DDFT tear prognosis

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DizzyDaisy10

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Hi there!
I bought a 10yr old Haflinger mare back in December, we had a lot of fun together doing a lot of hacking and a bit of hunting.
In February, whilst out hunting she went completely lame so we poultice her hoof (left fore) and kept her on box rest for a few days. Turned her out still lame so had farrier out who took shoe off etc. but no issues found. Long story short, she was intermittently lame and nothing showed up on XRays so we had her MRI'd. This showed a very small tear at the very bottom of the DDFT in her hoof.
She's currently stabled in the day and out at night in a very small patch as she would drive us up the wall if we kept her on box rest 24/7. We have put on reversed wedge shoes and we are using a bit of magnetic therapy.
The vets are being fairly unoptimistic about her prognosis and haven't really given me any other good suggestions as to what to do... Does anyone else have any suggestions as to encouraging the tendon to repair itself? I appreciate it's a waiting game but I would like to be doing something :)
Would love to hear from any of you in similar situations :)
 
DizzyDaisy10 said:
Hi there!
I bought a 10yr old Haflinger mare back in December, we had a lot of fun together doing a lot of hacking and a bit of hunting.
In February, whilst out hunting she went completely lame so we poultice her hoof (left fore) and kept her on box rest for a few days. Turned her out still lame so had farrier out who took shoe off etc. but no issues found. Long story short, she was intermittently lame and nothing showed up on XRays so we had her MRI'd. This showed a very small tear at the very bottom of the DDFT in her hoof.
She's currently stabled in the day and out at night in a very small patch as she would drive us up the wall if we kept her on box rest 24/7. We have put on reversed wedge shoes and we are using a bit of magnetic therapy.
The vets are being fairly unoptimistic about her prognosis and haven't really given me any other good suggestions as to what to do... Does anyone else have any suggestions as to encouraging the tendon to repair itself? I appreciate it's a waiting game but I would like to be doing something :)
Would love to hear from any of you in similar situations :)
Click to expand...

Plenty here, and the success rate of a barefoot rehab is masses better than with your current treatment:


Www.rockleyfarm.blogspot.com
 
Mine tore his last autumn, MRI diagnosis at the RVC and a pretty poor prognosis. My own vet advised against wedged shoes as his view is they can damage other soft tissue. With his blessing I took shoes off and rehabbed him barefoot.
Started ridden work at end of March and has been progressing well with a few minutes of trot now added in a 45 minute hack.
My vet saw him last week and noted a significant and remarkable improvement in his bad foot.
my original posts about rehab are here http://www.horseandhound.co.uk/foru...Navicular-torn-DDFT-amp-barefoot-rehab-update
 
My mare was diagnosed with ddft tears (by mri) in both front feet in Dec after nearly a year of intermittent lameness. Vet prognosis was poor, and palliative care with bute and slow work recommended. He could see from the Mri that both had repeatedly torn, healed and torn again, which in hindsight accounted for the intermittent issues.

I have also gone the shoeless/barefoot route, and she is just starting to walk flat footed rather than landing toe first. She hasn't helped herself by escaping from fields, jumping down banks and getting both front legs stuck in a fence... I am riding her out in walk 3 times a week, for 3-4 miles on a mixture of terrain. She is currently sound in walk, short striding in trot and canter is a long way off.

She is out 24/7 as for her the movement is better than restricting her to a small space. I am not using bute as I want her to be careful, and for most of the time she is comfortable in the field and potters around happily enough.

Rockley blog and the feet first book by same person who runs rockley have been my go to reference guides.

I am also conscious of the related strain that her lameness is putting on her neck and shoulder muscles, so am working on loosening those with massage alongside the ridden work.

I am also prepared to take recovery at my mare's pace so she has as long as she needs to recover, which at best will probably be 1-2 years.
 
Mine substantially tore his DDFT in left fore. This did heal but unfortunately he was also found to have navicular and Pastern arthritis also.

He did return to light work, until kissing spines wrote him off a few weeks back.
 
my horse tore his DDFT but up his leg the size of a 50p the vets gave him a 50% of recovering to be a hack ( he hunted team chased etc so devastating) one year on almost to the day today he is going to have a jumping lesson to get him ready for the riding club showjumping competition next weekend!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This is something no one thought would be possible
I did not opt for surgery I took his shoes off rehabbed him to barefoot and used an arcequine on him http://www.arcequine.com/case-study/?cs=1375&c=4 this is the link to his case study you can see the hole and the repair just from using this.
He came sound at Christmas and we started back in Feb just walking and we walked blinking miles to get him strong and he is sounder now that he has ever been
 
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