DDFT/box rest/walking in hand

JustMeThen

JustMeThen

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My poor girl has a tear to the deep digital flexor tendon in the foot, confirmed with MRI a couple of weeks ago. I was first advised to have surgery, as I was told there were loose tendon fibres catching the navicular bone and causing pain, but was then told it didn't look that bad so I'm giving it a go without the surgery as I'd much rather she didn't have to have it. Vet said it was mild to moderate damage.
She's done almost three weeks' complete box rest, after two weeks in at night and out in a small field pen during the day, and has today had bar shoes on so the vet said I can start in-hand walking, five minutes twice a day and increasing each week as normal.
She's been an absolute saint in, a couple of nips and stressy moments but an angel overall. I took her for a quick walk to see how she'd be this evening, which was a bit stupid as it was dark! She only had a bit of a spook though and was ok, just a bit bargy.

What I can't decide is where/how to walk her. The concrete bit of the yard's only about 15m long so I don't think keep turning her and going back and forwards there would be good. The other options are the school, which would be safe but has the fields round it so I don't know whether that would light her up, or the drive which is much longer and less exciting - but has no gate at the end and opens on to a main road... I'm also not sure whether hard or soft going would be better, as I forgot to ask the vet - any ideas? The other horse I had in this situation was a mental ex-racehorse who nearly killed me every time so I'm not looking forward to it!

Also, anyone with any experience of this sort of injury coming right, especially for jumping? She's having an ArcEquine on during the day, magnetic overreach boots at night and is fed Tendoneaze - any other tips?

Thank you very much :)
 
Can't help with that injury, but when I've had to walk out inhand for various reasons, combine walking out with grazing along the road side or fields, my lot see this as a treat, I walk them on then say "ok get your head down" give them 5/10 mins then off we go, no silliness cos they know I will let them graze soon
 
Thanks, I have been taking her out a few steps the lat couple of days to eat grass just to see whether she'd explode and she hasn't, plus she's a gannet so I'll try that :)
 
Mine had the same injury in 2012. I was advised complete box rest with 5 min walk twice day then build up. Mine was a nightmare and impossible to walk anywhere on grass or in the school. Ended up having to walk out on the lanes in a bridle with one person on each side!he did end up having to go in a small paddock as it was getting dangerous. He is now sound and back in full work although I did go the barefoot route instead of shod. Good luck with yours 😃
 
ALO said:
Mine had the same injury in 2012. I was advised complete box rest with 5 min walk twice day then build up. Mine was a nightmare and impossible to walk anywhere on grass or in the school. Ended up having to walk out on the lanes in a bridle with one person on each side!he did end up having to go in a small paddock as it was getting dangerous. He is now sound and back in full work although I did go the barefoot route instead of shod. Good luck with yours ��
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Thank you very much, glad your boy came right and it's so good to hear a positive outcome as it's all looking a bit rubbish here at the moment! Out of interest, how long was yours box rested for before you started walking?

Took her on the drive this morning but we had a hooley so I took her back in the yard... fine except one massive hooley, bucking like a bronc, kicking out, etc... not good when they're supposed to be resting :(
 
Walking out in hand is always 'interesting' unless you own a saint,,, and even then the saints can become overnight devils!!

Do whatever you can - so long as its safe!

If you get to a stage where you can choose (and are not forced for saftey reasons) - My vet always advised Hard ground was better for re-hab. Soft twists too much.

My mare did her DDFT a year ago now - For her it was field sound only recovery situation, so she now sits in a field getting fat :)
 
Whereas my mare is sitting in her stable getting fat, she's huge! What's the prognosis for yours?

We did have a massive hooley Saturday morning, huge bucks, feet flying towards my face, etc, but yesterday was absolutely fine, fingers crossed... thank you, my instinct is the same on the hard ground, plus I think, hope, she's less likely to throw herself about on the hard... :)
 
Approx 2 weeks. I had a 30percent chance he would come sound enough to hack but he is back doing 90 Unaffiliated eventing now, although I am so careful what ground I run him on as he also has dodgy hocks and stifles.
 
There are plenty of people that have a good result from this type of injury, although the majority are from barefoot rehabs not shod. I hasten to add that I was n
 
Mine is sound. I didn't keep him on box rest because he is prone to galloping about the field after being left in for more than a day or two, which will undo any healing that has occurred. I turned him out and in hand walked him when he was comfortable and removed his shoes. He is completely sound other than over very stoney/rocky ground, when I boot. I avoid very tight circles in the school but other than that he does everything he used to, much ot the Vet's surprise.
 
