Injured Weanling - How serious is it?

[Supernova]

Went to bring in our weanling filly the other night and found her literally on three legs. We had trouble even getting her into the barn, as she will not put any weight on the front right and literally just leans back and hops on her front left.
There are no bumps or marks on her leg. We called the vet and after a long examination (even he had trouble finding anything) he has pin pointed it to her elbow where there is very minimal swelling. We suspect she got galloping around and her leg slipped out from underneath her and she wrenched it.
She's been on stall rest since Friday and has been getting a shot of anti-inflamatory/painkiller daily with little improvement.
Today we found her in her stall laying on her sore side, the shavings were trashed so you could tell she had a struggle to get up. She was hot and shaking. We flipped her over to her good side, still she wouldn't rise I think just from fatigue. Finally she managed to get up. The vet is currently on his way out for another look.
I'm really concerned about her not being able to get up while nobody is there. I know a horse who is unable to stand is at risk for other things, as horses cannot lay down for extended periods. I've never had a serious injury like this and I'm wondering how concerned I should be.. is it a really bad sign that she has had trouble standing? Also should I be concerned this early about her putting so much weight on the other foot and laminitis?

Any help is appreciated.

[zinn21]

How confident on your Vet's diagnosis? I would have blocked the area to make sure that is it..

Best of luck. Sounds like a tough one..

[cng]

Went to bring in our weanling filly the other night and found her literally on three legs. We had trouble even getting her into the barn, as she will not put any weight on the front right and literally just leans back and hops on her front left.
There are no bumps or marks on her leg. We called the vet and after a long examination (even he had trouble finding anything) he has pin pointed it to her elbow where there is very minimal swelling. We suspect she got galloping around and her leg slipped out from underneath her and she wrenched it.
She's been on stall rest since Friday and has been getting a shot of anti-inflamatory/painkiller daily with little improvement.
Today we found her in her stall laying on her sore side, the shavings were trashed so you could tell she had a struggle to get up. She was hot and shaking. We flipped her over to her good side, still she wouldn't rise I think just from fatigue. Finally she managed to get up. The vet is currently on his way out for another look.
I'm really concerned about her not being able to get up while nobody is there. I know a horse who is unable to stand is at risk for other things, as horses cannot lay down for extended periods. I've never had a serious injury like this and I'm wondering how concerned I should be.. is it a really bad sign that she has had trouble standing? Also should I be concerned this early about her putting so much weight on the other foot and laminitis?

Any help is appreciated.

I had a weanling that exhibited the same symptoms but no swelling or cuts. Once the vets pinpointed the elbow we x-rayed it and it was a fractured elbow. The vets wanted to put the colt up in a stall and treat basically the same way.

I asked the chances of the colt being able to run. As usual the vets would not be pinned down. So I told him - I'm in the racehorse business, if the colt doesn't have at least a 50/50 chance of getting to the track - I need to know. The vet admitted he would have less than a 50/50 chance. I had him put down. A young vet that worked for the other vet asked me if he could post the colt after they put him down for experience - I told him, sure. Long story - short the elbow was shattered worse than the X-ray showed - he would have never been usefull for anything.

[Roguelet]

The symptoms sound identical to what my 30-year old Andalusian experienced a few months ago. He had broken his elbow and sadly, had to be put down. I hope that's not the case with your weanling. Good luck, and please keep us posted.

[Lisann]

No advice, but hoping your weanling recovers soon.

[madelyn]

Good info/already given here - if it's not a lot better it's probably broken.

[Tap The Mint]

Well, I'm so sorry to hear all of the bad news here but I do have a little encouraging story to report regarding a fractured elbow.
I had a three year old stallion possibly kicked but found in exactly the same condition as your weanling, non weight bearing at all, hopping on three legs. My vet thought that it was most probably a fractured elbow and due to the fact that the nearest equine hospital is two hours travel we didn't want to put him through the trip so opted to give him EIGHT weeks stall rest if he would tolerate it and see if it could heal on it's own. (I wasn't going to do surgery on him anyway). If not he would have to be put down but we gave it a shot. He was fine with staying in the stall and tolerated it well. He hopped on three legs for the full eight weeks never using the leg at all the whole time. He got up to eat, drink, and poop and then lay back down most of the time. We kept him bedded deeply so as not to get bed sores and we kept him comfortable but didn't give a lot of pain meds because we didn't want him to use the leg. As we got close to eight weeks I was getting very discouraged because he still wasn't putting weight on it. I talked to the vet and her response was 'it's not eight weeks yet'. I swear, it was almost eight weeks to the day when I went to the barn and he had a 'path' in his bedding where he was practicing 'walking' on the injured leg. I kept him in the stall another week or two and then turned him out in a small round pen for controlled excercize. A few weeks after that he was running in the pasture and that was about eight years ago. He hasn't taken a lame step since! I just want to let you know that sometimes 'time' can heal and you may want to give him the chance to try to heal. Horses are very smart and I would bet that the colt will learn not to get down on his bad side and figure out how to lay down where he can get back up again. It may take him a few tries but I bet he will get it. I also wouldn't worry to much about him stressing the other leg too much but I'd watch his diet carefully and feed him accordingly until he can exercise again. I wish you the very best with him.

[Tap The Mint]

So sorry, I just realized that your weanling is a FILLY and not a COLT. Please let us know how she is doing and I do wish you the best with her.

[Mood Swings]

Oh no I hope she is going to be okay! I`ll keep my fingers crossed for you!

[Roguelet]

Now I'm wondering what would have happened if I would have locked my old man in a stall for 8 weeks. sigh......

[Supernova]

Well we took x-rays yesterday, they didn't show any fractures. However, my vet uses the "old" way of taking the pictures and developing them in the clinic. I know on the racetrack we can do a scan that shows the x-ray right on the screen immediately. There was one picture that didn't turn out and he is coming back today to have another look. Is this way as effective? I have never used this vet before for this type of situation but I am pretty confident in him.
Also found out yesterday that the barn manager forgot to give her the pain meds in the morning. He does it as a favour to us so I can't blame him for not doing it, but maybe that explains why she seemed to be worse... although it is still not a good sign.
The vet will be back out around 3:00 and I will find out how she is doing today.

[Tap The Mint]

Sadly, I'm sorry you had to have your 'old man' put down but you probably did the right thing for him at his age. A thirty year old horse may not have healed like a youngster so I'm sure you did what was best for your individual at the time. We have to make decisions with each individual circumstance and I'm sure yours was a difficult one but one that needed to be made. Again, I am so sorry for your loss.

[foothillsequine]

How is she?

[Supernova]

Vet says six weeks stall rest. Poor girl.. she is actually not 100% weaned yet. Momma is still living in the stall next door but we have to turn her out this week and I think it is going to be very lonely for her. She is now off the pain meds and walking a little better everyday. We were very lucky she didn't break anything.

Thanks for all the advice and kind words.

[foothillsequine]

Thanks for the update, glad to hear nothing is broken. Did she injure her radial nerve when she hurt herself?