Ddft injury in foot

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ALO

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After being diagnosed with hock spavin and becoming sound and then having a stifle injury which he has recovered from the beginning of this year my horse became lame in front.this was 4 weeks ago,vet localised to back of foot and he had a MRI scan today.was praying that it wasn't what we thought but it does turn out that he has a lesion on the medial part of his ddft.the vet said surgery isnt really an option due to location and that this injury carries a guarded prognosis.
Apparently it is 50percent of the width,but only 1 slice in length.
Has anyone had any experiences with this/got any suggestions or advice?they want to block the navicular bursa to confirm and then medicate.then it's box rest.I am just concerned that the box rest is going to cause further problems with his hock/stifle although I understand that rest is important for the tendon to heal.
Thanks very much for reading,sorry for the essay!
 
Have your vets explained that this type of injury is frequently caused by a toe-first landing? (James R Rooney “The Lame Horse” 1998) Is your horse landing toe-first? If so, this injury will not resolve until you can get it moving heel first, which is why there is such a poor prognosis. The prognosis on a barefoot rehab is much, much higher than for a shod/medicated rehab and I would also point you to the Rockley blog for many examples of horses who have recovered to a full working life after a barefoot rehab.
 
Thanks for everyone's replies,I don't think he is or was landing toe first,we think he did it in the field.I will defiantly check out the rockley site though.
 
ALO said:
Thanks for everyone's replies,I don't think he is or was landing toe first,we think he did it in the field.I will defiantly check out the rockley site though.
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Have a look at some of the Rockley videos. Video your horse walking on a flat level surface and watch in slowmo, it's the only way to know unless you are well practiced in seeing toe first landing.
 
Thanks for that,have been on the rockley site,makes for interesting reading!off to try and video now.
 
How much box rest has the vet recommended and how soon are you able to start handwalking him??

My chap has just damaged his collateral Ligaments also disgnised by an MRI and the MRI vet gave the same guarded 50% chance of recovery :(
 
4weeks to start with 10-15min walk a day.am really struggling with the controlled walking tho,and I think the only reason he's allowed to do that is because of the hock problem.he used to live out 24 7 because of the hock and I think is struggling to adjust to it :( it's really rubbish,thought
I'd finally be able to get back
out and do a bit this year,now
looks like we might not ever be
able to :( sorry to hear uv got a
similar problem.how far into
recovery are you?we have a re-assessment after the 4weeks,then possibly increasing the walking but still on box rest.
 
Nothing to add to the earlier posts except to say rotten luck .
Get online and get studying the subject if the horse is landing toe first you need to sort it.
Good luck with him
 
Alo, we will be six weeks into our box rest at the moment - 3 weeks post MRI. Were up to 10 minutes handwalking twice a day at the moment which were building up to 20 minutes twice a day over the next six weeks and then possibly limited turnout!!

I'm trying not to think of it as a injury that is going to end his career, lets think positively.

Where are you doing his hand walking - on roads I find is better as they are less likelly to explode on tarmac - also I always handwalk in a bridle.
 
It was a toss up between road and grass,I feel safer on grass as at least if I lose him he's not on the road!!I'm using a bridle!out of interest is yours shod or barefoot?and did u have the bursa block and medicate?appreciate that your injury is a bit different to mine though so may be a bit different treatment wise!
 
Believe it or not I have been told that they are less likely to explode on the roads, if I was to try and walk indi on grass he would 100% loose it, so we walk through a quiet estate.

Yes the injuries are different but I do think the treatment is similar, indi is in front shoes which ate wider at the back on the outside to support the ligament.

The only block we didn't do was the coffin joint block, as the MRI had diagnosed it was CL damage we opted not to block the coffin joint as he would of had to be lunged in a arena which would of risked reinforcing!

We are due to have the coffin joint medicated next week, apparently they like to do it mid way through the treatment to maximise the effect.
 
sarahhowen said:
Believe it or not I have been told that they are less likely to explode on the roads, if I was to try and walk indi on grass he would 100% loose it, so we walk through a quiet estate.

Yes the injuries are different but I do think the treatment is similar, indi is in front shoes which ate wider at the back on the outside to support the ligament.

The only block we didn't do was the coffin joint block, as the MRI had diagnosed it was CL damage we opted not to block the coffin joint as he would of had to be lunged in a arena which would of risked reinforcing!

We are due to have the coffin joint medicated next week, apparently they like to do it mid way through the treatment to maximise the effect.
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Sarah did they explain why they want to medicate the coffin joint at all when they know he has a collateral ligament strain?

Please don't think your horse will be a write off even if his current treatment is a failure. Success rate for barefoot rehabs with collateral ligament strain are very high.
 
Believe it or not I have been told that they are less likely to explode on the roads
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Much less likely. Give me a road as opposed to a field any day of the week when bringing a horse of box rest.
 
amymay said:
Much less likely. Give me a road as opposed to a field any day of the week when bringing a horse of box rest.
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Agreed, I know the minute Indi feels grass under his feet that he is going to want to GO,GO,GO! And given he is 16.3hh chunkey warmblood who can lift me off my feet by just turning his head it would be an err..........challange shall we say to contain!!
 
cptrayes said:
Sarah did they explain why they want to medicate the coffin joint at all when they know he has a collateral ligament strain?