Thank you Alo. I was thinking only three weeks seemed a bit quick to start walking but not had experience of this particular injury before... great that yours is eventing again and I'm hearing so much about barefoot... she's got bar shoes on now but her feet are really good so maybe that's something to look at. Another calm walk today :)
 
deicinmerlyn said:
Mine is sound. I didn't keep him on box rest because he is prone to galloping about the field after being left in for more than a day or two, which will undo any healing that has occurred. I turned him out and in hand walked him when he was comfortable and removed his shoes. He is completely sound other than over very stoney/rocky ground, when I boot. I avoid very tight circles in the school but other than that he does everything he used to, much ot the Vet's surprise.
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Thank you. Is yours still barefoot too? And do you jump him? Glad he came right x
 
My horse is currently recovering from a tear to the ddft in the foot. It was diagnosed via MRI and she had keyhole surgery to debride it. The vet said its a small tear and minimal debridement was necessary and everything else in her foot looks normal.

Anyway, she had surgery mid September and then had about 1.5 weeks solid box rest then started 5 mins x 2 walking per day building up each week. I lead her in a chifney which does make her much more manageable, in a head collar she was inclined to spend a lot of time on her back legs but she keeps a lid on things thanks to the chifney! I also feed her v-calm which is a valerian based calmer. Seems to help. When I walk her in hand I do laps of the yard, keeps her quieter. I've now been allowed to start riding her, so I give her a bit of Sedalin and stroll her down the lane and back. I think she will be on box rest for a good while longer yet, mainly because it is winter, but I think it will give her the best chance anyway, combined witht the controlled exercise.

I have found that I can't walk her in the school as she blows a gasket, likewise leading her down the drive and turning round to come back. I'm lucky that there is a horsewalker where I keep her so she goes on that now that she walks for longer.

I don't know if she will stay sound but I'm doing the best I can for her.

Good luck with your horse :-)
 
Sorry to hear about your horse, my mare had a severe tear to her DDFT low down, vet said her ridden career was probably over as when she went in for surgery, the adhesions were that bad he couldn't even reach the tendon to shave down the fibres. So the surgery was not a success :( we were told 7 weeks box rest with raised bar shoes and after a couple weeks, 5 minutes in hand walking- that went very badly! it was that really cold winter we had and it was icy everywhere, she didn't cope well with box rest and as soon as we took her outside she would rear, pull away and spend 20 minutes broncing around the field in her raised bar shoes . In the end we had to just give her turn out as she did this 9 times out of 10. Out farrier gradually took the shoes down then removed them completely and I started riding her just out hacking for a couple of weeks. I took the riding very gradual and she just walked, then did three strides of trot and gradually build that up to trotting on a circle and after a couple of months she was doing 20 mins schooling including canter. I think we did our first jump at the 10 month mark and then started competing up to 95cm around 13 months on.

The good news is that she easily does a full days hunting, jumps up to 1.20m spreads at home (although she's always been a temperamental one with fillers and doesn't compete that much now, prefers to hunt!) and when I say hunt, she gallops flat out over all kinds of ground and jumps a lot :) we also do a lot of fast hacking with her as her favourite thing is to go fast. She was fed a dosage of MSM for a couple of years and worked 6 days a week without a sign of lameness, the vet was surprised how well she was doing in her last lameness work up and said I could definitely start show jumping her on bute, he couldn't believe it when I said she'd been out jumping at 90cms without any bute and she was still completely sound :) he would have been even more surprised if I'd told him that she'd spend her "box rest" broncing around the ice with me in tow.

Never underestimate how well the body can heal itself, fingers crossed for your horse and I really hope it goes well. The only thing that kept her calm on box rest, was to take her off box rest. Gently plodding around the field was a much better idea than spinning around the stable and doing a rodeo impression on the ice

oh and ETA- aside from jumping hedges and 90cm courses, she's now been handed to my younger sister as an overgrown games pony so she is spinning on tight circles a lot! I honestly can't think of a time she's been lame since, and I pick up on slight lameness a lot
 
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Hoof_Prints said:
Sorry to hear about your horse, my mare had a severe tear to her DDFT low down, vet said her ridden career was probably over as when she went in for surgery, the adhesions were that bad he couldn't even reach the tendon to shave down the fibres. So the surgery was not a success :( we were told 7 weeks box rest with raised bar shoes and after a couple weeks, 5 minutes in hand walking- that went very badly! it was that really cold winter we had and it was icy everywhere, she didn't cope well with box rest and as soon as we took her outside she would rear, pull away and spend 20 minutes broncing around the field in her raised bar shoes . In the end we had to just give her turn out as she did this 9 times out of 10. Out farrier gradually took the shoes down then removed them completely and I started riding her just out hacking for a couple of weeks. I took the riding very gradual and she just walked, then did three strides of trot and gradually build that up to trotting on a circle and after a couple of months she was doing 20 mins schooling including canter. I think we did our first jump at the 10 month mark and then started competing up to 95cm around 13 months on.

