Unfortunately have a yearling with an ulnar fracture. To those of you who did stall rest with success, how much did your horses lay down? Did you find they wanted to lay on the injured leg vs the good one? Did you confine them where they were not able to lay down for a certain amount of days? When did you take the next images after the initial ones showing the fracture?
It has been over 40 years but I will try to remember.
My Arab colt was kicked by a mare in the elbow and the vet X-rayedâgreen stick fracture.
He was on stall rest for about 6 weeks. He laid down a lot (and got bed sores). He did not lie on the fractured elbow. I did not take follow up X-rays.
After the six weeks the vet said he HAD TO get outside and moving (24/7 preferred.) I had to move both my horses, but at least I lucked out and found a Paso Fino breeding farm that had enough pasture space so both of my horses could be outside all the time.
His elbow dropped from the start. His elbow stayed dropped for months.
The vet said he needed physical therapy to get back walking on all 4 feet. I was pregnant at the time, but I went out and spent 20-30 minutes every day stretching out his leg like the vet told me to. It took several months, but one day he walked toward me four legged, all that work did pay off. Then after a month or so the vet said it would be best to start riding him but I was about 8 months along then, as in no way (the colt had preparatory training but I had not gotten to introduce him to being lunged in the saddle.)
I do not think he ever got 100% sound. I found a 4-H girl that was looking for a project and she took him on, but I was only allowed one phone call to check up on him. I called a year later, he was still limping. The best part of the story though was about this girlâs grandfather. His wife had died, he put all his tack up in the attic, and he was just waiting to die. When my colt got to their farm the grandfather was transformed, he brightened up, said the colt was the best horse he had ever seen (ex ASB guy), went up to the attic and got all his tack down, and he started working on the colt.
He turned him into a driving horse, and the colt got a blue ribbon for being the best behaved horse during a July 4th parade.
So this colt got sound enough to be a driving horse.
I was not allowed another phone call so I do not know what happened later to him.
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