Looking for what you did for rehab. What level did your horse return to work, etc. Would love to hear some success stories! TIA
Not that it will help much - but I bought a young mare at the Ocala Breeders Sale that had a “knocked down hip”. It really wasn’t noticeable but I never rode her, I bought her as a broodmare. She had been in training, however, as it was an in-training sale. She was sound as far as I was concerned but we didn’t do anything for her. She was fine to breed and produced well. One of her foals raced and won 13 in Maryland/PA for the lady I sold him to. Her filly was a beautiful girl, super athletic and showed well. She was in foal when I sold her to the same lady that bought her colt. Nice mare!
Of all the pelvic fractures, tuber coxaes have the best prognosis. That kind of fracture is common in race horses. It’s usually a stress/speed related fracture – but it can also be caused by things like trauma (falling down, knocking their hip out of the start gate, etc).
The prognosis really depends on how the injury happened, and the severity of it (total fracture or partial) - especially in relation to surrounding structures. What else got involved when the tip fractured? Any SI inflammation or injury that might have tipped the scales?
I have a horse who fractured his pelvis in three places, including the fractured tuber coxae – which was the least of our concerns and the least likely to limit his future career. He was green undersaddle when it happened, and now is schooling Training level (eventing), but is really a jack of all trades and master of none - hunterpaces, foxhunts, trail rides, does dressage, jumps, etc. I took a very, very long time bringing him back to work (a year and a half). At the 3 month recheck, his tuber coxae fracture was fully healed on x-ray, but he needed another few months for the other (bigger) fractures to heal.
The general rehab varies on how severe the fracture is. Many horses fracture their TC during work and their owners never know. Symptoms include a shortened stride on the fractured side, difficulty with lateral work, difficulty with canter, and stiffness coming out of the stall. They are usually more lame at the walk than trot, and might swing that leg out abnormally.
Any asymmetry behind prior to the fracture points to a structural weakness in the horse, either from previous injury or conformation - so it’s important to look at the horse critically during rehab and try to figure out why the injury happened.
Your vet should give you a good timeline to follow. In my experience its usually a few months off of work at minimum. They need to be very quiet the first month or so of healing, so stalling is usually a must - but as soon as they are able, the best thing for them to regain their condition is to be out 24/7.
Once they are healed, take your time bringing them back to work. My vet had me do raised poles and lots of walking. Avoid circling, lunging, and cantering for the first few months back into work. Hacking is good for them, but keep your rides short and if there is terrain, introduce it gradually.
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Thank you beowulf. He was yahooing in the field and ran into a beam on the shed. We are doing massage and PMEF. Waiting on the vet to schedule laser treatments. He was doing third level and had hopes of doing the GP one day. So naturally all the things you mentioned have me very nervous for the future! The broken piece displaced straight downward which vet said was very unusual. They also have me doing leg stretches to keep the muscle as long as possible. He was standing on three legs day one. We are two weeks in and walking very well, placing leg as should, etc. Haven’t trotted him in several days but was still pretty lame then. Muscle really beginning to soften and swelling finally down enough to feel the fracture.
Same injury happened to a horse where I board June 2019. That horse was on very strict stall rest, no hand walking, for 2 months. Like only out of the stall for the stall to be cleaned. After that she was allowed to slowly build up hand walking on flat ground, eventually started hand walking/trotting in hand on hills etc. She was back riding by the end of 2019, and took til roughly June for the horse to be back to normal work load. Since then the horse has been progressing and is better than before the accident. Horse got chiro from a DVM and massage with vet guidance throughout the rehab.
When the injury happened the horse was lame at the walk to the point where she looked almost neuro because she travelled so crooked due to compensation/pain. The vet did say they had another client horse (4th/PSG level) who returned to that level of work with no ill effects, just a bump/divot where the fracture occurred.
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