At Home Treatments for DDFT Damage (MicroCurrent, Magnets etc)

Roisiny

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Hi there,
My horse injured her right fore out hunting at the start of November and has been on boxed rest with limited turnout in the arena up to half an hour and hand walking for up to 15min since then. She's had XRays which came up completely clear, and nerve blocks which pinpointed it to her hoof. Vet believes there's damage to the DDFT near her coffin bone. In the beginning she resembled a tripod but has gradually gotten better and is now completely even trotting down the rode straight, no lameness on the right rein on lunge/undersaddle, mostly no lameness on left on lunge circle and slight lameness undersaddle\on smaller lunge circle (I rode her 2 weekends ago as she had come up sound up to then but have since not)

Since she is not insured am looking for more 'home remedies', have seen a lot about ARC Equestrian but it is out of budget. However I remember reading a post on an FB forum about microcurrent therapy using a human devise which lasted a number of times.
Can't remember the name of the one this person suggested, but have also found "Recovery RX" and "Henley Medical" do them, just wondering how these work, are there any downsides/safety precautions. Have also seen snippets of information about the use of magnets, as well as ice boots (however there has never been any heat in her legs, so not sure would this be beneficial) so if any one has any success stories on these that would be great.

Have also seen turmeric and aloe vera being suggested. I know both of these have a bad reputation for being a bit "hippyish", but did get me thinking about if there are supplements to help with tendon repair or indeed if either of these work.

Ultimately neither our normal vet, who has seen her 4 times now, or the vet that did Xrays seem particularly concerned with where she is atm but want to help her out as much as we can.

Thanks in anticipation,
Roisin
 

claracanter

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Sorry to hear your horse is injured. My TB did this to a hind leg nearly 3 years ago. Like you, he wasn't insured so he had scans and nothing was found so the vet surmised it was in the hoof. We cold hosed and put magnetic boot son him while he was stabled.He had fluid( not sure what this bit is called) at the back of his hoof above the heel. As I recall he had a steroid injection into there after a few weeks. He doesn't really do box rest or in hand walking, so he just had two weeks in and then went onto limited time/area turnout increasing it until he was in a normal size paddock and then I turned him away for about 6 months. He came back fine or as fine as can be expected as he is pretty accident prone. I haven't jumped him since and at present he is off with a front tendon tweak!
 

ester

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It is tricky when you are guessing. I wouldn't use an ARC on the basis of their lack of evidence but they make owners feel better.

Honestly if I had an uninsured horse with a hoof problem I'd take the shoes off and rehab that way (if we are going to really hippy it out ;) ). I I did it with my insured one and was the best thing I ever did. Have a read of the rockley farm blog (plenty of ddft issues there).

Ps tumeric is ok as an anti inflammatory, I use boswellia instead as I was unconvinced mine would eat turmeric and it helps with his old stiff bits but I don't think you are looking at healing assistance from any of that sort of stuff per se.
 

Puddleduck

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My Warmblood tore his DDFT in his right hoof 18 months ago. He was insured so we did an MRI which showed the full extent and resulted in a pretty poor prognosis.
Took his shoes off and followed the Rockley Farm rehab principles. He’s been back in work for coming up for a year hacking, schooling and doing polework. We’ve had a few months of not doing much over winter due to the weather but he’s in good shape so I’m looking forward to getting back on soon.
 

Mahoganybay

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Following this post with interest as my gelding is in the exact same position, damage to DDFT in right fore, not insured, vet pinpointed it to hoof via every test except the MRI.

Currently, 2 weeks into a 6 week box rest, he has had wedge shoes put on both his fronts (as advised by vet) and he wears magnetic boots.
 

JDH01

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This is a very interesting thread I have never insured my horses and always go on age, symptoms etc when deciding course of action. I had an older cob who vet felt post X-ray had done this who when turned away on very small paddock on vets advice didn't improve and had to be PST. Second horse with same symptoms was initially thought to have done the same but as she is only 5 and very promising we had an MRI and she had a bruised pedal bone! We did 20 weeks of full and I mean full box rest - she was an angel for a 7/8ths TB and is now back in full work and jumping 1.10 at home plus proper road work and first event is 7th April. Total cost £3500!!
 

MDB

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This sounds very similar history to my mare, including the tripod part. Vet initially said abscess, but nothing appeared, farrier immediately thought DDFT. x rays clear, nerve blocked heel, became sound. never got an accurate diagnosis as like yours she is uninsured. Anyways, that was 9 months ago, in July. She has been left in the field since. Up until December she was still on and off lame. I am hoping she will be okay to begin riding very gently in summer. I believe DDFT injuries are long and slow to heal. 12- 18 months, so I am in no rush. Good luck.
 
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PoppyAnderson

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Following this post with interest as my gelding is in the exact same position, damage to DDFT in right fore, not insured, vet pinpointed it to hoof via every test except the MRI.

Currently, 2 weeks into a 6 week box rest, he has had wedge shoes put on both his fronts (as advised by vet) and he wears magnetic boots.

Vet is advising you wrong. Remedial shoeing will make things worse, not better. Best thing you can do is to go barefoot.
 
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