No 5-year-old has won the Arkle for 19 years. In 4 weeks time we were meant to witness a battle between 2 of last year’s most promising juveniles. Over the past few days we’ve been robbed of that by the unfortunate news of Sir Gino’s setback. What could be going on here? 🧵⬇️
I’ve already mentioned how vague Henderson’s updates have been in regards to specifics of an injury, although he shares more than most. This will be a thread on the type of infections horses can suffer from in their legs and what’s done about each.
As always, I’ve no association with the horse, yard or treating vet(s). I’ve no idea if what I’m about to talk about applies to Sir Gino, it could be a unique injury/infection but I hope some appreciation of the possibilities can be gained from my musings.
Horse’s live in fields and stables so are constantly at risk of contamination of a wound. Bandaging, cleaning and repair can all help but sometimes infection feels inevitable.
Most commonly this can present as cellulitis. Bacteria enters the wound and spreads under the skin, causing a huge amount of swelling and discomfort. Often easily treatable with anti-inflammatories, antibiotics and movement. I think this is what the initial suspicion was.
Wounds become more of an issue over “sensitive structures”, such as joints and tendon sheaths. If bacteria can penetrate here then horses often require surgery to flush out the infection. Antibiotics will also be placed in the structure to help fight off infection.
Recovery from this is generally pretty good, but is so dependent on: a) the structure effected b) the type and amount of bacteria c) the horse’s own immune response Overall, approximately 65% return to function. Probably a scarily low figure if you have an elite racehorse.
Now, infection of the tendon or ligaments themselves is rare, but it is possible for infection to bed into the fibres. There’s a complex structure of tendons and ligaments that make up the horse’s lower limb.
We would call this a septic desmitis or tendinitis. Hopefully fixable with either surgical debridement and/or antibiotics. Antibiotics may include IVRP where antibiotics are injected directly into vessels close to the affected area. This would require hospitalisation also.
The other possibility is a pocket of infection is sat near the ligaments which is causing inflammation and strain on them. This becomes more complicated because you’d need the infection to clear up before you can assess the sustained damage and how long recovery will take.
Apologies we can’t discuss a full diagnosis, if one comes I’ll be sure to make another thread looking at it in more detail. Wishing a speedy recovery for Sir Gino and thoughts with all at Seven Barrows & the Donnellys ❤️ As always, questions welcome!
