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  Discussion on Broken neck
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New Member:
peggyd

Posted on Thursday, Nov 20, 2008 - 2:32 am:

i own a 2 year old philly. long story short. she jumped a fence and landed on her head/neck. its been over 2 weeks since the fall. she eats, drinks normally. but she has swelling on the left side of her neck, while the right side sinks in. she is very stiff necked. she only raises and lowers her head to a certain extint. she does not bend her neck at all. she mostly keeps her head low. she has a hard time standing soundly and keeping her balance, yet she does not fall down. seeing that the swelling was not improving, i took her in today to my equine vet. first look at her the doc said she has damage to her spinal cord. after further examination she aspirated the swelling and she could not pull nothing back into the syringe, thats when she said she could feel bone fragments. her diagnosis is a broken neck, and lucky to be alive. our philly (annie)was put on bute, antibiotic, and a rub on medicine. vet says that if no other complications to the injury occur that she will heal. but will never be able to compete or be ridden because she will not be able to bend her neck. my question is this. has anyone else experienced this. how long was the healing process and what was the outcome verses the vets prediction. i ask for anyones moral support, this is the first tragedy i have encountered, since being a horseowner. this philly has been with us since she was 3 months old, bottle feed, and just simply stated our baby. she was to be my daughters ridding horse, the only one of the seven horses that we have that my daughter even trusts. 2 years invested in imprinting this horse to be gentle and trusting. it breaks my heart to see her disfigured and in pain.}}
Member:
scooter

Posted on Thursday, Nov 20, 2008 - 6:35 am:

Peggy sorry to hear about your filly. I have no experience with broken necks, but as I was reading this I was wondering if x-rays might help determine her prognosis better, and help you know how to treat her or not treat her

Good Luck with her she sounds wonderful.
Member:
dres

Posted on Thursday, Nov 20, 2008 - 10:00 am:

Peggy so sorry to hear about your Filly, I am afraid that my story might not be the one you want to hear..

I had a brood mare out in pasture with her foal and full older brother .. AM feeding, foal and brother came in to eat, MOM did not.. I knew there was a problem , she was food boss.. I went to her and thought , 'oh no leg injury' she was standing crooked with head cocked low and could barely walk.. I had a vet come out and she thought neuro damage on first thought.. I carefully got her into a trailer with the vet following close behind , we were not sure she would be able to take the trip to the clinic.. Long story short.. . x rays confirmed a broken neck... she was being treated with steriods and other meds.. but as the days progressed she seem to internally shut down.. less poop / less urine / she would eat / drink but we felt she was shutting down internally..
I choose to have her put down.. a very hard decision also knowing she had a 3 month old filly still at the barn..

Watch your girl she will tell you if she can make it or not..

good luck..

On the first day God created horses, on the second day he painted them with spots..
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Nov 20, 2008 - 10:13 am:

Welcome peggy,
I am sorry to hear about your horse and as you are aware this is a serious problem. Since your horse has rear limb neurological deficits (in coordination and weakness) we can be sure she has sustained spinal cord damage but what we cannot determine is if there is ongoing instability in the neck and if it is likely to heal with time. I agree with DianE a radiograph or two will help answer these questions. There are surgeries available at some veterinary schools to stabilize such instability. Otherwise it is a matter of watching a day at a time. We have more information available at Diseases of Horses » Nervous System » Incoordination, Weakness, Spasticity, Tremors » Wobblers or Cervical Stenotic Myelopathy.
DrO
Member:
twadwis

Posted on Thursday, Nov 20, 2008 - 11:41 am:

We had a mare boarded at our farm that seemed to have survived a broken neck somewhere in her early years. She was owned by folks who knew little about horses and they had purchased her with the problem. She had an obvious kink/dent in her neck, carried her head/neck somewhat stiff and crooked, poor lateral motion but seemed OK vertically but as you can imagine she had some pretty odd ways of using her head. Fortunately her owner found her own ways to deal with the mares quirks and mostly rode her bareback with a halter and she still owns and rides this horse 10 years later. This mare has serious fear/panic issues with tying and vets so the owner is careful who handles her and she no longer gets vaccinations, and they have her at home. I always found it interesting that this backyard amateur owner explains her success with this horse....."oh, if she doesn't trust you she'll do something stupid." I can think of a bunch of trainers who could learn from her.
The couple of vets who could get near this mare said it did look like the neck was 'broken'. A chiropractor said it felt like there was a fracture that fused crooked and that bone was permanently displaced/rotated. X rays were never taken, this was an old injury and a $500 horse.
Member:
ekaufman

Posted on Thursday, Nov 20, 2008 - 1:11 pm:

Hello Peggy,

So sorry to hear about your filly. Please let us know how you get along.

