Hind suspensory ligament injuries? Experiences please :(

[MeganMarie]

Hi everyone,

Not the best of news. Had the vet out & he’s pretty sure our boy has damage to his left hind suspensory ligament. he’s having x-rays and ultrasounds next week (he would have scanned today but he didn’t have the time).
Obviously i’m absolutely gutted as I know the prognosis for these are not great. He is a showjumper, so pretty sure competing/jumping is going to have to go.
He isn’t lame atm, so he could always do lightwork/hack (we reckon). He would still enjoy a wonder round some fields - so hopefully he shouldn’t have to be completely retired.

Anyone have any experiences, stories? or advice even? i’m so heartbroken, he’s my baby, feels like the end of the world.

 

[Pinkvboots]

One of mine did the upper part of his suspensory basically had a hole in it he had prp treatment and almost 6 months box rest, he came sound and has returned back to normal work he was never used for jumping so just hacking and flat schooling and he does ridden showing, I am just careful with the ground no fast work on dodgy ground and I don't school to much on a surface.

They didn't give me a great prognosis for mine and said he may have to have surgery which I wouldn't have done anyway, I think until you have it scanned you won't know the extent of the damage or try not to worry too much yet they can come right with treatment and rest you may have to give him another career to do but it's not the end of the world, keep fingers crossed and let us know how you get on with the vet.

 

[Fire sign]

Try not to despair MeganMarie, it may not be as bad as it seems. This happened to my mare at the age of 12 . She damaged a hind suspensory after a couple of seasons eventing and just as I was about to affiliate her with BS. It was moderate damage but she was lame .

She was a brilliant jumper and after I had googled the prognosis I was absolutely inconsolable .

She wasn't insured so we went for box rest, gradual reintroduction of ridden work and a course of shockwave treatments. I followed the vet's instructions to the absolute letter and took it really really slowly, because I wanted to give her every chance of healing .

She defied the odds and came back to full work and with careful management she went on to jump two seasons for me at British Novice and Discovery

I was absolutely thrilled because I hadn't expected to do more than Happy Hacking

I was all set to do great things (in my small world !) but then we had a bit of trouble with arthritis in her front feet , so had to scale it back a bit .

She is 17 this year though and still a great fun little horse , capable of hacking , schooling and happy to hurtle over a fence if given half the chance

I hope all goes well with your boy

Don't skimp on the box rest !

 

[JDH01]

Mine did it at 15 and was very minimally lame despite quite a dramatic scan, box rested as advised and then turned away for 6 months, came back as good as before and carried on hunting until 23 including jumping and hard road work. Retired 12 months and pts after a field kick at almost 25 broke his leg.

 

[emfen1305]

The Facebook page PSD Discussion Group has lots of advice and success stories (and some not so successful ones as is with anything horsey) but I found it very useful when my lad was diagnosed. My lad has bilateral PSD and is candidate for surgery so is going in next week however I know this is not the right option for everyone! Good luck, I hope whatever you decide gets your horse right!