9 months ago I rescued a 5 yr old Quarter Horse mare at a horse sale, that they say broke her hip, she wouldn't put weight on her hind leg, kept it cocked, her hip was dropped on one side, and her vertabrae in front of her hip was raised.

I put her on stall rest, at frist all she did was lay around, so we put her on purina senior feed, and empower, and MSM. Along with free choice of alflafa/grass hay. The vet said to have her dystroyed, but I just couldn't do it. She was only on bute for the first three weeks, she eats just fine, never was off her feed at all.

She's slowly straightening out her pasturn and puts weight on her hoof while she walks around her stall. It looks like her hip is in line with the other hip, but the vertabrae are still raised a little, she's not sore in her back. She's to the point where she has even tried to trot and buck even in the stall .

Yesterday I took her out of the stall for the first time since we bought her, and she walked just fine, a little stiff, and you could tell she wanted to trot and buck, but I just walked her around.

What else should I be doing with her? My husband says that I should turn her out in the correl, but I'm afarid she'll hurt herself, if we did that.

How long of stall rest should I give her? A friend said a yr or more of stall rest. And then slowly build her back up. How should I go about building her back up?

Will she ever be able to be ridden? Or possibly carry a foal? I was able to get her papers and she has very nice cutting bloodlines.

The vet here is simply amazed on how well she has made a recovery, and asked what I did to her. He now thinks it wasn't broken, just badly torn or sprained muscles.

Where are you from? Texas

How did you locate this forum? a friend

Hi Kim,

What a wonderful story and a great recovery. You're doing a super job! And, let me commend you on your efforts and saving her life.

OK -- here's my opinion. Exercise is very important. The longer you keep her confined, the more her muscles will atrophy (shrink in size). So, I agree with your husband. Give her some supervised free time to run around and do what she feels like doing. Believe me -- she won't run and buck if she's in too much pain to do that.

Speaking of pain -- I'm not clear if she's still on bute. But, if she is, it's best to discontinue using it. If, after exercise, she seems sore, give her an herbal -- buteless -- pain killer like Stop the Pain.

Will she ever be ridden? That remains to be seen. And, if she appears strong enough, check with your vet about her ability to carry a foal. You're on the right track -- just take is slow and watch her pain reaction along the way.

I would definitely continue with the MSM. You should also consider giving her vitamin E (approximately 2000 IU per day) and a B complex to help her build new tissue.

I hope you'll keep me updated on how she's doing.

All the best,

Dr. Getty

I've turned my mare of her stall about two weeks ago, and she has a slight limp, puts weight on it, and tries to trot and even kicked out a little.

It was hard for me to turn her out, I freaked when she laid down and tried to roll, I could just see her reinjuring herself, and when she tried to trot and kick out I nearly fainted.

I worry about the limp, but it's only been 10 months now. Is there anything I can supplement her with. She's on Safe Choice and Empower, and MSM, along with grass hay and pasture, it's a little 5 acre pasture. She loves it.

I'll try and get a picture of her.

How did you locate this forum? a friend

Hi Kim,

Sorry for the delay in getting back to you -- my internet connection has been down.

I think it's great that you've given her some freedom. It sounds like she's enjoying it. How has she been the past two days?

About supplements -- yes -- I would recommend that you give her Vitamin E -- about 2000 - 3000 IU per day. Empower is high in vitamin E, so check to see how much of it you're feeding. This will help her heal. E-5000 is a good product to consider -- you can read about it on my website store.

I'll look forward to more updates!

Dr. Getty

It's okay, I understand how vets can get busy. I really appreciate this website. It's so helpful!

But I have new pictures of her, we moved her in with the broodmares, a small flat pasture, and it does have three bulls in it, and she so much more happier there, she was starting to run the fence in her small correl.

She has a slight limp, but other than that she doing great, she's lost a little weight since we turned her out. Were going to take her back to the vet and have her teeth floated again, they were a mess. But I cannot get over how well she's doing. I wish I'd of taken more pictures of when she was severely injuried. I have a few, and I posted them on the bottem. It's a miracle to see her out in a pasture, trotting and socializing with other horses. She became buddies with the herd mare, she's in the picture eating with her.


That's the hip that is hurt, she looks so much better now that she has muscle!



Here's a picture of her hip when we first bought her

How did you locate this forum? a friend

We check/feed them every day the broodmares. When we first turned her out in the small correl, and she started to pace the fence line, she seemed a little on the ouchie side, and when we brought in the weanlings she was running with them, and so we decided to haul her to the ranch, where the broodmares are, they don't run around much, and she's gotten along, great with them so far. I've been check her everyday, and I also feed her grain. The broodmares I have to give them a few treats too. I had poratable correl set up so the rest of the horses/bulls wouldn't bother her when she ate. But for the pictures I turned her out early and she went and ate with the head mare.

My hubby thinks she's doing fine, but I'm not sure, she has gained allot of muscle, and seems to being doing good, every once in awhile she has a slight limp, and other days she seems sound. We'll be monitering her during the winter and if she starts to go downhill again, we'll bring her back in with another quiet horse, we have the weanlings in town right now, they they were running her to much.

I bought some Vit E supplement to mix in with her Safe Choice/ Empower and MSM.

How did you locate this forum? a friend

Hi Kim,

She's looking so well! Great pictures! I'm delighted that you've come up with a system that works for both you and your mare.

Keep up the fine work. You mentioned that you're giving her a vitamin E supplement. Is it pure vitamin E, or is it combined with selenium? This is important because you may be overdosing selenium by adding a Vitamin E/selenium mixture to her existing supplement.

All the best,

Dr. Getty