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  Discussion on Injury of muscle near the withers
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Member:
aletao

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 10, 2009 - 9:42 pm:

I have a yearling filly who has swelling above her scapula on both sides, with what appears to be the scapula extending higher than her withers. The vet came out and said that she had separated some bone from muscle, causing the swelling. He suggests a whole bunch of time. I didn't think to ask him at the time (the filly is no longer lame), but would use of steroids or anti-inflammatories help speed up the healing?

The injury is apparently from somebody who came out to my property (with my permission) and tied the filly (without my permission) when grooming her. I was not there when this happened.

I've seen tons of horses fight being tied before, but I've not seen this type of injury. Are there any insights?
Member:
ekaufman

Posted on Wednesday, Jun 10, 2009 - 10:50 pm:

Hello Aleta,

This sounds like an unfortunate and painful injury. I'm trying to visualize what you describe-- are left and right scapulas (scapulae?) actually displaced above the line of the wither? Where is the swelling? And what diagnostics did your vet perform?

I have seen soft tissue swelling behind a scapula extend above the wither line on one side on a horse with a severe shoulder injury, but I have never seen what you describe. Did the person who tied her tell you what happened? Does your filly have any other symptoms or signs of trauma? I guess I would be concerned about her neck, if she fought the tie. Not certain how she could get bilateral shoulder injuries without hurting other stuff as well?

In my experience, shoulder trauma does take a long time to resolve. Sometimes the horse doesn't return to full performance potential. For my own horse (currently laid up with a shoulder injury), I gave anti-inflammatories to reduce swelling, but I am not trying to reduce her discomfort, since it's the only thing keeping her from over-using the injured soft tissue. My horse, however, has more heart (and horns) than sense.
Moderator:
DrO

Posted on Thursday, Jun 11, 2009 - 7:42 am:

I too am interested in elk's questions on how this condition was diagnosed: where radiographs of the scapula taken? Unlike humans the scapula has not bony connection to the thorax, it is entirely bound to the chest by muscle. So it would be possible to tear this junction but damage to the junction normally occurs by abnormal abduction of the leg away from the body. Long before the muscles tear severe damage is done to the nerves and vessels of the axilla. It is hard for me to picture a generalized shift of the scapula proximally like you see with the pelvis and hunter bumps.

Fracture of the upper portion perhaps or most likely soft tissue swelling that makes it look like proximal displacement (are we looking at an early fistulous withers) but I wait for evidence that I might be wrong here.
DrO
Member:
aletao

Posted on Thursday, Jun 11, 2009 - 9:10 am:

No X-rays were done, just a visual, physical exam and a guess. I've been around some horses that have pulled like crazy on a hotwalker, or even have broken loose (or not) from being tied, but have never seen anything like this.

The area that is swollen is actually one to two inches forward of (cranial to?)the withers. The swelling looks like an extension of the top of the scapula. It's on both sides, but a little more pronounced on the left.

The filly walks soundly, although her stride is not as long as it was prior to the injury. She trots, and gallops in the field as well. When pressed on, prodded, etc., the area doesn't appear to bother her. Initially, she was unable to extend her neck down all the way to eat out of the tub on the ground.

I've got a feeling that the vet hasn't seen anything like this before. I don't have the finances to haul her to an advanced clinic/hospital at this time, especially since she's not in pain.

Aleta
Member:
jjrichar

Posted on Thursday, Jun 11, 2009 - 9:50 am:

Aleta, did your filly pull back and flip over when she was tied (or broke free)?

For her to have that severe of an injury, it sounds like she flipped over to me. Like Dr. O mentioned I would be worried that she has a fracture. I have heard of this injury, but only when one flips over, especially with horses tied on cross ties that flip over on a hard surface.

How long ago did this happen?
Member:
aletao

Posted on Thursday, Jun 11, 2009 - 6:33 pm:

It has been sworn to me that the filly did not flip, nor did she break from from being tied. Curious, isn't it? It's been about two weeks.
Member:
ekaufman

Posted on Thursday, Jun 11, 2009 - 10:13 pm:

Did she go flat on her chest with forelegs splayed like E<>W points of a compass? Trying to imagine how this could happen, if your vet has pinpointed the problem.
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