A mare that suffered a broken neck has successfully returned to competition thanks to the veterinary team at Liphook Equine Hospital.
Poppy, a five-year-old Dutch Warmblood mare fractured a vertebra in her neck after she slipped and fell heavily onto a concrete car park while being loaded into a horse box.
At Liphook, Poppy underwent a three-hour operation performed by vets Matthew Sinovich, Russell Parker and David Lloyd, who are all European specialists in equine surgery.
Matthew said: “Reaching the fracture site involved making a large incision on the underside of Poppy’s neck, about half-way between her chin and chest. This was extremely delicate to perform because we needed to cut through a lot of soft tissue and muscle and there are a lot of vital structures in that area.
“Once we’d located the fragment we repositioned it, using X-rays to guide us, and then it was fixed in place with a metal plate and screws.
“The surgery went well, and then we moved Poppy into a padded recovery room to come round from the anaesthetic. Poppy had to get up by herself, but she did this without any problems.”
![Vet Matthew Sinovich who operated on Poppy alongside other surgeons](https://www.liphookherald.com/tindle-static/image/2024/05/20/9/50/Vet_Matthew_Sinovich_who_operated_on_Poppy.jpg?width=669&height=445&crop=669:445)
The 16 hand high dark bay mare has gone on to make a full recovery and is now competing successfully in dressage with her owner Lizzie Burford, under her official name Nova Zembla.
Lizzie said: “I was back in the saddle three months later, and at our first dressage outing to Moreton Morrell we achieved 67% and second place in a Prelim test.
“I thought there was no hope, but to look at her now you couldn’t tell that just a few months ago she broke her neck. It’s all down to the incredible team at Liphook that I still have my horse and I just can’t thank them enough.”