Please don't think your horse will be a write off even if his current treatment is a failure. Success rate for barefoot rehabs with collateral ligament strain are very high.
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To be honest, I didnt ask - I was all a bit baffled when they explained to me what was wrong, and wasnt thinking much other than the fact they gave us 50/50 odds on him coming sound again!! I do know there are no guarantees that the medicating the coffin joint will make any difference hence why they wanted to block the Coffin joint before deciding weather to medicate BUT I have asked them to just go ahead and do it if it could be beneficial as I dont want to have to lunge him in the arena as I know after 6 weeks in he WILL explode and could set us back in his recovery and cause further box rest, the insurance are picking up the tab on it so if theres a chance it will help then they may as well go ahead and do it.

It could also be that the MRI showed that Indi has got severe bruising of the Pedal bone (God only knows what he did to himself to cause all this................) would that be a reason to medicate the joint??
 
Do look further into this - there are risks with injecting joints, it is not something I'd do without being very sure that it WOULD help, with the risks involved.
 
We are having the navicular bursa blocked on Saturday and if does block it's being medicated.I'm not sure how successful that's going to be tho,as wasn't massively lame to begin with.
We did have the coffin joint blocked when the original work up was done but he didn't block and everything else did look fine on MRI.
I will think about starting doing the walking on the road,may wait for a less windy day tho!
 
sarahhowen said:
It could also be that the MRI showed that Indi has got severe bruising of the Pedal bone (God only knows what he did to himself to cause all this................) would that be a reason to medicate the joint??
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Sarah has he got thin soles? If so, you will need to get that sorted if you want to increase his chances of coming sound again. It's usually a diet issue or metabolic disease which can also be treated with diet changes.

I know I'm banging on about this but ddft and ligament damage inside the foot has a far greater than 50% chance of being fixed with a barefoot rehab than remedial shoeing and drugs - and the stats from published research into the traditional approach are actually far worse than your vets are quoting :(

I hope you get him right again.
 
sbloom said:
Do look further into this - there are risks with injecting joints, it is not something I'd do without being very sure that it WOULD help, with the risks involved.
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I aggree with this I will plead guilty to injecting into joints too much when it first got started and I was swept along I need a lot of convincing to do it now.
 
ALO said:
We are having the navicular bursa blocked on Saturday and if does block it's being medicated.I'm not sure how successful that's going to be tho,as wasn't massively lame to begin with.
We did have the coffin joint blocked when the original work up was done but he didn't block and everything else did look fine on MRI.
I will think about starting doing the walking on the road,may wait for a less windy day tho!
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I do honestly think being on the roads has been much safer with Indi, first few times I made sure I had an extra pair of hands with us, the spare person was hi-vized up to the nines and walking on the outside to control any traffic, MAKING cars wait to pass at a safe point as opposed to just pushing past and causing anxiety in both the horse and the leader - I now dont need the extra person as Indi is pretty chilled and the lanes around us pretty quiet but we still have one where ever possible!!

I'm off to try and order some magnetic bell boots off Ebay as I have been told that they can help promote heeling - Will let you know how I get on with these!!
 
cptrayes said:
Sarah has he got thin soles? If so, you will need to get that sorted if you want to increase his chances of coming sound again. It's usually a diet issue or metabolic disease which can also be treated with diet changes.

I know I'm banging on about this but ddft and ligament damage inside the foot has a far greater than 50% chance of being fixed with a barefoot rehab than remedial shoeing and drugs - and the stats from published research into the traditional approach are actually far worse than your vets are quoting :(

I hope you get him right again.
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Hi Soles arent massively thin, indeed we have never had any issues with hoof related lameness prior to this although I do know with previous owners he was riddled with abscesses through the winter so I believe that us changing his diet and farriery schedule has helped BUT when he was having the initial tests done the sole was quite spongey on the affected foot.

I have spoken with Sarah Braithwaite and she has recommended putting him on a Zinc and a Copper supplement as apparently these will aid hoof condition and heeling of the ligaments which I have on order and are waiting for them to arrive.

I honestly would love to take his shoes off, indeed I have taken his back ones off and he does seem to be coping, due to our farrier suffering a bereavement we were unable to get his shoes back on for a week after the MRI and he managed (Not particularly well) without the front shoes on and indeed whet a little pottery when he had the front shoes back on, I did call the vet at that point and discuss the option of again removing the shoes but he wanted me to perservere for a few days and to be honest after a few days he is happy and seems comfortable - also the heat has gone out of the hoof which we have had for the previous 6 weeks constantly. Im stuck a little bit at the moment as the insurance is footing the costs and to keep that I need to go with what the vet is recommending. He hasnt said no to barefoot but does think the shoes are going to help!!
 
Goldenstar said:
I aggree with this I will plead guilty to injecting into joints too much when it first got started and I was swept along I need a lot of convincing to do it now.
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Thanks Goldenstar - Going to research this now and possibly start its own thread to save hijacking Alo's thread all the time!!
 
My mare had a very similar injury two years ago and has come back totally sound, but I took the rehab very slowly.The main thing was to support the rest of her legs as well, so that she didn't become unbalanced and started using herself incorrectly as a result of favouring the injury site.For her, what seemed to help was regular bodywork( Shiatsu and Chiropractic) , and also I used magnetic boots as well.Good luck with your horse , it's a long journey but so worth it !
 
Yess Jessica Rabbit, I have been speaking with more people recently who have success stories to tell about there horses coming back - it does seem to be that time is the key factor!!

What Magnetic boots did you get - just looking into these now!!
 
Alo, have you looked into feeding supplements to aid the healing??

I'm just looking into this now and there does seem to be a lot of evidence to support that various Vits, mins and herbs can assist and aid healing!!
 
I havnt actually,will have a look.he just has maxavita mussels at the moment for his hock.
Jessica rabbit how long did yours take to recover?and what level of work does she do now?
 
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