I have a nice young TB who just turned four this week. We got him in December. He never raced and we’d like him to be a hunter. He has a partially paralyzed flap on one side. He makes a bit of a noise-sometimes more noticeable than others. Our vet said he knew of a vet in RI who could come to the farm and do the surgery. He wasn’t sure what the ballpark cost would be. Can anyone give me a general figure for this procedure? The horse is not insured. Thank you.
You are looking at a tie back if one side is paralyzed. I, however, would not have it done at the farm… it just seems to involved for that.
My bill was ~$3000 done at NC State in 2008. No complications, stayed in the hospital for 3 days. Horse has had no issues from it. He still makes noise at the canter, though not as loud as before the surgery, but now at least he can breathe.
Hope this helps 
I’ve done quite a bit of research on this recently as one of mine is a roarer and I would like to have it done. All of the vets I’ve talked to do it at the clinic. The prices have ranged from $1200-$2500.
Okay thank you. We are still waiting to hear from the vet in RI.
Do NOT do NOT DO NOT have a tie-back surgery done at the farm. Since there is an implant involved (the suture used to hold the arytenoid open does not dissolve it stays there forever), this is a surgery that HAS to be done in an OR under conditions that are as sterile as possible. The risk of complications is too great.
I don’t care how cheap it is - unless you don’t care if you end up with a live horse at the end, don’t have this done at the farm.
It will probably be $2000-3000 for the tie-back in a hospital setting depending on where you are located.
[QUOTE=animaldoc;5602749]
Do NOT do NOT DO NOT have a tie-back surgery done at the farm. Since there is an implant involved (the suture used to hold the arytenoid open does not dissolve it stays there forever), this is a surgery that HAS to be done in an OR under conditions that are as sterile as possible. The risk of complications is too great.
I don’t care how cheap it is - unless you don’t care if you end up with a live horse at the end, don’t have this done at the farm.
It will probably be $2000-3000 for the tie-back in a hospital setting depending on where you are located.[/QUOTE]
Please read my whole post.
I stated that I wasn’t sure it if was tie-back surgery or epiglottic entrapment surgery. The vet who scoped the horse is not able to do the surgery and is calling in another vet to tell us what needs to be done. If tie-back surgery is required, it will not be done at the farm.
Thanks.
I had a horse who had 2 surgeries to correct his roaring. The first one was at R&R and it was a tie back. The surgeons there will NOT do surgery until the epiglottis (?) is totally paralyzed. If the paralysis is only partial then the surgery will quickly fail because of the fluttering of the partially paralyzed tissue.
If you find a surgeon who 1. Will do it as a farm call and/or will do a tie back on a partially paralyzed epiglottis they are not anyone you want to do business with.
About 8 years later, the tie back failed and I had the left flap lasered off. This method cannot fail. And, if you still have a noise, then the right side can be lasered at a later time.
This surgery was done by an internationally famous vet whose specialty was lasering off flaps. (he was giving a seminar in Switzerland when I first called, so I had to wait until he returned.) He mentioned a number of times that this is not a surgery that can be performed by just any surgeon. Racetrack vets are a potential source of vets, since they do a lot of throat surgery; the vet recommended that only a vet who does this continually should be used.
After the laser surgery Petey still makes a noise when he is unfit or the humidity is high. I chose not to do a 3rd operation since the outcome may be that the horse inhales his food (instead of swallowing it). This can lead to pneumonia or other bad respiratory problems. There are many stories about bad outcomes as a result of it.
The first several weeks are crucial to the eventual success. or failure. The horse must always be fed off the floor and the floor must be kept scrupulously clean around the eating area. And the horse cannot breathe deeply. So, stall rest with hand walking.
If I had to do it again, I would do the laser treatment. It was new 15 years ago, so there should be enough surgeons around who can do it now. Personally, I would call the nice man at the DuPont Center in Leesburg for a recommendation.
Each surgery cost about $2,000 to $3,000. This was in the 2000’s.
Petey can now do dressage and hunters/jumpers. He can also do eventing up to Prelim. He cannot get enough air, no matter how fit he is, at the higher levels.
@Lord Helpus , this seems to be a zombie thread from 2011 revived by a new poster whose post does not seem entirely relevant. Pain specialists??
But good to know your experience with the procedures.
This has nothing to do with the surgery being discussed on this thread. Besides you brought up a zombie thread from 7 years ago. This is about horse care not medical insurance for people.
