# Pin Firing?



## rosencassie (15 June 2009)

didnt really know where to post this, but i have a new 4yo racehorse and he's been pin fired when he was 2 after his first race.

what is pin-firing and how do they do it?

only wondering because he has lots of white markings up his shins aswell


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## Cliqmo (15 June 2009)

Oh poor chap. It is a process often (although less common than it used to be) used to treat racehorses who have injured their tendons. 
It involves heating metal pins or bars (hence pin firing or bar firing) until they are white hot and scorching the legs with them. It is always done in pairs and is most common in the front legs. 
The theory behind it is that by causing massive damage to the lower leg you force the healing process and speed up the recovery of the tendon, which can otherwise be very slow.  
It is generally considered to be a barbaric and unnecessary process which causes a disproportionate amount of pain to the horse, however it does seem to be quite effective and this (I assume) is the reason that some horses are still treated using this method. 
I don't imagine you will have tendon problems with him in the future, however it may impact upon his value as it indicates he has raced and has had lower leg problems.
One last point, you will know if he has been pin or bar fired according to whether he has dotty legs or stripey ones. 
Hope this helps? 

Ali


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## rosencassie (15 June 2009)

thank you!

oh my goodness! my poor boy! he also had a £2000 operation to fix a chipped bone in his left knee at 3 bless him.

they're very dotty with 4 dots across and about 8 up.

well hes a lovely boy and dont intend to sell him anyway 
	
	
		
		
	


	





thanks again for the info!


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## amage (15 June 2009)

It is considered to be a barbaric practice however extremely effective. we had an 11 yr old mare racing all season how was done as a 5yr old after breaking down atrociously in both front legs. she had been unraced fro a couple of years and we brought her back to great success and we never once had an issue with her legs! having spoken with the vet who treated her at the time and seen the track record he has of racehorses coming sound and having no recurrent issues i have to say i do think it is a better option in contrast to the sjers i've known to have various leg injuries and spend the rest of their days wrapped up in cotton wool in case they get injured again. i suppose like all treatments there are pros and cons...it certainly seems to produce better results anyway


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## salee (16 June 2009)

there are other means of firing using cold - a sort of freeze firing and even electrical firing the other 'old' treatment was blistering using chemical agents to irritate the skin,

the claim for how firing  &amp; blistering are supposed to work is it initially increases blood flow due to the irritation/injury, later the claim is the resulting scar tissue helps hold things together better, opinions seem divided, as to effectiveness &amp; any post firing problems etc - i would take advise from a vet.

i suppose as a last resort it must be done, in modern times we have pain relief but back in the old days it must have been horrible?


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## kellyeaton (16 June 2009)

they put hard hot pins throught there legs in to there tendons to harden them up put this only usually happens if the horse has broken down!


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## Tnavas (17 June 2009)

They also use acid injected into the tendons, it induces sscar tissue that helps to hold everything in place.

It is very painful to the horse as you can imagine but has been used for centuries with great success. Time can also do the same job - often firing is resorted to when the owner doesn't want to wait for nature to take it's course.


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## shokkyy (17 June 2009)

I did read a veterinary paper once that gave the opinion that the only reason firing/blistering et al appeared to work was because it gave a visible injury which made the owner/trainer considerably more likely to give the horse a long enough period of rest to recover fully. Without that visible injury, there was always a temptation to bring the horse back into work sooner, which didn't give the injury long enough to recover fully.


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## 3Beasties (17 June 2009)

Thanks for posting this.

We have just taken on an ex-racer as well that has been Pin Fired and I was wondering the same thing myself!

You can obviously see that he has had tendon problems in the past but the vet has said we shouldn't get any problems.  One thing he did say though was not to hammer him on hard ground (which I think should be the case with all horses) and he also recommended not putting any type of boots on him (except travel boots).


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## Tnavas (17 June 2009)

Totally agree with you there shokkyy - human impatience - more tendons/ligament injuries recover without discomfort to the horse by turning the horse out for six months.


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## Aru (18 June 2009)

[ QUOTE ]
I did read a veterinary paper once that gave the opinion that the only reason firing/blistering et al appeared to work was because it gave a visible injury which made the owner/trainer considerably more likely to give the horse a long enough period of rest to recover fully. Without that visible injury, there was always a temptation to bring the horse back into work sooner, which didn't give the injury long enough to recover fully. 

[/ QUOTE ]

seconding this i think it might be the same paper that our lecturer mentioned...that box rest was as effective in the majority of cases but most trainers werent giving enough time without a visable injury...


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## vicijp (18 June 2009)

[ QUOTE ]
I did read a veterinary paper once that gave the opinion that the only reason firing/blistering et al appeared to work was because it gave a visible injury which made the owner/trainer considerably more likely to give the horse a long enough period of rest to recover fully. Without that visible injury, there was always a temptation to bring the horse back into work sooner, which didn't give the injury long enough to recover fully. 

[/ QUOTE ]

This is a very naive view. A trainer will do what he/she does whether they can see the injury or not. Some trainers will pin fire and bring them back after 3 months - these are the ones that are unsuccesful and give it bad press, when most people know 12 months is the minimum.


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## mealrigghallstud (21 June 2009)

It is totally cruel and totally useless - the box rest is the part that actually heals the tendon - firing actually weakens the tendon as it causes scar tissue to form which is rigid and has no elasticity so the tendon is far more likely with more scar tissue to be weaker than one which has been left to heal on box rest alone - it also scars the tendon sheath so more wear and tear occurs.  Unfortunately there are still ignorant people in the horse world who think it is traditional and should still be done - there are many practices in the horse world which are thankfully going out of fashion as people actually research into these things - firing is one of them thank goodness.  I'm sure next time a trainer pulls a muscle or something similar I'd like them to see how it feels to have first degree burns on top of an already painful strain!!!


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## vicijp (22 June 2009)

How many horses have you seen pin fired?
My uncle used to regularly blister his back.


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