Deep digital flexor tendon injuries - any experience?

alsxx

alsxx

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Until we have the results back from MRI, I wont know for sure, but vet at RVC suspects my mare could have some kind of lesion in the DDFT.

Does anyone have any experience of these, of causes and treatment. I have resigned myself to the fact that she will probably just have to be retired, so don't worry about making me worry with any horror stories!

Thanks xx
 
It's what Amy did. Did not want to put an 18 year old mare on box rest for 6 months, so she went.
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I'm sorry to hear that. I know the outcome will not be good for my girl, she has LH tendonitis - or worse, find out thurs with MRI. RF suspected DDFT, so diagonal pair not good, and has all sorts of other issues.

She seems very happy though at the moment, but has done 6 months box rest already for the other things. I guess I just need to wait and see what they find.
 
alsxx when you get your MRI scan you are welcome to PM me and compare with mine from 3 years ago, as from your concerns, it sounds like you could have a similar combination of issues going on as my horse did. When the MRI was done she could hardly walk, and I would have had her PTS in the likelihood she couldn't recover if my insurance hadn't been prepared to pay for MRI to find out exactly what was wrong.

Mine showed the following in the bad foot:

1. The compact bone of the flexor and articular surfaces of the navicular bone are mildly thickened
2. There are mild patchy areas of decreased signal (T1 weighting) in the medulla of the navicular bone
3. The distal and proximal borders of the navicular bone show mild modelling
4. There is moderate fluid distension of the distal interphalangeal (DIP) joint
5. There is mild distension of the navicular bursa
6. The medial lobe of the deep digital flexor tendon (DDFT) has a focal area of high signal (T1 and T2* weighting) close to its dorsal surface at the level of the proximal interphalangeal joint
7. There is some mild periarticular modelling around the dorsal margin of the DIP joint
8. The collateral ligament of the navicular bone is swollen and shows irregular signal in both T1 and T2* weighted images
9. There is a mild high signal in the medulla of the navicular bone in STIR sequences

.... and in the good foot, scanned for comparison...

1. There are mild patchy areas of decreased signal (T1 weighting) in the medulla of the navicuiar bone
2. The proximal border of the navicular bone shows mild modelling.

It might encourage you to know my horse went on to make a full recovery and now competes in dressage (and does rather well if I may say so!).

I don't want to get into controversial territory but she went barefoot with a well respected DAEP.
 
alsxx I'm sorry to hear that's the prognosis. No experience of the injury but much experience of diagonal pair lameness which is sadly a nightmare. I'll keep my fingers crossed. I'm sure I've read stories on here of horses who have recovered, however you will know what is right for your horse. PM if you ever want to talk.
 
Thanks Brightmount, I may well do if thats ok!

She's having it done on thurs so not too long to wait. She's only 6 (well, actually only 5 1/2!) so I really hope she will end up at least field sound (ish). I've had her since a foal so would happily give up the prospect of riding her in exchange for just having her around pain free.
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Horses eh
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Thanks Marchtime, fingers crossed
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Be optimistic, my boy had a supected tear of the ddft but unconfirmed as did not MRI only ultrasound. He went into a spa for 2 weeks and then had four months pen/box rest and then as sound, was put very, very gradually back into work. After three months of progressive work, we then increased his work but didn't jump for another 3 months or so and then carried on as normal. 18 months after the injury we did our first hunter trial. Each horse is different and obviously it depends on the extent of the injury but like you I felt the bottom had fallen out of my world and though am still slightly papranoid, we're marching on. Good luck and hope it all works out for you both
 
Mine did her DDF in a field accident - also kicked her own tendon from behind which caused most of the pain I think. Luckily there was no core lesion and she was sound and rideable after less than 3 months box rest. However, as she was already 21 years old we only hacked afterwards.
 
