Any experience with hind SDFT tears - absolutely gutted!

Zeb93

Zeb93

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Hi,

My horse came in from the field on Saturday with a very small puncture wound a couple of cm above his hock. No idea what could have caused it as it is in a very strange place for anything to catch and not the kind of wound you would get from a kick. He was quite lame on it so vet was called. Vet scanned and said didn’t look good and advised transport to equine hospital.

He had surgery yesterday and found the SDFT 90% lacerated. Whatever has caused this has also punctured the surrounding bursa but luckily no other tendons were involved. They have flushed out the bursa and cleaned up the ends of the damaged tendon but because of the tension in the tendon have said they cannot do more to repair it. He now has a cast on for 10 days. He got up from the surgery really well which was what they were worried about so now it is just a waiting game to see if it gets infected. If all goes well he can come home when the cast is off and start the long road to recovery.

The vet reckons best case scenario is light hack with possible mechanical lameness due to the scar tissue that will form. I am absolutely gutted, he is so talented and only seven.

Does anyone have any experiences with this type of injury or tips to help me keep sane through months of box rest and walking out?

Thanks,
Zeb
 
Nowhere as severe as yours, but my one of mine did a hind SDFT last April when he was 21 and he's come back better than we all expected.
He was never lame - the girl who was looking after him noticed that the back of his leg was swollen and it didn't go down after a few days' rest. The vet came out and recommended he have a scan - a week later he told me that Jerry would probably never jump again. I was gutted.
We've been very lucky - Jerry is, thankfully, back to his old self. He doesn't have the power to push himself up over jumps but he's back in full work.

I'm pretty sure we did 4 weeks box rest and then we increased walking out by 10 minutes every 4 weeks for the first 12 weeks before he went for a scan. I did 8 weeks in-hand up and down the lanes around the yard to keep myself sane. I also spent ages just grooming him and doing pole work in-hand to keep it interesting for him.
I started riding out with the vet's permission once we got up to 30 mins walking.

Restricted turnout was a life-saver. The poor boy got bored being stuck indoors while all of his pals were out so we ended up cornering off a small bit of the field so he could go out without having enough space to go mental.
It was extremely frustrating when the YM decided that he didn't want his field split and we ended up turning him out with a sane field buddy with the vet's permission.

I bought Jerry a treat ball and hung up fruit/veg on a string to keep him entertained in his stable and we did things like carrot stretches and clicker training.
Walking out in-hand kept me fit while I wasn't riding and I had a few lessons on other horses to keep my hand in while Jerry was off.
We boxed up to keep things interesting - we ended up at the beach one day, which Jerry loved even though he was only allowed to walk.

Feel free to PM me if you want to vent.
I have my fingers and toes crossed for your boy.
 
Have you considered getting a microtherapy machine? I used one for my cob mare for a tendon repair following surgery and it was totally brilliant and really assisted teh healing. You can get a Microvet or the Arc Equine.
 
My girl had a very bad tendon injury (different tendon), I chose daily turnout in tiny paddock next to her buddies rather than box rest.Worked really well, kept her sane, sun on their back can make them feel so much better. I also used a treat ball, in the paddock, to keep her gently on the (very limited) move. A friend filled it at lunch so she was occupied much of the day. I also fed her green lipped muscles as an excellent source of amino acids to nutritionally support the healing that was going on. Said it before on this forum, but best piece of advice I was given was give them as much time as they need to come sound, then give them as much time off again. Otherwise it is too tempting to start asking questions when they have only just come right again. I also invested in osteopath visits, to minimise & break down any adhesions that formed internally.

It's tough, you try & explain it's like a bereavement because you've lost your horse as they were & what you used to do with them, even though they are still alive. Be glad for every small step (& to begin with they are miniscule), your horse may not be as he was, but accept & appreciate what he can do. My girl was meant to only get to field sound if I was lucky, not to be ridden again. 7 years on we hack, do fun rides & low level endurance rides (she is an advanced endurance horse so small distances for her). I make sure she is fitter than she needs to be, so she never gets tired, as that is when the risk of redamaging it is greater. I also never let her go above a walk when going up hills nor school her on a circle. End of the day it works & we still have fun together!
 
YasandCrystal said:
Have you considered getting a microtherapy machine? I used one for my cob mare for a tendon repair following surgery and it was totally brilliant and really assisted teh healing. You can get a Microvet or the Arc Equine.
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I have looked into these but looks a bit of a minefield - evidence all seems anecdotal and there is a lot of stories either way. What is the difference between the two as the arc equine is twice the price but both the websites say pretty much the same thing? I will speak to my vet about them when I go and see him later.

