Anvil Equine Veterinary Clinic
Tuckmans Farm
Bar Lane Copsale
Horsham Sussex RH13 9AY
E: anvilvets@aol.com T: 01403 731213
BILLY
REGGIE's STORY
VELIN MOORE
Alastair went to give him and his mum a post foaling check. For those who have not had the pleasure of breeding a foal this is always a good idea within the first 24 hours of foaling. The vet will check the foals heart, lungs, eyes and limbs and for abnormalities such as hernias. The mare is checked over too and the afterbirth examined to make sure that the mare has passed it all. If any is retained a nasty infection can be the result. Nine times out of ten all will be well as indeed was the case with Billy, a big chestnut with a feisty nature right from the start.
DAY TWO
Billy’s very worried owner phoned the clinic at lunchtime. Billy had run head first into a fence post and was behaving very strangely. Becky left immediately to attend to him. On arrival we found a very different foal to the one in the photograph. Billy was lying in the straw distressed and sweating with an enormous lump on his forehead. On examination his eye reflexes are abnormal and the head is so swollen it was not possible to feel if he has a skull fracture. Becky immediately gave him a jab of a very strong anti-inflammatory to try and prevent further damage to his brain but we feel pessimistic about his chances.
Later in the day we went back and repeated the treatment, Billy’s appearance was unchanged but Becky was slightly encouraged by the fact he had not suffered any seizures. Seizures are a common symptom of brain damage. Billy’s owners stayed by his side throughout the night making sure he remained resting comfortably, propped up to avoid congestion in his lungs.
DAY THREE
Billy’s feisty nature came to the fore and we were surprised and very pleased to find him standing unaided when we returned to the yard the following day. Sadly however, he still seemed quite blind and also unable to suckle. He had definitely suffered quite severe damage to his brain. It was decided to milk his mum and bottle feed him. This was a little easier for him but by the evening he had not had nearly enough milk so Alastair went out to feed him via a stomach tube and we left him with a nice full tum for the night.
DAY FOUR
Once again we saw a slight improvement in Billy when we went out! He was certainly putting up a good fight. Drinking better from the bottle and showing more normal foal type behaviour. It was decided not to tube feed him again in order to encourage him to try harder to feed from his mum.
A WEEK LATER
Billy’s story is not yet ended. He continues to improve and today he went out in the sunshine in a nice safe pen for the first time since his accident. He is once again suckling and it would seem that his youth is assisting his recovery from what was an extremely severe trauma. Only time will tell if he has suffered any lasting damage.
.TOP
Reggie is a Connemara x TB/ID. He decided to jump out of his Mum’s stable when he was 4 weeks old taking most of the hair off the fronts of both his hind legs but was otherwise unscathed.
When Reggie was about 2 months old his owner noticed that his off fore seemed to be becoming very upright, by 3 months it was obvious that all was not well. Alastair went out in early November and diagnosed “Ballerina Syndrome”. This is a shortening of the DDFT (deep digital flexor tendon) which causes the toe to point and the heel to come up off the ground, hence the name. Alastair advised remedial foot care which was started by Reggie’s farrier. He was weaned at 5 months to help slow his growth rate and toe extensions were fitted by the farrier. Reggie unfortunately kept managing to break them off in the mud so it was decided to box rest him as well. The toe extensions are designed to help stretch the DDFT by making the heel touch the ground.
despite all this effort, Reggie was not really showing much improvement and Alastair x-rayed his leg. This showed up the severity of the problem and it was then obvious that Reggie would need surgery it there was to be any hope of his leg developing normally.
The procedure is called an ICL Desmotomy. It involves cutting through the inferior check ligament which then allows the DDFT to stretch more - hopefully releasing the contracture enough to allow the foot to sit in a normal position.
Reggie came in for his operation this year. The procedure went extremely well and Reggie was castrated at the same time. He stayed with us at the clinic for a few days, being a model patient despite his youth and enthusiasm. We did have to shut his top door when Roxy and Bacardi were turned out in the mornings as by day 2 Reggie was feeling well enough to fancy going out and thinking seriously about repeating his jumping over the stable door trick.
Since his operation Reggie has made really good progress. We hope to update his story as he grows up.
We were called out to see Velin who is a talented young show jumper gelding after he had jumped out of his field. He was extremely lame on his left hind leg and could hardly put it to the floor. It was very swollen around his stifle joint and tibia and very painful to touch in this area. There was also a small puncture wound. We were extremely concerned that there may be a fracture and that his joint could also be infected from the puncture wound.
Because we were concerned about a fracture we did not want to take the risk of transporting Velin to the clinic immediately so we took digital x-rays out in the field. We also took a sample of fluid from his joint to see if it showed signs of infection.
The radiographs showed that he had sustained a stress fracture of his tibial crest; the fracture was not displaced but looked like it communicated with part of his stifle joint.
Luckily the joint fluid analysis showed that the infection from the puncture had not reached his joint but that the joint was severely traumatised and inflamed. Velin was cross tied in his box and given antibiotics both into his stifle joint and intravenously, along with anti-inflammatory medication.
We also ultrasounded his stifle joint to see if there was any visible damage to the meniscal structures or the patellar ligaments, all of which appeared undamaged.
Velin responded well to the intravenous antibiotics and antinflammatories. I week later the leg was much less swollen and painful. The joint was re-tapped and showed that the inflammation was settling down and there were still no signs of infection.
Velin had to remain cross-tied for 4 weeks to allow the fracture to heal. At this stage radiographs were taken and everything was looking good to he was allowed to be untied. He had to remain box rested for another 4 weeks but was allowed to begin being walked out in hand.
Two months after the initial injury he was sound at walk and trot and the joint effusion was continuing to reduce. He was allowed to be turned out by himself in a small pen (with high fences!) and slowly begin resuming ridden work.
Six months after his injury Velin appears to be back to normal. He has jumped double clears in his first two outings so things are looking promising for the future if he can stay out of trouble!
Billy