Another Suspensory Question - Handful to Walk in Hand

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measles

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Our jumping mare is currently 6 weeks into 3 months box rest after a pole rotated during a jumpoff and hit her hard on the inside of a hind fetlock. She was sound after the bump and jumped another class very well but the following morning was mildly lame, kept boxed and very lame by 4pm.

Had xrays 2 days later and nothing showed so went to vet school 9 days after injury for more xrays (nothing again) and scan. She was 3/10 lame when presented at vet school (much less so than the day after the injury) and 5/10 lame after flexion test on that leg. No lameness showed when lunged on a sand surface.

Vet was very pleased when the scan showed no damage to the suspensory ligament (her words) but report sent out a week later says "diffuse swelling over the insertion of the medial branch of the suspensory ligament. Concurrent effusion of the digital flexor tendon sheath also noted. Ultrasound showed mild enlargement and loss of definition of the medial branch of the suspensory ligament and periligamentous swelling".

I'm now not sure if this means she has a significant injury or the mild one that I thought. No mention was made by the vet of the tendon - she's "windgally" on both hinds and there's been no change in the year we've had her or any other lameness.

My other worry is that she is being a handful to walk in hand, if that makes sense! Even in her bridle she's doing real airs above the ground, bucking and kicking which quite apart from the handlers safety isn't the rehabilitation her leg needs. We're now on 15 mins walking twice a day but could my son ride her at walk for these 15mins as I think she'd be better behaved that way, or should be just go onto complete box rest?

I'm going to phone the vet again on Monday but any thoughts appreciated - you know the way it's always the weekend when we worry!
crazy.gif
 
I'm going to have this problem soon, my pony is only 10 days into a months box rest after having surgery on his suspensory ligament. I can start walking him for 10 mins a day after the staples come out on Wednesday. I always use a chifney bit when walking on roads, its too dangerous to be putting anyone at risk, he has been led in one for 9 years now! (never had any problems, touch wood!)
 
Hi

Sorry to hear about your horse.

We have had horses in for recovery where vets have recommended that the walking could be ridden provided the horse is sensible but just as a warning we had a dressage horse in that the owner had tried that with and it hadn't worked and the horse set itself back - it then came to us where we had better facilities to cope with the injury.
 
Hiya

Having had a horse that re-damaged his tendon while "walking in hand" (went mental and careered round me on the end of lead rope while narrowly avoiding kicking my head in) I would always do the walking on a horse walker. The yard I kept him on didn't have a walker so I moved him to a yard which did have one, just until he could start trotting. The other option is to dope the horse every time you walk it out. It's really not worth risking re-injury by trying to walk them in hand, I've seen it happen too many times. Good luck, hope it heals well.
 
We have a similar issue with our young mare (ex-racer with mild desmitis). She has been in since 14/9 and is now on 10 minutes a day. She too explodes so we walk her in a chifney bit. It doesnt stop her bucking but it does stop her "getting away" which is were the risk of kicking comes in. She is settling though..we walk her out with an old mare to try and help her relax.
 
Thanks, eveyone. The chifney sounds like an idea so will pursue that.

mrrussell - did your mare have a period of complete box rest before she began walking in hand? Our instructions were to start immediately (first week in Oct) on 5 mins a day then to up it by 5 mins each day so we're not on a total of 15mins am and 15mins pm which is quite a bit more than your mare and she's had an extra 2 weeks since she's been in (14/9). What were her symptoms and does she have any lameness or swelling now? Curious as they've similar injuries and almost at the same stage.
 
my mare had surgery on both hindleg suspensories. had 2 weeks box rest then walked in hand 2x daily. initially tried to walk round paddock bad idea totally full of herself but was fine to walk quietly up and down the lane outside the house. not sure where youre walking but mine associated the field with freedom. on box rest she also managed to buck and kick out half the back wall of the stable and still made a good recovery
 
My 5yo gelding showjumper suffered the same injury as yours and eventually had surgery at Newmarket. During box rest and walking out he was extremely difficult at one point escaping and jumping a gate with all his stiches in. Riding them even in walk with this injury can cause further damage to other structures which compensate.

The best advice I can give you is to ask your vet for some sedalin gel, it is a palatable sedative. Ask them for dosing to suit your horse. Although it may not seem nice to sedate them for walking out it is a significantly safer and kinder option than more surgery. I managed to gradually increase walk work whilst on it until he was able to go out in a round pen.
Good luck
 
when we were walking ours out after box rest we used acp to start with. It worked a treat and gradually reduced the dose. Also i was told that for ligament rehab they need to walk in straight lines so horse walkers are not ideal.
 
Thanks everyone.

