Deep digital flexor tendon injury, advice.

applestroodle

applestroodle

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My horse has been diagnosed with a tear in his deep digital flexor tendon, this was found from an MRI scan last week. I have just received my vet report and reading through all the big complicated words I think it's a 6cm tear. My vets have not been very optimistic with his return back to work, suggesting only a 17% chance. I'm devastated as you can imagine and just wondered if anyone had been through this themselves and had any advice.
The vets have set a program of strict six month box rest and then starting in hand walking, unsure of how the horse will cope and fairness on the horse.
I'm still trying to get my head around it all and just feel gutted. Thanks in advance.
 
Had exactly the same with fatty although was told to put him down, no hope he would ever be ridden again. You have seen him now!! Was a year off and a slow programme into work but really don't despair!!!
Q
 
Where is the tear - in the leg or inside the foot?

I'm guessing foot because of MRI to diagnose rather than ultrasound.

If so, the figure you have been given is correct for conventional treatment with shoes, medication and box rest.

The rate for a barefoot rehab is around four times as high even in horses who have already been failed by conventional treatment.

If your horse's problem is in the foot then I recommend you look at rockleyfarm.blogspot.com to see one success after another in pictures and video and contact the owner who is very generous with her time and advice.
 
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applestroodle said:
Thanks Measles and Quadro I will message you.
Cptrayers it's inside the hoof so apparently a real hard area to rest and heal.
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I've updated my post. There is a much better prognosis than your vets are aware of, do not despair yet. There are plenty of people on this forum who can tell you about their rehabs. I've had two, both failed by modern medecine and shoes .


Please do contact Nic Barker, she will share her information whether your horse goes to her or not. She has resolved a large number of horses written off with ddft tears inside the foot.
 
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no advice really just wanted to say i'm so sorry to read that :( its horrible when there injured

mine did 5 months box rest and he is a stress head in his box , he box walks and weaves when really stressed and after about a week he did settle and just except it although i was quite lucky as we have a field shelter and he was able to go "out" through the day were he could see his friends and even scratch over the door , this helped a lot
good luck with him i really hope he comes right for you
 
Sorry to here this, can sympathise with you my horse has damaged his oblique lateral ligament, vets are always very pessimistic, mine had been to. Just got to follow their advice to the letter and give your horse the best care you can. It's gutting, I know operations are bad news as general is dangerous but in some ways you feel slightly more in control as you can do something. With tendon/ligament damage the healing is up to them. How did yours do it?
 
Ditto do at least contact Nic for a chat. She was very helpful when my lad's foot issues started even though there was no likelihood of him going to her.
 
Really sad to hear this, its truly devastating. My grey did the same thing last March :( He didnt tear it as such as ended up with a core lesion of the DDFT so basically a nice big hole right in the middle so probably more serious than your boys. Is the horse insured? It might benefit from surgery to tidy it up and help it heal as much as possible. We took mine to a specialist vet who kept him for a few days to investigate further and they also operated on it to tidy it up and inject something into it which might have helped with the healing (cant remember what it was called!). My horses exact injury was very rare, the vet (who deal with all major issues in Scotland so see a lot of horses) had only seen 1 other horse with it, so they were very pessimistic about the outcome. They confirmed though that he'd never be competed again (to be told that is just awful as this horse lives to jump). We brought him home and attempted 6 months box rest with walks out in hand increasing slowly every month. We could only keep him in about 3 months and he was going so nuts out on the walks that he tweaked his tendon again :( My vet basically said to give up with it since he hated box rest so much so we chucked him out in a tiny paddock (to get him used to being out again) and left him to it. I kept up the walking which got a lot easier once he was out again as he was totally back to normal behaviour wise. So definately think about this if your horse goes nuts on box rest - just put him out in a stable-size paddock, we used 6ft high steel mesh fencing (type builders use) so he couldnt jump out and we could also move it about onto new grass regularly. Anyway, fast forward to now and he's been written off so loss of use has just been paid to me last month. I am riding him, but literally its walking about the field gently trying to strengthen the tendon as much as I can but very carefully (plus it keeps him sane, he hates not being ridden!). One day he looks pretty sound, but if he canters round the field playing (as he often does) then after that he's stiff. I tried lungeing him a few days ago (first time since he did the damage) thinking I'd just gently walk him about but he had other ideas and galloped about bucking like mad! He's not the easiest patient ;) He was sore the day after that. I dream of one day doing a walk & trot dressage test with him but that would be it :( Sorry mine isn't more positive but as I said, mine was very serious. He has come sounder than the vets initially expected, he's perfectly comfortable.

