Deep digital flexor tendon injury - any experiences?

N

nemlin

Well-Known Member
Joined
28 November 2005
Messages
478
Location
on the laptop!
Visit site
Has anyone got any experiences of this? I'm still awaiting a definate diagnosis but my vet and farrier are both confident my horse has pulled his DDFT in his fore leg
frown.gif


I've heard a few horror stories and also a few good stories, so was just wondering what people's experiences were? In particular, I'd like to know what treatment or management your horse had, recovery time, how well the horse recovered and what the horse is capable of doing (ie has it been retired/able to hack lightly etc). Have been around horses for 20 years now and this is my first experience of tendon problems hence the dumb questions!
frown.gif
frown.gif
 
There was no good outcome for my mare I'm afraid.

I should say, however, that she was 19 when she did this, and her general prognosis given her age was poor. I was also not prepared to have her on lengthy box rest at this age.
 
Kizzy tore her DDFT at the back of her pastern last September, its all a bit long & complicated but basically she went in to Liphook to have an annular ligament desmotomy so that she could have time off over the winter & when David Lloyd went in he found a small tear on the edge of the DDFT which he debrided. I was so lucky that I had stopped riding her when I did. She has done real well, 8 weeks box rest with walking in hand up to 45 mins daily by 6 weeks, turn out in round pen at 8 weeks & ridden walking at 10 weeks, building up to 1 hour with 15 mins trot by 16 weeks, then treat as an unfit pony & build up gradually. The vet expects me to be able to start jumping at 6 months. There was some residual inflammation so he medicated the tendon sheath just before Christmas & she is sound. I really hope that is some help, but it will depend on what exactly your injury is as to the treatment & outcome.
 
First of all get the scan done, then you will have a much better idea. My mare tweaked hers back in 2004 when she was 22. There was no core lesion, and half the swelling and most of the pain was due to her kicking the back of the leg just a little below the back of the knee, with the hindfoot - the dint was revealed when the leg was clipped for scanning. She had just under 3 months box rest and controlled in-hand grazing (in the middle of winter, lucky me stood out in the field with her in the dark after work!) and she made an excellent recovery to be able to hack out again, which was all she was doing anyway. On the downside, the boxrest hastened her arthritis and I retired her 18 months later so now she enjoys the lazy life.
 
My horse sustained a ddft injury out hunting 2 yrs ago - core lesion with 2 additional tears, and was given a 40% chance of coming field sound.
He had 6 mnths box rest with a series of Adequan injections, and then with an in hand walking programme from 10 weeks in, with ridden walk work commencing at about 4 mnths in to the 6 mnths box rest. I also used an ice pack 3 times daily until the heat had gone, and supplemented with msm.
Suffice to say this horse has now been sound for 18mnths, has been back out hunting once a week this season and jumped his first 1m sj class a few weeks ago, coming 5th with a double clear.
Time, time, time and also a lot of luck - well certainly in my case! I have taken his recuperation very slowly and am always conscious of not 'over-doing' it, but so far the leg has come back as strong as before.
Good luck and positive vibes
 
My boy was diagnosed with a DDFT in his hind leg a couple of years ago. He had four months of box and pen rest and then three months introduction very slowly to work again. We are now jumping opne showjumping classes and we do hunter trials, sponsored rides and a bit of stressage. It took time and dedication and luck but he's back doing his job as an allrounder. I followed the vets advice down to the letter and was also lucky to be able to put him into a hydratherapy spa for the the first fortnight immediately after the injury which i think helped a lot. Good luck and if you want any further info or just want to chat, Pm me.
 
My endurance Arab sustained a 30% tear of the DDFT above the fetlock in May 2008. He was first field-rested for 7 weeks (as he was 50mile fit there's no way I could have put him straight onto boxrest and both of us stayed sane!), then box-rested for 8 weeks. We then started walking out in hand, very quickly moved to under saddle as he was easier to manage that way, and gradually over a period of 3 months built up to trot and a little bit of canter. He started back in work in April 2009, and by September was doing 30k rides with no problem whatsoever.

During this time he was scanned every couple of months and the lesion reduced to 10% but is still there and will probably always be there. I tried various therapies - cold laser, magnetic pulse, etc - but can't say that anything worked better than rest. I still put a magnetic wrap on the leg every day for about 15-20 minutes - because it can't do any harm and might do some good.

The most difficult aspect of the whole thing was that apart from the first 2-3 days after the injury was sustained, he was no more than 1/10th lame and was completely sound after 4 weeks. Indeed, the examining vets said that he would have probably passed an endurance vetting any time after the first week or so (which is quite a scary thought, as the injury wasn't diagnosed for 3 weeks and I could easily have taken him out to compete except that I was sure something wasn't right). As luck would have it, before the diagnosis was made I was cold hosing and ice-packing twice a day - which is apparently exactly the right thing to do in the early stages.

So far, ours is a positive story, and I have my fingers crossed for your boy.
 
Don't quote me on this but I believe that the further down into the foot the injury is, the harder the recovery can be?

Our previous mare damaged her DDFT, along with her impala ligament and navicular bone, on a XC course after a new farrier had managed to totally screw up her foot balance. Nightmare.

