Hey!
Does anyone has success stories of horses with fractured/broken legs that was impossible to surgically repair?
My horse suffered a fracture to his tibia almost 2 weeks ago - there is a large piece of bone that is completely off and the whole bone has a circulatory fracture line but it is not dislocated and is holding together. On top of that - there is open wound to the bone.
He is living in University clinic (we took him there instantly after the accident) and the prognosis is grim, because the damage is too serious and the wound is posing too big risk for infection to surgically repair the bone and take out or put screws in the piece that is broken off. Our last hope is that the fracture line will heal, the bone piece will move further the bone as a fistula (like when we get a splint and our organism is pushing it out with puss) and it can be taken out on a standing procedure and that there won`t be infection in the bone that would compromise the healing.
The good part of the story is that the horse is feeling very good - he is putting weight on the broken leg, even resting his healthy leg on regular basis (he is on pain medication, but not THAT strong, he still feels that the leg is broken), no signs of laminitis, his heart rate is normal, he is eating, drinking and in all other aspects being his normal, happy horse that is a bit ****ed that he has to be in a sling and that he can`t nap and go outside. This gives us hope, that he will be ok and live the rest of his life happily in the meadow. Next week he`ll get new x-rays that will basically decide his faith, so I`m freaking out.
So - maybe anyone has had a similar diagnosis and has some positive success stories while I wait for the new x-rays? There MUST BE some similar stories with happy endings. If not, I hope that his will be the first.
This is a really tuff call. I think that you can only make decisions based on what you are seeing at the moment. Try to keep in mind of all the complications that can occur for preventative but try not to worry about it too much. I think right now all you can do is take one day at a time and see how he is healing or not. For now, if he is doing ok, acting ok, and no complications in other ways, just go with it. If it turns for the worse, then that will be what you have to face when the time comes. Just always keep in mind his quality of life and you will know what to do.
Age does play a factor. The younger the animal the better they can heal. As with most living things, when you age, you can't heal as fast. OP, I am so sorry this happened to your horse! Unfortunately I know of no success stories. I know of several attempts, such as yours, most lasted two weeks to a month. I always look at it this way, a horse does not plan for the future, they only live in the present.
Also, would You really expect me to go to the clinic right now and ask them to put my horse to sleep because someone on the internet, who hasn`t seen his x-rays, hasn`t seen the horse and has no veterinary education said so? I value Your opinion, and as I said, if the time comes when there is no hope left or if my horse will start to suffer, I will make the decision. But pressuring such a serious and irreversible thing on a horse You haven`t seen is not smart and totally unnecessary.
All I wanted to hear are some stories about horses that has recovered to make my time until the next x-rays in few days easier. In those new x-rays we will see if everything goes according to plan or if the infection has set in the bone, if he has displaced something or if the bone fragment is not in the place it needs to be. If anything will be wrong with these x-rays, the vets WILL say that I have to put him down, they have made that very clear to me - we have a chance now, but if anything goes south, there is nothing they can do. So You can imagine how hard it is for me these days, just waiting and not knowing if my horse will live. This is why I need at least some success stories to keep my mind at ease until those dreadful x-rays.
I have done quite a lot of rehabbing from horrendous injuries with horses.
When a limb is broken it usually shatters which is why euthanasia is the best thing.
Three things about such accidents, first it depends on how deep the owner's pockets are, secondly the spirit of the horse and thirdly the seriousness of the injury.
I was present when a renowned Steeplechase mare came to the horspital after breaking her leg racing. It was a bad fracture. She was in slings, had surgery to plate and pin the bones and all was going well. No infection, all X-rays looked promising, she was settled in the slings for about three week's am dead then she got very restless, wanted out the slings and when she couldn't, she just gave up the will to live.
Age does come into healing, an older horse needs extra calcium which a younger horse has more of.
I have had many bone injuries, broken pelvis, hair line fractures, bone chips in the shoulder and even a broken neck. Younger horses did way better than horses over 9/10
The one thing I would do is to get him onto Comfrey, both leaves and grated roots. The old English name for this plant was Bone Knit, for good reason. Any horse with bone injury was fed this.
