I have thought about possible injury as well. It could be possible. He does not have any marks on him, no areas he is garding and no bumps. I did not know that an injruy would elivate the muscle enzymes though. The vets never mentioned that.. That makes sense. Also, he was really stressed when they took the blood work. I would assume that and the trying to get up could elivate them as well. And, everthing else in his blood work.

When he tries to get up it looks like his hind end and back legs are not working. Yet, he can kick at you with his back legs and he used his hips to roll himself over. He just went up and over perfectly. No struggle. In fact is was perfect.

He started slowing down a bit on Tues.. Just not quit right.. Wed was the day he was down in the field. Thurs four people could not get him up. After he rested for a bit he popped right up on his own. Then off to the hospital he went.. He was there until Sat. I am sure he has not laid down since Thurs until this morning.

I did talk to another vet. Everything that was done for him is what should have been done.. He did say if there was kidney damage that that would not appear until 10 days after the eppisode. I did go over other things like maybe brian injury. He does not have any of the signs of that..

My biggest fear is this laying down right now. Other wise he acts like a normal horse that is just simply worn out and too tired to get up. The vet told me to make sure and bed him really deep so he does not get sore.

This all seems a mystery to them and they have never heard of this before.. These vets are older and have been around a long time. Not real old but in their early 50's and been treating horses for many years.. The fact neither of them has ever seen this is strange to me. You would think at this stage or the game they would have seen everything.

I have to go back to work tomorrow. I will be worried sick until he gets up. You can not force him so have to wait..

Well, Chad got up about 6:30 tonight. You are never going to believe this one. I had a hunch along this line but never heard of it before.

One of the gals who works for me has a real way with the horses. They love her.. She came out and talked to him, gave him a message and spent some time with him. She has a way with them and, well maybe, they just love her Georgia accent..

She had a hunch and went down below and brought up the mare and filly that he had been out to pasture with. He popped right up.. YES, got right up when he saw them. The first thing he did was pee. This colt has laid there all day and peed and pooped twice today with out even trying to get up. Just laid there and did it..

The second vet I called told me there was a little test I could do to see if he really could not get up. He said pinch his nose so he cannot breath. He said that will make him mad and if he can he will get up. I tried it.. Well, it made him mad alright. I got a foot in the face and a bloody nose.. He wouldn't get up though..

His Mother has been weaning him off for awhile now. And, Colleen said he had been upset about this. He is depressed.

Now my question to the nurses here who had to take all that stuff in college like chemistry, could this depression have elivated his enzymes and caused this whole thing?

This is begining to have a familior ring to it. Back in "95" my mare had a beautiful palomino colt. When he was about 4 months old, he got himself stuck under a lodgepole fence. He struggled and broke his pelvis. We had no choice but to see what would happen. Eventually, he was able to walk/trot/run....but he never grew any bigger than a kid's pony and moved really odd on one hind leg.

I sounds to me like this colt is having pelvic pain. That's how mine behaved.

So in the end, he got too much of a good thing, got fixed, then started pouting.

I tell ya, isn't that so much like a guy! I'm just glad he's better...that was about to drive me nutso!

When this happened to our weanling filly, After many days of treatment and TLC. We put a round pen out in a grassy part of the yard under 2 shade trees, First she nibbled laying down. But then she ran out of grass, She was more interested in getting up. The footing was perfect for push up on the side that was not as sore (or I should say the side she would at least try to use). She became more interested in what was going on around her. She could see the other horses from the pen and would stand longer and longer. A horse does become depressed. But if all else fails. Grass is a anti-depressent. Im sure he is depressed from being sick, weaned and hurting. If they would only listen when to us when we say, yes your sore, get up and move around and you'll feel better! Bless his little heart hope he is doing better.

Well, it's sure nice to hear that this has happened to someone else. I could not believe it and the vets never even mentioned this as a possiblity.. They could have run me up a tree with cost to find out nothing.

Right now it is too soon for him to see his mother out there.. I plan to wean the filly this weekend. She will be 3.5 months old. She has become more independent from her mother in the field. She just acts like a teenager and does not hang out next to her Mom and talks to the other mares..

I have a two stalls that have a big enough knott hole between them they can see each other and get out to play together.. I think this will really help him.

I did not know that you not only had to be a vet. You had to be a shrink too..

RagDoll, We talked about the possibility of trauma here and Lynn said that would really drive up those labs.. He as out on soft area.. No marks that would indicate he got hit hard anywhere.. The worst he could have done is take a hard spill.

My question is, what would be the signs other then the obvious if he did fall out there and fracture his pelvis? Could a horse get kicked (without marks) and fracture a pelvis? How would he walk? Could he walk? I know some small frax that are just painful do not show the real deal when it is fully frax.

