# Recover 100% from a fetlock sprain?



## RHRHancocksDrifter (Aug 30, 2016)

1 month since my yearling filly (17 months old soon) has sprained her hind fetlock. She could do lots and she's smart, but this sprain is affecting her. I'm not sure what I can do to help her heal properly, I'm a bit worried because she uses it and it looks pretty smooth while she's moving (it doesn't seem to bother her much, she and our gelding where "racing" out in the pasture and she smoked past him and he is one of the fastest horses the owner before us had and he was really trying to not let her get past) but as soon as she stops she will usually stands on the toe but getting a bit better at normal standing, and that leg will look really cow hocked compared to the other.

I want to start her as a 2 (not the Jan 1st 2 the 24 months 2) year old but I don't know how horses recover after fetlock sprains :shrug: 
How long do you wait after a sprain before you return a horse back to ponying, longing and riding?
Do horses return to being sound again, where they can do speed work eventually?
My main concern is that she recovers to 100% sound, how long does that take? 
Is 9 months enough time for her to heal properly so I can start* her?

*I'm not crazy and going to make her gallop, canter, jump, slid stops, run barrels or anything like that for 6 1/2 hours a day. Start to me is practice getting on and off, stopping, turning, moving forward off leg into a walk so she's confident with that, then add in a *little* speed and agility as we go, and only about 5-10 mins a day at first then slowly build up to about 15-20 mins a day by 2 1/2

Any age estimates for the above would be great! thank you!


----------



## Dustbunny (Oct 22, 2012)

I have a 24 year old mare who did the same thing almost 3 weeks ago. The vet applied a poultice which stayed in place for 3 days and I am keeping a clean wrap on it until the vet sees her again tomorrow. He says she will heal but it could take up to 6 months. She is in the pasture with her 17 year old friend so you can imagine there I not a lot of activity other that walking and eating.
Has the vet seen your filly? Until this heals you need to gear her activity to what she CAN do. Be patient and let this injury heal. Considering her young age and high energy level, you may need to limit her free space a bit.


----------



## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

What advice has your vet given you pertaining to this problem?


----------



## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

RHRHancocksDrifter said:


> 1 month since my yearling filly (17 months old soon) has sprained her hind fetlock. She could do lots and she's smart, but this sprain is affecting her. I'm not sure what I can do to help her heal properly


Ditto to Zexious. 

How do you KNOW she has a sprained fetlock? You did not mention a vet, so that leads me to believe you have not taken her to one. 

Therefore that needs to be your first step. Take the filly to an experienced equine lameness vet. 

My Shotgun (at age 4) was diagnosed with fluid in his right front tendon (in laymans terms) and essentially had "sprained" it. We could see the pocket of fluid in the tendon with the ultrasound. Thankfully, we caught it early. The vet recommended DMSO for 3 days with wrapping, and then he was placed on stall rest. 

If you let them run around and move too much, they can re-sprain and re-injure. After 2 months of stall rest, I brought him back for a follow up. The fluid seen with ultrasound was about 50% reduced in size. After another 2 more months of stall rest, we checked again. Still some fluid present but still improving. 

At that point, I chose to turn him out to pasture b/c I was pregnant and knew I wouldn't be riding him for at least the next 9 months anyway, so he would have plenty of time to keep healing. 

They always say that sprains can be worse than breaks (in bone) because they take so long to heal. And they do.

But I think your first step is to take your horse to a good vet to find out what the real problem is. If it is a sprain, then you need to confine her to she can heal.


----------



## RHRHancocksDrifter (Aug 30, 2016)

No I have not seen a vet about it, I'm planning on it soon but I don't have the time right now. But I do know that it is a sprain, I see her about every 3 hours lol and make sure there nothing wrong. I was out with her when she started limping and it was because she sprained it. I watched her do it. And I'm not able to take her to one because she sprained it and making her step up 20ish inches in a trailer and haul her down the highway is not going to be fun for her, I got help for it from a lady who pretty much lives in the vets office she gave me some bute. I gave it to her for 5 days and took her off it.


