Check ligament

[Shavings]

So Chance didn’t look right on Monday night when I took him in to the arena to lunge, had a quick look but couldn’t see any thing or feel it, farrier was coming Tuesday to shoe another horse on the yard, asked if he could take a little look at Chance in case we have an abscess (it’s rain a lot here) so at 2pm on Tuesday I got the call I didn’t want “his feet are great.. but” my heart sank as soon as I heard the but knowing some thing wasn’t right “his check ligament is swollen and hot, I think we need a vet”
So I phoned the vets they only had small animal vets on til Thursday as our normal equine vet has gone back to South Africa where he is from due to family illness and is likely to be there til at least April, the covering vet came on Thursday and can’t confirming it was check ligament but all others surrounding items in his leg where perfect, there is no rips , tears or black spots on the scan to the check so it’s a case of cold hose, in hand walking and box rest til the end of April when we will re scan and then he may get turned out for another 6 weeks before introducing work properly. I feel a mix of emotions I am upset this has happened Chance really is the horse in the shining amor for me after a difficult horse before, I have my new saddle on its way and have ridden since august 2020 due to awaiting saddle (I know covid slowed things down I understand) but I also feel relief as I have had the staff at the yard tell me I am loosing my mind and there is nothing wrong with him, along with not snarky comments which where not welcomed.

so who else has had check ligament issues? How did the rehab go?
many thing you found helped?

also helped me out here Chance is a playful boy (steels bobble hats and pulls toggles on your coat) he isn’t aloud his stable ball now, what other toys can I give him, he is only in early stages and bored, plus becoming a little bit spirited to hand walk so any thing to keep his brain busy, unfortunately we don’t have any where to hang things from as stable is bars all round
Photo of the leg when shaved off by vet

 

[BlackRider]

My Apache damaged a check ligament, I too was told box rest etc, but he wasn't the box rest type of horse, so I just turned him out for a couple of hours a day with his friend for 12 weeks as there was much less risk of him doing damage to himself than in the stable.

I then walked him in hand at night.

He was fine when rescanned at 12 weeks.

 

[Bionic Boy]

I can give you hope as been through it with my boy. My advice is to take things slowly, don’t try and rush his rehab, it will take as long as it takes. With regards to the in hand walking I used to try and pick the times when it was quiet on the yard so there wasn’t anything to distract him or give him an excuse to be silly. And I always used a bridle instead of the head collar. A couple of times I even used a chiffney but thankfully not often.
I can’t help with keeping occupied in the stable as thankfully my boy prefers to be in than out so as long as he had something to eat he was happy and calm.

 

[poiuytrewq]

My horse did a check ligament. I actually saw him do it. Galloping across a field with my daughter he refused to pull up, she swung him in a circle and it went. I was gutted.
I tried rehabbing from home but found that quite tough. The box rest was hard and the in hand waking had to be on the roads. So I took him to work with me where there are horses in all the time so he had company, we were rehabbing a few legs there at the time so he slotted in happily with them.
Hes retired noe due to other reasons but the leg did heal, his tear was pretty bad. He came sound and back into work including lessons and hunting.
The leg is still slightly thickened but have hope, it’s a set back but you’ll get over it

 

[milliepops]

I can give you hope as been through it with my boy. My advice is to take things slowly, don’t try and rush his rehab, it will take as long as it takes. .

agree with this. one of mine has done both front legs (separately!) and the first one was pretty bad as on the scan there were not many organised fibres at all. second one was quite minor and took a few goes to actually visualise on the scan but the presentation was identical so I just started treatment the same.

The good news is they seem to heal well and out of all the soft tissue injuries a horse can do, it's one of the better ones.
My girl was mid-late teens when she did hers both times and I think that did affect how quickly she healed, it did take longer than anticipated. fortunately first one was on insurance so we scanned a lot and even when the swelling was reduced and she was totally sound, on the scan you could see there was still a long way to go, so it was quite a long time before she was signed off to full work. However, the rehab work was alright as she's quite sensible to ride out so we just did loads of road hacking.

she retired through unrelated things and the front legs have never given any more trouble so although it's utter pants, it should come right with a bit of time and care.

