Broken Withers problem or just cosmetic?

[Just Walter]

Hi all - just a question, I am looking at a 6 yo horse who about 2 years ago spooked and jumped his paddock panels (*5 foot plus) he flipped and fractured his withers. Anyway had about a year off and has been slowly brought back into work. He's basic w/t/c and just starting over small jumps.

I will only do lower level eventing, it's possible I will get up to Training level, but no plans to go higher. I will do H/J shows and dressage of course.

My question: Are fractured withers a big problem? They seem "flat" to me but otherwise the horse is very athletic and nice mover and the trainer says he feels like he can jump the moon.

Comments? Things to ask? Thanks so much in advance!!!!

[bornfreenowexpensive]

It depends on the horse. I have one that got caste in her stall as a 5 year old and fractured hers...very flat looking now (She was 16.3....now maybe 16.1!). Only lost about 3 months...then she was brought back in full work (so maybe six months from the injury until she ran her first competition). I competed her through Prelim (and could go further)....jumped 4'9" and it didn't affect her movement at all (I owned her before and after so know her very well). We were lucky.

Hasn't been any issue for her...she's 9 now. Saddle fit hasn't been too much of a problem. We xrayed her back just to see what it looked like and given what we saw...it will not cause her any problem in the future.

I know of a few UL eventers with broken withers....and two GP jumpers. It isn't an unusual injury. It doesn't seem to cause issues with many of them...but it really depends on where they broke them. I would xray his back as part of the PPE but it wouldn't scare me off of a horse if I liked them.

[caevent]

I know a few horses with this injury. IME, it looks funky but the horses do just fine once healed.

[Foxtrot's]

It very much depends....

My neighbour was sold a horse like that but did not know of the injury. She was ok one day and wild the next. With some people - the trainer she was sent to for a fix (in a western saddle) - she seemed fine, back home, bad. Finally she had the mare put down which is a sad fact but in her financial position she felt she had no choice.

[in limine]

If the injury has healed with no damage to soft tissue (ie, back muscle), then probably shouldn't pose a problem in the future. I competed a horse with a prior wither fracture from Training level to multiple CCN*s without any problems due to the injury. Fracture was in front of saddle, so didn't have saddle fitting issues either. I wouldn't rule the horse out because of it, but would definitely consider it among all the factors in deciding whether to purchase.

[nextyear]

A lot depends on how severe the fracture and what type of work was done after the injury. I had a student with a really nice mare that was cast in their barn and after a year off she never was lame but never really right. After going back to work was having trouble staying in lead and became uncomfortable over fences, tried to convince them they needed to do thearpy for the mare before she went back to work but it was not done until her movement became a problem, by then it was to late and they could never get her right and she did become obvious lame.

[denny]

A mare we own named Just lyndi crushed her withers somehow while turned out in a field. For some time she was very uncomfortable, but they healed, and she went on to become a winning intermediate level horse for Erin Contino.

She`s just not as tall as before.

[Just Walter]

Thank you very much for the feedback. I actually saw the horse go last night and decided to rule him out. Thanks again!