I know he went down during the night last night and was able and did get up. Those nice pee spots on his side were a warm welcome today.. This in it's self is a HUGE improvement for him. He does have a very sweet gal with her charming Georgia accent for his personal nurse.. LOL. He loves Colleen and she takes a lot of time to observe and care for him. WHAT A GAL.... She takes him for walks and does a lot on his terms.. Yes, he is getting spoiled.. But, he is easy to get along with and this seems to help him. I told her that she needs to sleep in the barn with him. She is not going for that..

Lordy! I'm just glad he's doing better. I know it was driving you crazy. I think the little feller will be all right, and he's a whale of a colt, so he needs to be all right! Whale of a colt!

I know a stable fx of the pelvis in humans is something we just watch and allow them to walk w/o assistance they hurt but don't do much other than pain control... a displaced or unstable fx of the plevis requires pinning or immobility otherwise wouldn't be such a big deal just time and probably limited activity such as turnout with other foals... I personally don't time you necessarily would notice a trauma that caused an injury like that....

More trouble now. When he got up after being down all day his shieth was a bit swollen. When I got home today one of the girls said he was not having a good day...

His sheith is really swollen, he has a lump about the size of the palm of your hand in front of the belly button, and his fet locks are really swollen too.. He is sunken in at the tail head (started today) and seems the weight is coming off his back. He is eating, all vitals normal. drinking, peeing, pooping and just does not act like he feels well.

The vet told me to give him banimine and see what he looks like in the morning.. They thought he could go in to kidney failure after his tie up. His labs were only .2 above normal on kidney functions. I have not been able to find any articles on signs of kidney failure in a horse.. I am at my witts end..

I fell like I am loosing this colt. Any one with information on this would be loved by us FOREVER..

Is there a vet school in your area? We have Texas A&M here and California has UC Davis. I could swear there was a good one in Oregon. If possible, will they take his case? Just a thought.

It sounds more and more like blunt-force trauma. I bet another horse ran into him going at a pretty good clip. His kidneys could bruised as well as a pelvic fracture. Is there a chance you can get him to Boise State?

that swellling could be the result of a pelvic fx... acute kidney failure comes with any really serious illness/injury as long as he is eating and drinking and peeing that should work it's self out and won't be long term... has the vet checked his BUN and Creatine levels... if those are normal or close too don't sweat the kidney stuff at this point ok... you said the labs where pretty normal these can be slightly off and still be ok so don't get too worried right away about that... do you have a good complete feed you could give him... when we have anyone that isn't feeling good we go straight to Buckeyes senior feed and really pump that into them young or old it has all the fiber etc.. so you don't have to worry about hay etc...

ok was talking with Hubby and he said w/o an MRI one way to diagnosis a pelvic fx (which is actually pretty common in horses) is to get the colt standing on a very flat surface ie:concrete is best... all four feet have to be square stand behind them and from the back look for the high 2 hip points they should be perfectly level in a horse w/o a fx... in a horse as with in a human there is quite a bit of bleeding at the time of injury which would explain the swelling- in men we see lots of swelling in the neither regions with lots of discoloration Hubby said the horses he has seen have quite a bit of swelling too..
edited to add: he also said this is easy to do if he flipped over just right, got pinned in the stall, got his leg caught under a panel, slipped and got his legs splayed, etc... if he quits eating he suggested Manna Pros Round Up- it can be made into a mush and be tube fed if necessary we did that with my mare when she broke her jaw and quit eating it is wonderful for that... it has an alfalfa base- keep us posted!!!

This morning he looked better.. The sunken part around the tail head was normal, the swelling in front of his sheath was gone and the swelling at the end of his sheath was gone. He was able to get up and besides being sluggish had normal behavior..

Seems he goes down hill during the day. We do have the OSU vet school. We are not going to run up a big vet bill on him because we cannot afford it. That is what would happen here. Been there done that. You spend thousands of dollars to find out they do not know what is wrong or you have to put them down anyway.. The vets I am dealing with have been around the block for many years.. This has baffled them.

He has had the blood work done twice on him and other then the CK still high everything else is normal.. BUN and Creatinine are in normal range. His hips are even. There is nothing for him to get caught under. We keep our place free of that..

He could have taken a hard hit. He does not have any place on his body that is tender. He eats, drinks and pees yellow.. The Buskeye products are not avai around here. We did get him some Nutena safe choice and he does like that. He loves his alfalfa.. So, is eating better. Poop is normal.

The vet did say he could have burned himself when he was peeing laying down.. I washed him good with Ivory soap and we will see what his sheath looks like tomorrow. The girls did get a hold of his little colt part today and said they cleaned a lot off of it that had a really bad smell. Could not be described.. Only that it was really bad and not normal.. So, I am hoping that part of his problem will be OK tomorrow. He is able to get up and down now.. Goes about it the wrong way. But, I will take it.. This is the worst roller coaster ride I have ever been on..

He is much like a kid who doesn't feel good. But, today Colleen said he even argued with her a bit. What a gal.. She spends much of her time watching him and taking care of him. I have to go to work during the day and she is with him most the day.. If she could bundle him up and take him into her house she would.. WHAT A GAL. I do not know what I would do without her..