annular ligament injury

[AJ22]

Hi, she got injured in June, had the 4 weeks box rest with in hand walking, then the small pen. My vet didnt think she was a candidate for surgery at that time as it was mild but there was also a small suspensary branch injury too. She progressed really well, we made the pen larger, then she had a mad moment in the field and made matters much worse, her scan shown it had gone from 60mm to 90 odd mm and surgery was mentioned. We scanned 2 weeks later and the vet was amazed how much she had healed, taking us back to surgery is now not an option, she was barely 1/10th lame and he said I could ride her in walk for 20 mins a day but we agreed to turning her out with the other 2 to keep her sane which I did and on day 2 she got kicked off the other mare!! and ended up with a wound and was lame on the other leg too, hopefully all resolved now. So I havent been back on yet, I wanted to wait until her next scan which is next Thursday and Im hoping we will be able to start doing something as she is bored. She is back on her own again, I darent risk it and I feel mean. He did warn me that she could go back to square one at any point if she ran about and it truely feels like Im on an emotional rollercoaster. Ive kind of let go a bit, I had too, its been a really hard 12 weeks and Im thinking what will be will be as I cant glue her hooves to the ground so just have to hope we come through this.
On a plus note, the swelling is looking really good so fingers crossed.
Hope all goes well with your horse.

So sorry to hear you've been having a rough time, and I can completely sympathise. My horse won't mind being turned out alone if she can see other horses, but I'm sure we will have setbacks along the way too. Good luck for your next scan.

 

[sam72431]

Thanks again for the new responses. The comments are all useful background for when I next speak to the vet.

Luckily she does have very good, balanced feet, so I don't think that has been an issue, but thanks for suggesting it - it hadn't occurred to me. This seemed to have occurred in the field and we think she must have slipped running downhill for her lunch. It was the week of all those storms so the ground was wet.

She has been scanned. The DDFT appeared to be fine, although sore from having pressure put on it from the thickening of annular ligament. I'm hoping there's nothing more serious that we couldn't see.

Sam, I hope that your horse does recover well eventually. Your sentence about her being worth it and not worrying if you never ride her again is exactly how I feel! It's so hard to know what's for the best, but my horse seems to be coping with the confinement relatively well.

We're going to keep going with the resting option for now, and scan again at some point.

Thank you! They couldn't see any damage on the DDFT literally nothing at all, fingers crossed not same for you! She is behaving relatively well, we are 4 months post op now and up to 10 mins walking twice a day. She is a monster in the evening when the yard is busy though!!

Good luck!

 

[exracehorse]

Annnular ligament 4 years ago. She tore three holes. Two years field rest. Ligament thickened and shortened so was slightly off in trot. But was only brought back to potter around the lanes. One year later the check ligament went on same leg. She’s now a field ornament.

 

[spotty_pony]

My boy had an annular ligament injury about a year and a half ago now. He went hopping lame out hunting. Ground was very wet and we hadn’t been doing much but Looking back I think it was on the verge of going anyway. He had 4 weeks box rest although I was allowed to graze him in hand. I cold hosed it Twice per day and bandaged it. He was on Danilon to start with to help with the swelling and we had it scanned at the beginning and again once he was back in work and there was a big improvement. I was told he could have the ligament snip operation but it was likely the other one would go at some point too and need operating on. My vet said if I wanted to continue hunting him and keep him in harder work he would definitely need the operation but I decided to semi retire him and now at 20 he still enjoys his hacking. I got him back up to full fitness last year and took him on a hunt ride for his final glory and a couple of cubbing outings whilst the ground was good which I’m pleased we did.

 

[spotty_pony]

My boy had an annular ligament injury about a year and a half ago now. He went hopping lame out hunting. Ground was very wet and we hadn’t been doing much but Looking back I think it was on the verge of going anyway. He had 4 weeks box rest although I was allowed to graze him in hand. I cold hosed it Twice per day and bandaged it. He was on Danilon to start with to help with the swelling and we had it scanned at the beginning and again once he was back in work and there was a big improvement. I was told he could have the ligament snip operation but it was likely the other one would go at some point too and need operating on. My vet said if I wanted to continue hunting him and keep him in harder work he would definitely need the operation but I decided to semi retire him and now at 20 he still enjoys his hacking. I got him back up to full fitness last year and took him on a hunt ride for his final glory and a couple of cubbing outings whilst the ground was good which I’m pleased we did.

Also forgot to add he does have a lump on the back of that leg now where the ligament has thickened but although it doesn’t look very nice it doesn’t bother him at all.

