Check ligament time off

[Tamara Hewett]

Hi all wondering if anyone can help.

I competed my horse yesterday and her legs were all good post xc and post travel but this morning she has a big filled leg, little tiny but lame. I cold hosed and ice tighted no bandage and turned her out as she rears and pours when in, and it was softer filling and she was sound this evening but still huge leg, now some heat and pain about an inch below knee on back of leg ( near fore). She was not sensitive this morn but tonight it looks like a check ligament- unless any one else has any ideas? She is on loan and I adore her but am worried about the length of time her recovery will take relative to the loan period. Please can anyone advise on the basis of the info? I am getting it scanned next thurs so will know more then but putting off vet call out fees till scan as I don't know what they would say different.

Thanks guys x

 

[0ldmare]

I'm not so sure, my mare did her check ligament a few years ago and certainly hers was a couple inches below the knee, but on the side rather than at the back.

I can't really help on how long it took, but it was a good couple of months (sorry). I didn't box rest mine as she is a total twerp in the stable - box walks and weaves etc. The vet wasn't very happy, but I just turned her away. It was winter so I wasn't in a rush to return her to work Interestingly both the vet and the farrier have remarked how well its healed, theres hardly any swelling at all. She went on to be totally sound, jumping etc

Sorry not a massive amount of help, but I do wonder if it really is a check ligament

 

[Chunkie]

My mare came back into work three weeks ago after damaging her superior check ligament.

Unlike either of yours, there was never any swelling at all and I have no idea how it happened, although the vet said it was possibly an over-extension of the fetlock, more unlikely but also possibly a direct blow to the side of her knee.

The vet wanted me to box rest but that wasn't possible so she went into small paddocks and was walked out in hand twice a day for periods starting at 5 minutes and increasing weekly up to 20 minutes at a time. As soon as it got up to 25 minutes twice a day, I was allowed to ride her.

The second scan - 4 weeks after the first one and 5 weeks after she went lame - showed that she has healed very quickly, and by that time she was certainly sound in walk and trot anyway. I have been riding her for 3 weeks now, and she feels fine. We are only doing walk and trot, but that is for over an hour a day. She has shown no signs of weakness on that leg, and I know I could start to push her a little bit harder if I wanted to.

From the day she went lame to the first time I rode her again was exactly two months. I kept her in small (bit increasing in size) paddocks for a further two weeks after starting to ride, and she is now back in her normal sixed paddocks.

I really couldn't say if yours is the same injury, as there was a total absence of swelling or heat in my case. The source of the lameness was only diagnosed by scan, and then only after xrays and over 24 hours at the vets!

Good luck with it though - hope the news isn't too bad.

 

[AmyMay]

You're not going to know until the leg is scanned what the injury or prognosis is.

Essentially you could be looking at anything from a couple of weeks or months - to 18 months.

Once you know - you'll be able to discuss it further with the owner.

 

[dibbin]

My boy injured his 2 years ago - he was on box rest for 6 weeks with his front legs bandaged at night and cold hosing twice a day, then walked out in hand/turned out in a (very) small paddock a couple of times every day for another 6-8 weeks. We had to turn him out with his legs bandaged (and sedated the first time lol) because he was trying to flatten me when I was walking him, even in a chifney - not really surprising after being shut in for 6 weeks!

He injured it at the end of August, and I sat on him for the first time at the end of November, so it was about 3 months altogether. It healed well and he hasn't had any trouble with it since. The swelling was about 1-2 inches below the knee on the side of his leg, you can still see it.