What was your mares initial prognosis and what was the final outcome if you don't mind me asking?

pip6 said:
It's tough, you try & explain it's like a bereavement because you've lost your horse as they were & what you used to do with them, even though they are still alive. Be glad for every small step (& to begin with they are miniscule), your horse may not be as he was, but accept & appreciate what he can do. My girl was meant to only get to field sound if I was lucky, not to be ridden again. 7 years on we hack, do fun rides & low level endurance rides (she is an advanced endurance horse so small distances for her). I make sure she is fitter than she needs to be, so she never gets tired, as that is when the risk of redamaging it is greater. I also never let her go above a walk when going up hills nor school her on a circle. End of the day it works & we still have fun together!
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The bereavement thing is exactly how I feel - you have all these plans and suddenly everything is just taken away. It makes you wonder why we put ourselves through all the pain and heartbreak! Its good to see yours returned to some level of work. The vet who saw him at home was worried the gastrocnemius tendon was involved which would have had a much poorer prognosis so just taking one day at a time and hoping infection doesn't set in!
 
http://www.centurion-systems.co.uk/minipulse.htm

We use this!

All our tendon and ligament injuries are put under daily treatments and continue afterwards.

So far so good and no lameness has ever reoccurred.

Vets I have found dissed this product and claimed 'no scientific proof'. But now with one of my horses the vets have graciously eaten their hats and the mini pulse has kept a horse sound when the xrays and scans said otherwise!

Good luck but as others say small paddock turnout is a godsend!!!! We would never do without it!
 
foraday said:
http://www.centurion-systems.co.uk/minipulse.htm

We use this!

All our tendon and ligament injuries are put under daily treatments and continue afterwards.

So far so good and no lameness has ever reoccurred.

Vets I have found dissed this product and claimed 'no scientific proof'. But now with one of my horses the vets have graciously eaten their hats and the mini pulse has kept a horse sound when the xrays and scans said otherwise!

Good luck but as others say small paddock turnout is a godsend!!!! We would never do without it!
Click to expand...

Thanks, what is the difference between this and the microvet/arc equine units?

Also what price range is it as can't find that info on their website.
 
A think an old boss of mines horse did this- was only really a family/ riding club level horse but a good, fun one and they were devastated.

Only lame a tiny bit, so it took a few months to properly diagnose after a MRI scan.

Think she is back in work now. So sorry to hear about your horse :(

Where about in Scotland are you Zeb- only I think I recognise the school/view in your avatar :)
 
Vet laughed at me using mussels, but the speed at which the swelling started to reduce within a week (having not gone down with vet treatment for 4 months previous to this), made him agree that there may be something in it. Friend used it on her mare vet had written off due to tendon damage, again swelling suddenly started to go down & horse in work again. With my mare vet desribed tendon as swiss cheese, with more hole than tendon. Give you an idea of secerity of injury. Imagine a rugby ball cut lengthways & stuck on back of fetlock. After mussels (which I buy from human supplement company, very cheap but super quality/purity), went down over the next year, now looks like windgall! Vet had tried shock wave, adequan (which helped a bit, but course was only 2 weeks from memory), rest on painkillers & anti inflammatories. End of the day patience is the key. Keeping fingers crossed you don't have added problem of infection.
 
Jenni_ said:
A think an old boss of mines horse did this- was only really a family/ riding club level horse but a good, fun one and they were devastated.

Only lame a tiny bit, so it took a few months to properly diagnose after a MRI scan.

Think she is back in work now. So sorry to hear about your horse :(

Where about in Scotland are you Zeb- only I think I recognise the school/view in your avatar :)
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Edinburgh is home but I am living in Fife atm. That picture was taken at Hillhead though.
 
My mare tore a 50% lesion in her DDFT in her hind leg about 2 years ago. She's had pretty much all of those two years turned away, had about 6 months restricted turnout then intergrated into normal turnout. She's now 100% sound and starting to come back into work slowly.
I think the key with this sort of injury is time, time and more time then very slow back into work to give it a chance to stretch and heal as well as is possible.

Good luck with the recovery and I really hope he's ok long term
 
My big lad put a 50% hole in his SDFT going through his off hind fetlock, taking out the tendon sheath in the process so stem cell was completely out of the question. When he did it we were looking at 6months strict box rest with a 50/50 prospect of having a field sound horse at the end of it due to him being 14yo.

5months into the box rest the Hocamaffe escaped out of his stable and spent 45mins galloping round the fields jumping the fences between them. Scanned him again a week later to see what further damage he had done and there was none! His tendon sheath had filled in, the tendon itself had pretty much totally filled in, there was still a 5% hole to fill in but 95% of the healed tissue was tendon fibre and not scar tissue! So he stayed in his box for a further 3 months, so 8months box rest in total before he came back out for walking exercise and his tendon is completely healed. To scan it now there is 5% scar tissue, 95% tendon fibre. He is now back to normal and doing normal things.

For the first 6 months he got given MSN 10,000 in his feed. As did GrayMo when he did a complete rupture of his Off Fore SDFT.