----------



## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

RHRHancocksDrifter said:


> No I have not seen a vet about it, I'm planning on it soon *but I don't have the time right now.* But I do know that it is a sprain, I see her about every 3 hours :lol: and make sure there nothing wrong. I was out with her when she started limping and it was because she sprained it. *I watched her do it.*


And how do you know she didn't get a hairline fracture instead of a sprain? Can your eyes see that? Do you have x-ray vision?


You do not truly know what is going on until she sees the vet. Find the time.

We cannot possibly tell you what is wrong with your horse over the internet, or tell you how long she is going to take to heal, if she hasn't even been properly diagnosed in the first place.


----------



## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

Sprains are awful injuries because they start feeling better before they are actually healed so people and horses tend to use them more than they should. Did your vet tell you to keep her in? I'm not a vet but I know when my horse fractured his pelvis I was told to keep him in a confined space and not to let him run around like an idiot. He was about a year old when he did it. I was told 6 months to heal. Now that was a fracture and not a sprain but I would guess that while movement is important for a horses digestion and joints, it would be important to keep the baby from racing around like an idiot as well.


----------



## Prairie (May 13, 2016)

RHRHancocksDrifter said:


> No I have not seen a vet about it, I'm planning on it soon but I don't have the time right now. But I do know that it is a sprain, I see her about every 3 hours lol and make sure there nothing wrong. I was out with her when she started limping and it was because she sprained it. I watched her do it. And I'm not able to take her to one because she sprained it and making her step up 20ish inches in a trailer and haul her down the highway is not going to be fun for her, I got help for it from a lady who pretty much lives in the vets office she gave me some bute. I gave it to her for 5 days and took her off it.



How can you not have time to take her to the vet but you have the time to open a thread about it on this forum? To get her on the trailer, just back the trailer into a ditch so the step up is much lower.


----------



## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

Prairie said:


> How can you not have time to take her to the vet but you have the time to open a thread about it on this forum? To get her on the trailer, just back the trailer into a ditch so the step up is much lower.


It takes just a couple minutes to type a post and to be honest, there is nothing wrong with asking for advice.

I would also suggest at the very least a phone call to the vet. There is no way to know if the baby only sprained it's fetlock. There could be so many levels of injury and it could be not the fetlock at all. Do you have heat and swelling? I generally give it no more than three days to call a vet on a lameness issue unless I know exactly what it is i.e. Navicular, stone bruise, minor scrape, abscess.


----------



## Zexious (Aug 2, 2013)

Not to 'beat a dead horse' (perhaps not the most kosher term on this forum, haha!) but I wouldn't bother worrying about starting this filly until she can be examined. Really consider your priorities--if your horse is in pain (and if she's limping, she is) it should be a priority to deal with the problem.


----------



## Prairie (May 13, 2016)

farmpony84 said:


> It takes just a couple minutes to type a post and to be honest, there is nothing wrong with asking for advice.
> 
> I would also suggest at the very least a phone call to the vet. There is no way to know if the baby only sprained it's fetlock. There could be so many levels of injury and it could be not the fetlock at all. Do you have heat and swelling? I generally give it no more than three days to call a vet on a lameness issue unless I know exactly what it is i.e. Navicular, stone bruise, minor scrape, abscess.



And it only takes a minute to call the vet and set up an appointment. Coming on a forum asking how to treat a sprain when nobody even knows if that's the problem is fruitless. The horse needs to be seen by a vet so the OP knows what the issue is and follow the vet's directions.


----------



## tinyliny (Oct 31, 2009)

I can see coming to a forum to ask for ideas/opinions, which makes one perhaps more prepared when the vet does come.


----------



## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

Unfortunately, the OP has been on here since Aug 30 and has started 5 threads about this filly, wanting to know what to expect, how soon to break, how hard to push and finally since the sprain, breeding the filly so she can be "doing something" while she heals. She's been talking on the board, to the breeder who has the stallion that she wanted to put the filly to and who knows how many others since this injury occurred. It's past time to call the vet.


----------



## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

Prairie said:


> And it only takes a minute to call the vet and set up an appointment. Coming on a forum asking how to treat a sprain when nobody even knows if that's the problem is fruitless. The horse needs to be seen by a vet so the OP knows what the issue is and follow the vet's directions.


