Sewing up a mare because she's sucking air.

[cedar hill ranch]

Ok, I've heard of this before, BUT never had to personally do it.

Went to a private barrel racing clinic this last week and was told that one of our mares needs to be sewn up, because she's sucking air and it hurts her. She's flicking her tail and that's what made the conversation come up. She was pretty big, she's also had a baby years ago.

Now, anybody got any good pointers about getting this started and completed?? We heard the recovery time is 3 days off and 3 days light exercising.

Any recommendations about a good vet in the North Texas area with experience in doing this??

[Karol]

I had a mare 13-14 years ago that had the same problem.  She never had any foals, but she would also pee when we ran.  It got agressively worse.  My vet said that we could sew her up, but he could not guarantee that it would work.  We did sew her up and she still had the problem.  After I had my daughter and she had a 9 month vacation, she never had the desire to run barrels.  I sold her.  It may work for your mare.  I would certainly try it...what have you got to loose?

[Donk]

The procedure is called casslicks and it is commonly done on the track. 

[citygonecountry]

This procedure is quite common, and the majority of mares or fillies have this done.  Actually, it is recommended to have it done before problems occur.  When they suck air they also suck in dirt which can cause infections, so most of the time this procedure is a preventative.  Just think how low they get when they turn a barrel?

Around in our area it runs about $75 to $80 bucks, and boy let me tell you, it's painful to watch and makes you hurt, but they don't feel a thing since they numb the area.  Just like tying your shoelaces, or that's what it looks like, ouch!!!

Funny story, I have a horse off the track that only was in one race and I planned on having her sewn up so I took her to the vet and to my surprise, she already was done!  Quite a nice surprise, I never thought to look myself! EMBARASSED

[olneykat]

We just had a mare done back in September.  We used Dr. Fellhauer in Wichita Falls, Tx - he and Dr. Morris (both at the same clinic) are great.  I think it costs us like $50 - and they even used pretty purple thread so her _______ matched the equipment my daughter was running on her (LOL). We, however, weren't told that we had to give any time off - either they assumed we would do so and it was not necessary???  We did give her a couple of days off though!  Good luck!

[krape]

We do it a lot during breeding season but, also several years ago we had a great barrel mare that the vet suggested sewing up because she was sucking air really bad.  It also caused her to have a constant infection and she didn't feel good.  Sewing her up did the trick.  No problems at all.  I would reccomment it.

[Frankie]

I do my own sewing and I reccoment it too. :yes:

[cedar hill ranch]

thanks for all the replys. You guys have convinced me to get it done ASAP and be done with it.

I've been told to maybe ask the vet about putting some antibiotics in there before sewing it up, in case there is some
sort of infection. I guess a culture would be good before and would tell us either way.

Anyway, looks like we'll be getting it done pretty quick.

Thank you again for your expertise!!!!