BANNERS STORY - STIFLE INJURY RECOVERY WITHOUT SURGERY

At Highland Wildrides we often rescue and rehabilitate horses that have all sorts of problems.

We have had several of our equine friends, that have been ill and thought unlikely to pull through, make a full recovery - not just surviving their illnesses, but managing to become horses that work in the riding centre.

Last year in May our Miniature Appaloosa stallion, Banner, sustained a very serious injury to one of his hind legs. He completely ruptured all the ligament, tendon and muscle around his stifle to the point where his leg could be moved at 90 degrees to the side.  After several examinations and x-rays the vets from the local practice had informed us that surgery was the only thing likely to help him, but that the kind of surgery he required wasn’t available to horses in the UK– only dogs. Banner is just 32 inches and we felt that he was similar to a very large dog so we enquired what his chance of recovery without surgery was and we were told that there was no known case in Britain of horses having healed naturally with this kind of injury, and that if no improvement was made he would need to be destroyed.

Initially there seemed to be some improvement as the muscle repaired itself but the vets felt it was doubtful that the tendons and ligaments could ever really heal, and sure enough his progress slowed to almost a dead stop.

Heartbroken, we decided to give him more time before making the decision to destroy him. Banner was the first pony at Rhinamain and, like many owners faced with this dilemma, we felt that he needed to be given every chance possible to make a recovery, even if it was only a partial one. Banner is just a pet and isn’t worked so he only needed to recover enough to be happy in himself (which he already seemed to be as he was lapping up the attention that being permanently inside was getting him!).Surprisingly he was not in any pain (the painful part is the snapping of the ligament but once that has happened it doesn’t hurt any longer) meaning there was no danger of long term liver failure from medication. After discussions with the vets we agreed that if at any point it got worse, or if it had not made a recovery within a set amount of time that Banner would be put down, but for the time being he didn’t seem ready to give up yet himself and therefore neither would the Wildriders! It was decided to give him a full year to improve as tendon injuries take that long to heal completely whereas it was unlikely that even with time the ligaments ever could.

Nursing a sick horse is the most difficult part of any injury or illness. Keeping them from becoming depressed and giving up is the main problem we have faced with any of our seriously sick horses. Initially Banner had to be kept completely immobile so he was given a pen that was the size of him standing up with room for a bucket to be put in front of him. We searched the internet for stories like Banners with a positive outcome to see if there was any product, or management routine that had helped, but sadly there were just no stories out there of any horse having recovered from such an injury.

It was quickly decided to try alternative therapies and as Reiki has had a very positive effect on some of the humans here we called in Reiki Master, Norma Roche to give Banner Reiki and Crystal healing. His stall was gridded with quartz and he was treated on the site of his wound with selenite. He had a session each week and it had an amazing effect as we saw his healing rate begin to pick up quite rapidly from the beginning. It helped him a great deal with the frustration he was suffering from being kept indoors and unable to move. He seemed utterly aware of his condition and he stopped making a play for mares although his interest in them never dwindled!

We fed him mainly on a diet of haylage and Alfalfa chaff or pulp, but we had real problems with his bedding as his boredom would lead him to eat it – even shavings - and on one occasion he got colic after choosing to eat his straw bed rather than the grade “A” haylage we were giving him. He narrowly pulled through this as well – he was on his last possible dose of paraffin when he finally had a gut movement. He has also had a lot of his muscle atrophy as he has had his movement so severely restricted.

In the summer a Canadian vet came over and rode with us and when she went home she did some research to see if there were any cases like Banner. Our spirits were lifted when she got back to us saying that she had heard of one horse that had Banners injuries and, although an operation will be offered to horses with this in Canada and the US, it was elected by the owners not to go down the surgical route but to allow the horse to heal naturally which it did and was eventually fit enough to bear a rider in trot!

Hope renewed, we continued to do the best we could for Banner, and over time he began to get stronger and we were able to give him more room and short walks. When we did his feet he even managed to stand and bear his weight on his bad leg in order to have his good ones trimmed. We are very happy to say that now his year is up he has radically improved with the box rest we have given him and in the late spring he will be allowed out onto pasture. He has still got a limp, but his leg is really mobile and it is hoped with careful management he will be able to live out the rest of his life happily.

To this day we have never been able to ascertain what it was that caused Banners injury.

If you have a horse that has had this kind of injury or has needed lots of box rest then please go to www.highlandwildrides.co.uk for our full contact details and get in touch. We know how important it is to get help from other owners and how frustrating it was when we couldn’t find anyone out there. We would like to take this opportunity to thank Norma Roche and Kessock Equine Vets for their expertise and support over the last year, but most of all we would also like to say a BIG THANK YOU to all the Wildriders who have cared for Banner. You have all helped to make him comfortable and frustration free throughout his long term indoors and I know he really appreciated it.

This entry was posted on 05/04/2009 at 12:22 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.