EllieBeast
Well-Known Member
Hey, has anyone had experience of injuries involving one of the collateral ligaments within the foot? any info greatly appreciated, i.e. severity, treatment and outcome?
Thanks in advance
LW
Thanks in advance
LW
Collateral Ligament damage, any experience?
- Thread starter EllieBeast
- Start date
PapaFrita
Well-Known Member
Not the Beastie???!!!
Sorry, no help AT all.
Sorry, no help AT all.
jojoebony
Well-Known Member
Yeah, my first pony had intermittent lameness in front but the vets couldn't pinpoint what it was so she was turned away for a few months with no shoes on. The lameness became much worse and her feet starting turning in (extremely pigeion toes whereas previous it was very mild).
They x-rayed her and scanned her front feet and the results showed strains on the outside collateral ligaments and a shortening on the inside which had caused the foot to turn. the prgonosis was guarded - infact my vet suggested I shoudl consider cutting my losses with her.
She was shod with lateral extensions and within two shoeings (8 weeks in total) she was as sound as could be and incredibly straight.. We brought her back in to work very gradually (over a year) with most of her work on the roads but she went on to make a full recovery.
The farier was the key for me here and after a year she went back to normal shoes but with particular attention paid to her hoof balance.
As it was both front feet and her condiiton deteriorated quite quickly we put it down to the new school the yard had built in which they had put unsuitable sand. We believe that was what caused the strain.
Jo
They x-rayed her and scanned her front feet and the results showed strains on the outside collateral ligaments and a shortening on the inside which had caused the foot to turn. the prgonosis was guarded - infact my vet suggested I shoudl consider cutting my losses with her.
She was shod with lateral extensions and within two shoeings (8 weeks in total) she was as sound as could be and incredibly straight.. We brought her back in to work very gradually (over a year) with most of her work on the roads but she went on to make a full recovery.
The farier was the key for me here and after a year she went back to normal shoes but with particular attention paid to her hoof balance.
As it was both front feet and her condiiton deteriorated quite quickly we put it down to the new school the yard had built in which they had put unsuitable sand. We believe that was what caused the strain.
Jo
EllieBeast
Well-Known Member
Thankyou very much for your experience. The horse in question has quite severly damaged one of its Collateral ligaments, and also has a guarded prognosis. i havent really heard much about injuries of this type, so its really useful to hear of other situations relating to this structure.
catastraphe
Member
My old mare has severe colateral damage. Which was caused mainly by poor lower limb conformation which resulted in fraying of the ligaments. She was eventing @ PN level when diagnosed and never went lame but she was unable to extend in trot or canter and found that she became reluctant to jump spreads or combintion fences. At first my local vet thought she may have the onset of navicular but upon spending a week with Sue Dyson at Newmarket the ligamnet damage was diagnosed. She was immediately banned from jumping so much as a twig again. But two years down the line she is still active and hacks out and even does a few prelim tests now and again. Although due to the degenerative nature of her injury she is now being feed NAF Devil's Relief to ease her stiffnes. Hope this helps x x
EllieBeast
Well-Known Member
Thanks for your info, am glad to hear your mare still enjoys an active life. did she have any treatment?
Allykat
Well-Known Member
I have a friend whos mare was diagnosed with this. The vets thought it was caused by a direct trauma such as slipping in a pot hole or drain! She was not lame to begin with just "not right" in a lesson. She was extra crabby and unusually reluctant to jump. She showed up slightly lame after regular shoeing which got better with box rest but the mare still wasn't right. Vets came out to nerve block and couldn't find much, then she went for xrays and I think an MRI scan. Colateral ligament damage was discovered.
I'm not sure on the severity of it but I think she was given an 50-80% chance of becoming sound. Treatment included shockwave therapy and periods of timed walking starting at 20 mins a day building up to an hour twice a day. She was diagnosed at the beginning of 2006 and is now fully sound. I'm not sure if she will jump again but she is now sound, rideable and will hopefully be doing a few prelims this year. I guess there would be a difference in recovery rates for trauma damage as oppose to "wear and tear" type damage but I'm not sure.
I have also known of 2 other suspensory damages that have been successfully treated with shockwave therapy, so might be worth finding out about that if its not been offered to you.
Hope that helps and I'm sorry if you are going through this at the moment!
I'm not sure on the severity of it but I think she was given an 50-80% chance of becoming sound. Treatment included shockwave therapy and periods of timed walking starting at 20 mins a day building up to an hour twice a day. She was diagnosed at the beginning of 2006 and is now fully sound. I'm not sure if she will jump again but she is now sound, rideable and will hopefully be doing a few prelims this year. I guess there would be a difference in recovery rates for trauma damage as oppose to "wear and tear" type damage but I'm not sure.
I have also known of 2 other suspensory damages that have been successfully treated with shockwave therapy, so might be worth finding out about that if its not been offered to you.