Did you only read the first sentence of my response? Had you read the second paragraph you would have seen we were on the same page. I'm only stating that it should ok for someone to post a question on the forum. Although it appears that I have missed a few other pertinent threads.

OP - at this point, you really should call a vet or sell the filly to someone that is willing to wait for her to heal and buy another sound horse. Preferably a gelding so you are not tempted to breed should he become injured. This isn't meant to be a nasty post, just a little hard love.


----------



## Dustbunny (Oct 22, 2012)

Dreamcatcher Arabians said:


> ... and finally since the sprain, breeding the filly so she can be "doing something" while she heals.



Breeding? This youngster? This filly needs to heal, grow up and have some training. But before anything else, call the vet!


----------



## Dreamcatcher Arabians (Nov 14, 2010)

farmpony84 said:


> OP - at this point, you really should call a vet or sell the filly to someone that is willing to wait for her to heal and buy another sound horse. Preferably a gelding so you are not tempted to breed should he become injured. This isn't meant to be a nasty post, just a little hard love.


http://www.horseforum.com/horse-tack-equipment/most-important-piece-tack-read-726498/

Gelding


----------



## jaydee (May 10, 2012)

Using bute to mask pain isn't a good idea when you have an injury that needs rest to help it heal. If you use bute to reduce inflammation then its usually safer to either stall the horse or keep in in a very restricted area so it can't move about too much to add extra strain to the injury
If the horse can't stand safely and steadily on all four legs in a trailer then transporting it any distance could end up in disaster and having a vet come out to your site with equipment to scan/X ray is possibly your best choice of action


----------



## RHRHancocksDrifter (Aug 30, 2016)

Ok I don't know why everyone thinks I'm so stupid that I'm not able to tell the difference between a sprain and a break, it's a sprain. 
And I'm not asking for people to tell me to sell my filly. She's mine. She's going no where. End of that idea. 

Now please, unless you are going to answer my question don't post on this forum a spam of what a looser horse owner I am. I'm not asking you what you think of me.

Thank you


----------



## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

RHRHancocksDrifter said:


> 1 month since my yearling filly (17 months old soon) has sprained her hind fetlock. She could do lots and she's smart, but this sprain is affecting her. I'm not sure what I can do to help her heal properly, I'm a bit worried because she uses it and it looks pretty smooth while she's moving (it doesn't seem to bother her much, she and our gelding where "racing" out in the pasture and she smoked past him and he is one of the fastest horses the owner before us had and he was really trying to not let her get past) but as soon as she stops she will usually stands on the toe but getting a bit better at normal standing, and that leg will look really cow hocked compared to the other.
> 
> I want to start her as a 2 (not the Jan 1st 2 the 24 months 2) year old but I don't know how horses recover after fetlock sprains :shrug:
> How long do you wait after a sprain before you return a horse back to ponying, longing and riding?
> ...


2 is pushing it anyways, even if you go slow what's the rush? The world won't end if you wait longer and it will only help her all around in the long run.

How was this injury diagnosed? Did the vet do an u/s?

ETA- I didn't realize the vet hadn't even seen her!! If you want her to be a riding horse, esp looking to start her "asap" then the vet needs to see her. She could have a fracture, she could have torn something. With an injury like this she could very well NOT recover if you don't approach it properly. Without even knowing there's no way you can do that. I'm not trying to scare you but these can be VERY VERY serious, career ending, or life ending, and you haven't seen the vet because you don't have time?

The recent injuries I've seen the horses have BARELY been lame even at onset. So the fact that your girl is not only pretty lame but not even receiving ANY treatment (she's even being allowed to "race" in the field?!), let alone under a vet's care is pretty scary to me. And the fact that her whole leg looks cowhocked? That's not normal.

Please get her checked, I've read your (multiple) threads and it's obvious you care about her a lot and can't wait to get going with her, so make sure you are able to do that, put the horse first. You're so caught up in what to do with her she's sitting out there with an untended injury. You have a great little horse. Keep her that way.