 

[AJ22]

My boy had an annular ligament injury about a year and a half ago now. He went hopping lame out hunting. Ground was very wet and we hadn’t been doing much but Looking back I think it was on the verge of going anyway. He had 4 weeks box rest although I was allowed to graze him in hand. I cold hosed it Twice per day and bandaged it. He was on Danilon to start with to help with the swelling and we had it scanned at the beginning and again once he was back in work and there was a big improvement. I was told he could have the ligament snip operation but it was likely the other one would go at some point too and need operating on. My vet said if I wanted to continue hunting him and keep him in harder work he would definitely need the operation but I decided to semi retire him and now at 20 he still enjoys his hacking. I got him back up to full fitness last year and took him on a hunt ride for his final glory and a couple of cubbing outings whilst the ground was good which I’m pleased we did.

Thanks very much for all that. How long was it in total before you had another scan and put him back in work? It's helpful to know that he still has a lump there, so I don't have to worry that my mare's swelling hasn't completely gone.

 

[AJ22]

Just an update on my 14.2 17yo mare. The vet came yesterday and said it was much improved from the first visit 7 weeks ago. She is sound at walk but still 1/5 lame in trot. She's on one Danillon a day (needed anyway for front leg arthritis). The vet now believes she can at least have a happy retirement - that was in doubt immediately after the injury. There's an outside chance I might be able to hack next year. She has other issues, and doesn't owe me anything, so I'll just be grateful to have her around as long as she seems happy.

Our initial regime was 4 weeks box rest and ice packs twice a day. Towards the end of that 4 weeks she was going out in a very small pen twice a day. We've gradually increased the pen size over the last 3 weeks, and the vet advised continuing to increase it over the next 6 weeks. Then she can go out in a small field.

Keeping fingers crossed she continues to slowly improve.

 

[Ladythewelshy1995]

Just an update on my 14.2 17yo mare. The vet came yesterday and said it was much improved from the first visit 7 weeks ago. She is sound at walk but still 1/5 lame in trot. She's on one Danillon a day (needed anyway for front leg arthritis). The vet now believes she can at least have a happy retirement - that was in doubt immediately after the injury. There's an outside chance I might be able to hack next year. She has other issues, and doesn't owe me anything, so I'll just be grateful to have her around as long as she seems happy.

Our initial regime was 4 weeks box rest and ice packs twice a day. Towards the end of that 4 weeks she was going out in a very small pen twice a day. We've gradually increased the pen size over the last 3 weeks, and the vet advised continuing to increase it over the next 6 weeks. Then she can go out in a small field.

Keeping fingers crossed she continues to slowly improve.

hi AJ22, similar story with my mare, as below. I thought I’d write this for anybody who might be frantically searching the internet for information on this injury at the moment. I wanted to put my story somewhere, because I thought that if it helps one person then it can only be a good thing, having spent the first few weeks after our diagnosis frantically researching, reading stories on the internet and generally scaring myself silly.

My 24 (almost 25) welsh D mare went lame just before Christmas, as many did with the bogging wet ground. We didn’t think too much of it, thought she might have tweaked something a bit out in the field (was barely noticeable) and continued as we were really, she’s retired, so we just kept her steady with less turn out, kept an eye on it etc. She came sound, only to do it again in January. This time, she was in more pain so we gave her some danelon, she came sound again and we eased her off of it, with no problems. Then came late January, she did it again. This time, vet was called and a work up was done. Within 10 minutes we had a suspected diagnoses. The vet came back two days later to scan, and confirmed that there was a partial tear in her near side annular ligament. My heart felt like it had fallen straight out of my body, we were beyond gutted. Options given by the vet were operate, or inject. Straight away, I was on the internet, googling and searching, finding lots of unfinished stories about the injury where people have put questions up and never said an outcome and becoming more and more upset and worried.

So, I have decided to put this up in order to show people that it isn’t always bad, and to get off of google and look at what is in front of you! If I hadn’t taken a step back from the situation I know it would have sent me stir crazy. Lady was sound, although on Danelon (1 Sachet morning, 1/2 at night). She was totally normal and to someone who didn’t know her you would never know the issue was there.

After the initial diagnoses on 6th Feb, we were told to continue with short periods of turn out in a small paddock (size of two 12x12 stables) for an hour or so, it’s been tricky as we have very little grass and she gets bored very easily!! Plus a 5 minute walk in the evening before bed. After 4 weeks, she went down to 1/2 sachet morning, half in evening. We iced her leg twice a day with some frozen peas (lol) and the hose. We saw the swelling very slowly come down, less heat, and gradual improvements each day. We did have two occasions where she managed to get her heals up in the air in her paddock!! Extra icing and danelon those nights. We confined with her normal diet which is thunderbrooks chaff, thunderbrooks daily essentials and micronise linseed. She also has a pinch of black salt in morn!!

