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  Discussion on Pastern injury in a yearling
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Member:
Jennbk

Posted on Monday, Jun 7, 2004 - 10:43 pm:

My yearling reared up during the night (last March) and brought his right front leg down and got it caught between a post and a tubular gate. His foot came to rest on the gate attachment and it hung there all night. When we found him, it was wedged so tight we had to take the gate off. His pastern was badly bruised, rubbed raw and bloody. He was immediately xrayed and his leg was found to be not broken. The vet gave him a shot and left the wounds open with instructions to hyDrO wash it. Two weeks later both wounds were infected and he was taken to another vet. He gave him some antiobiotics and kept him for two nights so he could do a digital profusion where he went in, put a tourniquet on this leg and washed out the area with high dose antibiotics. He xrayed it and said the pieces of bone are broken off and he needed to wash it out. THe colt came home and seemed to get better. He said to keep it wrapped and change it every other day. Seven weeks later we take him back as he is again really getting more lame and he washed off the proud flesh on the outside and xrayed it and said that he was perfectly healed. The injury was not in the joint at all and his tendons were flexing fine. He said he would be sore for quite awhile though, good days and bad days since the skin had not completely covered the wounds. One week later I notice that he is still even more lame and his other leg is bowing out at the knee from him overcompensating to keep the weight off his injured leg. I take him to yet another vet and he confirms (with more xrays) what the other vet said, only on these xrays he finds some bone growth on the outside with a possible a bone chip that might keep the body fighting this foreign object. He said to keep it wrapped, and put him on bute for two weeks and to watch for discharge that might indicate that there was a small bone chip that would have to be taken out with surgery. His wounds look great, but the pastern is bigger than the other one (like a post leg) and the last vet said that he had a 50/50 chance of not being lame for the rest of his life because of the nature of scar tissue. He is walking on it and occasionally jumps and trots and then starts to favor it more. He is kept in an open stall, and his other knee(not the injured leg) seems to bob when he walks. What can you tell me about the chances of the scar tissue, and the pinching of the nerve that went on, that will keep him from being ridden? He is a gelding so he has no value other than to train to ride.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Tuesday, Jun 8, 2004 - 7:09 am:

I think it sounds like you have arthritis in the pastern Jennifer, and possibly in the coffin or fetlock. When was the last radiographic survey done? I don't think scar tissue impinging on a nerve is a likely diagnosis nor one that is easily pursued with most of our diagnostic techniques. If it is a problem, perhaps neurectomy would relieve the pain.
DrO
Member:
Jennbk

Posted on Tuesday, Jun 8, 2004 - 8:13 am:

The last xrays were taken on June 3rd. IT was this new xray that revealed a greyish mass on the outside of his pastern that the vet indicated was bony growth. He pointed out a small greyish circle in this cloudy mass that might be a bone chip. He said to watch for drainage that would indicate bone sequestrum, and if so, surgery would be needed. He instructed to put 1% hyDrOcortisone crem on granualtion tissue with a telfa pad and then wrap it up to keep pressure over these areas. Again, the colt walks and trots in stall, but he looks to be carrying alot of weight on the other leg. The xray showed a clean line up of all bones the only thing wrong was the cloudy mass on the outside of the middle of the pastern bone. Not near the joint at all. I should point out that he became very active on it halfway through his healing process and that is when he seemed after a time to become lame again. If it is arthritis in the pastern, is his riding career over and what is neurectomy?
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