A friend of mine in Idaho, had a home bred gelding (3) that broke his shoulder. I had seem Comfrey growing in one of their fields and started him on that. He had been hopping lame for a couple of months and they were going to euthanise. X rays showed no healing. Three weeks after starting on the Comfrey the plates showed a good healing. He was still very lame and walking on his toe. A swan neck shoe (a "S' welded onto the toe of a shoe) stopped him from being able to walk on his toe. He came totally sound after three or four months.
I wish you well with your horse, if he gives up then you will know it is time to let him go over the rainbow bridge.
OP, I live not to far from a veterinary teaching hospital in Florida. They are not cheaper and actually more expensive. It makes sense though as they have all of the latest technology there and latest advancements in veterinary medicine. Or, at least a lot more than a smaller veterinary clinic here would have. They also do not experiment on animals.
When a limb is broken it usually shatters which is why euthanasia is the best thing.
Three things about such accidents, first it depends on how deep the owner's pockets are, secondly the spirit of the horse and thirdly the seriousness of the injury.
Thankfully, my horses tibia is not shattered, otherwise it would be a totally different story. There is only one (at least there was only one in the last x-rays) fracture line, that goes across the bone and a piece of bone that has been broken off. He suffered a kick from another horse who had hind shoes.
The one thing I would do is to get him onto Comfrey, both leaves and grated roots. The old English name for this plant was Bone Knit, for good reason. Any horse with bone injury was fed this.
Ok, thank You I`ll buy it tomorrow and bring him some! Hopefully he`ll eat it, he is quite a choosey eater.
A friend of mine in Idaho, had a home bred gelding (3) that broke his shoulder. I had seem Comfrey growing in one of their fields and started him on that. He had been hopping lame for a couple of months and they were going to euthanise. X rays showed no healing. Three weeks after starting on the Comfrey the plates showed a good healing. He was still very lame and walking on his toe. A swan neck shoe (a "S' welded onto the toe of a shoe) stopped him from being able to walk on his toe. He came totally sound after three or four months.
This is also a thing that makes me thing that my horse actually has a chance of recovery. He isn`t three legged lame anymore. On the day of the accident he really did hop around on three legs. Next day he started to put some weight on his broken leg. And then - third day after the accident he is WALKING on all four legs. Resting his healthy leg while taking full weight on his broken leg. And he is doing so still - very comfortably changing weight on both of his hind legs (not like in a discomfort, but just in the way he always has done it), easily and on his own free will stretching and doing all the other things he would normally do. Doctors said that if I wouldn`t have taken him to the clinic instantly after the accident and would have called someone without an x-ray machine (we only have 2 vets with x-rays in the area), he might have been misdiagnosed and no one would suspect a break, because by all means - he doesn`t look like a horse that has a broken leg. Horses with abscesses are more lame than him at the moment.
OP, I live not to far from a veterinary teaching hospital in Florida. They are not cheaper and actually more expensive. It makes sense though as they have all of the latest technology there and latest advancements in veterinary medicine. Or, at least a lot more than a smaller veterinary clinic here would have. They also do not experiment on animals.
Yup, same here. The vet bill on this already is cosmic and it`s been only two weeks. But at least I know that he is getting the best possible care and the best chance of a life. And that means everything to me, we have been together since the moment of his birth and I would give up my own leg just to save him if I could. So, yes, while there is some hope, I am not going to give up on him. I also found some success stories on the internet with very similar injuries. So, this case isn`t hopeless, we just need a bit of a luck!
Weirdly enough we had a draft x mare with a similar injury and after a month of intermittent lameness we finally had her x-rayed and sure enough she had broke her leg. She was super stoic so we had assumed the mild lameness was arthritic changes. It healed up, and had to be flushed for a few weeks to get the bone shards out. But after that she was sound for a few more years until her arthritis really kicked in. I'll have to ask her owner a few more details. I don't know how comparable the break was but I think she's got the x-rays on a disk.
I would't really be an advocate for putting an animal down because of what complications MIGHT happen. Obviously dead would guarantee that it wouldn't but still alive doesn't guarantee what it will either.