You didn't ask for advice about riding horses for children, but I have a young daughter and a breeding program, and I have seen absolutely grotesque riding accidents (and broken my own neck) so I'm going to offer some anyhow. I hope that this doesn't cross a line for you.

Children and foals are a magical combination, but to put young riders on young riding horses is an unsafe and unfair plan, both for horse and rider. Children (and all new riders) make a lot of mistakes on horseback, and are best taught by horses with the maturity and training to be kind and to remain well mannered and well schooled in spite of the many distractions and mis-cues that come with a child onboard.

And a child is easily hurt or frightened by the mistakes that a young horse is absolutely entitled to make, no matter how much ground handling that horse has had. So as you move on with this sad event, please consider a safer choice for your daughter's riding horse. Those horses can take a while to find, but they are out there and worth the effort to find.

And I offer this advice whether your daughter is 6 or 16-- if she is that untrusting of horses in general, find her something proven with kids already.
New Member:
peggyd

Posted on Friday, Nov 21, 2008 - 1:45 am:

update on Annie:

THIS MORNING, WHILE SHE WAS HALTERED AND TIED FOR ME TO GIVE HER HER MEDS. SHE WAS VERY ANTSY-- STEEPING AROUND, FOCUSING COMPLETELY ON ME AND WATCHING MY EVERY MOVE. THIS IS HOW ANNIE NORMALLY ACTS. IT MADE ME FEEL SO HOPEFUL. SHE WAS ALSO BENDING HER NECK SLIGHTLY TO THE RIGHT, WHICH SHE HAS NOT BEEN DOING. THIS AFTERNOON AT FEED TIME, SHE SAW ME DRIVE UP. SHE NEIGHED AT ME AND TROTTED TO THE GATE LIKE SHE NORMALLY DOES. THIS IS THE FIRST OF THIS TOO SINCE THE INJURY. I ALSO NOTICED THAT SHE CARRIED HER HEAD AT HER NORMAL HEIGHT VERSUS DOWN LOW LIKE BEFORE. OBVIOUSLY THE BUTE AND RUB ON HAS EASED A GREAT DEAL OF HER PAIN AND IT JOYS MY SOUL TO SEE HER SHOW THESE SIGNS OF HER FEELING BETTER.....THANKS TO ALL FOR YOUR CONCERN AND ADVICE.... I AM VERY GUILTY OF LOVING MY ANIMALS TOO MUCH AND BEING SO ATTACHED. I FIND THAT I TREAT THEM BETTER THAN SOME OF THE PEOPLE THAT COME IN CONTACT WITH. ONCE IN THE PAST, THERE WAS A DISAGREEMENT BETWEEN ME AND MY HUSSBAND,CONCERNING MY 20+ YEAR OLD MARE. I ENDED THE ARGUMENT WITH SAYING "SHE WAS HERE BEFORE YOU CAME ALONG AND GOD WILLING SHE'LL BE HERE AFTER YOUR GONE... SO DONT MAKE ME CHOOSE." lol. please keep hoping the best for ANNIE
and if you pray, which i hope you do please add her to your list.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Friday, Nov 21, 2008 - 8:17 am:

peggie, it is harder to read posts in all caps. You will get more folks reading and responding by using proper capitalization and punctuation.
DrO
Member:
annes

Posted on Friday, Nov 21, 2008 - 10:04 am:

Peggy, great news..I am so happy that Annie is feeling better. I know how it fills our hearts with joy when we see our animals feeling good. I will keep you and Annie in my thoughts and prayers and please keep us informed of her progress.
Member:
twadwis

Posted on Friday, Nov 21, 2008 - 11:37 am:

Good to hear she is improving. Horses are so complicated, we are never sure about bad or good news and it seems like the 'little' things get to be the important ones.
I was concerned to read you had Annie tied and she was agitated. This is a situation you should avoid.....anything that could put stress on that neck needs to be avoided.
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