Check ligament WWYD

[M1lbie]

Horse has damage to check ligament, started middle of September very slightly unsound in trot. A bit of swelling and heat so cold hosed twice a day. Anyway after scanning has shoes off and now turned away until January when he will be rescanned. Have kept him out on our summer grazing as it is flat but consequently after all the rain is also now very wet and getting muddy. Normally by now he would be strip grazing up the winter grazing which is on a slope and about half way up becomes a definite hill. Would you leave on the flat but wet field or start strip grazing up the slope where there is plenty of grass and no mud as yet, but keep him off the steep hill. He looks sound, no swelling or heat, has always lived out 24/7/365, is relatively calm and not prone to blasting around, has access to hard standing and stables to come and go as he pleases. Just wondering what is the best thing to do?

 

[Flowerofthefen]

I personally would put him on the grass and no mud. He could do damage to himself in either scenario but I'd choose grass. !!

 

[SEL]

My little cob did hers Jan 2022 just before we headed into a February full of storms and mud. I tried small paddock turnout but the mud did bring back heat in the leg so if you can find part of the field with better footing then I would.

Our walking out from the stable (she did 4 weeks in stable with twice daily walks) was up an incline and that never caused an issue - but it's a gentle rise for a mile rather than steep.

 

[M1lbie]

Thank you both for your replies, I think I’ll try and get him off the mud and risk the slight slope, hopefully he’ll be ok

 

[TheHairyOne]

Id go for the leaat slippy option having had a little horse who redid his after 4 months of the 1st rehab. Good news is he recovered just fine the second time and is sound as a pound now and soubds like his was a lot worse than yours. Had a huge egg and a lot of heat and was very, very lame when he first did it.

 

[M1lbie]

Id go for the leaat slippy option having had a little horse who redid his after 4 months of the 1st rehab. Good news is he recovered just fine the second time and is sound as a pound now and soubds like his was a lot worse than yours. Had a huge egg and a lot of heat and was very, very lame when he first did it.

Thank you for your reply, and glad to hear your horse fully recovered. I’ve moved him onto the better grass this morning although still has to come through the mud to get into the yard. Hopefully as I strip graze him up the slope he’ll not do any more damage, it certainly isn’t as slippery as the wet flat field so fingers crossed. He trotted straight towards me this morning and looked completely sound so with luck will continue to heal. When he first did it I Could only just feel it on one diagonal and then after a day or so you could just about see it when he was trotted on hard ground so not as bad as yours was, so I feel a bit more encouraged hearing yours made such a good recovery.

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Horse has damage to check ligament, started middle of September very slightly unsound in trot. A bit of swelling and heat so cold hosed twice a day. Anyway after scanning has shoes off and now turned away until January when he will be rescanned. Have kept him out on our summer grazing as it is flat but consequently after all the rain is also now very wet and getting muddy. Normally by now he would be strip grazing up the winter grazing which is on a slope and about half way up becomes a definite hill. Would you leave on the flat but wet field or start strip grazing up the slope where there is plenty of grass and no mud as yet, but keep him off the steep hill. He looks sound, no swelling or heat, has always lived out 24/7/365, is relatively calm and not prone to blasting around, has access to hard standing and stables to come and go as he pleases. Just wondering what is the best thing to do?

My mare did her check ligament well tore it really bad, she has been on box rest since March. We had to ice it 3 times a day and danilon and support bandages, we now finally on 10 mins walk x 2. One of the biggest help I found with my ID mare who tore it in 2019, was collagen, really aids recovery, vets were surprised at the repairing the check did each time they scanned it. She was really lame with it so strict box rest, this is what we used and are still using on this mare https://www.pharmahorse.co.uk/collagen-horse.html

 

[M1lbie]

My mare did her check ligament well tore it really bad, she has been on box rest since March. We had to ice it 3 times a day and danilon and support bandages, we now finally on 10 mins walk x 2. One of the biggest help I found with my ID mare who tore it in 2019, was collagen, really aids recovery, vets were surprised at the repairing the check did each time they scanned it. She was really lame with it so strict box rest, this is what we used and are still using on this mare https://www.pharmahorse.co.uk/collagen-horse.html

Goodness!! Box rest since March sounds horrendous, hope you have a successful outcome. Thank you for the info re a supplement, I was looking to see if anything could be fed to improve healing but couldn’t find anything much for tendons/ ligaments apart from global herbs tendon ease which I’ve started feeding on the basis it can’t do any harm. I will look into collagen. Luckily mine hasn’t been seriously lame so I don’t think the damage is too bad, the vet thought turning away was the right course of action but did say if he damaged it more he’d have to be on box rest, so far he’s been sensible and the leg has no heat and swelling has gone so I’m hoping it’s all healing

 

[little_critter]

Mine has an inflamed ligament in his fetlock and is on box rest. I believe connective tissue requires vitamin c to keep it healthy (hence the symptoms of scurvy in humans) so I’m feeding rosehips to boost his vitamin c.

 

[mustardsmum]

Be careful with check lig injury. I thought our mare was ok, she was very lame one day with a hot lump in the check lig area. Next day, she was sound. Kept her in for a week, then turned her out and a few days later, she was not quite right. Called vet - first scan showed damage but this then worsened and two weeks or so later the second scan showed she’d developed a hole in the lig. Vet said she was worried at the first scan as this can happen. She had PRP therapy, and then proper box rest for 12 weeks, followed by turn out in a small pen, then a long period of in hand walking building it up each week to ridden worm. Last scan at nine months showed no scarring and been sound ever since. Personally, I’d do box rest with in-hand walking until vet has scanned it.