The good news is that she easily does a full days hunting, jumps up to 1.20m spreads at home (although she's always been a temperamental one with fillers and doesn't compete that much now, prefers to hunt!) and when I say hunt, she gallops flat out over all kinds of ground and jumps a lot :) we also do a lot of fast hacking with her as her favourite thing is to go fast. She was fed a dosage of MSM for a couple of years and worked 6 days a week without a sign of lameness, the vet was surprised how well she was doing in her last lameness work up and said I could definitely start show jumping her on bute, he couldn't believe it when I said she'd been out jumping at 90cms without any bute and she was still completely sound :) he would have been even more surprised if I'd told him that she'd spend her "box rest" broncing around the ice with me in tow.

Never underestimate how well the body can heal itself, fingers crossed for your horse and I really hope it goes well. The only thing that kept her calm on box rest, was to take her off box rest. Gently plodding around the field was a much better idea than spinning around the stable and doing a rodeo impression on the ice

oh and ETA- aside from jumping hedges and 90cm courses, she's now been handed to my younger sister as an overgrown games pony so she is spinning on tight circles a lot! I honestly can't think of a time she's been lame since, and I pick up on slight lameness a lot
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Thank you so much, and reading this makes me feel a lot better!

After a couple of hoolies the first few days, we've now shifted a lorry so I can walk her round the yard. It's smallish but I thought the gentler curves at each end were better than having to do 180-degree turns at the end of the path. Plus it's more enclosed and she's been brilliantly behaved, bless her, so fingers crossed that continues...

So glad yours came right, I'll get mine on restricted turnout as soon as vet says ok x
 
furrycat said:
My horse is currently recovering from a tear to the ddft in the foot. It was diagnosed via MRI and she had keyhole surgery to debride it. The vet said its a small tear and minimal debridement was necessary and everything else in her foot looks normal.

Anyway, she had surgery mid September and then had about 1.5 weeks solid box rest then started 5 mins x 2 walking per day building up each week. I lead her in a chifney which does make her much more manageable, in a head collar she was inclined to spend a lot of time on her back legs but she keeps a lid on things thanks to the chifney! I also feed her v-calm which is a valerian based calmer. Seems to help. When I walk her in hand I do laps of the yard, keeps her quieter. I've now been allowed to start riding her, so I give her a bit of Sedalin and stroll her down the lane and back. I think she will be on box rest for a good while longer yet, mainly because it is winter, but I think it will give her the best chance anyway, combined witht the controlled exercise.

I have found that I can't walk her in the school as she blows a gasket, likewise leading her down the drive and turning round to come back. I'm lucky that there is a horsewalker where I keep her so she goes on that now that she walks for longer.

I don't know if she will stay sound but I'm doing the best I can for her.

Good luck with your horse :-)
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Thank you very much. I'm just going round the yard too - boring, and will get worse once it's 45 minutes at a time! But I think the safest option.

That's the surgery they were talking about for my mare, which another vet thought unnecessary, although she might still have to have it so it's good to hear yours is doing ok.

Thank you very much, good luck with yours too x
 
eleanor79 said:
Thank you so much, and reading this makes me feel a lot better!

After a couple of hoolies the first few days, we've now shifted a lorry so I can walk her round the yard. It's smallish but I thought the gentler curves at each end were better than having to do 180-degree turns at the end of the path. Plus it's more enclosed and she's been brilliantly behaved, bless her, so fingers crossed that continues...

So glad yours came right, I'll get mine on restricted turnout as soon as vet says ok x
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Glad it cheered you up, I remember standing in the vets crying my eyes out when they told me what it was! Poor girl was in so much pain too. Sounds like you are doing all the right things :) dug out some photos on my fb to hopefully make you feel better,

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A week after surgery
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The bar shoes

The following year ...
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Have so many photos of her jumping and galloping its hard to pick some but hopefully they will make the light at the end of the tunnel seem brighter :)
 
