Check ligament damage - advice please

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mrsdoubtfire

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My horse has done her check ligament, she is having her shoes taken off tomorrow and then having lots of cold hosing etc. Please can anyone tell me how long ish she will be off for - my vet said up to 9 months- what have other people experienced? Also she is predominantly used for hunting and hunter trials, can I expect her to get back to full use?
I am in no hurry to make her work again, she is 15 and I have had her for nearly 3 years, she owes me nothing and I owe her everything, so she will get all the time she needs and lots of love and care, but I just want to know what to expect. Thank you!
 
My old lad had 8/9 months off - he was 19 when he did it and is now 21 and back hacking out and doing fun rides! I don't risk jumping him any more though (only VERY small logs on fun rides where it's just a canter stride with no real jump impact, it keeps him happy ;)) and avoid steps and drops. I did buy a 'replacement' horse though, so have not really worried too much about him getting back to his previous level of activity as he's getting older and stiffer now anyway in addition to post-injury concerns.
 
The mare I bought recently is marked LOU, which was done after she damaged her check ligament 4 years ago aged 13. She was used for low level eventing. I think she was out of work for about 12 months from what the previous owner said. Probably not very encouraging to tell you that! She has been a hack ever since but does just fine, I don't jump her but she's happy at all paces. Developing a touch of arthritis, but in all four rather than just the leg with the check damage.
 
Hi there,

I thought you may want a good story...

I do not know how much damage your horse has done, so this may not be the case. My mare damaged her ligament a couple of months ago (although one vet told me there was nothing wrong despite the swollen leg and she was intermittently lame). Had another vet out from a different practice mid-June. Scanned her leg and she had 2 tears, but not as bad as we thought initially.

She was also lame on her other fore leg and had some issues with her back (we think she was compensating for her injured leg). So since mid-June she has been living out in a small pen, which is moved so she can have grass at night and soaked hay during the day. We had her shoeing changed, and she has been having regular phsyio visits to try and help her back (if not, she will have to have steroid injections, but hoping that is not the case).

We spent 5 weeks walking under saddle, 3 to 4 times a week, for 10 minutes, increasing to 30 and then we got her up to an hour (with a few excitable moments). Then she had the next scan before the farrier came and they have healed very well, vet is really pleased with how she is doing. Still on 'pen rest' but slightly bigger pen. Now we have introduced some 'steady' trot work. She had her shoes re-done and was sore for a few days afterwards, but we are now up to around 10 minutes trot work spread out and doing some walk work in the menage once or twice a week.

She has her next scan booked after the bank holiday, along with the phsyio and farrier before we introduce some steady canter work. We are hoping to get her back jumping (not very high i may add) but there is no rush and we don't plan to do this until the new year. We are going to concentrate on hacking and her flatwork (hence why i have just purchased a second hand dressage saddle). The vet doesn't seem to think there will be any issues with us getting back to what we were doing before, but i will be extra careful with the height, ground etc asm i don't want her to re-injure it.

It is a long road, and it can be tedious, but i have to say, spending the extra time with her, grooming, looking after her and her leg, she has magnet rug and boots on has bought us closer.

I hope this will help you to see a more positive side, it may take a while but as long as you do everything as instructed (and more), hopefully your horse will come back to where she was before.

Good luck!
 
I have a 20yr old mare, she damaged her check ligament during her test at the British Dressage Winter Champs in April. Once home we had it scanned and the whole ligament was torn (luckily there was no other damage). She did 2 weeks total box rest with magnetic boots on and I used ice vibe boots on her also.

She got huge odemas and got very stiff as she went from being an incredibly fit competition horse to doing absolutely nothing in the space of a day. Vet agreed to let me turn her out to get her moving and get the odemas down. They said it would either cripple her lame or she would be fine.

This was at the end of April, yesterday I rode her for the first time :) :)

I plan on introducing very short hacks every 3rd say for 15mins and I will see how she goes. She felt fab when I was on her.

The ice vibe boots and magnetic boots are a good investment, the ice vibes have been a god send. The premier equine magnetic stable boots are really good and she wears those during the day when she's in her stable (she's out in her field at night). She had bar shoes put on as well to support the ligament.
 
I agree with the magnet boots. They have really helped, I also put arnica gel on her leg to keep the swelling down. It does tend to swell more when its hot and she doesn't tend to move around as much, but other than that we are really pleased. The physio also gave me some massage techniques for the leg which seem to be helping as well.

