Events
Groups
Rider Directory
Market
RideCamp
Stuff
I had a perfectly miserable day yesterday. I walked out in the morning to
feed and found a previously beautiful two and a half week old filly with a
grotesquely swollen face. I could see the lower jaw was at an angle, and
the filly was trying to nurse or eat hay and could not. I thought we'd be
digging a hole that day and about fell apart. It turned out she had a
fractured lower mandible, either the result of getting in the way of a kick
or from being stepped on. It is an oblique break, at an angle, on both
sides, right behind the two front baby teeth, so the front portion of the
lower jaw was completely unattached to the back. The front portion had slid
under the back portion. We trailered her to equine specialists in Tucson 60
miles away, and she went into surgery to reduce the fracture. We were able
to observe the surgery from the office. I could see the husband-wife team
was having trouble. It took an hour and a half to complete the surgery.
After the surgery, the told us that the first time they reduced the
fracture, the front section just kept sliding under the back, because of
the oblique angle of the facture, which would have given her a terrible
parrot mouth, as the lower front teeth would have been an inch or more off
of meeting the upper front teeth. They had never had a problem like this,
and improvised and devised a strategy where they took a tube of metal and
put it on either side of the jaw between the front teeth and the first of
the molars on each side of the jaw, as a spacer, ran the wire through the
spacer tube, and then tightened the wire to hold it all together. It is
fortunate that at her age the teeth had errupted enough that they could use
them in this way. I saw them use a drill, too, on each side of the
fracture, and I think they may have put pins in at the fracture site on
each side.
They said it was the most difficult mandible fracture reduction they had
ever done, and the youngest horse they had ever done it on. Weanlings had
been the youngest before. Part of the problem is that she is so young that
her bones are very soft and fragile. They decided to wrap the jaw with
elastic tape right behind the fracture, to just leave a tube like opening,
which is all a foal needs to nurse anyway. They are concerned with the
stability of the jaw, though, and are considering whether they will put a
splint under the jaw to stabilize the situation. They have kept the mare
and foal there, although normally after this surgery they would send the
horse home. But their concern that they may have to take her back into
surgery to further stabilize the fracture. On a bright note, they believe
because of her age once they do get it stabilized that it will heal within
four to six weeks, and their experience has been that in six months it is
difficult to see these breaks even on an x-ray. They expect that if they
can get the fracture stabilized, that she will not have any residual
effects.
Any one had any experience with anything similar? Any suggestions out there
for me or the hard working and creative vets? Any kind words of
encouragement gratefully received as I have been a little shaky since
yesterday. We all know accidents can happen, horses are accidents waiting
to happen, but it is so horrible when one does.
Annette
gerhardt@theriver.com
gerhard@c2i2.com
Events
Groups
Rider Directory
Market
RideCamp
Stuff