She's a stunner! I love duns, love the picture of her jumping through the hedge especially :)
Thank you so much. I was crying my eyes out for weeks when I found out... she wasn't too lame at all in a straight line but when they were lunging her left on concrete, she was really bad and I couldn't watch :(
By the look of the bandage on your mare, the injury was higher up than it is on mine, hers is in the navicular bursa...? x
 
eleanor79 said:
She's a stunner! I love duns, love the picture of her jumping through the hedge especially :)
Thank you so much. I was crying my eyes out for weeks when I found out... she wasn't too lame at all in a straight line but when they were lunging her left on concrete, she was really bad and I couldn't watch :(
By the look of the bandage on your mare, the injury was higher up than it is on mine, hers is in the navicular bursa...? x
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Its a horrible feeling, it was a few years back now but I remember it well! I remember bringing her in from the field one day and she could hardly move, it took a long time to get her to take steps. The injury was low down, they just bandaged the whole way up because of the surgery, and it had ridden up after a couple of days wearing it :) I've got the ultrasound scans on my computer somewhere
 
Wow what stunning pics of your dun mare! She is beautiful, I've always wanted a dun.

Was your mare's injury picked up by ultrasound? Sounds like it was above the hoof then? My mare's injury is right inside the hoof and can only be seen using MRI, It's in the navicular bursa. After surgery my mare had a bandage right from the hoof (hoof and sole completely bandaged) to the knee, as she had surgery incisions right down by her coronet band.

what breed is your mare? She really is lovely :-)
 
furrycat said:
Wow what stunning pics of your dun mare! She is beautiful, I've always wanted a dun.

Was your mare's injury picked up by ultrasound? Sounds like it was above the hoof then? My mare's injury is right inside the hoof and can only be seen using MRI, It's in the navicular bursa. After surgery my mare had a bandage right from the hoof (hoof and sole completely bandaged) to the knee, as she had surgery incisions right down by her coronet band.

what breed is your mare? She really is lovely :-)
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Just got the scans and it is pointed at the distal-medial margin of the DDFT, the tear was pretty much inside the heel I think, so just inside the hoof but it could be picked up on ultrasound (although the vet was pushing for the MRI but we had to keep the cost within the insurance!). The vet pointed it out to me when he pressed it, and he pressed in the low dip where the hoof joins at the back of the foot. I think it was bandaged over the hoof but it wore off, I can't really remember as it was a while ago and she had the bandage on for a while in the hospital before she came home. She had it changed at our yard a couple of days after the photo was taken :) the incision scar was on the pastern just above the coronet band and you can still slightly feel where it was.

Not sure on her breed! she's a real mix, imported from Holland (so we think she is most likely off the potential meat market and sold over here for her pretty colour lol). She is a powerhouse, like a MW hunter cut off at the knees ! Had her since she was 5 but I don't do much with her now as I wanted something more reliable to jump (so bought my nutter who jumps anything) so now she's a speedy hack/hunter/overgrown mounted games :) still jumps up to 2'9/3'0 at the venues she likes though! she will jump if she likes and knows the jumps.

The surgeon said the injury was in an unusual place that was very likely to re-injure so she had a lower chance of recovering compared to other DDFT injuries. She has not worn shoes since the bar shoes came off and never been better!
 
My mare has a bad tear in the DDFT in her pastern though not in the foot, The vet told me she will probably never come sound enough to ride so she is living out at the moment, I have done two lots of box rest in the last 18 months and she came sound for a while then broke down again, She does not cope with being in at all so I have decided not to box rest again. The only treatment she can have is IRAP but the vet said it wouldd be a miracle if it worked, she cant have steroid as she has cushings and EMS and she does not have enough healthy tissue to have stem cell, so her prognosis is not great its a shame as she is only 14.
 
Furrycat, yours is exactly the same as mine - are you taking your mare for another MRI at the end of 12 weeks?

Sorry to hear about yours Pink, have you tried an ArcEquine? And what's IRAP? Thank you :)
 
furrycat said:
My horse is currently recovering from a tear to the ddft in the foot. It was diagnosed via MRI and she had keyhole surgery to debride it. The vet said its a small tear and minimal debridement was necessary and everything else in her foot looks normal.
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My horse is recovering from almost exactly the same scenario. She had a couple of weeks at Newmarket and when I got her back she had a bandage covering her hoof up to her knee. I had to box rest her for another week, then start walking in hand for 5 minutes twice a day. She ended up barefoot for the first two or three weeks because I couldn't get my farrier to reshoe her (the shoes came off for the MRI) but she was fine. The vet advised keeping her shod to keep everything as it was before the injury - I did ask her about barefoot having read all the recommendations on here but she said that I didn't want to introduce any variables while we were rehabbing her as it would be difficult to know easily whether any unsoundness was due to the injury or being footsore (I understand the logic but had to walk her with no shoes on to start with and she was fine. She is now shod but I'll probably take the backs off at the next shoeing and if things carry on ok, I'll consider going totally barefoot).

