Cruciate ligament

cptrayes

cptrayes

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The horse I posted about yesterday with possible OCD has been diagnosed with cruciate ligament damage in the stifle. The operation to attempt to correct it has a poor success rate, costs £3,500 and he is not insured, so this will not be done. He is to have the summer at grass and be reassessed as a light hack in the autumn.

Does anyone have any experience of this injury, good or bad for me to pass on the family who own him please??

Thanks.
 
my horse has this injury. he was diagnosed last april having been lame for a month. he was diagnosed with arthroscopy (i dont know how you would diagnose it without doing arthroscopy). I wasn't given any surgical options for fixing it. They just tidied up the frayed edges of the ligament and also cleaned up the OCD lesions he has in both stifles. Cost 3.5k including the xrays and bone scan he had during his work-up. He had 6wks of box rest and 6mths of paddock rest and is now up to doing 13mins trot under saddle. Not entirely convinced he's got as good a movement as he had before but he's not fully fit yet so will have to wait and see a bit longer. Vet assessed him as sound on the lunge and in a straight line back in Dec and said bring him back into full work, no reason why he cant go back to what he was doing which was hunting and working at Medium level dressage at home. I wont hunt him again but we'll press on carefully with the dressage.
 
Thanks Star. Diagnosis has been made, I think, on clean xrays, failed flexions, nerve blocks and the way the horse's stifle clearly sticks and frees and the hind limb shivers when he is turned on a circle with it to the inside. They seem absolutely certain of what it is and they recommend not operating due to the low chance of it coming right.

I hope your horse continues to make progress and you enjoy your dressage.
 
i'm not sure whether you could really differentiate cruciate from meniscal injuries without arthroscopy but if the cost is prohibitive then i guess it's not an option. My vets were very pro-arthroscopy to try and find out the exact cause and surgery is thought to give them the best chance of coming right, although these injuries always carry a very guarded prognosis. my horse's only signs were mild lameness in a straight line, a reluctance to turn on a circle and if turned quickly his whole hind leg would seem to give way and he had swelling of the joint. nothing much on xrays, bone scan showed hotspot in that stifle. no nerve blocks as he kicks!
 
Have to say I'd be doubtful of him coming right at all and would probably advise them to consider him a field ornament, with any return to work very much a bonus. I wouldn't be waiting on getting another horse for him coming sound, assuming they are getting another one which they may/may not be.
 
I agree with Star re the diagnosis - we thought my horse's injury was cruciate but it turned out to be meniscular - not sure there's a lot of difference with regards to treatment/long-term prognosis though.

However, the arthroscopy - which will both diagnose and clean up the area as Star said - shouldn't cost more than £1.5-£2k - my vets said it would be £1.5k and Liphook quoted £2k. If you are going to try to rehabilitate him, I would suggest having this done, as I think taking all the debris & fluid out of the joint would be beneficial. You will also know exactly what he has done, and how badly he has damaged himself.

My boy has only just been diagnosed, and we are just about to go down the route of ridden walking exercise but staying on box rest for the foreseeable future - up to 6 months. If he can't jump again, I'm not sure what job he's going to be able to do, but as he's just rising 10, I want to give it a good go at getting him back to full health.
 
My 19 year old cob had this happen & he never did recover from it. He improved for a while,

but then must have pulled it again while out in the field (I'd turned him out after thinking he was very much better)

it was the undoing of him....he turned on the bad leg, went down, & the

vet, myself & husband just couldn't get him up. The vet had to put him to sleep. I'm just SO

glad I was there when that happened, so at least he didn't lie there overnight suffering.
 
Thanks guys. Even bad news will help them decide what to do with this horse. Unfortunately, since he had locking patellas operated on at 2 years old, he has no history of any serious amount of work sound. This is quite likely not to be an "injury" as such, but a problem that he was born with. The antibiotic his mother was given when he was still inside her has a side effect of producing joint problems in the unborn foal. At four he was beginning to work solidly when he developed behaviour problems (bucking when excited), which eventually crystalised as difficulty on the right rein, and ended in at 5 in refusal to turn right at all. He bucks constantly when asked to trot on the right rein on the lunge.

The horse is not yet six, home bred, mostly flighty TB and a gelding...... Paddock ornament is probably not an option, his "space" in the stables will be required for a horse that can get out and about for his young owner. He's had thousands and thousands spent on him so far, they've done their best. I think they will probably have to have him put down after the summer if he is still not sound.

I'm sorry to hear all of your problems, but you have helped this family by sharing them. Any more info welcome.
 
I'm afraid to be honest he sounds like a hopeless case. I think I also wouldn't spend thousands on arthroscopy and would have to think seriously about his future.
 
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