Hind Suspensory Ligament Damage

Firewell

Firewell

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Hi Everyone,

My mums 12 yr old TB has just been diagnosed with high hind suspensory ligament damage in both his back legs. One is worse than the other with a large hole.
The plan is 6 weeks box rest, 3 months in the pen and shock wave treatment. The vets are 50/50 at this stage as to wether he will recover to work or not.
Obviously she is very upset, he's a lovely boy and she has put so much work into him. They were starting to do really well at dressage this year, it's a shame.
He was also diagnosed with Sacroiliac pain which in my quick googling I understand can be a by product of the hind suspensories?!

Does anyone have any experience with this sort of injury in their own horse? What happened and how did the story end?

Thanks
 
That's a shame :( sorry to hear that.

Yes hind suspensory damage can be associated with sacroiliac and back pain. An old horse of mine was diagnosed with both, if it hadn't been the navicular in his front then we probably would have persevered with rehab for the hinds - he ended up being turned away for 12 months and then being used as a happy hacker.

There is a procedure called as fasciectomy, rather than the neurectomy it relieves the compart-syndrome associated with the inflamed ligament... the fascia covering the suspensory is cut, i'm just not sure whether it can be done leaving the nerve intact??
I believe the slower and steadier the rehab the better the outcome. Horses do become sound and have a ridden career after.

I hope all goes well :) keep us updated!
 
I'm sorry to hear about your Mum's horse. I have had 2 with this. One I had no money left after diagnosis to treat it, so after initial reduced box rest and hand walking (too sharp), I turned her away to Dr Green. 5 years later she has never come right and is an expensive pet. She looks sound in the summer, but when the ground gets muddy in the winter you can see she isn't 100% sound behind and again when going from canter to a halt she collapses behind through the pelvis.

The second horse, I bought with it despite passing a vetting. In this case I opted for surgery and had steroid injections into the pelvis. He had a month of box rest and hand walking then turn out into a small paddock. Unfortunately with him, he forges as a result (one of the first indications there was a problem), so keeping front shoes on has been hard!! Have tried barefoot, but after 6 months he was still foot sore. He has *touches wood* come sound enough to do hacking and a bit of dressage, but have turned him out for the winter as impossible to keep shoes on. Will look at hoof boots in the spring.

Surgery, (neurectomy and fasciotomy) for hind suspensories, has a far higher success rate -70%, than rest and shockwave 40 ish %, than rest alone <20%. However, I would take into account the type of horse you are dealing with. The gelding was well behaved during rehab, but looking back I don't think the mare would have coped with all the box rest and hand walking as she was way too sharp!! Also there is a small risk of complications from surgery. Unfortunately, having proximal suspensory desmitis that ideally needs rest, combined with sacroiliac issues that need work to maintain the muscle to support the pelvis, doesn't make it an easy combination to treat.

Sorry for the essay. I hope it all goes well.
 
Hi I am so sorry to hear this

My then 8yr WB was diagnosed with it in his right hind, despite the fact he had been referred to horspital with right fore lameness. It was less noticeable in his left hind. I was told surgery to the right hind only was the best option so went ahead.

However after rehab he was still lame on both hinds and right fore

My vet did more tests and said he had DSLD and there was no cure. I was so upset as the horspital should have checked for this before putting him through surgery.

He was not even sound in the field :(. He was a full of life type character so I made the horrid decision to let him go.

Broke my heart

God forbid I am ever in a similar situation I will need to be convinced it is caused by injury and not disease before I would consider surgery or even long term box rest

I hope that you have a much better out come.
 
Thanks for the replies. He's had the Sacroiliac injected. I'm not sure they mentioned surgery, maybe they wanted to try this way first? Luckily my mums horse loves his stable, he won't turnout in the winter anyway so that's something.
I guess we are going to have to keep our fingers crossed! If he can return to ROR dressage and hacking that's all my mum wants anyway.
Gosh soulfull that sounds awful, I'm so sorry! My mums horse is an ex racer, he raced until he was nine so they think it's from his hard working life.
 
Ditto Sare_Bear. Surgery is generally a much more successful option that just rest and shockwave. Statistically speaking, rest won't actually help at all. I would personally speak to vets about surgical option in the first instance - you want to speak to Andy Bathe at Rossdales or Sue Dyson at the AHT.
 
I'll tell my mum about the surgery. He's under the team at the LEH so he's in good hands. I'm sure if surgery is appropriate for him they will talk to my mum about it but I will mention it anyway :).
 
Liphook do perform the neurectomy and fasciotomy surgery. It is only a very partial neurectomy - just a small branch of nerves cut I believe. However most of the pros do go to Newmarket to have the operation done, Andy Bathe is the surgeon most experienced in performing the procedure.
 
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