I know I know the answer but I can not recall this.
Horse has small hair loss/scar dots over both front cannon bones. The dots are evenly spaced. It is a medical treatment, however I have lapsed on the name. What is it called?
And by the way, hello. This is my first post.
Pin firing
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Yes it is! Thank you for refreshing my memory.
One of those treatments you wonder why it’s still being done. Have seen the scars recently on both standardbreds and thoroughbreds.
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They are still doing it?? How old is this horse?
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I read somewhere that pinfiring is making a comeback as a treatment. Apparently there is some science behind it. https://thehorse.com/16438/pin-firing/
It’s still done. Just seen a couple right off the track. Harder to see then it used to be, imagine the equipment and process has modernized.
Pin firing is an effective treatment for splints that just won’t cool out on their own (often a cracked splint bone under the bone that is laid down and seen as a splint), and for curbs. Generally done currently by “freeze firing” ( a metal probe cooled in liquid nitrogen and placed onto the skin) these days, not much “hot firing” done any more as far as I know. Freeze firing is far more humane than hot firing was. It has been done on shins (as in this case with the OP), but would not be MY choice to do so. It is best used when the injury is not life threatening (as bucked shins CAN be if the crack progresses as the horse continues training or racing, and goes right through the bone as a “break” instead of healing). Some people fire everything, tendons, shins, etc. When I see a horse with pin fired shins, I see a trainer grasping at straws to try to get an injured horse to the races when in fact they should be turned out to heal, IMO. If a horse’s shins are THAT sore, there is likely other similar damage done on bones other than the cannon bone too, which haven’t been or can’t be found or diagnosed, or treated, and it is best to just turn the horse out to heal. But not everyone who trains race horses agrees with this plan.
The damage done by the firing (freezing and destroying the tissue and nerve endings) BOTH stops the pain of the injury, and brings inflammation and blood to the area to promote healing, more so than if left alone. It drives healing to completion, when under natural conditions, not enough inflammation is there to get the injury to heal as fully or strong enough to remain sound in the long run.
I bought a broodmare with an old set of pin fired shins. She was a Clever Trick mare. She had won her first start as a 2 yr old, Maiden Allowance, like a bullet. Everyone must have got all excited. And her shins were sore. So her shins were pin fired in an attempt to get her sound. She never placed in another race again, never earned another dime. And broke both her knees. And held a very negative attitude towards humans in general for the rest of her life.
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The standardbred with pin firing is mid teens, the thoroughbred is I think young, under 5. Both were fired on one back rear cannon bone. The TBD has a visible curb. The STBD there is no visible problem after all these years and he is totally sound. The TB is still in a racing home but on a rest break.
I’m not on close enough terms to pump trainer for details, where a one horse ammie would be standing in the aisle telling everyone about her long saga of rehab, trainers tend to keep their cards close to their chest :). Current trainer may not have done the pinfiring, she acquires lots of horses in claiming races, etc.
