My TB mare has little white spots running down the inside of her front legs. My trainer said they were from when she was on the track, I tried googling it, but couldn’t find anything.
Can anyone tell me what this is from? I can take pics if necessary.
Thanks!
Pin-firing?
I’ve heard of something called ‘pin-firing’ that leaves small white dots. Doesn’t sound pleasant.
Its called pin firing. Its done to supposedly help heal bucked shins quicker. Its something you will never see in my barn. Get busy googling and you will see why.
Your mare was pin-fired while in race training. This is an older practice that is still done and is effective. It is usually preformed on bucked shins or splints in the front legs or throughpins in the hocks. The vet will take a hot pin type iron and burn small pin holes through the skin to the bone to encourge blood flow and healing to the bones surface, the horse is typically off for 8 weeks while everything heals.
This should not cause your mare any problems.
Thanks everyone! That does ring a bell now…
She’s 15, so she’s been off the track for a while. Now, she’s just a broodmare.
My trainer had her for 5 years and just gave her to me as a companion for my other horse we just moved home. My dad asked me about her legs today and for the life of me I couldn’t remember what they were.
If I were to bring her back into very light work this fall, could these possibly cause a problem?
Nope
My gelding was pinfired at some point, and we had him for fifteen years and never had a soundness issue (at least not related to that.) It sounds like witch-doctoring to me, but it did not seem to have caused any long-term damage, at least to my horse.
My eight year old Thoroughbred was also pin-fired on his right foreleg splint area at some point in his racing career of seven years. He is completely sound with it.
Of course, whether it is the pin-firing, or the 8 weeks off that actually does the healing, is the big debate 
[QUOTE=caffeinated;4214105]
Of course, whether it is the pin-firing, or the 8 weeks off that actually does the healing, is the big debate :)[/QUOTE]
Exactly. What kind of barbarian has to burn his horse with hot pokers to be forced to lay the horse up? Its ridiculous.
Just curious, but how big is little? We’ve had quite a few pinfired horses aquired over the years and almost universally the dots were so small they never had any white hair associated with them and they went around the entire cannon bone. Kind of like dimples on a golf ball, they showed best in the summer coat only. On the other hand, a couple of TBs do have cryo, which is more common in STBs and does generally appear in a localized area with larger white dots. My stallion has them on the inside of his leg. I’ve circled them in this photo.
http://i130.photobucket.com/albums/p262/jengersnaps/Sea%20Pleasure/porkycryo.jpg
Pinfiring
Pinfiring shows tiny bald spots evenly spaced, in 2 rows.
Callie (Kick and Howl) had them from her 3 yrs on the track in the mid-80s, both forelegs. Hers however, did not turn white so they blended in with her black stockings.
Pinfiring
Pinfiring shows tiny bald circles/dots evenly spaced, in 2 rows.
Callie (Kick and Howl) had them from her 3 yrs on the track in the mid-80s, both forelegs. Hers however, did not turn white so they blended in with her black stockings. Hers were on the insides of her legs only. I guess there are different results and applications depending on the person doing the pinfiring.
Hmmm. Maybe they just don’t have hair on them… She’s very dark bay so against her black legs they are light gray/white looking.
I’m going to the old barn to pick up all of my tack and grooming stuff today, when I bring her in later I’ll check them out a little more
Could be some hair grew back white from the scarring, but if you look closely, usually the area is bald where the skin was scarred.
Won’t affect her at all, she should be sound unless she has other issues.
Callie’s bald pinfiring spots blended in well with her black socks, and no white hairs from scarring, so not easily detected since they were on the insides of her forelegs.
You can rub the hair against the growth to see the scars.
Enjoy your mare. They deserve a good retirement from racing and being broodmares. TB mares are the best.
If there are white spots and it is to the inside of the leg, it is freeze firing, not pinfiring.
Freezefiring is not done on the shins, but is done on the splint bone, sometimes on the suspensories. Unusual for pinfiring to change the hair color…
Neither treatment indicates that the problem will re-occur, though, so not to worry. I have Thoroughbreds, and my favorite boy (don’t tell the others!) is black with white pinfire marks on an old splint, and he is sound as a dollar and always was – he is now 17 and was a steady allowance runner until he was 10. My Standardbred has freeze fire marks all over his legs–the biggest splash of dots is on a suspensory injury, and I just shoe polished them in black when I took him in carriage driving classes against other breeds (although you’d always recognize that big, old Standbred head).
Pinfiring is not as common as it once was, and freezefiring doesn’t seem to be done as frequently on Thoroughbreds as Standardbreds, but can be seen sometimes on older horses.
Freezefiring is cryo, same thing just in case you were wondering. My guy has it for suspensories. As for soundness, he’s still winning at 9
Also, pinfiring is usually more then just 2 rows. It depends on why it was done, but bucked shins is usually going to have the pin marks all around the cannon bone in multiple rows.
[QUOTE=caffeinated;4214105]
Of course, whether it is the pin-firing, or the 8 weeks off that actually does the healing, is the big debate :)[/QUOTE]
Way back when I was in University I had to do a paper on soundness and it seems to me they already had a study showing rest alone and firing/blistering had either the same amount of healing time and sometimes more for firing/blisters because THOSE had to heal TOO!
[QUOTE=Barbara L.;4214382]
If there are white spots and it is to the inside of the leg, it is freeze firing, not pinfiring.
Freezefiring is not done on the shins, but is done on the splint bone, sometimes on the suspensories. Unusual for pinfiring to change the hair color…
Neither treatment indicates that the problem will re-occur, though, so not to worry. I have Thoroughbreds, and my favorite boy (don’t tell the others!) is black with white pinfire marks on an old splint, and he is sound as a dollar and always was – he is now 17 and was a steady allowance runner until he was 10. My Standardbred has freeze fire marks all over his legs–the biggest splash of dots is on a suspensory injury, and I just shoe polished them in black when I took him in carriage driving classes against other breeds (although you’d always recognize that big, old Standbred head).
Pinfiring is not as common as it once was, and freezefiring doesn’t seem to be done as frequently on Thoroughbreds as Standardbreds, but can be seen sometimes on older horses.[/QUOTE]
Thank you to the bold. But I have seen freeze firing on shins and pretty much anywhere else you can pin fire. It is however old school IMO. I hate all of it and think there are so many other better options
Freeze firing deadens the nerves to whatever is sore. If a horse pops a splint, freeze firing it helps the pain go away very, very quickly. It also allows the horse to sray in work only a day or two after being done (for splints anyway). That is why it is a more popular treatment. Healing completely from it takes very little time.
Pin firing only takes 2-3 weeks to heal. I’ve seen horses given time off for bucked shins come back and buck them again…but have also seen some who were fired that bucked again as well. That one, IMO is up in the air…
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