She doesn't have bar shoes on, but has gone from toe clips to quarter tips with more support on her heels. It just depends on teh extent of the damage and what the vet says.
 
Yes should have added in the early stages of injury she had arnica tablets in her feed also. She has low heels naturally hence vet advised the bar shoes to give more support .
 
Tempi- does your mare's leg still swell or naturally more swollen than the other? My vet said her leg may swell more than her other one, although when she is moving around its actually not too bad
 
No, she has had a swelling on the leg since it happened which has consistantly stayed the same size, it was hot to start with now it is cool and I can pinch it (on vets advice) and she doesn't pull away. Vet said quite often the swelling never goes down especially in older horses. It's like scar tissue I guess (its about the size of a 50p piece).

(Hers is front leg)
 
Tempi said:
No, she has had a swelling on the leg since it happened which has consistantly stayed the same size, it was hot to start with now it is cool and I can pinch it (on vets advice) and she doesn't pull away. Vet said quite often the swelling never goes down especially in older horses. It's like scar tissue I guess (its about the size of a 50p piece).

(Hers is front leg)
Click to expand...

Ok thanks. Yeah, that is what my vet said. There is no heat in it, and not painful. Her leg was thick all the way down, so we thought she had done more than her check, but the scan confirmed only the check ligament was damaged. It hasn't gotten worse with the work we are doing at the moment, which is a good sign, Will just continue to take it nice and easy, although my horse doesn't always agree with me!
 
The vets told me they rarely see hinds gone and a hind is not good news. My horse put a huge hole in his near hind, messing about in the field, in August 2011. Did 11 months barn rest and then out in a small paddock and barn from July 2012. Leg is almost back to normal shape wise, slight thickening, but the ligament seems to have healed and shortened. The result being he cannot get his heel to the ground properly, which in turn, dumps the toe of the hoof and pushes the shoe backwards. We tried to rehab him but the foot, rather than the leg put a stop to it.
 
Baymare88 said:
Hi there,

I thought you may want a good story...

I do not know how much damage your horse has done, so this may not be the case. My mare damaged her ligament a couple of months ago (although one vet told me there was nothing wrong despite the swollen leg and she was intermittently lame). Had another vet out from a different practice mid-June. Scanned her leg and she had 2 tears, but not as bad as we thought initially.

She was also lame on her other fore leg and had some issues with her back (we think she was compensating for her injured leg). So since mid-June she has been living out in a small pen, which is moved so she can have grass at night and soaked hay during the day. We had her shoeing changed, and she has been having regular phsyio visits to try and help her back (if not, she will have to have steroid injections, but hoping that is not the case).

We spent 5 weeks walking under saddle, 3 to 4 times a week, for 10 minutes, increasing to 30 and then we got her up to an hour (with a few excitable moments). Then she had the next scan before the farrier came and they have healed very well, vet is really pleased with how she is doing. Still on 'pen rest' but slightly bigger pen. Now we have introduced some 'steady' trot work. She had her shoes re-done and was sore for a few days afterwards, but we are now up to around 10 minutes trot work spread out and doing some walk work in the menage once or twice a week.

She has her next scan booked after the bank holiday, along with the phsyio and farrier before we introduce some steady canter work. We are hoping to get her back jumping (not very high i may add) but there is no rush and we don't plan to do this until the new year. We are going to concentrate on hacking and her flatwork (hence why i have just purchased a second hand dressage saddle). The vet doesn't seem to think there will be any issues with us getting back to what we were doing before, but i will be extra careful with the height, ground etc asm i don't want her to re-injure it.

It is a long road, and it can be tedious, but i have to say, spending the extra time with her, grooming, looking after her and her leg, she has magnet rug and boots on has bought us closer.

I hope this will help you to see a more positive side, it may take a while but as long as you do everything as instructed (and more), hopefully your horse will come back to where she was before.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

I should have added, vet has told me to exercise her in exercise bandages as well for more support.
 
Thank you everyone! There does seem to be hope for her making a full recovery, even though we have a long way to go before we can even think about it! I have always been careful about not jumping on hard ground and not hammering her around as she has such baggy legs anyway and is a big horse (17.3hh shire cross) so I worry about the weight all coming down on her front legs, and then she goes and does this in the field - typical!! Good luck with all recoveries etc of your horses.
 
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