Well, I’m back - after losing one of my horses on 3/6 to a sinus infection. In my attempt to give him the best last day I could, I’d take him, along with my mare, and his BFF down to my pond to graze in the sunshine together. Long story short, when I let them off their leads, they galloped like crazy and it appears that Toast stepped in a spot where a pine tree used to be, and the dirt gave way. She’s been “off” ever since. I had first vets come out and watched her go, but nothing was seen at all - but it was because she was too amped up. She was unhappy because it was feeding time, and someone was asking her to work. She bucked around, and appeared to be sound, but I suspected it was all adrenoline - and it was. So, I had a different vet come out yesterday. This time, Toast was nice and quiet and she saw what I saw on the left front. She gave her a 2-3 grade lameness. We blocked her and saw improvement on the third block and the vet feels it is either a branch of the suspensory or a collateral ligament strain. We did xrays to make sure there was no bone involvement, saw a small chip but she feels that has been there a while and isn’t the problem. Could not do ultrasounds because of the blocking but they will come back out to try to make sure of what we are dealing with, and how bad it might be. So now, we begin the long recovery/rehab process. My question is twofold. 1. What, if anything, has truly been successful in speeding up the recovery/confinement process? And 2. Other than round pen panels, what ingeneous ways are there of making temporary fencing so I can section off places in the pastures where she can graze? I have white plastic barrels I was thinking about putting a T post into by cutting a hole in the top, fill with water, and string electric tape (not hot) to be able to create some fencing that can be moved around. Any other ideas?
I’ve known a few horses that have had soft tissue injuries heal remarkably well with Renovo, but it’s pricey (around $2500). A tried and true method is shockwave treatments. You usually need to do about 3 rounds, and depending on your location they run around $300-$400 per session.
My old guy had a front suspensory branch minor tear from doing something stupid in turnout (came in with a missing bell boot and piece out of the hind hoof).
He was never lame, but had this local swelling that I didn’t like. Got the vet to ultrasound and we found the small tear.
We did some shoe changes…and I gave him off for several weeks (repeat ultrasound to make sure things looked better). I broke the traditional rules and let him stay turned out…as long as he was making good choices! LOL
Again, my guy was older already and not lame, so that was part of the rehab decision. It never looked 100% normal on ultrasound, but the swelling resolved, and he stayed sound when I put him back to work.
My condolences.
There’s SO MUCH good knowledge here, but IMO, panels really are the gold standard.
2nd choice would be step-in posts with electric tape and battery- or solar-powered charger to keep her in bounds.
My sister’s horse injured her collateral ligament a couple of years ago, and with the use of the electric fencing with step in posts system, she recovered exceptionally well. So well, in fact, that a couple of months ago when she turned up lame, both my sister and the vet had to consult their notes to determine if it WAS the same leg! (It wasn’t- it was the other leg, and it was actually a hoof abscess, so whew)
I’m sorry for the loss of your other horse.
Another plug for shockwave. My now 27yr old horse injured his suspension and partially tore one branch away from the sesamoid on that side. He had Shockwave as his primary treatment. Plus stall rest with hand walking, and Back on Track no bows (I’d use BoT quick wraps these days). That was 16 years ago and it’s never been a problem since. The post healing ultrasound looked like it belonged to a horse half his age (said the vet).
This is what we use when need be. It’s easy to gradually make the space larger or move to better grass. One thing I don’t do any more is electrify it. All of our other fencing is electric. I once had a horse swish his tail and catch the tape. When his tail came back, the tape brushed him and kaboom! I’m sure it was one in a million weird thing…
Another vote for this, if your horse will respect the electric tape.
You can buy taller step-in posts than the standard 4’ model.
SHOCKWAVE! It speeds healing drastically. I’m a huge believer.
Going thru this now and using shockwave and prp.
I paid $1665 which included farm call, sedation, Renovo (it was $1250 for it) and shockwave.
$2500 is way too high.
