Hind suspensory injury or nothing?

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dozzie

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I am a bit worried about my mare. Yesterday i brought her in and her hind leg was swollen just above the fetlock on the outside of her hind leg around the branch of the suspensory ligament. There was some obvious heat too but no obvious lameness. I cold hosed and put her in for the night. This morning the swelling had gone down but there was still a bit of heat I think but it was so little i couldnt be certain. I put her out for the afternoon for a few hours and the leg is still down at the moment. There was no reaction when I pressed the area. So it is a bit puzzling.

She has sacroiliac injury and this can predispose them to hind suspensory problems due to compensation. Hence my worry.
It came up a few weeks ago but went down again very quickly. Again no lameness.

Her behaviour has changed again and she has been throwing in the bucks, bunny hopping a bit and not wanting to go forward at the beginning of a schooling session, nothing major for her, but this is also an indication of her SI so it is really difficult to know if it is a new problem or just that she is not as fit as she was in the summer and she needs a bit of physio again.

If it was an infection I think it would have blown up more and taken longer to go down. And now it has gone down the vet is going to think I am imagining things.

Has anyone had something similar with hind suspensory or would I expect a more obvious reaction?

Or am I just being a neurotic mummy?
 
Honestly, if we weren't worrying about our damn neds what would we do will all our spare time?? My previous horse damaged the medial branches of his hind suspensories and he didn't have any detectable swelling or heat, but I guess every case is different. I hope it turns out to be nothing
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Try lunging on hard surface and a soft surface and see if any lameness shows up. You know my history with Tiggy. We had on/off lameness for nearly a year: the muscles on her right quarter were lost due to the way she used herself, and her pelvis went wonky for the same reason, but this was over months, sometimes she looked lame and sometimes she didn't. Hope all is well. Hugs.
 
Bubbles- Was your horse lame? How did they diagnose it?

MrsM- I dont have access to a hard lungeing area at the moment. With the SI it is hard to see if she has a problem as she struggles to track up at the best of times. It is a case of knowing whether it is the SI or something else.
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I think I will have a chat with my vet in the week. If nothing else but to put my mind at rest.
 
Heya, he was lame, but it was very slight and bilateral so non existent to the untrained eye. V. long story, severe behavioural probs prompted massive investigations and right at the end of the process during nerve blocks the suspensories blocked out, much to everyone's suprise. Scans confirmed the damage. My boy was very similar to Mrs Mozart's ned in that he was very young and hadn't done enough work to have that kind of damage.
If I was in your shoes I'd def speak to my vet.
 
Definitely worth having a chat with your vet. When Jesper had problems with his hind suspensory ligament he never went lame but his behaviour slowly worsened. He began bucking, refusing to go forward and eventually simply went backwards everywhere. When nerve blocked it became obvious he was not using his right hind correctly. He recently relapsed (like yours he has another injury making suspensory damage likely due to compensation) and again he didn't go lame but his behaviour was awful. Hind suspensory damage doesn't have to be a big deal. Jesper had six weeks box rest, shock wave and was turned away for three months and made it through four years before a relapse. Good luck.
 
Definately talk to vet hunny. As you know, we went on for ages not knowing what or why. I rode her through the lame patches (on instruction from vet), with the aim of building muscle. Only occasionally did she show any signs of lameness as such, the rest of the time it was just her wonky bum. With us it took three days of tests at the AHT to figure it out.
 
Well I think your responses have made it clear that this could be hind suspensory. Just wasnt sure with the symptoms. Fingers crossed it isnt! I am not counting my chickens though!
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Hey ho! That is horses for you. Hopefully, even if it is HS she can go to stud. I will need to do a bit of homework first though!
 
Hind suspensory injuries do not have to be the end of working life. Jesper returned to Elementary dressage, he is only now retired as a hack due to collateral ligament damage. I hope it isn't suspensory damage but even if it is don't panic, most can be treated.
 
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