big grey gelding

[Andre]

I have a problem…. One of my geldings has a bum hock. My vet has found a rough spot on one of the non weight baring bones, to her it should not be bothering him this much. We are sending the x rays to the clinic in Syracuse for the big dogs to look at. I know I can’t afford any surgery. i have two options left. Find a clean dry run out situation and turn him out for a couple months to see if he can turn around on his own. Or the other option is a road I don’t want to travel. He is only five and one of the best horses I have ever had the pleasure to work with. My daughter drove him to two junior championship’s this summer. He is 18h and she can lead him anywhere. My niece threw a saddle on him at Addison fair for the first time and took second in a class of seven. A true gentle giant. Even when in pain this horse is a teddy bear. Pics of him are on the NEAPFD site.
He is the bigger dark horse in my hitch. This horse will do ANYTHING asked of him. I really want to see this horse live well. If anyone has any ideas or options please let me know! Call anytime 802-324-1190 or send an email Andre’ Palmer

[Anonymous]

hi andre’
sometimes horses can heal on there own, especially with a little help. like with some targeted supliments, ointments, good wrapping possibly, herbs, acupuncture. my mare did, overcame a horrendous injury to a pastern. pulling just fine now. amazing creatures. hang in there. let us know what the latest is. bob h.

[OldKat]

@Andre’ 4351 wrote:

I have a problem…. One of my geldings has a bum hock. My vet has found a rough spot on one of the non weight baring bones, to her it should not be bothering him this much. We are sending the x rays to the clinic in Syracuse for the big dogs to look at. I know I can’t afford any surgery. i have two options left. Find a clean dry run out situation and turn him out for a couple months to see if he can turn around on his own. Or the other option is a road I don’t want to travel. He is only five and one of the best horses I have ever had the pleasure to work with. My daughter drove him to two junior championship’s this summer. He is 18h and she can lead him anywhere. My niece threw a saddle on him at Addison fair for the first time and took second in a class of seven. A true gentle giant. Even when in pain this horse is a teddy bear. Pics of him are on the NEAPFD site.
He is the bigger dark horse in my hitch. This horse will do ANYTHING asked of him. I really want to see this horse live well. If anyone has any ideas or options please let me know! Call anytime 802-324-1190 or send an email Andre’ Palmer

Andre; are we talking a joint problem? or are we talking a bowed tendon here? Spavin, or what exactly are they calling it? I am going through that (bowed tendon) right now with my Red Angus herd bull. Came up with a tendon swollen the size of large carrot on his left inside hock last May, two days before he was to turn out with the cows. The vet said it is a 12 month proposition for bulls; 90 days to see if the swelling will go down, another 90 days for him to start to become mobile and another 180 days to see if he will fully recover. Most people will not give a bull that long to recover. My guy is worth it, because he is a truly exceptional individual and stamps out calves just like himself.

We are just past the half way point, and sure enough he is starting to get around with less and less of a limp. I am going to have to pull a couple of hundred pounds off of him before he can service the cows, but he is coming around. Sounds like you are now with your gelding where I was with “Mr Oklahoma” last May … and that was nearly sick to my stomach at the thought of putting him down or selling him as a slaughter bull. I started with a small pen, just big enough for him to lay down, stand and get water and eat from round bale feeder. About every 30 days I doubled the size of it until it finally got to be about 75 or 80 feet by 20 foot wide.

Now I turn him out with the horses one day in about an acre trap and then put him back in his pen the next day. Next I want to find about a 5 acre trap to put him in so he can start to gain strength in that leg. Unfortunately, none of the places I lease have a small pasture like that so I am still looking.

I guess the first thing is getting the pictures read at the clinic and then plan your course of action. If it is a tendon, I think you have a good shot at his recovery. Joint problems I am less sure of, but only speculating.

Good luck, & let us know what the pro’s say about the x-rays.

[jen judkins]

Andre, I’m sorry to hear about your big guy. I admired him at the NEAPFDs. All of your horses are gorgeous…but he definately stands out.

Some thoughts… an 18 hand 5 year old strikes me as an injury waiting to happen. Like many human teenagers and sports, rapid growth and even mild stress can cause problems. The good news is that these ‘developmental’ injuries have a very good prognosis and generally respond well to rest. The horse, in particular, is remarkable in its ability to heal, given the time, good nutrition and a condusive environment. The fact that the x-rays show mild abnormalities, to me, is encouraging.

If he is as stoic as you say, this might be something that has been brewing for some time. I have one of these horses, that will do anything for you and the problem is they will just as soon injure themselves than stop triing. You don’t necessarily know they are hurt, till they finally come up lame and at that point you might not have any clue what the original injury was. It definately can be frustrating. Your vet knows you want a concrete answer and will likely do her best to find one….but the truth is, without definative findings, they’ll likely be guessing. Even the ‘big guys at the big house’ will be speaking from their experience, which of course is more extensive than your local vet, but will still be just a guess. Can you tell I’ve been through this a few times;).

With such a nice horse, I really think he deserves a chance to heal himself. If he were mine, I would turn him out with a quiet herd (reads no rough housers), pull his shoes, keep him in a balanced trim and let time take its course.

I went through this with my best saddle horse a few years back. The vets couldn’t figure it out…..mystery hock problem, minimal x-ray findings. I finally agreed to retire him at the ripe old age of 9. I turned him out as above and low and behold a year later, he was not only sound, he was fitter than when I was riding him 5 days a week. He went back to work and has never had a lame day since. He’ll be 15 this year and is still my best horse. Luckily I had the time and space to let things get better on their own. I know some couldn’t or wouldn’t commit to that amount of time and I can understand why….but if the horse is special, I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

Good Luck. Jennifer.

[Jean]

Andre have you found out anything new?

[PestoPower]

Is it an OCD lesion?

If it is then surgery is usually recommended to remove.
Beth

[Andre]

Vets all agree that it must be a tendon rubbing on the rough spot on a bone. They also don’t know why it bothers him so much.Thanks to Jennifer he is in the best care possible! Where else but this “community” could you find someone so helpful, caring and knowledgeable to aid in the rehab of Reno. She is a true horse person. Thanks Jennifer!

[jen judkins]

Oh my! Thanks for the kind words, Andre’!

You know, I feel pretty lucky to be a part of this ‘community’. Checking in here makes the world seem much less scarey to me:rolleyes:. So I’m pretty happy to help out where I can.

Reno has a long road to recovery. I’m optimistic and as long as Reno looks happy, we’ll keep triing. If Andre’ doesn’t mind, I’ll post updates on my blog for anyone interested.

[jen judkins]

Been promising some of you an update on Andre’s gelding Reno…

I just finished a piece on my blog… http://restingheartfarm.blogspot.com/

He’s doing great…finally. It was touch and go there for awhile, but we are on the downhill side of the mountain now, I think.

[Jean]

Jen, that is great news about Reno. Good job!!

Love the work on the little guy Spirit too.

[jen judkins]

There is an update on Reno on my blog: http://restingheartfarm.blogspot.com/

Its all good!

[Author]

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