Any experience of tears in the supraspinous ligament?

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Christmas Crumpet

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After months of trying to figure out what's wrong with my horse he has finally been diagnosed with spavin in both hocks and tears to the supraspinous ligament as well as 3 "kissing" vertebrae in his back (although these show no signs of remodelling at all - they are just very close together).

He has had hocks medicated with mega strong stuff, had tildren and is going back in next week to have this new thing done. Not sure what its called but 60mg of blood is taken and seperated and something else done then it is injected into the tears in the ligament. Apparently quite new but had great success in suspensories etc.

He is having this done next week and then being turned away for at least 6 months to let his back recover.

Has anyone any experience of a back injury such as this and have your horses come back into full work?

Also in NL.
 
Sounds like he is having IRAP treatment. Have the hocks fused yet?

Good luck - at least you know what is wrong with him now - to be honest he never really sounded right from the start.

Sacroiliac strains normally accompany KS - there are lots of threads in here about it so I would keep an eye on this. Tears to the supraspinous ligament are not as common - there are a few people here who have experience, TayloredEquestrian being one.

If you havent already looked, take a look at the back-on-track products - these are really good for back problems.
 
Thanks - you are the ONLY one who has replied! My vet did say he hadn't seen many horses with these kind of tears.

Hocks not fused yet - he's 3/10ths lame off hind and reacted positively on other hind. Vet says his back wouldn't improve until hocks are sorted so that's why they've been remedicated. He had his back scanned by ultrasound and that's how they found the tears.

What a pain in the bum!! At least I've found him a companion home until Christmas.
 
The reason they aren't common is because the back has to be under quite a bit of strain for these to occur - I imagine poor happy was in pain for quite a long time with his hocks, adjusted the way he was going to compensate and then put extra strain on his back. From what I have seen, these injuries take a lot of rehab and even then there isn't a guarantee they can come into full work again especially since Happy has several things going wrong at the same time.

Have a look through my previous posts I suspected my horse had strained this ligament as well but he was given the all clear (luckily I didn't listen to the vet who told me to ride him through the pain!). Soft tissue injuries are horrendous, and really need a lot of time and money for the horse to recover. Have a look at the back on track pads they might be able to help you. Mine wears a magnetic rug when he is in the stable in winter and it has really helped too.
 
I have had 4 horses over the years with supra-spinous ligament injuries; only one was diagnosed quickly. I think they may have been strains not actual tears - sorry to be vague. Three of them had no other complications and those all had about 3 months off, rehab lunging in a pessoa (or other contraption as it was before pessoas were invented) and were 100% fine after. The 4th has other problems (not hocks) and is still ongoing. None of them had KS though (not sure those had been "invented" either back then!)
 
You were the other person I was trying to remember with experience - I remember your very helpful pm but couldnt remember your user name!
 
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