Can anyone share their experiences on this? Details about rehabilitation/ duration/ NSAIDs, prior activity level, age at time of injury… how long they knew horse after injury?
Bonus if you can tell me the location of the fracture.
Thanks much.
My guy’s is fairly well documented, as I had it on the forum in a thread. It is a bit out of date and we discovered more but general logistics are in the link below. Keep in mind the incident in the OP was separate from the pelvic break incident, but I lumped it in the same thread rather than start a new one…
https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/f…visit-tomorrow
He was 8, training BN/N.
He broke his pelvis in three places in what we assume was a big wipeout. He broke his pelvic wing (tubercoxae, best prognosis), hairline fracture on ilium (not good), and fracture on acetabulum rim (bad). My vet actually suspects the damage was worse, but it was difficult to film the area due to all the tissue and the huge hematoma on top of it.
Just had an XC clinic Sun/Monday. This October marks three years since the incident. :yes:
Rehab was complicated by the other issues but, 6 weeks stall rest for the ribs, 4 months off (but ok to be in small paddock) the pelvis. First two months were in a very small medical paddock (12x60 or so) and after checkup at 2mo lengthened but not by much. Checkup at 4 months showed marked healing, OK for full turnout.
I kept him on previcox throughout, chiro regularly and mesotherapy 5 months post incident. The meso was to address his KS and overall body discomfort from being stalled.
Vet said he was ready to be ridden that spring (six months post accident). I hacked him all summer (walk only). Gave him the winter off because I don’t have an indoor and live in the NE. Started him back last year very slowly, was doing W/T/C and some jumping by the end of summer, then he had another winter off, started again this spring, and is out jumping and doing XC things. I don’t think he’s looked back once, and he feels stronger and better than ever. I’m glad my vet talked me out of retiring him - I was ready to have him be a pasture puff at the end of our layup, but my vet said it was not as bad as I worried it was, and that he enjoyed the work.
Maintenance-wise I have him on MSM. I’ll probably start him on Legend soon as he is now 11. I put him on PlatPaks during the stall rest, I think it helped.
Some considerations were, taking it very slow riding wise. I do lots of carrot stretches with him before/after every ride. I spent a lot of time strengthening his pelvis, he lost so much muscle there. Pole work, backing up, and hill work for months. No lunging… taking it slow seemed to be the way to go. :yes:
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My new 3yo OTTB smacked his hip on something (arena door, hay trailer, fence panel??), the first week he was here., before I even had a chance to ride him. The body worker that had been working on him, was very pessimistic about his future.
I took him to an excellent lameness vet over the past weekend, and he said the horse will be fine. He has a tuber fracture with no joint involvement. He diagnosed based on physical exam and watching him move. He said further diagnostics weren’t necessary.
He was expecting a very lame horse, but thought my guy looks pretty darn sound atm. He is tight with that leg, and doesn’t have full extension due to the muscle attachment point being relocated. He anticipates no restrictions on his future use except he probably won’t make a high level dressage horse because he won’t be totally symmetrical.
He wants him to move, so he is allowed to stay in his 200’ long paddock, as long as he isn’t running around crazy. No NSAIDS, which he couldn’t tolerate anyways due to his bad ulcers. He is off for the next 2-3 months, and will likely need some body work, to help stretch the tight muscles, but he said that he should heal up just fine.
Thank you, all. Keep 'em coming! 
This is a 25+/- y.o. mini who presented increasingly lame over the course of 4 days; by day 4 vet was convinced something broke. However after small dose NSAIDs morning of a recheck, vet thought it was a bad strain, plus his usual hi lyme titer. Started on minoxycycline, strict stall rest, and seemed sounder/ brighter but swelling persisted.
Owner, frustrated about no significant improvement had head vet from practice come out who u/s rectally and spotted the fracture.
Red Previcoxx, stall rest of 3 - 4 months, soaked hay. Mini is tolerant but owner and I and vet are concerned about founder. Deep bedding, soft rides behind, and of course, limited chow.
He’s sweet and loves company but also loves to tear - ass around his field with his buddies. He never was a working pony, but he’s very much loved and the owner seems to be sparing no expense.
I’ve been on the periphery of pelvic fracture recoveries/ rehabs; both went back to light riding with minor maintenance. Beowulf, your story is very encouraging and with your permission I’d like to share it with pony owner.
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Share away!
A lot of people read “pelvic fracture” and panic - it really depends on the location. The most common kind seems to be a pelvic wing fracture (tubercoxae) and it almost always has a positive prognosis… it just takes time, because there is a lot of tissue in that area…
Hope the mini heals up with no complications. All the jingles for the munchkin
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I’ve known two horses that fractured a pelvis.
One injury was on the track. That horse eventually evented at Training level and successfully showed at midlevel dressage.
The other was a hunter in his teens. After he healed (6 months of stall rest), and came back into condition, he did 3’6" hunters and eq and won a few local but competitive hunter under saddle classes.
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I know a warmblood who fractured his pelvis in the field about 6-7 years ago and is now 16 and showing Grand Prix dressage! Unfortunately I don’t know the details of where the break was or what the rehab was like, sorry. Jingles for your mini!
I’ve known two. In neither case was the exact location of the break determined. Both were non weight baring on the effected limb. Bute, and rest, and time. Both came sound, one healed with no outward sign of the original injury (pelvis level), the other is slightly offset in the pelvis. The first one became a racehorse, not stellar, but an average career for a cheap horse. The other is a pasture rat in my pasture, great mover even with her unlevel pelvis, and free jumps beautifully, but I have not pursued breaking her. I could, and I think she would be OK.
I read a few years ago that the horse that won the Grand National that year had broken his pelvis TWICE in training previous to the race.
It’s a “wait and see” issue, with prognosis dependent on the exact location of the injury. But CAN heal up and be functional. It’s not worth pursuing a lot of expensive vet work in diagnosis, either it will or it won’t heal up sound. If you like the horse, and the horse is OK with trying to heal, handling the pain and stresses OK, you give it the chance to heal, and see what you have 6 months down the road.
I’ve known two w/ fractured pelvis.
One, my own, broke the wing- tuber coxae- lameness vet found it by accident just palpating the hip area. no treatment,
no stall rest, was mainly a pasture pet anyway, but never had the least problem after some time off from riding.
the second, large WB got caste in stall overnight , had lots of stall rest and vet attention. Slowly allowed to have turnout.
But this horse was walking on 3 legs for a long time. Serious fracture. Healed up fine and went on to show low level dressage.
