When I first called for information on Orogen, I was at the end of available options for my 14 year old jumper, Able. On July 27, 2008, he became instantly lame while on course at a show. Initially we thought he tore his tendon and during surgery to repair the tear, it was found that his deep digital flexor tendon had completely ruptured off the bone all the way down as far as his surgeon could see. Despite recommendations to euthanize, I had them wake him up. My ultimate goal became to give him a comfortable retirement.
Within 2 weeks of surgery, the tendon started to push out the incision line and eventually a 2x2 inch area of tendon was exposed and the wound kept getting larger despite every attempt to close it. Able became extremely lame, to the point of being on three legs. He came home on IV antibiotics, which ran over $100 a day and the wound kept getting worse. I was preparing myself to make the decision to let him go when a friend emailed me the Orogen website and encouraged me to find out more. I was skeptical when I first called but by the time I hung up, I had a glimmer of hope and a plan. The staff at Orogen were confident they could close his wound and gave me support and encouragement I needed to give him a chance. Money was beyond tight at this point and I had to do the treatments myself, but the doctors walked me through it every step of the way and answered every question and concern that I had. Able kept fighting and never gave up and neither did the Orogen staff. They remained positive and instructed me on every aspect of Able’s overall care, down to the vitamins and supplements he needed to help him fight off infection and stay strong.
After the first treatment, there was definitely an improvement in the wound size but Able was running out of time. He was still standing on three legs and on IV antibiotics and getting tired. We did a 2nd treatment to speed up the healing due to the increasing risks of founder or laminitis. The wound closed up but Able still stood on three legs. His physical condition kept deteriorating and he was getting very weak but his spirit stayed strong and he kept eating and fighting. The general consensus seemed to be to let him go. Even I was leaning toward that but the Orogen staff never stopped encouraging me to keep fighting for him. As a last ditch effort, while soaking his foot to rule out an abscess, my vet injected Orogen into the rupture site because we had nothing to lose at this point. I told myself I’d give Able one more week, and even scheduled to have him euthanized in 7 days. Exactly 5 days after the injection, Able started to stand on four legs. That was the Monday after Thanksgiving and words can’t describe how I felt when I saw him standing on four legs.
Since November, Able has gotten stronger and sounder. We’ve had a lot of ups and downs but the good days far outweigh the bad days. In March, we started to turn Able out in a tiny paddock for an hour at a time. It was a learning curve, figuring out what he could and could not handle. He required a lot of special care including special shoeing, icing his leg after turnout, daily medications and vitamins, leg wraps, etc. We even had to use a sling at the hospital to shoe him a few times but he’s now able to handle being shod at home. He is currently handling two 3 hour turnout sessions a day in a larger paddock and only a gram of bute twice a day. I’ve learned to relax when he lets out a huge buck or canters a few strides in his paddock. We are at least a year away from him handling a big field with other horses but I know he will get there. If you didn’t know his story, you’d never know he almost died a year ago. He is beautiful, strong, sound and happy to be alive. I know that without the Orogen treatments and staff support, my horse would not be here today and we will both be forever grateful. Thank you for everything.
Video Of Able Today