Help Info On Suspensory Ligament Body Tear Injury

[ponieslovered]

Hi all, im new here, and just wanted to ask if any of you have experienced a horse Tearing a Suspensory Ligament on the foreleg.
I bought my Ex racehorse last year in Spetember, and he is the most gorgeous looking horse, with a great temperment and reasonable manners. I was told he had a tendon injury, but was now sound. He gave up racing 3 1/2 years ago and has done nothing since.
So the idea was to begin training him to get him fit as i wanted to dressage him.
I decided to find out more about his injury and spoke to the vet who treated him. I was told the injury was a Severe body tear to the middle 3 section of the suspensory ligament, which also involved some tendon damage (at the time of the accident the vet wanted to put him to sleep but the trainer didnt want this). She said that from then until when i bought him, he was just a field companion. She advised me to spend this year just walking him and trotting him in straight lines (so not lunging in 20m circles), she said he will never be able to jump, and may not even canter.
I feel bad as i didnt know the injury was this bad, and i have worked him quite hard from sept to dec. if I was told at the time of sale and i still took him, i wouldnt have worked him so hard, (my fault i guess i should have dug around abit more).
He isnt lame, but does have some heat in the fetlock area, he has a large knee and the fetlock has dropped abit from his accident.

So now i know the full story, several people have said PTS, but i just feel i dont want to give up on him, i just wondered if anyone else has had this kind of injury and the horse has become sound enough to hack and walk, trot, canter. He actually tore the ligament, it wasnt a strain, and to my knowledge he had no treatment, just stabled 9 months then turned out in to paddock, any views and recomendations or stories greatly appreciated.

 

[Hollyberry]

Hi, Myboy has just recovered from rear suspensory ligament tears, I know its not the same as your boy but I had a lot of gloomy predictions as to outcome at the time. My vet was brilliant and I opted for shockwave treatment and up until the weather turned nasty we have been hacking him for 2-3 days a week with not problem. I am taking it very slowly and he will never probably do dressage and certainly no jumping but as he is only 8 and a happy chap we will keep him going. He is on Danilon every day but is sound. They can recover and my vet did say that I was being a little too cautious with him and that he could do a lot more but I am very careful with him. If your boy has some heat there is some inflammation there but I would seek vet advice and maybe you will just need to rest him some more. They can recover from these injuries so don't give up hope.

 

[maggiesmum]

I'd get the vet to check out the heat first. But I wouldn't worry too much, especially as he isn't lame and you've been working him hard. i've had a couple of ex-racers with suspensory injuries that are now in decent work (show jumping / X-country) with no ill-affects. Depending on the vets advice i'd be tempted to back off the work and do lots and lots of walking on a hard surface (boring roadwork!!!) and maybe add MSM to his feed, its excellent for supporting soft tissue.

 

[ponieslovered]

thanks for taking time to write the message. Im glad your boy is doing ok.
My boy is very reluctant to go forward at the moment, he's ok if im on the ground with him, but as soon as I tack up and go into the school, he just stands there, as if he's pretending he dosnt know what to do, so maybe this is also a pain issue, im only 8 stone, but i guess even that extra weight on an old injury may be uncomfortable, i will get the vet to have a look at him thanks

 

[ponieslovered]

well the heat in his pastern has gone right down today (on the damaged leg), which is great - so he was back to his normall self at breakfast time having a bucking fit - he does this while im getting the feed ready. I was going to walk him out today as the heat was less in the pastern, but decided against it due to about 6 inches of snow to walk through to get to the school. Maybe tomorrow.
The vet from the racing yard who treated him, said walk him in straight lines if possible for best part of this year, so i definately will get him out more walking on a hard surface, I would really like to keep him on the horse walker, but they obviously have to walk in a circle on that, so not sure. i was told he would never jump again which is really sad :-(, but thanks for the advice, walking and trotting in hand, that will do for now, still gonna get my vet to have a look at him, he may need to be bandaged in the stable overnight for support, havnt thought about that before but that may help, Do you think i should put boots on him when walking and trotting in hand, this would help support the legs ?