Horses are miraculous creatures - never lose hope but always hang onto the worst scenario so that your hopes will never be dashed.
 
mynutmeg said:
My mare tore a 50% lesion in her DDFT in her hind leg about 2 years ago. She's had pretty much all of those two years turned away, had about 6 months restricted turnout then intergrated into normal turnout. She's now 100% sound and starting to come back into work slowly.
I think the key with this sort of injury is time, time and more time then very slow back into work to give it a chance to stretch and heal as well as is possible.

Good luck with the recovery and I really hope he's ok long term
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Thanks, how much box rest did you do at the start. There seems to be conflicting advice about whether box rest or restricted turnout is better for these kind of injuries. We are lucky in that we have the facilities to do restricted turnout of any size if needs be.

EKW said:
My big lad put a 50% hole in his SDFT going through his off hind fetlock, taking out the tendon sheath in the process so stem cell was completely out of the question. When he did it we were looking at 6months strict box rest with a 50/50 prospect of having a field sound horse at the end of it due to him being 14yo.

5months into the box rest the Hocamaffe escaped out of his stable and spent 45mins galloping round the fields jumping the fences between them. Scanned him again a week later to see what further damage he had done and there was none! His tendon sheath had filled in, the tendon itself had pretty much totally filled in, there was still a 5% hole to fill in but 95% of the healed tissue was tendon fibre and not scar tissue! So he stayed in his box for a further 3 months, so 8months box rest in total before he came back out for walking exercise and his tendon is completely healed. To scan it now there is 5% scar tissue, 95% tendon fibre. He is now back to normal and doing normal things.

For the first 6 months he got given MSN 10,000 in his feed. As did GrayMo when he did a complete rupture of his Off Fore SDFT.

Horses are miraculous creatures - never lose hope but always hang onto the worst scenario so that your hopes will never be dashed.
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Argh, watching your horse galloping about after all that time and work sounds like an absolute nightmare! Glad there was no damage.

Have spoken to the vets tonight, because the damage is above the hock not below there is very little literature about recovery chances. Apparently it is practically unheard of to damage SDFT without involving gastrocnemius and once the gastrocnemius is involved survival rates drop drastically. Vets were quite positive though today, more so than yesterday and he seems to be coping well with the cast. Apparently prognosis is better because of the position of the injury - lower leg injuries seem to be worse.

Keeping fingers crossed we get through the next couple of weeks and then the hard work will begin!
 
She pretty much didn't have any full box rest, just in at night then in a 20 foot square pen in the field during the day. She wasn't particularly lame so initially she was just in a small pen as I thought she'd just strained it. She was scanned about 2 weeks later and I had a very surprised vet when he saw the extent of the hole. Because she was content and calm in her pen we just continued with that until she came totally sound which took about 6 months then gradually increased gthe size of her pen and then she was finally out with a quiet friend after about 9 months. About a year later she was started into light hacking work and coped really well with that until she got to big to be comfortable walking out (was in foal). Now foally is 4 months I'm starting to build her up with a little lunging and walking out for 10-15 minutes with a view to beginning proper ridden work in a bout 6-8 weeks once Milo's fully weaned.

I think my inclination would be restricted turnout on a good surface (no deep mud) if the horse will stay calm as it helps them stay sane but it does depend on what the vets say as to how much movement your horse is allowed.

Really hoping for a good outcome for you.
 
mynutmeg said:
She pretty much didn't have any full box rest, just in at night then in a 20 foot square pen in the field during the day. She wasn't particularly lame so initially she was just in a small pen as I thought she'd just strained it. She was scanned about 2 weeks later and I had a very surprised vet when he saw the extent of the hole. Because she was content and calm in her pen we just continued with that until she came totally sound which took about 6 months then gradually increased gthe size of her pen and then she was finally out with a quiet friend after about 9 months. About a year later she was started into light hacking work and coped really well with that until she got to big to be comfortable walking out (was in foal). Now foally is 4 months I'm starting to build her up with a little lunging and walking out for 10-15 minutes with a view to beginning proper ridden work in a bout 6-8 weeks once Milo's fully weaned.

I think my inclination would be restricted turnout on a good surface (no deep mud) if the horse will stay calm as it helps them stay sane but it does depend on what the vets say as to how much movement your horse is allowed.

Really hoping for a good outcome for you.
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It's the good surface bit that's the problem coming into winter!

Vet has said it needs to be immobile as possible for the near future, hence it has a cast on but not sure about longer term. They have said they think 4 - 6 months box rest but when we get to that I will question whether that could include very limited turnout to keep him sane.

There seems to be conflicting advice a lot of the time about whether some movement promotes better healing than no movement...
 
My girl has suspect DDFT injury at 7 and just starting her more 'advanced' work - She was proving to be a gem!! Darn it!!!
MRI hopefully in a few weeks pending insurance = I have no experience to add - only that I am making plans for my girl to be retired from now....
 
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