----------



## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

RHRHancocksDrifter said:


> Ok I don't know why everyone thinks I'm so stupid that I'm not able to tell the difference between a sprain and a break, it's a sprain. *A licensed veterinarian cannot tell the difference without diagnostic equipment so unless you have x-ray vision no you really can't tell. It has nothing to do with intelligence, obviously if her leg was shattered you would know, but do you really think you can diagnose a hairline fracture yourself? Being intelligent means admitting you don't know everything and finding out ways to make sure you do (vet)*
> And I'm not asking for people to tell me to sell my filly. She's mine. She's going no where. End of that idea. *Of course, your horse. But any owner has an obligation and responsibility to care for their animals. Your animal is injured. It need to be seen by a vet. That's something you signed up for when you bought her. I agree that if you can't or aren't willing to care for her for whatever reason that selling her would be better for both of you. Be practical. If you're going to do that then that's great.*
> 
> Now please, unless you are going to answer my question don't post on this forum a spam of what a looser horse owner I am. I'm not asking you what you think of me.
> ...


I am simply concerned that you have an animal that can't speak for itself that is in pain and has been in pain and for whatever reason you haven't addressed it. It's not an attack on you. People just want to help your horse. Put her first. Right here and right now you have suffering animal. Forget about breeding (not that it's ethical or safe on such a young animal, concerned you'd even consider it!) forget about riding. Focus on the horse you're dealing with right now. If she was trained I would hope you wouldn't be riding her atm anyways.


----------



## farmpony84 (Apr 21, 2008)

RHRHancocksDrifter said:


> Ok I don't know why everyone thinks I'm so stupid that I'm not able to tell the difference between a sprain and a break, it's a sprain.
> And I'm not asking for people to tell me to sell my filly. She's mine. She's going no where. End of that idea.
> 
> Now please, unless you are going to answer my question don't post on this forum a spam of what a looser horse owner I am. I'm not asking you what you think of me.
> ...


I haven't seen anywhere in this thread where people have referred to you as stupid or called you a loser horse owner. I don't have the vet out for ever injury or sickness. I do have my own rule of thumb and that is a three day wait on a lameness issue if I don't know what the problem is. You asked for advice and I'm giving it. You mention that you know what a sprain is and don't need an x-ray. You may be right, it could be a sprain but if you've had heat and swelling for a month then it could be so many things that are much worse. I read that you said she's running around like an idiot. If she is, it's not going to heal.

I know the suggestion to sell was harsh but it was advice that I felt I wanted to offer you. You don't have to take it but you also don't get to refer to my advice (that you asked for) or any other forum members advice (which you asked for) as spam. You don't have to take the advice, but you need to be respectful just as forum members need to be to you as well.


----------



## Prairie (May 13, 2016)

RHRHancocksDrifter said:


> Ok I don't know why everyone thinks I'm so stupid that I'm not able to tell the difference between a sprain and a break, it's a sprain.
> And I'm not asking for people to tell me to sell my filly. She's mine. She's going no where. End of that idea.
> 
> Now please, unless you are going to answer my question don't post on this forum a spam of what a looser horse owner I am. I'm not asking you what you think of me.
> ...



Do you have x-ray vision, because if you don't, you really don't know if there is a break or a sprain. Call the vet and have x-rays taken so you know for sure!


----------



## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

I've definitely seen sprains get worse when not managed properly.


----------



## beau159 (Oct 4, 2010)

RHRHancocksDrifter said:


> Ok I don't know why everyone thinks I'm so stupid that I'm not able to tell the difference between a sprain and a break, it's a sprain.


You *cannot *tell the difference between a soft tissue sprain or a hairline fracture unless you do an x-ray. 

It HAS happened to owners where they thought the horse had something else wrong with them, but when they finally looked closely, they discovered a hairline fracture. You simply cannot assume you know what's going on, when you haven't had the horse checked by the vet. I am not one to rush the horse to the vet for every little thing, but you state your horse has been lame (off and on) for an entire month. It's certainly time to get it checked. 




RHRHancocksDrifter said:


> Now please, unless you are going to answer my question don't post on this forum a


And if you are going to_ ignore_ everyone's answers simply because _you don't like_ the answers you are getting, then don't bother posting on a public forum. Why post if you aren't going to take anyone's advice, except the advice you want to hear?

