Check ligament problems...

[Weezy]

Evening all

Have you ever had a horse with check lig probs? How did you know something was amiss? What was the treatment programme you were given? How has the horse recovered?

Thank you

 

[_jetset_]

Is everything ok???

Sorry, no experience of the check ligament.

 

[Weezy]

Just tossing ideas around with a friend

 

[Partoow]

Lameness is intermitent, often not clear where it comes from. on a circle they look lame on the outside foreleg, as the check ligament is part of the 'stay' apparatus so it is the swing forward not the weight bearing that is the problem.
little or no swelling, often looks to be higher up lameness.
Treatment = rest and shock wave therapy with Hyanate [sp] injection.
pretty successful outcome i think it took one of mine 6 weeks and we were back in work , obviously depending on the level of injury.
Hope that helps.
X

 

[TGM]

Friend had a horse with a check ligament problem. She noticed that something was amiss because the horse was lame!

Had horse scanned and vet diagnosed check ligament problem. Treatment was box rest and horse recovered to normal soundness, although workload was only light hacking.

 

[Bounty]

Our check ligament problem presented as a hard swelling at the back of the leg, below the knee (obviously!). She wasn't lame at all, though my understanding is that ligament injuries often don't cause lameness? Her's was pretty drastic, but vets felt nothing other than time was necessary as treatment.
She was scanned for diagnosis and was field rested for 6months, then rescanned and brought back into work. That was 4 years ago and she is now 17/18 and still working at full pelt with no problems.

 

[vicijp]

Check ligament problems are easy to diagnose, but hard to manage as there is often no lameness.
General time span for recovery is 3 months, but I have known plenty of racehorses who come back into work and hang/jump away from the old injury even though it scans ok.
Its best to give at least 6 months off.

 

[Halfstep]

Friend's horse did a check ligament in November. Fairly obvious swelling, but no lameness at all. Diagnosed by ultrasound, had four weeks box rest, followed by a few weeks field rest. Rescanned and started six weeks walk work. Currently just starting trot on hard ground.

 

[showjump]

My chestnut in my sig managed to rip a 2cm hole in his in his stable overnight. I noticed the swelling straight away. After the first vet missing the hole took him to another. He was on box rest, followed by walking on roads for 10 mins increasing gradually. He is now jumping at same level as he was before. (1.20+)
He wasnt lame, just sore on it when vet pressed. He was injected in the hole with something (cannot think of name) to speed the healing. This worked as on next visit hole was nearly gone on scan. He said if it changed at all he would have to have shock wave on it, it didnt and he never had to go back to vets. Basically had to build it up, you knew when you had pushed it because the lump would be soft the next day. We would then need to just do less work the next day.
Here are the pics from when he did it. The "good" leg, and the "bad" leg.

Hope that helps.

 

[Weezy]

Thanks everyone! Horse in question has absolutely no swelling, no heat, no outward change in the leg at all. It isn't constantly lame, just say twice in an hour for a few steps of trot only. Farrier is coming out to check for corns/abcesses and a physio sesh will be sorted too - then if probs are still apparent it is off to the vets.