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Discussion on Pelvis fracture???
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Member:
vera
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Posted on Saturday, Apr 11, 2009 - 11:44 pm:
I wrote in a while ago with a questionable stifle injury, but now I think that it might be an issue with my horse's pelvis. I did have the vet look at him about two weeks ago regarding his stifle and he said that there seemed to be slight superficial swelling near the stifle, but no big deal. Well today he is much more lame than he was when i initially wrote in and now I'm wondering if this might be related to his pelvis. A pretty long time ago (~2yrs ago) he hit his tuber coxae (point of hip) on the side of the stall door. I don't know what I was thinking, but I didn't have it looked at at all. The STUPID things I do Anyway, he fell this past Monday in the pasture on the same side that he hit his pelvis and the same side that he is now pretty short on. I've noticed for a while a slight shortness on that side and now I think that might be related to the stall door incident. It's much shorter now and that could be due to the fall. I gave him 2g of bute tonight and will tomorrow until I can call the vet. I might just take him to an equine hospital in the area or University of Missouri Vet school. Does anyone have any experience with this type of injury? Any advice or suggestions?
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Member:
mitch316
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Posted on Sunday, Apr 12, 2009 - 12:57 am:
Angela, what do you mean by "pretty short", ie. is one leg shorter than the other, or does he pull up short. Pelvis injuries are common in falls, especially if all four feet come out from under them and there hip takes the brunt of the fall. It doesn't sound like a dislocation, which is good because they are a pain in the you know what to put back in...all the dislocation's I have seen caused complete lameness, and if they were down, couldn't get back up. I remember one where it took five of us pulling this way and that, tugging, and were just about to give up and make a decision about surgically putting it back in place when she wallowed a bit, then kinda rolled up on one side, and "pop", back it went and she trotted off in the distance, leaving a crowd of dirty farmers and 1 vet and his assistant. looking like fools, ha. Bruises can happen along the ridge line, and even tendon and ligament damage, although that is kinda rare too because of the strength of the muscle/ligament combo there.
Don't be so hard on yourself for not checking it out, as horses bang and scuff themselves all the time and seldom cause any damage. We have a Speed Racker named Kajun who when released after riding will run full speed into his stall. I cannot tell you the times he has split his head, cut his shoulder, etc. Even walking him in, he just drags you along. Almost scalped himself once, and needed stitches to reattach 4 inches of his mane back to his head. But then one day, kinda stumbled over a rock on a trail ride and we thought, hey after all he has done to himself, that is nothing. But the resulting stone bruise was the worse I have ever seen, causing him to go off of his feed, and nearly ended up killing him. So please understand, you did nothing wrong here!
Back to his injury, is any area painful to the touch? Swollen? Sunken in? A hip has a very important job on a horse, so any lameness bears checking out. I would definitely get the vet out, and until then treat as you would any joint/bone/ligament injury using hot/cold therapy and keep put him on stall rest if possible. Better to be safe than sorry. If you have a pretty capable vet well experienced in equine injuries, I would personally wait before I made a trip to the hospital or university as he/she could save you a lot of money diagnosing on the spot. But thats just me. If he was totally lame, meaning off of his feed, laying down or not moving at all, I would call that an emergency and then would get him checked out as quick as possible.
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Member:
vera
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Posted on Sunday, Apr 12, 2009 - 9:04 am:
Thank you Jesse for you kind words. He is not off his feed and is moving around so it's not an emergency. It would be much easier to have the vet out b/c he is such a handful when I trailer him anywhere. I'm not sure though about his competence when it comes to lameness exams. I just thought that it would be wise to go somewhere where they could radiograph his pelvis.
For a while I've noticed that he was not tracking up with his right hind slightly, but thought it had more to do with his upright foot on his left front or underdevelopment. Last night when I lunged him it was much more pronounced (the tracking up problem). The only reason that I noticed anything was that he is resting his right hind much more than normal. I was calling referring to the tracking up problem when I said he was pretty short.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Sunday, Apr 12, 2009 - 9:33 am:
Hello Angela,
as the diagnosis remains unknown I agree with your decision to pursue further diagnostics to pinpoint the cause of the problem. This should be done before contemplating treatment and prognosis.
Since there is a recent injury or possibly reinjury, I would recommend having your regular veterinarian examine him but you could decide to do it either way. Usually you get your regular veterinarian to call and make a referral.
DrO
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Member:
vera
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Posted on Sunday, Apr 12, 2009 - 11:58 am:
Yeah, Thanks Dr O. I'll call him tomorrow. Hopefully things are minor and with rest he can return to normal. Would it be safe to assume since the lameness isn't severe that the prognosis would be better or is that untrue? Could there be bruising and not a fracture? After he hit the stall door there must have not been much lameness or I would have surely called the vet. Yeah, but I know that this is all conjecture right now. I'm a nervous person that is always looking for someone to tell me that everything is going to be OK. This horse is only 5 and it makes me sick to think that his career could be over before it got started. Thanks so much.
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Moderator:
DrO
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Posted on Monday, Apr 13, 2009 - 7:48 am:
I don't think the incident years ago is responsible for this new lameness. Horses hit their pinbone or the pelvis all the time. That is not to say it does not happen, I just would not focus of that as a likely cause: even if this area is the source of the lameness.
There are probably more chronic low grade injuries (as measured by degree of lameness) than chronic severe lamenesses.
DrO
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Member:
vera
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Posted on Thursday, Apr 16, 2009 - 10:35 am:
I talked to the vet last night and he wants me to give him 2g of bute for seven days and then if he's still not feeling well to call him and he'll come out. He is in concurrence with you Dr O about the pelvis, but thinks that maybe he is just sore from the fall he took in the paddock. I noticed this morning that he walked briskly to the barn for his morning meal instead of trotting like he usually does. Should I read anything in that?
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