Really hope yours comes out ok, its so so sad when it happens. I was "lucky" I guess that my grey was 13 last year when he did it so at least has had a successful career. Would have been worse had he been younger. Just means I have an another expensive-to-keep field ornament for the rest of his days!
 
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Hi, my old horse did this. He got very stressed on box rest, so I turned him out. After about 6months in the field his leg blew up and he went very lame. At that point in consultation with the vet \I had him put to sleep.

Good luck with yours... they are all different - but i think if I had my time again I'd stick with box rest.
 
right i want to give u some hope! i have an event horse that tore his ddft he had surgery to tidy it up and then vets said 6-9 months box rest, i was devasted as he was eventing sucessfully and is a big horse (17 3) i was told he had a 60 % chance of going back to doing what he was doing before injury. we made a post and rail pen off his box so that he could come out of the stable all day and roam around, (i could nt have kept such a big horse in a box for 9 months) he wore magnetic hoof boots, bought from horse health. i gave him a supplement from global herbs for tendon injurys and he went on the walker every day for 20 mins, as vets like it to keep moving. he was put in raised heels so that his tendon was nt so under strain. then i sedated him every day after the follow up mri after 9 months and walked him increasing by 5 mins everyweek, he then started to go out in paddock once he was cantering in work. He is now eventing novice again!! i know it could go again but with careful magement i try to be hopeful, pm me if u want
 
I am just going through exactly the same injury, we are 8 weeks post surgery at newmarket to clean the area up, my mare has settled well to box rest and is thankfully chilled out. I am walking her twice a day in hand and just praying that eventually it will work out well. Its really encouraging to hear success stories. I think we have a long road ahead of us.....
 
Thanks everyone for your replies, unfortunately he isn't a candidate for surgery due to the area it is in. He is to get to get raised heals and vet is due to come back end of September to see how he is getting on with box rest. The next 12 weeks I start my in hand walking and then re MRI scan in six months.
 
Mine did this last Easter. I was given a similar prognosis. I initially tried wedges, changed my mind and shoes came off. He is now sound and we've just started jumping again. It was a long road to recovery though.If you search through vet there are quite a few positive stories so don't despair.
 
Thanks Alo, can I ask why you went took shoes off? Horse has been without shoes now for six weeks & initially was very sore but is ok now so I'm umming and ahhing leaving them off. Vet is convinced that wedges will help, farrier coming end of the week.
 
Applestroodle I'm sorry to hear about your horse but I too would recommend keeping shoes off. Have a read of the link below - it is focused on navicular but DDFT damage usually goes along with that and there's evidence of healing within 12 weeks. Of course, every horse is different but it would mean a faster return to work and the rehab work would be far easier for you and him than box rest.

http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.co.uk/2013/07/surprise-surprisenot-really.html
 
Mine improved with wedges, they do initially as it takes the strain off the ddft. I had them taken off as I was worried what damage could happen to rest of legs due to having heels raised. Since shoes have come off I have better balanced feet and a lot more heel, they were virtually non existent at time of injury, hence why it may have happened in first place.
I hasten to add that my horses have always been shod and I have always followed conventional treatments but I did lots of research and there seems to be more returning to work this way, my vets told me I could go loss of use and gave me a very poor prognosis for returning to even hacking.
Its definatly worth speaking to Nic at rockley and have a look at the blog. Good luck.
 
I'm currently into week 10 of our rehab for a DDFT full length tear by the navicular bone. My lad had a steriod jab into the bursa, shoed with wedges and then one month box rest followed by walking in hand building up from 5mins a day, increasing at a rate of 5 mins every 5 days. We are now into ridden walk work and up to around 50 mins of exercise. He is sound at the moment and the vet is very pleased with progress. We introduce trot in a couple of weeks. He also gets turn out in a very small paddock every day but he is very sensible and doesn't run about.

I sent emails to Rockley about whether barefoot would be a better way to go but said that I would be doing this at home and I never got a response so hopefully they will get back to you.
 