Henryhorn - she's getting a token of Spillars lay-off cubes and a pinch of alfa A so that I have something to put her vitamins in, plus ad lib hay to keep her happy so can't really drop her feed any more.

Do you think giving sedalin twice a day for 2-3months is a safe option without side effects? I do appreciate though that it's a trade off with that and re-injuring herself walking in hand. She's fine to walk in hand around our square yard which is approx 30m x 30m x 30m x 30m (if you see what I mean!) which is good for her leg as it's a hard concrete surface but also bad as it's not a straight line. It's so hard to know what to do for the best..
 
My boy is back in work following a tendon injury, he didn;t have to be sedate for in hand walking or in hand grazing but was quite excitable when I was allowed back on board and I had to sedate him for about 3-4 weeks as it was getting hairy and didn't want to risk reinjury. One syringe of sedaline would do me about 3-4 rides, I started at 3 and would drop to 2 if conditions were good, ie warm weather or had been in turnout pen during the day so was a bit more chilled. As the weeks wore on, it got less exciting and we were able to drop the sedalin completely. I was advised by the vet and my instructor, better safe than sorry. Works out expensive but my insurance paid the costs as part of his vets fees. Good luck and hope this helps.
 
IF we have one whose too livley the vet gives us some ACP tablets, a few days of those to set the routine and we find we can gradually cut them out , a week later walking out ok and no ACP required. Could be worth looking into? Cheeper than sedaline, well a little bit.
 
Vet told me that now they're not supposed to prescribe a horse ACP tablets...apparently something to do with them being in tablet form (??) would only give me sedaline for mine....bit of a pain if it's correct as one of the horses on our yards used to need sedating to be clipped and the ACPs were easy to administer as at the time he was funny about syringes. A few weeks of apple puree in them, he now has sedaline orally which I believe is basically the same stuff in a tube.
 
My mare was on 8 weeks complete box rest and then I had to start walking her out in hand for five minutes twice a day - she was a complete nightmare and would launch herself even with one of us on both sides. I tried her with ACP but I think she was even worse on it, she seemed to be very worried and neurotic, not just a bit yee ha. In the end I started putting her in a tiny pen with good grass so she just moved around a bit and that helped with the walking out, the more she was outside the better. It was an absolute nightmare and I hated every minute of it. Good luck.
 
I have had 2 lots of box rest in a year the first was madness rearing bucking etc.When we started the second I started doing parelli with him it calmed him down and made him listen and be respectful.Just small manouveres like backing up moving off pressure etc completely de stressed him. He is a 6yr old loony tb so if it worked with him it will work with anyone.
 
My horse was on box rest last year for suspensory ligament damage - and i too struggled walking him in hand - I managed to build up to 30 mins a day but then it got too dangerous so i turned him out in a small bark paddock which was probably double the size of his stable and over time increased the space he had to walk in (using electric fencing) - the first time he went in he bucked a few times and then that was it - he'd do his walking around himself - nothing silly - he then became a different horse and was safe to walk - it was difficult to watch those bucks because i was frightened he'd re-injure himself - but it was either that or us have a nasty accident

I wouldn't like to recommend turn out in a small paddock for those that have had surgery - as I don't know what the difference in recovery for surgical ones and non surgical ones - if I were you - speak to your vet and ask if turn out in a small paddock is an option - can you fence off a tiny bit of a field?

On a good note - we are now back to walking/trotting and cantering and lateral work - it's hard when you have to build it up slowly but stick with it - if any of you suspensory ligament people need some help or support pm me

As my horse needs sedating for the farrier (don't ask) i have tried sedaline - and it's a very hit and miss drug - on some horses it will knock them out on others it won't even touch the sides - on my horse he has a whole tube and nothing - they can bring themselves out of it very quickly - so if you are going down the sedation route just be mindful that on some horses oral sedatives don't have an effect....
 
Thank you!

We are currently doing the same as you did because we have two horses with tendon injuries. We made some small paddocks right by the barn they go out for 1/2 day while we muck out the others and it is so useful. The two who are lame are the worst two to lead out. Mine has to be sedated to be hot shod too!

We just about to start a course of shock wave therapy with them both. The vet will have to come out aswell to sedate them both every time.

Max is evil - hates me because I always deal with him when vet comes and he has had various injuries over the years (chipped bone in coffin joint) (cut his leg badly - took months to heel) and he is my sisters horse and she has taken mine to sunny cornwall while hers is off and left me to deal with him!

The other one is a real baby - cant even trim whiskers or worm so pathetic

I would totally recommend small turnouts too! Thinking of getting a walker with the amount of horses we have problems with! Would help if we had the money to buy one!
 
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