Check Ligament injury- advice and other experiences?

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Annsboroughlady

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Hi all,
After getting a new mare in May who needed lots of work (she was returning to work after 5 years and hadn't stepped out her gate in 3 years). Anyway, she is 12/13 years old and we had a month or so of playing and getting to know each other then decided to begin work. She had a lump on her leg (tendon area) but it was hard and the vet said it was an insect bite so we carried on long reining (luckily very low impact) and I got on her after a few weeks of long reining etc.- I only got up one side of the school before I got off. I felt she was going to buck as she was all joggy and tucked up; even though it was her first ride in 5 years I just felt it wasn't her. Her previous owner came to ride her for me and was shocked at her behavior (small rears and bucks). Her leg was hot a swollen after she trotted around her hard field a few days later so we kept her in for 3 days until it went down, this happened again and we called the vet who confirmed it was a damaged check ligament.
Long story not so short, 11 weeks later and we are at the back end of a 17 week box rest.

My question is, when we start work in 6 weeks, provided scan is okay, what protection should I give her? I'm not a huge fan of bandaging and booting unless completely necessary and in her case I feel she will need the support. I would think that exercise bandages would give her more support for our flatwork/schooling sessions (if we hopefully get that stage in some months time) but don't want to risk doing more damage if boots would give just as much support. I was looking at premier equine sports boots for our light walks/hacks out or are they good enough for everything? What do y'all think?

I know I'm a few weeks early but if bandages are better I want to be well prepared and experienced in putting them on so I don't do damage. When she comes back into work we will progress VERY slowly. Sorry I've rambled on, I just want to be very careful as for the last 4 years I seem to have fixed horses and want to do the best for my mare.

Thank you for any advice!
 
Hi there,

My mare did her check ligament earlier in the year (along with discovering she has arthritis in both hocks and hind fetlocks and also in her right fore). She wasn't on box rest, but pen rest and we did lots and lots of hacking (walk work mainly) she has been back in full work for about 6 weeks now.

I was told to use exercise bandages for schooling and hacking to start with, and going under the fetlock. This really helped her her. When i tried to use boots for schooling, her leg would swell so I continued to bandage. Now, I am able to alternate and use boots for hacking and bandages for schooling. Last weekend I did use boots for schooling, and didn't notice any swelling (which is a good sign).

I also have magnetic boot wraps which she wears a lot, especially after any hard work and these have really helped.

We did 6 weeks walk work and then built up the trot. As she had other issues, her rehab took a bit longer, but she seems to be doing really well.

Hope your mare recovers quickly ?
 
Years ago we had a pony who recovered from a check ligament injury and went on to do (very) competitive gymkhana games and jumping. We hacked her without any support for her legs, but competed/worked in sports medicine boots, and she never went lame for the rest of her life (10 years at least)
 
I don't think boots would necessarily give good support, so I would start off with bandaging using vet gamgee under to spread the tension.
If she is getting plenty of turnout and is fine, I would tend to use bandages when doing any schooling, and on strenuous hacks but not on short outings, except at first.
I think you have to play it by ear, and check the legs every day. Start off with more bandaging and if there is no heat you can start to use less bandaging.
 
Ice-vibe might be worth investing in, to use after schooling or jumping.

My vet said bandages and boots were a waste of time. All they did was heat the leg, so predispose to more injury, and a bit of cloth and elastic was never going to match the the strength of a ligament. He said boots were essential to prevent strike injury when galloping or jumping. Bandages can reduce soft tissue swelling, but that was mostly cosmetic, and didn't prevent the cause.
 
Thanks for all the advice. I forgot to mention that at the minute, she is turned out in a tiny paddock (same size as her stable) as she was going a bit crazy. Up until a week ago she was turned out in magnetic brushing boots but now she goes out in normal brushing boots to keep her legs clean because they are bandaged at night. She still has the premier equine bi-polar magnetic boot wraps on for an hour a day. I'm thinking of getting the premier equine cold water boots for after exercise until she gets her strength back. Her legs will be the most inspected legs ever when we start working again haha
 
Hi, how are you getting on? My horse is in light work week 5 after injuring his check ligament. My vet had advised gamgee and exercise bandages so been using them. Next scan in few weeks to see level of healing and whether we can up the exercise level. Fingers crossed. He's 26 but having trouble keeping him calm and sensible as he's not being tired out enough...
 
My horse put a hole in his check ligament at the end of October and we're still not back in work! He was on 12 weeks box rest with in hand exercise starting after 6 weeks. Owing to him being a total tw** I had to turn him out at week 11. He had a scan at 12 weeks which showed good healing but the vet advised another 12 weeks off to let the healing continue. We're now at week 19 and hoping the scan in mid-April will show he can come back into work.
 
I have an Arab mare that has done both her front Check Ligaments. The first one she did was just a small lump. I found it while cleaning her legs. As we had been walking through the woods we did wonder if she had picked up a thorn as I did pick one out. She was in full work for a 30mile Endurance ride. She was never lame.

We gave her some shock wave treatment and turned her out as she does not do box rest at all. With in 6 weeks she was back in work. I did a lot of walking with her up and down the hill near me. I did use magnetic boots and massage to help blood circulation. I also use the Hilton TLC (Tendon and Ligament Care) lotion which contains Witch Hazel extract, Arnica tincture, Comfrey leaf tincture and Ruta
Graveolens tincture. This I have found helps the healing process.

The second one was done in the field during the winter. Again I repeated the above. She went on to represent England in the Home Internationals (an Endurance competition) and was never lame again until at the age of 18 she was diagnosed with Navicular.

I think the long period of walking and a slow build up to full work is what helped. Apart from the magnetic boots , which she had on for a couple of hours a day I never put any bandages or support boots.
 
I came on here to start a thread on this - must be the weather! Mine did his 4 weeks ago, been on box rest since, scanned today and not too bad, the first vet to see it said 2/3 months box rest, todays vet said start walking him out in hand for 5 mins a day to stop adhesions forming - build this up to 10 mins within the next month then at 7/8 weeks turn him out in a small pen (half size of school) if the ground is Ok.

Clearly lots of different opinions on rehab so I'd be interested in what everyone else has done and what's worked for your horses.
 
Polos Mum said:
I came on here to start a thread on this - must be the weather! Mine did his 4 weeks ago, been on box rest since, scanned today and not too bad, the first vet to see it said 2/3 months box rest, todays vet said start walking him out in hand for 5 mins a day to stop adhesions forming - build this up to 10 mins within the next month then at 7/8 weeks turn him out in a small pen (half size of school) if the ground is Ok.

Clearly lots of different opinions on rehab so I'd be interested in what everyone else has done and what's worked for your horses.
Click to expand...

My anglo Arab did his end Oct, I was still riding, had only just finished an autumn of XC's. Then he had a week off for a slightly swollen leg which was hosed daily until it went down. He was totally sound, galloping around as normal but the vet was coming to check his teeth so I asked him to have a look at his leg too. Got the bad news after a scan on 1 Nov. Since then he's been scanned every 4/5 weeks and it's been getting better. I was lucky he was on normal turnout, in at night, out through the day and stable bandaged at night.
We've now been on 4 weeks of walk work, with few stretched of trot on even ground, with exercise bandages over gamgee on vets orders. The trouble is keeping him calm enough not to jog, leap around, rear up and generally be a total t** because he's not using enough energy... Next scan 2 weeks today, fingers crossed we can do more work. One thing that my vet said was take care on the ground you're on. But I was very lucky not to have to do box rest. Good luck with yours Polos Mum.
 
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