We started off walking in the school (not perfect as it's a bit deep and it meant turning corners) but the vet pointed out that wherever I walked her needed to be safe for both of us and as she's already been on box rest for a couple of months, I wasn't willing to take my chances out on the road! As things went on, I started to venture out on the road in the hope that it would be helpful to her hacking later on as she is quite spooky. She's always led in a bridle and I let her graze at the halfway point as I can tell she misses grass! Also means that she quite likes going out.

Had her progress check a couple of weeks ago and she trotted up very sound (she basically dragged the YO's son back up the drive so is feeling great on her legs) and she always looks very sound when she's messing about on the end of the lead rope and spooking.

Unfortunately I've had a slipped disc which has made walking near impossible but luckily the OH has walked her for me (though we had an incident last week where she got away from him and galloped for home - luckily she didn't meet any cars and has been sound since) but I guess with tendon injuries, taking longer over everything isn't necessarily such a bad thing.

I'm supposed to get on her and introduce some trot but in the state I'm in I can't really ride so OH is jogging with her which is interesting! Then once I've done a month of that I'll be allowed to turn her out (possibly under sedation to avoid any airs above the ground) and we'll just keep plugging away building up the trotting. It's progressed faster that I expected, I thought she would be walking in hand for 6 months. But *touches wood* things seem to be going the right way and hopefully we'll be back in action next year!

Just to add, the vet at Newmarket said there was a 70% chance of her coming back sound with the debridement op so it seems that they have a very good success rate.
 
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Eleanor, no I wasn't planning to get another scan done, the vets haven't suggested it. I'm over my insurance limit now so I can't really afford it. The vet at newmarket was happy with it and seemed to think she would be ok after the appropriate rehab. Although he too mentioned the 70% recovery rate. Just hope my mare is in the 70%!

Re shoes - my girl came home without shoes and is still barefoot however the vet wants her to have aluminium fronts on, so she is having that done tomorrow. She does walk alright barefoot but it is difficult to tell if she is sometimes footy due to being shoeless or if it is the injury, so I can understand the vet wanting her shod. However I may take them off next year depending on how she goes.

Also, the injury my horse has is a split in the edge of the tendon rather than a core lesion.

Hoof prints - your story is really encouraging! I will be happy if my mare can hack happily tbh but if she can do more then that would be amazing :-) I'm planning to just hack for the next few months and see how she goes.

Oh and one more thing - my vet recommended a supplement called ekyflex tendon, anyone else tried it? My girl has had 3 tubs so far (they only last a couple of weeks!) and they cost £££ so I don't think I will buy her anymore.
 
furrycat said:
Eleanor, no I wasn't planning to get another scan done, the vets haven't suggested it. I'm over my insurance limit now so I can't really afford it. The vet at newmarket was happy with it and seemed to think she would be ok after the appropriate rehab. Although he too mentioned the 70% recovery rate. Just hope my mare is in the 70%!
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I wonder if we had the same vet?! Think we are in almost the same boat, nice to compare notes :)
 
TheSylv007 said:
I wonder if we had the same vet?! Think we are in almost the same boat, nice to compare notes :)
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Was it Matt, Smith, I think? He quoted the 70%success rate to me too :)

As far as I'm aware, my mare's is just a tear too rather than a lesion... my insurers will pay for another scan, the only problem will be if she does still need the op after that!
 
eleanor79 said:
Was it Matt, Smith, I think? He quoted the 70%success rate to me too :)

As far as I'm aware, my mare's is just a tear too rather than a lesion... my insurers will pay for another scan, the only problem will be if she does still need the op after that!
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It was indeed! I liked him a lot and he was very positive about her chances. Just wish my back wasn't back so I can keep to the rehab schedule - it's slipped somewhat :/

My insurance claim is now at it's limit so I woudn't be able to afford another scan, all we can do is see how sound she stays and my own vet said that if lameness reoccurred, they would do a nerve block to isolate it. If it was in the foot again, it would be fair to assume the injury had reoccurred/not healed and we would go from there. Fingers cross it doesn't!
 
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My mare is also currently recovering from DDFT tears in both fronts. Box rest wasn't advisable for her as she would pull away then gallop about so safer to put her straight back out with the others. She had about 4 weeks field rest then started with 20 mins walk a day. Been walking in the school but this weekend will be going out round the lanes for something different.
She's due to be checked soon but on last check up she had improved a lot. She's a barefoot horse but has bars on at the moment to provide much needed support.

Hope all goes well with yours OP
 
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