Crooked Tail

jumper77 · Postby **jumper77** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 2:35 am

I have a bit of a mystery on my hands with a 4 yr. old QH mare, and after stumping all of the vets at the clinic, I figured I'd see if anyone has ever come across this before.

The tail in question has almost and S-shaped curve in the top of the tailbone, about 4" from the top, and it continues down about 6", and twists so that the underside of her dock is actually facing to the left. The tail has very little movement in it, really the only thing she can do with it is to clamp it against her right cheek. She's not able to swish it at all, so she's stalled during the day when horseflies are out and biting. The vets first suspected herpes, but that was ruled out. We recently brought her to the LSU vet clinic, where they did x-rays, and amazingly, there was no evidence of any breaks or other trauma to the bones. They have also ruled out any neurological problem.

Aside from the main issue of not being able to protect herself from biting flies, the most troubling part of this is that she rubs her tail so badly that she has a raw, bleeding sore about 2" x 6" on the left side of her tailbone, close to the top of the tail. She has been checked for worms, and she is on daily wormer as well. The vets have no idea what's going on. We are in the process of trying to find out why she rubs it; she's on antihistamines to see if she's rubbing it because it itches (so far that's not helping) the next step is pain meds to see if she's doing it b/c it hurts, and after that, they want to do an MRI to see if there is tendon or ligament damage. The last resort would be amputation-- I don't think we'll choose that route, unless it's in her best intrest.

So if it hasn't been broken, and it's not neurological, or any sort of viral thing, what the hell could it be? I've been wrapping it 2x a day at least, since she likes to take the wrap off and rub it til it bleeds, and she has topical treatments to help heal the wound. I have gotten the wound completely healed over the winter, but she's torn it up again from being inside during the day (in the winter it's covered by her blanket, so she can't do too much damage to it then.)

Does anyone want to take a guess? Or has anyone seen something like this before? Brainstorming would be welcome, since after $400 the vet's best answer was, "I don't know."

Thanks in advance.

LKMote · Postby **LKMote** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 10:03 am

How long has the tail been this way? Did she injure her back that you know of? Have you had anyone try to massage her back?

Just trying to toss some ideas out.

cewright · Postby **cewright** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 11:19 am

A motionless tail can be an asset in the QH show ring. Many QH show horses have been treated surgically or with drugs to deaden the tail, even though showing such a horse is illegal. A botched tail job is a possible explanation for your situation.

Chuck

Skipitgirl · Postby **Skipitgirl** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 11:48 am

Chuck I was also wondering that and was going to mention it. Also as far as the rubbing, have you had her ultrasounded to rule out fluid? Also clean between her teats, if they are dirty the mare will rub to relieve the "itch" (our 24 yr old mare is a habitual tail rubber because if her teats arent freshly clean she itches). Have you tried a medicated shampoo? Lastly, if the mare does have a botched tail nerving, she may be rubbing it to satisfy any "mixed" signals she is getting from nerve ends that were damaged.

jumper77 · Postby **jumper77** » Sat Aug 26, 2006 5:24 pm

Thanks, everyone.

It has been this way since we bought her (a little over a year) but it wasn't very noticeable at first. In fact, we never even noticed it until she started rubbing it and there was a sore.

And yes, we first considered nerving, since she was professionally trained and came out of the womb a WP horse. I don't know if, after a horse is nerved, they are still able to move the tail. ? She does have movement, although it's quite limited. Are they still able to feel it after nerving? The vet pinched and poked and prodded all around her hind end and determined that she isn't numb anywhere.

My second thought was that some yahoo cowboy was teaching her whoa and "sat her down," crushing her tail. I was putting money on this theory until the x-rays came back clean.

We keep her clean (not an easy task in our hot, sweaty, humid weather.) I also have to brush out her tail every couple days, since she creates huge mats in the side of the tail that is being clamped against her cheek.

We have not ultrasounded her yet, I'll ask for that as well when we go back for an MRI. Her tail is a bit larger around than a normal tail should be, but it seems fairly tight, not squishy, as I would think it might be if it were fluid-filled. But perhaps it's tight just from scar-tissue buildup. ? If I can ever locate my camera, I'll post pics so you can have a look at it. It is quite interesting-looking.

Thanks so much for the ideas, I appreciate any possible theories, since it sounds a hell of a lot better than the official "I have no idea" vet diagnosis.

pembroke · Postby **pembroke** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 10:48 am

It isn't a nerving process like surgery. It is called "blocking" and is done with alcohol injections. Sometimes the procedure goes terribly wrong and the result is exactly what you have. As time goes on the block will wear off slightly, with some horses it is really noticeable, with others not much. I don't believe there is anything that can be done. Once the nerves are dead...they're dead.

jumper77 · Postby **jumper77** » Mon Aug 28, 2006 8:14 pm

Interesting. Would a vet be able to tell if she were nerved? I guess there aren't any scars or anything if it's just injections. It would make a lot of sense if someone did nerve her. Even though it's illegal, it's very possible that it was done; she was bred for the WP showring. Yet another reason to hate all that WP crap. :evil:

jumper77 · Postby **jumper77** » Sun Sep 17, 2006 4:43 am

A short video clip of her tail if anyone's interested:

http://s41.photobucket.com/albums/e287/hunterjumper77/?action=view&current=FunkyTail.flv

LKR · Postby **LKR** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 5:47 am

If there is a equine chiropractor in your area why don't you have them check the horse out. Possibly something is out of whack that could be helped.
Kathie

LKR · Postby **LKR** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 5:52 am

After watching the video, this reminded me of a horse we had 15 years ago who had fallen backwards and sat down while loading into a trailer. Within a month his tail looked exactly like that. It turned out he had injured a nerve and after 5 adjustments, one every other day by the chiropractor, and pulling his tail for about 60 seconds once a day, he completely recovered. Raced very successfully for us.
Kathie

jumper77 · Postby **jumper77** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 7:28 am

Interesting. I'll have to see if I can find a chiro. Thanks. :lol:

aurora · Postby **aurora** » Fri Sep 22, 2006 8:37 am

I had a filly long ago that flipped over and damaged her tail. After that she could swish it from side to side and lift it enough to not poop on herself but couldn't really lift it very high for fly swishing.

WarHorse · Postby **WarHorse** » Sat Sep 23, 2006 3:26 pm

Ditto the chiro and maybe throw in some massages to help loosen things up.

(You can do additional tail-pulls yourself.)

I'd hate for this to be the result of injections - hoping she sat on it.

jumper77 · Postby **jumper77** » Sun Sep 24, 2006 10:43 pm

WarHorse wrote:I'd hate for this to be the result of injections - hoping she sat on it.

Me too. I had hoped she had injured it somehow. The vets are pretty sure that's not the case, after seeing the x-rays. To think that someone may have intentionally done this to her disgusts me.

I'm now on the hunt for a chiro. Are there any databases or directories for equine chiropractors?