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Radial Nerve Paralysis. Agh!!

3K views 4 replies 2 participants last post by  Hang on Fi 
#1 ·
Short summary that Fiona and I have been "schooling" for shows this year for well over 6 months and have been making quite the success. She's 5 years old an a nice solid Irish Draught. We had our shows laid out this year and was very anxious to expose her to this atmosphere :) (They are all schooling shows) Until it came down to a jarring halt this evening :(

My husband and I went out to ride this evening. When Harley came to the fence and Fiona didn't follow we went out to get her (this isn't unusual) I noticed as I walked out she was standing a bit odd... Almost like a "founder" look, but given no spring grass... I just kept walking. I got her halter on and couldn't move her worth a darn, she would NOT move whatsoever. Even Harley who tried to be a bully couldn't move her.

Close inspection showed a reluctance to move her right leg at all. Further inspection showed a grapefruit size swollen upper leg. I told Gary right then and there we needed a vet. I don't fool around when dealing with legs or hooves on horses (or any injury, I'm overly cautious).

Vet came out and did a lameness exam and diagnosed her at 99.9% that Fiona was suffering from Radial Nerve Paralysis. She was given Banamine Inj., Dex, DMSO, and is scheduled for the same treatment tomorrow.

Vet is confident we caught her within an hour or two of the injury (I hadn't even planned to go riding today! I just decided with the imposing rain that we should take advantage of the nice day. Talk about too close for comfort... I'm all for believing that everything happens for a reason. I couldn't imagine the call I would've gotten from the "caregivers" for these horses. Who have such an erratic feeding schedule amongst other things :?.

The vet feels that Fiona was either romping with her buddies or getting up too quickly from a roll and "did the splits." So she's pretty confident that she'll make a great recovery within 3 weeks.

So she gets to do her favorite thing, sit in a stall :( Last time she was in a stall she tore it up something fierce.

Could use some healing vibes and prayers, all... I will keep you posted as the days go by :( In the 3 1/2 hours we were there she was already trying to maneuver around the stall and wasn't agitated through this whole ordeal (until the catheter came out). So I'm feeling pretty good about this. I hope it stays that way.
 
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#2 ·
Well, vet made it out around 3:30pm EST.

Couldn't have asked for a better first day. Fiona is taking darn near full steps, eager to walk, and virtually pain free. No response during palpation exam on the swollen bit, which is the size of a kiwi now.

We can hand graze her for 10 to 15 minutes for the next day before she can be turned out in a small paddock to assess whether she's ready for regular turn out.

*wipes brow*
 
#4 ·
Very much so, I read a little bit the night it happened and have to say I was terrified of the potiental outcome of her.

Today we took her out, she was pacing her stall, eager to get out. Took this MASSIVE step out of her stall (a bit sloppy on the outside of it, sadly nothing we can do as its the boarding facility) and hand grazed comfortable for 15 minutes. Yesterday she just kind of pivoted around whilst grazing, today, she was all over the place :)
 
#5 ·
Should be a final update on this thread (thankfully). Fiona gets to be worked this weekend for the first time since incident (gently)... So far so good!

Shame she had three weeks of prior to her accident... If she didn't want to work, we could've worked something else out than an injury lol :P
 
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