 

[sjdress]

Mine did a check ligament out in the field. As she was an older horse living out we didn’t box rest. She was in a very small area for 8 weeks and slowly extended. She had 9 months field rest in total, then a slow return to ridden work with 6 weeks walking only. Has been back in work over a year now with no problems touch wood.

 

[exracehorse]

Check ligament two years ago. That was after her annular ligament went. So she’s now retired.

 

[Trinket12]

Sugar had a check ligament this time last year, also around when COVID restrictions kicked in. So rehab was a little longer as I couldn’t come to the barn for a while. My coach walked her daily, and she’s in a paddock. The vet said that was better than a stall.

We did sound wave treatment on her leg and the vet gave us a schedule to build back up to. She was back in full work (inc jumping) by end of July. 100% now and you can’t even feel the lump anymore.

 

[Equine_Dream]

My gelding did his check ligament in a field accident at the end September 2019. Immediately after I discovered he was lame I spoke to my vet who advised he was put on box rest and cold hosing/2x Danolin for 2 weeks. Vets then came out to scan and confirmed small tear to his CL. 6 weeks total box rest followed.
Vets then came back out to rescan and it was about 90% healed. I then had a rehab program to follow for another 6 weeks, starting with 10 minutes in hand walking building from there each week until 30 minutes walk/trot work under saddle.
He was back in ridden work properly from February last year, though vets advised taking it steady for the first few weeks. No issues since.

 

[ycbm]

The good news is they seem to heal well and out of all the soft tissue injuries a horse can do, it's one of the better ones.
.

This.

I've had one, known others and they fixed pretty easily and didn't go again. Mine wasn't box rested or scanned, it was a long long time ago before home scans were available and box rest became so popular as a treatment option.

 

[GinaGeo]

Mine wasn’t scanned but did present lame with swelling in the spring of 2019. He was 16 at the time and did it in the field.

I didn’t box rest, did turn him away. Didn’t touch him for nine months until I was confident that the leg had settled. Brought him back in really slowly. Lots of hacking, long and straight work and built him back up.

He was back out hunting again at the beginning of the season and jumping some big country.

 

[Shavings]

Thank you everyone it’s good to know they can come out the other side

now if only I can find a way to keep him busy in his stable, he keeps steeling the physios bobble hat, my zip toggles and even swinging the lead rope about any one got any advice on that?!

 

[eggs]

One of mine did a check ligament in 2019. Vet was happy that it was 'only' his check ligament and not a suspensory. She did not advocate box rest as the current advise is that they are better off moving so he was turrned out as normal. Scanned again after 6 weeks and given the go-ahead to start ridden rehab. He is now back working at Inter II

 

[Equine_Dream]

My vet also told me that out of all the soft tissue injuries a horse can sustain, injury to the CL is the least concerning. It generally heals far more quickly than other soft tissue such as the suspensory or tendons, and generally once healed very rarely causes future issues ?

 

[AFB]

Mine did a check ligament around 9 years ago, sound ever since with residual swelling in the area in warm weather so I'm careful with him when that appears but there's no lameness alongside it.

He was rested & rehabbed slowly, scanned fairly regularly IIRC & had a course of cartrofen injections.

 

[Birker2020]

so who else has had check ligament issues? How did the rehab go?
many thing you found helped?

Sorry to hear about Chance

This is the first I reported about my horse (going under the name of Hopscotch Bandit - same person, issue with password, long story)
https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/threads/update-on-check-ligament-injury.785512/

And this is the 2nd with amazing ultrasound pictures (mainly due to initial icing and also LW ultrasound therapy)
https://forums.horseandhound.co.uk/threads/update-on-check-ligament-injury.786792/

 

[ihatework]

As ligament injuries go, if you have to have one (which I appreciate sounds a bit daft as no one ‘wants’ one), then a check would be my preference. One of the easier to rehab in general and a reasonably high chance of good function after.

 

[Birker2020]

As ligament injuries go, if you have to have one (which I appreciate sounds a bit daft as no one ‘wants’ one), then a check would be my preference. One of the easier to rehab in general and a reasonably high chance of good function after.

I agree although it depends on the age of the horse, I was told 9 months minimum for my horse at 23, the older they get the longer it takes, so roughly equated its 3 months for every 8 years of age.