We’ve been 3 days off the danelon now, (since Saturday 14th) and she’s doing great.

Well, vet came out yesterday (16th) our hearts have been in our mouths for 6 weeks just hoping we are going in the right direction with it. So pleased to say that she trotted up sound, even after the flexion! So sound that the vet didn’t feel the need to scan. So now we are up to 1 hour turn out in morning, 1 in evening at 20 mins walking in hand split morning and night. We are over the moon that we are moving on the right direction. For us, the operation is a no go. Not at 24, the injection seems to come with risks and she’s an EMS candidate, sweet itch, allergic to her own sweat type pony so we will continue as we are. It’s going to be a very long road to recovery and we have to accept that she might never be 100% again but she’s still here and happy!

Our little Lady is our world, she’s been a mother daughter share for almost 15 years (bar a few years where she was sold and subsequently came back to us!!!)

I hope that this gives some hope to maybe even just one person who’s going through what we are and have been. It is a long old road and I’m sure we will have set backs, we are certainly not out of the woods yet, but for now we are progressing well and she is looking brilliant for coming out of winter.

I hope this gives someone a little bit of light in a dark time.

 

[Mbe]

My mare injured her annular ligament about 3 years ago. She had around 4 weeks box rest, but was going a bit crazy, so we made her a small pen in the field which helped. She then went onto normal field rest, for months, and came back into work after around 9 months. i took it slowly, building up walking for a few weeks, then introducing trotting. She has never had a problem since, touch wood. She is now 19 year old, and although I am generally just a happy hacker, we do lots of fun rides, and we have tried our hand out on the hunting field.

My horse had annular ligament surgery 18 months ago. She is still not sound and not expected to be as the scar tissue from the cut ligament adhered to the tendon sheath. I believe if I had just rested her she would have been sound. She was insured so vets wanted to operate and I thought it was for the best.
The leg looks perfect, no swelling just must pull when flexed and makes her lame.[/QUOTE

My horse had annular ligament surgery 18 months ago. She is still not sound and not expected to be as the scar tissue from the cut ligament adhered to the tendon sheath. I believe if I had just rested her she would have been sound. She was insured so vets wanted to operate and I thought it was for the best.
The leg looks perfect, no swelling just must pull when flexed and makes her lame.

hi dotty just wanted to see how your mate is doing now?

 

[Sarah&george12]

My horse had annular ligament surgery 18 months ago. She is still not sound and not expected to be as the scar tissue from the cut ligament adhered to the tendon sheath. I believe if I had just rested her she would have been sound. She was insured so vets wanted to operate and I thought it was for the best.
The leg looks perfect, no swelling just must pull when flexed and makes her lame.

How is this for you now? I’m going through this and I’m so worried!! Is you horse back up and riding xxx

 

[dotty1]

No, she’s still a field ornament. If she wasn’t insured she would probably just have had field rest and been ok. Many do come sound after the op.

 

[Sarah&george12]

No, she’s still a field ornament. If she wasn’t insured she would probably just have had field rest and been ok. Many do come sound after the op.

How did you find out that the ligaments attached to something else?
Was it another scan xx

 

[dotty1]

How did you find out that the ligaments attached to something else?
Was it another scan xx

Yes she was rescanned

 

[Ditchjumper2]

Mine was ttreated with DMSO and due to his size was left turned out and hunted the following season. He remained sound. However the ligament became notchy. Whilst ridden every day he was fine but after some time off after hunting the ligament would catch causing him to stumble and trip. He was completely sound. After time he became unsafe to ride and as in his 20s he was pts.

 

[Marigold4]

How is this for you now? I’m going through this and I’m so worried!! Is you horse back up and riding xxx

Some years ago I had a horse with a thickened annular ligament. Well-known vet at a big practice recommended having surgery to cut annular ligament. We had the surgery and two lots of box rest. She never came sound again. Changed vets and the new vet said he never recommends the surgery as it never works. I wish vets would do more work collecting follow-up data after operations like this. From their point of view, the operation is a success: the annular ligament was cut, the horse survived the anaesthetic, and the horse went home. But do they know that, in the long term, a significant proportion of horses are not sound after this op?

 

[AandK]

I think it’s a bit alarmist to say it never works.. it worked for my horse, he made a full return to work (18 at time of op, back to low level eventing)

 

[meleeka]

I think it’s a bit alarmist to say it never works.. it worked for my horse, he made a full return to work (18 at time of op, back to low level eventing)

And mine. Would I do it again? Probably not, because the rehab was so detrimental to mine and my horses mental health. I have no facilities and he was fine with box rest, but the in hand walking fried his brain, it became dangerous.