Collateral ligament (pastern)

[Hayleycob]

I know there has been a post similar to this, but that seemed to go off into navicular and my cobs problem sounds slightly different, so please bear with me, and any advice or comments greatfully recieved !
My horse damaged his collateral ligament in the autumn, x-rays, scans, bute, expensive injections every 4 days, box rest, paddock rest, in hand walking.....and finaly I was allowed to bring him back into work very slowly. But he has gone lame again on the same leg and there is a fiberous lump on the inside of his pastern where the initial injury was. I am worried that as the collateral ligaments hold the joint stable the joint has become unstable and he is developing high ring bone ?
I realy would like to hear anyone elses experiance and what to expect in the future. Is he going to keep going lame, and never be able to stand up to any kind of work ? should I just turn him out for a year and let him have a realy good rest ?

 

[AmyMay]

Amy damaged her sesamoid ligament some years ago. The same as you treatment wise. A year after comming sound she went lame again - and swelling appeared around the annular ligament - this was in fact scar tissue, and it was this that was now causing the lameness.

If you haven't allready done so - do give your vet a buzz to look, because treatment for this will be differnet from the ligament damage.

 

[Worried1]

One of ours dislocated her left hind pastern resulting in collateral damage in the summer of 2005 (May). She was intially box-rested for 10 days, then as she wasn't settling she was then sedated and turned out in a small paddock with a friend for the summer.
I was keen to try phsio but my vets said that there was very little point as ligaments don't respond as well as other supporting soft tissue and as the ligaments are quite deep it would be difficult to actually pinpoint. Without a vet's refferal my insurance comapny wouldn't pay and I couldn't afford to pay for muliple sessions. So I contacted my usual physio who spoke to my vet and gave me some ideas to try at home with her.
Which I did and she came sound relatively quickly and was closely monitored. The pastern swelled intermittently and then seemed to settle, she was left with windgalls on that leg.
September she was given the OK to begin work and she was broken and was fine over the winter and we began to prepare her for some BYEH classes.
She occasionally would change behind on the left rein in canter but we put it down to being young and a little weak. My OH would often say she pushed put with her hindquarters and it was very noticeable on the lunge without a rider. It was only when she was competing on grass and not a surface that we realised that actually there was still something wrong and she wasn't comfortable. Following her last BYEH competition her left hock swelled although she was never 'lame'.
We took her back to the vets who did some tests and took x-rays and we found that she had significant changes in her hock which the vets were sure was linked to her the trauma when she dislocated her pastern.
Unfortunately presented with a horse with its leg at an odd angle all of us were concerned with that part and never thought to check higher or lower up the leg in which case it may have been spotted earlier! Hindsight is a wonderful thing

We immediately retired her and with the vets giving us the OK she was sent to stud as it was unilateral (one side only) and the OCD was a result of trauma not conformation of genetics.
We don't know how she dislocated her pastern but dislocations in adult horses are rare so it must have been something major - possibly leg down a rabbit hole?
Sorry it is not a positive story I do hope your horse's case is simpler and has a positive outcome.

 

[Hayleycob]

Thanks AmyMay I did contact my vet who confirmed bony changes to the joint and advised bute and box rest. He has since come sound, but for how long ?

Thanks Worried1 sorry to hear about your mare, sadly stud is not an option for my gelding ! but I would retire him if thats what he needs, its the not knowing that is getting to me.