I answered your question and gave you advice. If you don't want to listen to it, I guess that's fine and you can do what you want. But don't accuse people of not answering the question. We've told you loud and clear to take your filly to the vet. Clearly what you are doing is not working, and you admit that you don't know what to do.


----------



## RHRHancocksDrifter (Aug 30, 2016)

Dramatic much Yokiwick? "Life ending"
It's not that I don't like the answers I'm getting it's that it's not answering the question I've posted


----------



## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

RHRHancocksDrifter said:


> Dramatic much Yokiwick? "Life ending"
> It's not that I don't like the answers I'm getting it's that it's not answering the question I've posted


Well I hope you are at least listening to them. No, of course a tendon injury or even a small fracture in a domestic horse isn't a cause of death, but there are plenty of people who chose euthanasia as the best option in severe cases. The whole point is that you don't even know what you're dealing with so how do you know you can shrug it off? Dramatic, no. Realistic, yes. It just seems like you need a wake up call honestly, for the horses sake, and unfortunately despite what people have said it sounds like that hasn't happened yet.

The only person who can answer your question is a licensed veterinarian after doing diagnostic imaging. So if the only purpose of this thread is to get an answer to that question, then yes, it's been answered even if it's not to your liking.


----------



## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

Here's an image of the x-rays taken of one of my lambs. She was WALKING on this...and was put down promptly upon seeing these images poor thing. And even the vet was saying how optimistic she was and that it was probably just the tendon and a bad wrench. So yes, life ending.


----------



## EliRose (Aug 12, 2012)

Sorry, but this is neglect.


----------



## RHRHancocksDrifter (Aug 30, 2016)

Yogiwick said:


> Here's an image of the x-rays taken of one of my lambs. She was WALKING on this...


I'm amazed that lamb walked. I can now see why you mentioned the "life ending" part it just didn't have all this extra info around it so I took it more dramatic than it was so that's my bad


----------



## RHRHancocksDrifter (Aug 30, 2016)

Yogiwick said:


> Here's an image of the x-rays taken of one of my lambs. She was WALKING on this...


I'm amazed that lamb walked. I can now see why you mentioned the "life ending" part it just didn't have all this extra info around it so I took it more dramatic than it was so that's my bad


----------



## Yogiwick (Sep 30, 2013)

RHRHancocksDrifter said:


> I'm amazed that lamb walked. I can now see why you mentioned the "life ending" part it just didn't have all this extra info around it so I took it more dramatic than it was so that's my bad


Thanks for the apology, but no worries. No not trying to be dramatic, but yes trying to be a bit of a wake up call. Life ending simply means what's worth treating or not and such, or in my case even able to be treated.

I am just trying to help . Simply put, you never know. That's all. It's always important to get a diagnosis, the rest is (usually) easy. Especially with the sort of injuries that can easily be made worse.

Trust me, I definitely don't rush to the vet over every little thing myself! I am very far from dramatic lol. But I've dealt with a lot of stuff, and some things you just don't mess with, just more "realistic".


----------



## RHRHancocksDrifter (Aug 30, 2016)

Yogiwick said:


> Thanks for the apology, but no worries. No not trying to be dramatic, but yes trying to be a bit of a wake up call. Life ending simply means what's worth treating or not and such, or in my case even able to be treated.
> 
> I am just trying to help . Simply put, you never know. That's all. It's always important to get a diagnosis, the rest is (usually) easy. Especially with the sort of injuries that can easily be made worse.
> 
> Trust me, I definitely don't rush to the vet over every little thing myself! I am very far from dramatic lol. But I've dealt with a lot of stuff, and some things you just don't mess with, just more "realistic".


No problem, I don't want to be "the forum grump" and didn't want it to seem that way. 
She's been doing quite a bit better she's pretty much walking normally but I still stall her up a bit and stretch and massage her neck, back and limbs daily because I don't want her to reinjur especially with the mud and snow now :'o


----------



## EliRose (Aug 12, 2012)

I would still please, please, please get an actual vet out. You saw those X-rays and still haven't done so?


----------