I am really sorry to hear about that - it is dismal, but please keep positive, and I am sure all will be well.
To tell you our success story ....... Last February our mare started to go lame intermittently, and normal examination by our vet could not pin point anything. About a week before her first event she had a dressage lesson and mini TX's trainer told her to get off straight away. She was eventually referred to our vet's lameness clinic and examined via an MRI scanner.
What we thought was lameness in one leg was both front legs. She had two tears right down literally next to her navicular bone in her DDFT in both feet. We were told they were probably as good as a tear in that area got, as they were not huge tears. We were also told by our vet that in the past before MRI scanning that this would have been diagnosed as navicular syndrome.
Anyway, she was medicated with steriod injections in both feet, and shod with bar shoes the week after and she had 6 weeks box rest.
To say box rest was stressful was an understatement. She is a busy little mare, loves to work, loves to be turned out and hated every minute. She even hated being in a stable with a tiny turnout yard, and would rear right over your head when you went in. We eventually moved her to one of the YOs stables, which was huge and very roomy, and she managed to buck for england in it. We have several videos of her doing it on our phones and it wasnt nice.
Anyway, we took her back after 6 weeks and she trotted up perfectly sound at the vets. She was shod with bar shoes for about 3 months afterwards, and she even went to the PC National Champs last year in bar shoes, where our open dressage team came 3rd and she came 8th individually, so all not bad. She is back eventing this year, but we are very careful where we run her now, and all seems fine. The vet advised us that she may need medicating again in the future again if she goes lame, but touch wood she has been fine. I do admit we wrap her up in cotton wool now, and whereas before she was only booted and bandaged up to compete/travel. She is exercised in boots and over-reach boots each (even though she doesnt over-reach - great shopping opportunity and they are very fetching with their fur surrounds, plus I even bought matchy matchy bandages ......) and we are very selective on where she competes and will withdraw if the ground conditions are not good. She is far too precious to us to risk it - there is awlays another competition.
So please dont despair, I am sure your horse will come good in the end. Just keep your chin up, and I will be sending you loads of healing vibes.
 
Im sorry to hear this.

My old horse did pretty much the same thing. He had to do 9 months in, luckily the vet wanted him to walk every day on the walker. It started at 15 mins a day and by the end he as walking for about 1an hour at each end of the day. He then did 3 months out in the field with walking and then came into work very slowly. It probably took me 12-18 months to get to popping small jumps again.

Talk to your farrier about wedged shoes. My farrier (who shoes for the GB team) was VERY anti wedge shoes on, to the fact he refused to put them on. He said the short term advantage of putting them on was not worth the long term fact that his heels would contract away even more, leaving him in a far worse state than he was at the time and saying it would be a nightmare trying to get him out of the wedges again. He discussed it with the vet, they agreed to disagree and I had to go with my gut. I chose the farrier so my horse had bar shoes on to give more support. I was glad that I did because my horses feet looked completely different by the end.

Good luck
 
Really good to hear positive results :) Theoryx1 and Bounce what was the reason for steriod injections ? only asking because this was not mentioned with my mare ? and do you think it helped ?
 
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Thank you everyone for your replies, all very reassuring that lots of people have been through this & have come out the other side. There is hope! My vet never mentioned any steroid injections either, can I ask what stage these were done at?
 
It was the SDFT that my mare pretty much destroyed 2/3rds of and after 4 months of box rest and daily sedalin/relaxin just to keep her in the stable I have to say I wouldnt put a horse through it again. I came home one day to find her hanging from the stable door by her back legs after she tried to jump out failed and got stuck, wasnt a great sight and I nearly expired :( HOWEVER She came back sound and I found her a home doing hacking and dressage and shes doing great :) Still sound, happy as larry and being well looked after and pampered :)

So they do come back sound, he may never do what you want him to do if your looking to event but he could be useful :) Good Luck figners toes and hooves crossed for your horse AP xx
 
Just wanted to say there's a big difference between a DDFT injury in the foot and a SDFT/DDFT injury in the cannon bone region with regards to treatment and prognosis.

DDFT injuries in the foot are generally bad news but with careful management there are certainly those that can come sound and return to a decent level of work.

My horse fortunately escaped that diagnosis on his MRI scan a few weeks ago - it's what we were suspicious of hence he was shod with raised heels but I really felt he wasn't getting on with them, didn't seem comfy and his heels were growing very strangely so I had them taken off after 8weeks and he is now in natural balance shoes under the care of Liphook's remedial farrier. He has had his coffin joints injected with steroid/HA. He's not fixed yet but hopefully on the way and have luckily caught the issue before it progressed to a DDFT injury but I think it was a close run thing.
 
star said:
DDFT injuries in the foot are generally bad news but with careful management there are certainly those that can come sound and return to a decent level of work.
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Conventional shoeing and medication is bad news for about four out of five horses. Barefoot rehab appears to be bad news for one in five horses, and of the four in five resolved, many have already been right through the gamut of remedial shoeing and meds..
 
cptrayes said:
Conventional shoeing and medication is bad news for about four out of five horses. Barefoot rehab appears to be bad news for one in five horses, and of the four in five resolved, many have already been right through the gamut of remedial shoeing and meds..
Click to expand...

If the above is true, then why do the majority of vets recommend wedge shoes and box rest? Surely if the results of barefoot had been clinically proven to be better that shoeing then the vets would suggest that?
 
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