I've been in a similar situation with my mare when she was six years old. A very good vet told me that she would never be a riding pony again and unfavorable prognosis of being pasture sound. It wasn't the same kind of injury but a very bad injury to her hock. Well, here we are seven years later enjoying the trails together and she doesn't take a lame step.
18 months of healing before I climbed back on her and she was fine in spirits the whole time. I won't lie, it was a lot of work but I'm glad that I put my mind to it for her. My friend is still with me. This is not something that I would have done if she was suffering to no end.
Horses can be remarkably resilient or remarkably breakable... My friend had a horse run head first into a fence post. She fractured her skull and nearly lost an eye. Not only did she make a complete 100 percent recovery but she went on to be ridden again.
A different friend had a horse with a broken hock. He was given to the vet's sister who was going to attempt rehabilitation. I do not know the final outcome in his case. He was a very big horse (17 hands, easily 1500 lbs).
My old riding instructor used to rescue racehorses with horrific leg injuries and attempt rehabilitation. The horse I took lessons on fractured his leg on the track, spent time in a sling. Eventually made a full recovery and she kept him the rest of his life as a beginners lesson horse.
Survival is possible, sometimes against all odds. It is dependent on the horse, the injury, and sometimes luck... But every single case is different. Every injury is different. Everyone has a limit on what they are willing to try and sometimes it is okay to say, I am done. I have done my best, there's nothing more I can do.
Talk to the vets treating the horse. What are his chances of recovery? His chances of becoming pasture sound or rideable again?
The vets went above and beyond the call of duty trying to save Barbaro and they lost, but they saved Charismatic when he fractured his leg. But not everyone has the resources to drop thousands of dollars on treatment, and you have to ask yourself was it ethical to try to save Barbaro, as immediate euthanasia would have prevented his suffering.
Only answer I have is this is a better one for experienced equine DVMs and I would get a few opinions because sometimes they can do things that weren't even possible a few years ago and if not you'll at least be hearing it from people who know what can and can't be done. Good luck
I am so sorry for your situation. Of course you know euthanasia is always on the table in situations like this. I think that responsible animal owners know when to call it quits, you will recognize it if the light goes out of your animals eyes and the spirit is gone. Until that time I believe there is always hope - until there isn't.
I just want to second Foxhunters Comfrey advice and wanted to add that Comfrey is also very effective applied externally as a poultice. Use fresh leaves, pulp them up and place over the area. Good luck!
It aches my heart to say this, but unfortunately this won`t be a success story as well. Last week my horse was euthanized.
But I would like to encourage those, that may one day be in a similar situation - don`t quit until there is something that can be done. I don`t regret for a second that I fought for my dear horses life with all I had. He didn`t die because of complications (no laminitis, colic or infection) and he didn`t die because of him giving up. He was bright and happy, and so full of life until the very end. He simply took a bad step in a sling - it all happened so fast, that no one knows exactly what happened, but he took a bad step or he maybe "jumped" a little and his leg broke fully and there was nothing the doctors could do. He was humanely euthanized minutes after the event.
What I want to say is - it didn`t HAVE to happen. There was just as big possibility that he would have recovered. And it breaks my heart, I am devastated that it did happen, but at least, when saying goodbye, I was able to tell him that I tried and that I did EVERYTHING I could to save him. Of course I have many "what if`s" and I feel so guilty that I couldn`t prevent all of this from happening in the first place and that I wasn`t able to protect him. But at least I don`t have a "what if we tried to save him?" in my list. I don`t think I could survive that, I don`t even know how to survive this as it is.
I was really hoping this would be a success story. Hugs for you. He was a very lucky horse to have you love him till the end. He joins a pretty awesome herd in the clouds, I hope he's running around with Scotty, he's been up there for a few months now.
@smailie I am so sorry to see your post. Rest easy knowing you did everything you could do for your horse. So many owners would just have given up - but you fought to give him a chance.
I am so sorry smaile - my sincerest sympathies go to you. You did everything right but sometimes there are things that are just beyond our control. I'm so so sorry.
So sorry for your loss. I was hoping you would beat the odds.
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