Hope that helps and I'm sorry if you are going through this at the moment!
EllieBeast
Well-Known Member
Hey, cheers, thats really useful. E also damaged hers through trauma, and the early symptoms sound pretty similar too. She too had an MRI, and was diagnosed with severe damage to the medial collateral ligament. she has completed a course of IRAP and Shockwave therapy, and we are now awaiting her next workup (in a months time). Her prognosis is guarded, but we are hoping that by throwing all this treatment at her, we can give her every chance of fixing herself.
Thankyou very much, shes a very special girl and deserves to get better
Thankyou very much, shes a very special girl and deserves to get better
Allykat
Well-Known Member
Well my friend has taken a lot of time to get her mare to where she is now and as I say I doubt she will jump again but she is sound and happy and that is what counts.
I seem to remember that after the shockwave the ligament needed some degree of stress in order to regenerate.....I think that may be where all the walking came in. I do know for sure that said mare is now very full of herself and usually feels very important after years of 200% attention
Fingers crossed for your special girl, I hope we can read another positive report in time to come
I seem to remember that after the shockwave the ligament needed some degree of stress in order to regenerate.....I think that may be where all the walking came in. I do know for sure that said mare is now very full of herself and usually feels very important after years of 200% attention
Fingers crossed for your special girl, I hope we can read another positive report in time to come
EllieBeast
Well-Known Member
Thankyou very much! I will keep you up to date with her progress!
EllieBeast
Well-Known Member
Am shamelessly bumping this up the list, as have found very little in the way of info through online searching and wonder if there are any other people who have experience of this?
Marchtime
Well-Known Member
Sadly I have a fair amount of experience with collateral ligament damage, but I'm afraid mine isn't good news.
I lost my young TB eventer five years ago. He tore his medial collateral ligament in one of his fore limbs. Five years ago this injury was not well recognised and so he was originally diagnosed with navicular. After three months of treatment for navicular he was still very lame and was sent to the Animal Health Trust for an MRI. Sue Dyson confirmed he had torn his collateral ligament and that his coffin joint had started to collapse because it had no support. Also he was suffering lameness in his other front leg due to compensating. We were advised to try box rest but after six months he was still lame in hand and so we made the decision to put him down.
Now five years on I have another TB who has been diagnosed with a similar problem. His outlook is guarded. He has chronic long term wear on his medial collateral ligament. We have tried box rest, joint injections and shock wave treatment but it doesn't look hopeful. The vet is coming back out again today but after £5,000 worth of treatment over nine months it looks like he is still lame.
All I can say is that firstly the outlook depends on whether your horse is suffering from a tear/rupture or whether he has chronic long term wear. The outlook for the second is better, whilst still guarded. Another important factor is early diagnosis. Treatment includes box rest, which has been found to help; joint injections into the coffin joint to conteract the swelling that is caused within the joint; shock wave treatment - although some vets diagree as to the helpfulness of this but if you have insurance it's worth a try; and most important is working with your farrier as it is vital the shoes offer support. Long term it's unlikely your horse will jump or compete at a high level but I have heard of a number of horses who after a period of six months to a year of being turned away were sound enough to hack and do some light schooling.
I hope this is of some help, although I'm sorry I have no good news to share.
Good luck.
I lost my young TB eventer five years ago. He tore his medial collateral ligament in one of his fore limbs. Five years ago this injury was not well recognised and so he was originally diagnosed with navicular. After three months of treatment for navicular he was still very lame and was sent to the Animal Health Trust for an MRI. Sue Dyson confirmed he had torn his collateral ligament and that his coffin joint had started to collapse because it had no support. Also he was suffering lameness in his other front leg due to compensating. We were advised to try box rest but after six months he was still lame in hand and so we made the decision to put him down.
Now five years on I have another TB who has been diagnosed with a similar problem. His outlook is guarded. He has chronic long term wear on his medial collateral ligament. We have tried box rest, joint injections and shock wave treatment but it doesn't look hopeful. The vet is coming back out again today but after £5,000 worth of treatment over nine months it looks like he is still lame.
All I can say is that firstly the outlook depends on whether your horse is suffering from a tear/rupture or whether he has chronic long term wear. The outlook for the second is better, whilst still guarded. Another important factor is early diagnosis. Treatment includes box rest, which has been found to help; joint injections into the coffin joint to conteract the swelling that is caused within the joint; shock wave treatment - although some vets diagree as to the helpfulness of this but if you have insurance it's worth a try; and most important is working with your farrier as it is vital the shoes offer support. Long term it's unlikely your horse will jump or compete at a high level but I have heard of a number of horses who after a period of six months to a year of being turned away were sound enough to hack and do some light schooling.
I hope this is of some help, although I'm sorry I have no good news to share.
Good luck.