I have had this horse for 3 weeks. About a week ago I realized he wasn’t swatting flies with his tail. Closer to the top of the tail is a lump under the tail and the tail is quite swollen. It was x-rayed yesterday and it does appear to be broken. It is very painful to the horse. He will clench and hunch if you try and lift it. Has anybody ever had a horse break it’s tail? I have searched on line and haven’t found much information. I have him on bute and started him on muscle relaxers yesterday. Does anybody have any suggestions what I can do for him? He can lift to poop and if I scratch the top of it he can lift it and hold it slightly right or left depending on where I scratch. I cold hosed it yesterday and today which he did seem to like.
What did your vet say after they took xrays? Generally vets will provide treatment protocol.
Find a good acupuncture vet. Several years ago, a yearling filly we raised broke her tail, and after several expensive negative opinions we called a sport horse vet who did an acupuncture treatment and then had us use a special light on several acupuncture points, treating twice a day for several weeks.
The horse improved noticeably after the first treatment and was totally healed and pain free after about a month.
Best of luck with your guy.
a loooot of difference between a yearlings injury and that of a mature horse. Different bone healing, Prospects are likely not as good for a more mature animal.
tail injuries can be quite complex particularly if there was a “jerk” portion of the injury which caused nerve separation
OP consult your vet. An injury like this can be a huge issue and if they cannot provide a lot of information based on lack of real life experience, seek the opinion for someone at your regional vet school.
My Thoroughbred gelding luxated his first coccygeal vertebrae this winter; so higher up than your horse’s injury. He came in from the pasture on December 9th tucked up and very painful with an incredibly high heart rate. He stood with his hind legs very straight and did not want to flex them much. We put him on a short course of Banamine; 11 cc IV SID, which reduced the edema at the tailhead and made him more comfortable, and then switched to Equioxx (57 mg SID) for the remainder of his time off. We also applied Surpass BID for two weeks after the injury. We gave him 4 weeks off, stuck with his normal turnout routine and he came back to work (3rd level dressage, Training level eventing) with no issues.
We attempted electroacupuncture to help stimulate the nerves and help him regain function. He stood like a champ while the needles were inserted but lost his mind when he took a step forward and felt them, leading to an extravagant bucking fit, so we were unable to proceed. We did laser therapy instead, but I doubt it helped much with the healing process, as we waited until most of the initial swelling and inflammation had already subsided.
It took a few months for the nerve function to be completely restored, but he now swats flies and runs around with his tail flagged. Now there’s just a small bump where the injury was. Until he’s less painful, I would recommend liberally applied fly spray and perhaps a fly sheet. Good luck with your boy!
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Really. I would be pretty darn mad if I paid for xrays and then had to go on the internet for a treatment protocol. I hope the vet had more to say other than “yep, he broke it.” I would also think there must be something more effective than bute for a broken bone?
I would also wonder how this happened; I have never heard of a horse breaking a tail but it seems like it would be pretty hard to do - did the tail get caught on something?
This might be the type of injury that needs treatment at the clinic to make sure the horse is comfortable; at the very least I’d have him on stall rest for now and very protected from flies while you wait for a proper protocol.
:lol:
It is a horse. Horses are experts at injuries that we humans thought were not possible. Broken tail does not surprise me at all.
I don’t know how it happened. He had a lot of ticks in his tail, I spent a few days getting them all out. He spent a lot of time rubbing his tail on the ledge between two stalls (I have bars 1/2 way between stalls). Part of me wonders if he didn’t hurt himself that way.
The vet I had out also does chiro which is why I called her. I got the impression she hasn’t dealt with anything like this before. She wasn’t even sure if the x-rays showed a break, she was going to consult with the other vets and get back to me (she hasn’t). I emailed the x-rays to a small animal vet that I know well and she felt it was obviously a broken tail.
There is an acupuncturist that I love be she can’t get here until next month.
I was just wondering if anybody else has dealt with something like this. I appreciate the info. Just wondering what other kind of treatment might be available for such a thing other than just time.
I am turning him out and putting lots of spray on him. I tried a fly sheet but he was so hot and I was afraid that the weight of it on his tail might bother him so I took it off. The vet told me to lunge him which I’m not going to do.
But I’ve never heard of, nor remember reading on COTH about broken tails. Other things I’d never heard of in real life - neck threadworms, for example - but don’t recall seeing any broken tails. I suppose if the tail was especially itchy the horse might have put himself in an odd position to try to scratch it?
If the vet told you to lunge him, why won’t you do that?? 
ok, maybe you need a new vet, second opinion. Cut the tail flap off the fly sheet, but definitely get him one that is lighter, he will need something if he can’t move his tail. What about the ticks? Did they come from where he is now or where he was prior?
I can see it happening if the horse was backing into the wall of the stall or other surface to try and rub an itchy tail. Maybe he bumped into a feed bin or just moved backwards too fast. It could easily be like jamming your finger, but hard enough to break the bone.
I could totally see a horse sticking his tailbone in between stall bars and turning the wrong way. I had one accident prone lad rub his neck on the upright on his run in and pick up an 18 inch long, half inch wide splinter and run it under the skin, on top of the muscle, almost a foot deep. They are expensive creatures, looking for an inconvenient and awkward way to run up the vet bill and kill themselves.
From reading on this forum and 2 others which are livestock related ( for many years) I am inclined to say a huge number of veterinarians out there are completely incompetent at what they do. Thankfully, I have not used one of those . Find a good vet and get another opinion.
yep, a coccygeal. was rough because he could not lift it to pass manure in the beginning. Pain/inflamation management with meds and linaments etc, “braiding” it to help keep it clean lots of TLC, That was over 10 years ago so I am sure there are many more treatments available today.
bt - do you remember what kind of liniments? I’m not aware of any other treatments.
I’ve been sending his x-rays to some vets and some say it’s broken, others aren’t sure. Ugh.
But, why aren’t they giving you treatment protocol? Sprained or broken, they must be giving you some direction?
Bute and muscle relaxers. I emailed the vet today because I want to switch to surpass on the tail and previcox (after reading a post here it sounds like a good idea to me). Asked about taking him off of the muscle relaxers. I’m looking for any suggestions on what worked for others, just looking for ideas. (like surpass which the vet thought sounded good)
