Hind Limb Suspensory issues but not lame and nothing from nerve block....help and advice!!!

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Horsemaddani

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Hi All. Just looking for some advice....I have a newly turned 8yo connie gelding. He hasn't been very well (poor coat, reluctance to go forward, depressed looking, loss of topline,etc...). Vet suggested scoping for ulcers, that has come back clear. He is not lame and has had nerve blocks in both hinds. Has had a full blood test, that has also come back clear. Has been wormed regularly. Suspensories scanned and showed changes in both. Vet is recommending fasciatomy (maybe neurectomy). I am not sure if this is the correct route.....he is only 8 and Ive been reading that with PSD in hinds the prognosis is poor, but Vet has said that doing the surgery he could return to full athletic ability (70-80% chance)........ has anyone experienced this? Given our love was SJ and XC (not very big 80/100).....im guessing this isn't something that will be continued.....
Any advice hugely appreciated
 
I am currently on the field rest part of PSD rehab with my boy (who I bought to low-level event). And he’s the second one I’ve had with PSD (I know, talk about bad luck). I am going down the conservative route with Shadow and did the N&F with Nova.

My main bit of advice would be to x ray his feet if you haven’t already - PSD is most often secondary to something else and the feet often get overlooked. Shadow has quite good feet to look at but we x rayed them as a precaution and found that his angles were 0 degrees in both feet. Whilst not awful, the vet said that even flat feet can contribute to PSD. We took quite a bit off his toe at my next trim and he was already standing better (posture is also of huge importance with PSD). He has since had another trim just 4 weeks after the first as I noticed he was starting to stand camped under again ever so slightly. I will be shoeing him with extended heels on his next visit ahead of our in-hand rehab.

Nova had the N&F and I can’t really comment on how good/bad it is as she had a whole host of issues and sadly was pts. I didn’t opt for it this time as he is young and I have heard of things growing back after the N&F. Plus, we aren’t chasing insurance with him so I can make the decision to have it further down the line with no extra expense. It’s a personal preference.

Rehab for both is hard and there will be a lot of heart in mouth moments as horses never understand that they are meant to be being quiet and sensible on box rest/field prison! Plus, it will be constant management for the rest of their lives and being super vigilant of surfaces, posture etc.

There’s a really good Facebook group if you’re on FB called PSD discussion group. There are all sorts of discussions on there and stories - both good and bad, so go into it with your eyes open. There are people on there who have done N&F and people on there who have done indiba/shockwave who have gone back to eventing.

Happy to talk over PM if you want! I know it’s a pretty gutting diagnosis.
 
Suspensories can be insidious and the damage can be quite bad on ultrasound while the horse remaining sound or only slightly lame, especially if it's a bilateral problem.

Mine was originally diagnosed with PSD in both hinds. He wasn't a candidate for surgery as his fetlocks had started to drop by the time he was diagnosed. He wasn't obviously lame because it was bilateral but blocking one suspensory did show up the lameness in the opposite leg. I'd taken him to the vets due to a worrying change in his ridden behaviour. He also used to stand with his hind legs up on a bank, rest his bum on stuff and at one point had a false colic due to the pain. Finally it was apparent that he had dsld and I had to have him euthanised. If you get PSD in a young horse, especially if they've had an easy life then it's as well to ensure that they don't have dsld before subjecting the horse to something like a surgery. It affects other soft tissues and tends to progress to the other legs. Mine developed a front leg lameness after I retired him in addition to the 2 hind legs.
 
nutjob said:
Suspensories can be insidious and the damage can be quite bad on ultrasound while the horse remaining sound or only slightly lame, especially if it's a bilateral problem.

Mine was originally diagnosed with PSD in both hinds. He wasn't a candidate for surgery as his fetlocks had started to drop by the time he was diagnosed. He wasn't obviously lame because it was bilateral but blocking one suspensory did show up the lameness in the opposite leg. I'd taken him to the vets due to a worrying change in his ridden behaviour. He also used to stand with his hind legs up on a bank, rest his bum on stuff and at one point had a false colic due to the pain. Finally it was apparent that he had dsld and I had to have him euthanised. If you get PSD in a young horse, especially if they've had an easy life then it's as well to ensure that they don't have dsld before subjecting the horse to something like a surgery. It affects other soft tissues and tends to progress to the other legs. Mine developed a front leg lameness after I retired him in addition to the 2 hind legs.
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Hi. Thank you so much for this information. Ive had 2 separate vet opinions and I do feel the kindest thing to do is to put him to sleep. One vet says surgery, the other says Conservative treatment but given he is so young with the extensive damage on scans that they have said that he will not return to full athletic performance and at best will become a happy slow hack. The other vet has said with surgery he can return to full work....so I am at such a loss. Coupled with this he had a ddft injury last year which I painstakingly rehabbed.......and it was such a rocky road.......im worried I am just going to be kicking the can down the road at this point.
 
Horsemaddani said:
Just feeling like a shit horse owner....
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You're not, it's just a miserable diagnosis. Vet initially thought mine could be a low level hacker but he wasn't safe to be ridden clearly because of pain / discomfort and this was hardly any less work than he'd been doing anyway which had led to the suspensories disintegrating. As awful as it is to pts a young horse I've never thought I made the wrong decision. I was told with mine that with the surgery the horse would continue to damage the leg but would be unaware and it would lead to what he called a catastrophic failure of one or both legs.

Give yourself time to think it over and do some of your own research before making a major decision.
 
What ever you decide you’re not a terrible owner. You’re realistic and doing your best with the resources available to you. That being said I am from the states and moving to Brighton in a month and between here and chronicalofthehorse the opinions on soft tissue injuries is so drastically different it seems. In the states they’re annoying and a pain but unless they become chronically occurring it’s usually optimistic for coming back to work usually same level or slightly lighter. Hind end of course is trickier but I wonder if you might find more ideas for rehabbing. We usually do stem or prp and pemf with a lot of cold hosing and more commonly small paddock turn out for rehab. It’s still a slog to get through but a lot more positive in results from what I see on chronicalofthehorse. Whatever you decide just know you are doing a great job and be kind with yourself. It’s hard and can feel so isolating.
 
In my relatively small circle 4 have had the op and gone back to full work. One had SI issues too but that should have been checked before, give symptoms and the fact it doesn’t block I don’t think I’d be making big decisions without more info
 
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