Sasja recovering from a broken leg

I have owned Sasja for about 5 years and purchased her as a broodmare. She had been extremely badly treated before I got her and was a nervous wreck. However in time she started to trust and now she is a very happy horse.

Sasja

Sasja

Sasja jumping.

She is by the Hanovarian stallion Splitau. Having bred two super foals, one colt by Handel II, Sasja was put back in foal early this year to the stud stallion Cassio II.

Sasja and her first foal, Darcy.

Sasja's colt by Handel II.

She was then turned out on grass with the other mares. She however received a kick in the field which resulted in serious injury, a broken tibia.

Our vet, Alex Stewart came to see her immediately and gave her pain relief and applied a Robert Jones cast. The x-rays that Alex took showed a spiral fracture of the tibia on her off hind. The prognosis of such an injury is very poor, particularly in a 16 year old horse.

Sasja has to be double tied so her movement was minimal and so she definitely couldn't lay down. The biggest danger is that this fracture displaces. If this were to occur there would be nothing we could do to save her. The Robert Jones cast was replaced weekly for three weeks, and Sasja was coping remarkably well with the box rest.

We then had out first mishap when Sasja decided she was going to lie down despite being tied up. Alex was called and came straight away. Luckily Sasja was fine and further x rays showed no further damage had been done. The cast however had to be removed as it was starting to cause sores.

Alex has been working closely with the vets in Newmarket regarding Sasja, and their original view was that she had very little chance of pulling through. Other complications that can occur from such an injury are more due to the way the horse has to be managed rather than the injury itself.

For example laminitis is a major risk due to the immobilty. So we put Sasja on Lamigard and wrapped her feet in ice packs daily. We also put Sasja on Better Bones, another supplement by Equine America.

Another complication is phemonia, due to not being able to drop the head and eat off of the ground. So Sasja's temperature was taken regulary so we would be aware of the slightest change.

The incredible news is that Sasja reached the all important 3 month mark yesterday, October 15th 2007, and her last lot of x-rays were taken.

They showed incredible healing has taken place and the very large fracture is now nothing more than a faint shadow. She is now allowed to be untied and to go for short in hand walks.

The most extraordinary thing is that we assumed with all the pain and stress when Sasja first had the accident that her foal was lost. However a PD by Alex yesterday proved that she has in fact kept the foal and he is doing very well!

We owe a huge thank you to Alex Stewart, and to Equine America for their wonderful products, but most importantly of all to Sasja, for coping with everything so well and for helping us help her get through this difficult time in her life.

Vikki Evans,
(16/10/2007)