A ray of hope for my horse with weak tendons. hooray!

kerilli

kerilli

Well-Known Member
Joined
1 April 2002
Messages
27,417
Location
Lovely Northamptonshire again!
Visit site
i found these amazing Dalmar boots
http://www.simviation.com/dalmar/treatment.htm

and my vets think they may give my poor girl a hope of a reasonably useful life. this is my homebred youngster with, guttingly, "naturally weak tendons". unfortunately she hasn't taken to being a companion/light hack, is incredibly naughty due to being underworked (cos of her tendons), and is turning into bronco billy... so, with these, there's a bit of hope that she will stand up to some decent work and have a more interesting life!
next question... does anyone have any idea how much they cost? steeling myself to ring Dalmar in the morning...
 
I am also very interested in these... so could you let me know when you find out a price, either on here on via PM?

As you may know, Grace has a hind suspensory injury, and I will do anything to help her out
smile.gif
 
I know something about these, and its definitely worth ringing Dalmar. The guy who makes them is very knowledgeable, and while the boots are expensive (not sure quite how much, but I don't think its too scary), he'll be able to tell you whether they should work on your horse or not. I know that they went through clinical trials quite successfully for rehabbing tendon lesions.

Ring them! Its worth a try.
 
I dont think that they are commercially avaliable to buy yet as I think that when they were used during research there was some problems with them rubbing, but they are the only boot to support the fetlock.
 
yes, the poor love. she's far right in my siggy, she's by DiMaggio out of my old Advanced mare, she's an absolute poppet and so talented and so flipping wasted.
i let her jump a tiny x pole just once a few months ago, about 6" high, and she was absolutely chuffed to bits. she really really wants to work.
frown.gif
frown.gif

(a good friend had come over and i let her ride her, i was fiddling with the jumps in the school as she mooched round and friend said "she's watching you, she thinks you're altering them for her", and i didn't have the heart not to let her do 1, and she wasn't even silly about it, she was so happy to be jumping... just like her mum. absolutely breaks my heart that she can't do anything at the moment.)

thanks so much for other responses.
 
Fascinating - I hadn't heard of these boots before. I'd be very interested in hearing how you get on if you do get a pair. Such a shame for a beautiful young mare. Does your vet have any idea why she's got weak tendons? Does he mean the tendon fibres themselves are weaker than normal or is there something wrong with the way the fibres are laid out? I'm a bit anoraky on subjects like these - sorry!
 
Oh ALL my fingers and toes crossed - how terribly unfortunate for her. Really hope they turn things around for her, she looks like a gem.
 
Wow, what a fascinating idea. Although I'm sure they wouldn't do anything for my horse (her tendon tear is deep down in the foot) I think they are SUCH a fab idea especially the bit about adjusting them to gradually lessen the support offered. I'd be so interested to hear if you get them and if you manage to get on with them, I hope you do!
smile.gif
 
gedenski's girl, the tendons scan almost black, like one big lesion. i don't really know more than that.
if you want the full details: this is a homebred mare who has never left my place. she has done nothing, lived out as a youngster, i broke her in and put her into light work at 4-5. at 6 (last year - i was waiting for her to grow, and for my school to be finished, before that) i upped her work a little, to a bit of cantering when schooling, steady canters out on hacks, nothing more than that. at night, her legs had warm spots, slight filling, but in different places every time. i am totally paranoid about tendons, unfortunately i have a lot of experience with them. took her to my brilliant and very experienced vet (Peter Green) for scans. he saw her walk and trot up, palpated the tendons, (they look and feel absolutely 100%), and basically said that he thought i had nothing to worry about and was just panicking as usual, but, as it was me, he'd humour me and scan them.
well, he started scanning, and there was a deathly silence. they are black the whole way down, sdft and ddft. i have seen plenty of lesions in decent tendon fibre before, but this was like one big lesion. of course, most people don't take a horse for scans until it's got an injury, but even so, he said he'd never seen anything like it, described it as "naturally weak tendon fibres" and said there was nothing he could do.
people have suggested firing, but i don't think i could put her through that - it would only reach the accessible parts, obv, so for e.g. the attachments down in the foot etc would not be fired, and i'm assuming that the weakness is through the entire tendons.
would be interested to hear your views.
i'm about to book her in for more scans at vet's request, prior to using boots, and then rescan after using them for a bit. (as long as i can get hold of a pair!)
btw, the dam of this mare was as tough as hell, stood up to Advanced eventing etc for years... never broke down. i had scans done a few times, and her tendons scanned pretty-much white, as good tendons should. unbelievable.
cookies if you bothered reading all that, of course!
wink.gif
 
not according to my very experienced tendon-expert vet.
frown.gif
frown.gif

it was one of the first questions i asked, while still grabbing at straws...
i just hope i can get hold of some, manufacturer has told me they're not going to be on sale to general public till summer 09... am working on it!
 
Could you not get your vet to phone them and say you'll be a clinical trial as it is so unusal your girl's case??? Would definitely be worth a try...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top