Anyway it took 3 months and eventually an MRI to find out what was wrong. She then had 3 months rest in a pen (went mad in box and came through door after 2 days!). We then gave her abother 3 months field rest, and she did eventually come field/hacking sound - final vet visit said 0.5/10 lame on circle. However we were advised (by Sue Dyson) that she wouldn't ever be reliably sound to do more than quiet hacking, and she had the sort of temprament that either needs proper work or nothing, so we sold her to friends of our vet as a brood mare (she was 13 at the time, never a day sick or sorry and both our vet and Sue Dyson said the DDFT and other injuries were very unlikely to be caused by anything hereditary).
She's now a very happy mummy, and field sound, although new owner does say that when they change fields or have a mad day in the field she looks unlevel on it the next day.
 
QR - Thanks again everyone - obviously I'll have a better understanding of the extent once a scan's been done.
Unfortunately being a broodmare is one career choice my boy cant have if the worst case is early retirement! LOL
blush.gif
tongue.gif
 
Our Section B tore his DDFT in his foreleg in October 08. He only had a week box rest since for various reasons he wasn't diagnosed for a few weeks and then there seemed to be little point. Vet said he might take a little longer to come sound, but i felt he would be happier and I was prepared to wait longer if he was happier during his recuperation.

Anyway he was scanned again in May 2009 - and there was scar tissue, but no gaping hole. So on vet's advice we started to work him very very gently and slowly with a very small light rider.

He is now in light work, mostly hacking and a little school work and a little bit of tiny (1ft) jumping, not really due to the injury, but due to availability of riders as my daughter now has a bigger pony. He seems fine and is enjoying himself, but we haven't pushed him and I wouldn't let him do games, hunting or anything really fast and twisty etc as sometimes he looks very slightly unlevel for a step. I am completely paranoid about him, however, and can't be sure I am not just seeing things anyone who has ever had a lame horse will know exactly what I mean! I have heard that this may just be due to slightly tight scar tissue. The vet saw him after he had been in work a few months and was happy with him.

So he is doing well, happy with what he is doing. It will be interesting to see what happens come the better weather and when his rider wants to do a little more and we will need to balance the work, protecting his leg and his weight! I do think the longer he stays in gentle work the better, but at some point it would be good to know exactly how strong he is. He is 16 in April, so I guess if he carries on like he is I am happy.

Good luck with yours. The thing I hear most is time and patience. Lots of waiting....
 
Not a happy outcome for my poor boy - MRI scans showed he had severly damaged his DDFT playing in the field, vets couldnt even agree to retirement, surgery was not an option, so at just 7 years old he was pts.

I hope the prognosis is much better for your horse, there are many horses that do recover fully.
 
If you can get him to a hydrotherapy centre, it is the best possible thing you can do with any form of tendon injury, especially if you can get then in as early as possible. As said, it all depends where in the tndon the injury is, and how bad the tear is. I have known a couple with the injury, one didnt live long enough to see if he recovered (completely unrelated field injury) and the other went out at grass for 18mnths, and last I heard was jumping out of his field and entered for PN's again... so don't write him off!
smile.gif
 
my gelding somehow managed to get his infected it was a very long process with a year in a box and due to the time off it took along time to get him to fitness due to the muscles wastage and he lost all his confidence jumping, but he is jumping bsja again now and was 2nd on his last outing
smile.gif
he was 5 when it happened and will be 7 this year and isnt quite back to where he inititally was but we are getting there so dont give up hope but be prepared to be patient
 
There are a lot of horses around with "a fat leg" which are recovered severe DDFT injuries working perfectly sound as riding club horses and hunters. A friend of mine had one and he hunted for many seasons. I hope yours is one of the success stories.
 
mine had fraying to DDFT and SDFT in hind leg around fetlock back in may had to have op and tendon mediaction for it much like kizzywiz. Currently still on re hab programme for this up to 1 hour of reasonable trot work mostly hacking although some school and lunge work have had to be include due to weather conditions. is still in though athough no real turnout available all winter anyway :-(. did have slight set back but was un related to tendon issue so we are behind schedual ifu like.but re scan end of jan so fingers crossed. did know another one that just did a stright forwards strian in hind leg (apparently uncommon) and he was off for prob 3 months but came back into fully without any problems so good luck
 
I know you have had lots of replies but this is my story. My mare was diagnosed with a tear in her DDFT deep within her hoof, was found via MRI after much guess work as to her lameness. Shes been on box rest for a while before but this was diagnosed in September, she had double wedge shoes on to begin with for 4 weeks, then single wedges for 4 weeks and now egg bars - which shes had for the last 2 shoeings. Shes being hand walked for up to 1hr per day divided up into 2/3 walks and is due to go back to Horsepital for a re-scan soon. Her tear was a bad one and shes had loads of time off (since last April) ad I have been feeding her MSM which is supposed to help with the healing of tendons. She is walking much more comfortably now and after her re-scan Im hoping I will be able to take her off the yard to walk round the village, be it in hand or ridden. She will not see a field until Spring, running around in the mud/snow would be absolutely no good for her.

Fingers crossed she will come sound, if you want any further info PM me. Gooc luck with yours.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top