Aragon56
Well-Known Member
Angel had her mri scan done yesterday, and unfortunately its bad news. It turns out she actually has two tears to the tendon in her right foreleg, plus another tear in her left foreleg, which I had no idea about. The one in her left leg is an old injury although I've never known her to be lame on that leg, it has repaired itself slightly. I asked about the percentage of the tear and he said it was hard to tell, although the one on the right leg is probably about 50%. It goes all the way down into her hoof.
The vet was really nice about it and said its the kind of thing they really hate to see show up on mri scans, and that it was one of the worst of its kind for a DDFT injury. He also said that 5% of horses with it go back to doing the kind of work they were doing before. Angel won't be one of them, he said to make sure we give her a full years rest which takes us up to July, as she has already been on field rest since last summer. After that we may be able to do some light hacking with bute on the days that she needs it, but it will be very hard to keep her sound once you start riding. The thing is she looks fine at the moment, not 100% sound but you just wouldn't be able to tell. He asked if she was insured for loss of use and advised to claim for that, the other thing is that at least we could put her in foal. Apart from that there is nothing they can do as the injury is fairly acute.
This is much much worse than I ever expected, and I am absolutely devastated. I just really thought the tear was not that severe. She's only 13 and its heartbreaking that I'll never be able to jump her again. I tried my hardest not to break down in tears in front of the vet yesterday or when I was loading her up but totally lost it on the way home... I just can't believe it really. I know she probably won't mind being a field pony too much but the fact that she is still relatively young and there was still so much I wanted to do with her just makes it seem so unfair. She has never been pushed too far in terms of jumping although I knew she could clear a 4 foot gate if she wanted to, so I think she has just been really unlucky. it makes you realise the pressure all the tendons and bones in their feet are under though. My uncle thinks she will be able to cope with light hacking, and has known many other horses with tendon injuries to come back into work, they never jump again though. At least she's not in pain and its not a case of PTS or anything like that but its just gutting. I feel guilty for every time I couldn't be bothered to ride now.
I think I will do another post in new lounge about what I will do with her now regarding loss of use or putting in foal-the only positive thing to come out of this is that at least she has a lovely temperament and so at least I could breed from her-she has been a mum once before.
Thanks for reading this far. Sorry its not positive reading for the rest of you in the tendon injury club, I'm having a really hard time coming to terms with it all.
The vet was really nice about it and said its the kind of thing they really hate to see show up on mri scans, and that it was one of the worst of its kind for a DDFT injury. He also said that 5% of horses with it go back to doing the kind of work they were doing before. Angel won't be one of them, he said to make sure we give her a full years rest which takes us up to July, as she has already been on field rest since last summer. After that we may be able to do some light hacking with bute on the days that she needs it, but it will be very hard to keep her sound once you start riding. The thing is she looks fine at the moment, not 100% sound but you just wouldn't be able to tell. He asked if she was insured for loss of use and advised to claim for that, the other thing is that at least we could put her in foal. Apart from that there is nothing they can do as the injury is fairly acute.
This is much much worse than I ever expected, and I am absolutely devastated. I just really thought the tear was not that severe. She's only 13 and its heartbreaking that I'll never be able to jump her again. I tried my hardest not to break down in tears in front of the vet yesterday or when I was loading her up but totally lost it on the way home... I just can't believe it really. I know she probably won't mind being a field pony too much but the fact that she is still relatively young and there was still so much I wanted to do with her just makes it seem so unfair. She has never been pushed too far in terms of jumping although I knew she could clear a 4 foot gate if she wanted to, so I think she has just been really unlucky. it makes you realise the pressure all the tendons and bones in their feet are under though. My uncle thinks she will be able to cope with light hacking, and has known many other horses with tendon injuries to come back into work, they never jump again though. At least she's not in pain and its not a case of PTS or anything like that but its just gutting. I feel guilty for every time I couldn't be bothered to ride now.
I think I will do another post in new lounge about what I will do with her now regarding loss of use or putting in foal-the only positive thing to come out of this is that at least she has a lovely temperament and so at least I could breed from her-she has been a mum once before.
Thanks for reading this far. Sorry its not positive reading for the rest of you in the tendon injury club, I'm having a really hard time coming to terms with it all.
