Dizzy is Lame - Any Information on Check Ligaments?

MrsMozart

MrsMozart

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As title really...

I moved the Dizz and Grey Mare to a different yard a couple of weeks ago. The 'old' yard is lovely, we just needed more grass (damn the lack of rain in March/April!). The new yard is also lovely.

All was fine for a week, but then Dizzy got into a scrap with another horse and came off worst.

She took a kick to her near fore, just below the knee, slightly towards the inside of the leg.

The vet came out the same day.

I could only just get her to her stable the poor lass, she couldn't get her hoof flat to the ground and was hobbling, trying to take her weight on her toe. Vet couldn't scan as there was too much swelling.

Bought some cool boots as I couldn't get her to the hose. Following vet's advice I have: cool boots at night; Ibuprophen for horses during the day; box rest for nearly a week now; two Bute twice a day.

She is now stable sound, but her leg is still giving out a fair bit of heat and it's still noticeably swollen all the way down the tendon and between the tendon and the bone. I dropped the Bute to one twice a day for two days, but have upped it back to two twice a day - she was showing some angst with the leg, lifting it and nosing it. Vet concurred.

Anyhoo, reason for the thread is that the kick/lump is where the check ligaments joins: I'm not clear on the layout of the tendons and ligaments (have scared myself silly Googling!). The vet was hopeful that the tendons were okay as she could feel them and Dizzy was okay with her gentle manipulation of the leg, but I'm trying to get mentally prepared for what it could be.

Anyone know anything about these sort of injuries/damage?
 
If this injury is a kick, does your vet not think it is more likely that it is a broken splint bone than a check ligament injury?


Prognosis for both is good, though if it's a splint bone fracture it might have to be taken out. It's a fairly minor operation, it's a bone they don't need.
 
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Ta hun :)

It's something to do with where the kick is. My knowledge is shockingly poor, which I'm trying to correct without scaring myself silly.

I should have added that Dizzy has bony irregularities on her pelvis and seconday damage to both hind suspensory ligaments, so she's not in the best of health leg wise any way. I don't know yet how the foreleg damage will affect the back end. She's not been worked for six weeks now (was trying to get weight on her), so all the muscle is dissappearing aswell...
 
Bummer :(

I've had several friends with horses with check ligament injuries and none of them have caused any lasting trouble that could not have been avoided. One friend failed to walk her horse out in hand as directed by the vet because she "could not see the point". The point was to stop adhesions forming, as she now knows to her cost, because her horse takes five minutes to work off the stiffness. So do what your vet says, and she'll be fine, I hope.
 
Sorry I'm of no use whatsoever, it's not something I have experience of, thank goodness.
But I just wanted to wish Dizzy a speedy and complete recovery - and send you some <<hugs>>. They certainly know how to keep us on our toes!
 
Ta hun. It's good to know what I might be facing. We can do the walking out in hand. When Dizz is stressed she weaves like mad, so will no doubt be doing her own stretching :cool:

And ta hun. Hm. Horses. I'm going to take up guinea pigs...
 
Sorry to hear she's broken again :(

By the amount of pain she's in, you may find she's just badly bruised and once the swelling has gone down, the pain will reduce significantly. Most horses with check ligament damage don't tend to be very lame - in fact, some are not lame at all.

Check ligament damage/strain is usually 6-8 weeks box rest/walking in hand.

Hopefully nothing is too damaged and you'll be able to get on with her soon :)
 
Ta hun.

She used to get bashed on the forelegs, and whilst she's had a couple of weeks off before, there's been nothing like this. The poor vet must dread seeing my number come up :o

I should away to m'pit. Have to be up early to get the Bute to her :cool:
 
Check Ligament damage is a funny thing. We have had one do it recently - from work not through a kick or the likes - and he had a perfect mound of swelling all around the tendon where the ligament is. He was not lame and it was cooking hot to touch. Another of the horses has a strined tendon - this is slightly thicker all the way down and round, marginally warmer, not lame at all and when scanned showed only shadows, the shadows could pop into holes though. If she had done a tendon properly then the swelling would generally be localised to the damaged area unless it's a muckle great hole that does go all the way down the leg.

TO me it sounds as though your lass is very bruised and sore but I would defo be getting it scanned asap.
 
Thank you :)

From that description, it's sounding more like the tendon (don't know which though!) as the swelling is all down the tendon. The bump from the kick is on the bone part way between the front and the side of the cannon bone. She is now sound and has been for some days. She stresses in the stable and has been walking around it, so I'm guessing that it's getting some stretching.

Two nights ago it was putting out a tonne of heat even through the boot, which I'm hoping means the boot was doing its job.

I'm hoping the swelling is down enough tomorrow for the scan to make some sense.

I'll update when I know more.
 
What bad luck MrsM!!! I couldn't believe it when I saw the title of your thread!

Sorry, I don't have any experience of this, but I hope it doesn't take too long to heal.
 
Just a thought, how long do you leave the cool boots on for? It has been found that they are only effective for the first hour, any more that that the absord the heat and hold it against the leg, heating it up.
 
Try a post in comp riders asking for ideas. Otherwise an hour repeated as many times a day as you can will really help, after all if you were hosing it would only be for 20 mins at a time
 
Optimum time for cooling, whether ice or hosing, is 20 mins every 2 hours. That is only in the acute inflammatory stage (first 48hrs) after that you can move on to cold and hot compresses. (the cold removes the "bad" cells and the hot brings a rush of healing cells to the area).

My mare did her check ligament as a 3 year old, she was box rested for around 6 weeks (it was a while ago now!!). She never had a problem with it afterwards. The vet did tell me at the time not to walk her in hand but another very well respected physio has told me that soft tissue damage needs to be kept moving to keep the scar tissue down. The scar tissue is normally what causes the horse to break down again when they are reintroduced back into work. Would definately ask the vet about controlled walking when he scans her.

Good luck with the scans :)
 
I've found that event clay works a treat for keeping legs cool for a couple of hours- I use that to keep the heat down, and bandage over the top- legs are usually still right down 12 hours later- might be worth a try?

It's what I used when rib had a suspected tendon injury at the back- cool boots didn't work, but the clay did.

Sorry to hear this anyway, one good thing is if it is the check ligament thats damaged it will usually come almost perfectly right :):)
 
Thank you folks.

I'll speak to the vet about the different options re. cooling the leg.

Her leg was the same this morning as it was yesterday. She looks bright enough, being quite soft and loving this morning :). Eating, pooing, weeing, etc. well, and being remarkably well behaved considering being stabled is not her idea of fun.

The vet is coming sometime this afternoon. I'm starting to stress.

Ho hum.
 
Just seen this Mrs M. Poor Dizzy I hope she feels better. No useful advice as others know more, but fingers crossed for the vets visit later.x
 
I had a similar problem some years ago and used a product called Uptite, which is basically a very fine clay. It has remarkable cooling properties, whether you can still get it over here though I'm not sure.
 
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