of nail from one of
> her shoes still in the hoof. Neither are a serious problem, and more
> x-rays thankfully ruled out navicular, but she has to have six months
> off to be sure of a good heal. Typical that she'd just had a full clip.
Hey Gillie, anywhere around?
She has had the same problem with her horse, Mylo, and he is still off
work I believe...
Jayne Lowe
In article: <TYx0WTAH...@centaurpvis.demon.co.uk> Jillie Gardiner
> ...So
> over the next six weeks he has to work up to 2 hours of walking on the
> roads. Then he can start including a little trotting before moving on
> to canter on grass initially then moving back into a school. I have not
> yet worked out how to quietly walk a horse that is now traffic shy on
> roads for 2 hours at a time.
Take lots of safety precautions! A friend had to start her TB
mare on the roads straight from box rest because the vet thought
she'd do more damage playing with her mates in the field than
during ridden exercise until she was a bit fitter. She and wore hat,
back protector, long boots, headcollar, and needed them. A quiet horse
to lead the way would have helped in hind sight.
They're both fine now and I won't worry you with the details <g>
Jayne Lowe
Jillie Gardiner
In article <34C0A0...@dircon.co.uk>, Jonathan J Quick
<jjq...@dircon.co.uk> writes
Yes Mylo was off work from May to mid January. Then he can only start
work slowly. I don't know if your vet has suggested this but mine
required Mylo to be shod with a bar shoe to support the whole foot and
he had to have clips both front and rear. The idea is to support the
whole foot like a splint. He is to continue with this style of shoe for
a few months to support the foot. Apparently most can then go back to
normal shoeing. I mentioned to the vet that Mylo had a habit of pulling
his front shoes off and he said that whatever you do do not allow the
farrier to shoe him short to prevent him pulling shoes off. He is
always going to need a good farrier who works hard to balance the feet.
Shoeing short would put more pressure on the back of the foot and you
would run the risk of more damange occuring.
Mylos fracture was at the back of the bone, if you look at an x-ray
there are like two little wings coming from the bone. Mylo had a
hairline fracture which resulted in the wing on the outside of the foot
breaking away from the rest of the bone.
Part of the reason that it too so long to heal was that it was a
hairline fracture. Apparently this means that the break has to open up
before it can start to heal.
I was supposed to keep him on box rest as much as possible but Mylos
response to that idea was to have bucking fits in the stable. So I
tried a small pen built of electric fencing with access to a stable. He
quickly worked out that when I arrived at the gate to the field the
power was removed from the fencing and he took the opertunity to jump
out of the pen. So in the end we compromised. A small pen in a field
of long grass. That kept him quiet for a few weeks and afterwards we
left him with access to the field and a field shelter. So if Mylo had
been prepared to take life easy and not put that foot under strain then
he might have healed sooner.
Apparently the success rate for broken pedal bones depends on where the
break is. It is easier to support the foot and give it a chance to heal
if the break is at the back of the foot. ie 95% success rate that they
will return to full work. A break at the front of the foot is not such
good news.
Because Mylo is better behaved in-hand than under the saddle, (thanks
to a previous owner who believed that hacking from home should either
consist of only fast work or he should be allowed to run free at the
side of the youngster she was schooling!!). So I have started by
leading him out for a walk on the roads for one to one and a half hours
a day. Next weekend he is moving to a livery yard in Essex and they
have an area near the stables which is school size but concrete. I plan
to start his exercise under the saddle there in walk away from the
traffic.
Please mail me if there is anything else I can tell you about Mylo's
treatment.
--
Jillie Gardiner
fred
In article <YPDGzDAI...@centaurpvis.demon.co.uk>
J...@centaurpvis.demon.co.uk "Jillie Gardiner" writes:
> I mentioned to the vet that Mylo had a habit of pulling
> his front shoes off and he said that whatever you do do not allow the
> farrier to shoe him short to prevent him pulling shoes off. He is
> always going to need a good farrier who works hard to balance the feet.
> Shoeing short would put more pressure on the back of the foot and you
> would run the risk of more damange occuring.
Your vet gave you some good advice and it applies to all riding
horses not just those with broken pedal bones.
If your horse is pulling shoes off the answer is not to get him shod
short at the front, infact shoing longer may be of benefit.
In my opinion lack of support at the heel contributes to a lot of
unnecessary sprained tendons and damaged ligaments and bones.
--
ô
õçîd
Sue Macran
Jonathan J Quick <jjq...@dircon.co.uk> wrote:
So Mylo was off for the best part of a
>year? I had a brief discussion with the vet yesterday about
maybe
>putting Bella in foal again and giving her 18 month's off
rather than 6,
>and he seemed to think this was a good idea as the longer the
break the
>more complete the heal.
Sorry to hear about Bella. I was going to ask whether you'd
thought about taking this oportunity to have another foal from
her.
Sue