*Waves*
Mine tore a 2cm hole in her left fore DDFT below the navicular bone. She also had extensive damage to the cartilage around the pedal bone/DDFT area. All diagnosed by MRI. She had four Cartrophen injections, five and a half months' box rest, and 13 months out. She then did two months of walking in-hand, from 10 minutes a day to 40 minutes over the two months. Then two months of ridden walking, 20 minutes to just over an hour. Then a month of short trots, up to an hour and a half hacking. She slipped in the mud and we have since had to start over again but at least she's sound and happy (vet checked her over last week, almost exactly two years after the injury). She will never jump or school again (jump because of the tendon, school because of the cartilage mainly) but she is a very happy hacker. My first vet told me basically to give up and shoot her, so I told him what to do with his gun and got a third opinion (and registered with the different practice). My current vet is well-known for being an eternal pessimist, but she has been very supportive and has given my horse the chance she deserved.
I am pretty sure that she tore the tendon before I got her, and what she did two years ago was a repeated injury. Basically what caused it was that on the outside she looks VERY upright in the pasterns. My farrier did what any good farrier worth his salt would do, and tried to encourage her heels to drop a little and her hoof-pastern angle to drop. Unbeknown to us, her bones were then actually in the broken-back position, which puts more strain on the DDFT - inevitable then really that it should tear. There was nothing that could have been done to prevent it, other than X-ray every inch at purchase (for a £3000 horse..?) She is now shod very upright (farrier barely touches her heels) and I have to be careful how much work I do on hard surfaces to reduce concussion, but she is sound again. My farrier tried to trim her heels about a year ago and made her lame - which just confirms that the angle of her pasterns was what caused the tear.
DDFT problems (well any tendon issues really) are awful. Good luck, I hope the diagnosis isn't as bad as you think.
 
I use the RVC and was sent down to Bell Equine for an MRI.
Revealed mild damage to ddft, dsil and collateral ligaments in both feet. No significant bone damage.
Exactly what my vet suspected without the MRI but I wanted to know.

Given 60% chance of coming right but the vet warned me that these injuries are unpredictable.

We are now on week 4 of walking in hand after 3 months of total box rest. He looks sound in walk and I will probably jump on him at the weekend to continue the walking under saddle for another 4 weeks before we trot him up and reassess.

One tip
If you go to Bell Equine then the report will have a list of findings and pictures.
At the end there will be an interpretation and recommendations. Read this first as is will put the findings in context and in understandable language.
It took a few days to arrive in the post but my vet was faxed a copy the following day so was able to go through it with me.

Interesting reading your MRI results Brightmount especially knowing the outcome and having a sound foot to compare with.
 
My 9yo endurance Arab is on a rehab programme for a DDFT injury above the LH fetlock sustained in May last year. Tried electromagnetic therapy, cold laser therapy, box rest and field rest - none of it made much difference (only a 10% tear but clearly stubborn!) so now we're supposed to be walking out for an hour a day - only thanks to the weather we're managing about an hour a week. Back for a rescan in 3 weeks to see if I can start slowly bringing him back into proper work.

Very very frustrating, especially as the horse looks the picture of health and soundness! He hasn't been lame since the third or fourth day after the injury. For some months he had remedial shoes but my farrier became concerned that they were affecting his gait in other ways, so now we're on wide-webs with longer heels for support.

As the tear is small, and there are no associated injuries, the vets are cautiously hopeful about his prognosis.

Good luck with your diagnosis.
 
My 7 yo damaged his DDFT messing about in the field. It took several months of x-rays, ultra sound scans, nerve blocks etc and then finally an MRI scan showed he had done severe damage to it - so severe that I was not even able to retire him and just love him.
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I wish you all the luck with your mare.
 
Hi,
Just quickly but my boy had a very serious strain to his DDFT. He had to spend 7 months in stable and go on walker every day for 20 mins. He then did 3 months out. Then i spent 8 months getting him fit again very very slowly. In the end he was jumping decent sj tracks again. Hes been on holiday for a few months running up to christmas but is back working now and feels good (please bear in mind in touching a hell of alot of wood whilst im writing this)
I dont hold out alot of faith that he is all fixed forever but every days a boost.
PM me if you have any other questions about it.
Good luck
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Thanks everyone. One day to go.

This morning she was crippled lame on it, has never been this bad before, barely putting weight on the leg. No idea what has happened, but she was walking around her box fine yesterday and now she can barely move.
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