Hind Suspensory Ligament - Pls can you tell me your stories of recovery/prognosis

Chloe_GHE

Chloe_GHE

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My mother's horse had xrays and nerves blocks yesterday and what was initially thought to be possibly a spavin is now looking more like he has done a hind suspensory ligament :( more scans to come later to confirm it...

She is so down, and he seems to have been nothing but one disaster after another since we got him, he's a real heart breaker of a horse so I thought I would try and cheer her up with some stories of other people's horses who have recovered and managed to lead a useful life as a hack.....is that possible?.... has it happened?.... Our vet seems to have a very dark view of his recovery suggesting that he will only be fit to be ridden in walk, and if we opt for the opperation there is only a 60-80% success rate.... :(

I'm not sure what frame of mind she's in atm about it if she is even considering an op or just retiring him or maybe turning him out for a year to see what he's like in 12months time.....my poor mum she's had such bad luck with him :(

Have you experienced this and how well did your horses recover?....

Thank you home made cookies and squash x
 
If you go for the op get him referred to Rossdales in Newmarket.

Andy Bathe is the best there is for that op and has the highest success rates.

I know a number of horses that have had it done and all have returned to competition.

However those that didn't have the op but were just turned away for a year subsequently broke down.
 
Ditto Thistle, and whatever BE may say on their forum there is at least 1 horse which has had the op and been on the teams.....
 
The coloured in my sig had the op. He no longer events, but does riding club dressage and hacks happily with a friend. He pops the odd small jump without ill-effect too. He was 13 when he had the op, so not young either! I was terrified at the time, but he came through the op really well, and you wouldn't know he'd had it. Even Andy can't tell anymore!
This went so well I decided to have it done on my 5yo eventer, who went lame. This seems to have worked, but he also strained the collateral ligament in his right fore, which has not come entirely right - So i'm expecting to be told on friday that he will either be an ornament, or haveto go to the big field in the sky :( - sorry that was my own selfish need to moan! Back to the topic though, I think the op was worth every penny for me with colin, and I'd gladly do the same again x
 
my horse did a hind suspensory in the summer of 2008.. his was on the inside branch so not PSD therefore had no op. he had a course of Adequan, a course of shockwave and controlled exercise and lots of time off once back out in the field. he made a return to eventing at the end of July last year and is on course to start again this year in May.

i think a lot of vets are cautious with the prognosis of ligament injuries as it can be a real indiviudual case basis on how well they heal and how much the horse can cope with once recovered. one bit of advice i will offer is give them extra time to heal, my vet said i could have gotten Andy ready to event at the beginning of the season in 2009 but i decided to take it extra slow getting him fit again (as well as him now living out 24/7 so the ligament is kept moving, also less work on surfaces and more hacking/working on grass) and he is doing really well. :)

fingers crossed for your Mum's horse.
 
17.2 hh large irish gelding, 12yrs old, did his hind suspensory, we were told a similar thing in that because of his size and conformation it would be difficult to get a full recovery and the best option would be to opperate, due to an injury in the same hind leg the insurance did not cover the op and so we opted for the traditional 4 months box rest and insurance paid glucosamine and chondro supplement. 8 months later he was sold on as a leisure horse horse to a lovely copule that used him in the local college and he is still jumping, hacking, schooling and on no bute or anything except a joint sup. So he is deffinatly a happy ending
 
At the age of 16, Ludo did his last summer. Diagnosed in July he had 4 shockwave treatments, a course of adequan (was connected to some changes in the hock) and 12 weeks box rest BUT with in hand walking from day one of 3 x 5 min sessions on flat around stable blocks. After about 6 weeks begun to build it up until he was walking out for 45 mins a day, but sometimes that was broken down to 2 x 20 sesisons depending on how much time I had! At 50 mins I got back on board (vet was surprised I left it that long!). Signed off end September with full recovery and began trotting/school work. Started lessons again Nov/December. Haven't jumped him yet - going to attempt that this week-end, but he's fully fit and doing prelim/novice dressage in comps without problems and doing elementary at home.

Edited to say another horse on the yard had the same injury and had the Op. Again full recovery with no issues.

I think sometimes Vets paint the blackests of pictures so that you don't get your hopes up, but as you'll read today, there are plenty of positive experiences.
 
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Direct to her one of my Blogs...

My chestnut had PSD in 2007, the operation ins March 2008 and then was on the teams for the North West in 2009. She is currently working towards Elementary / Medium so absolute poppy cock about only being able to be ridden in walk ;)
 
_jetset_ said:
Direct to her one of my Blogs...
Click to expand...

Can you give me a link to the right one?... mum's not v PC friendly so need to email it to her nice and obviously! :) Thank you well this is all pretty promising I think our vet seems to always verge on the worst case scenario so you know the full story but it is a little depressing at times :)
 
My horse has had the op, I used Willesley, if you are paying for it yourself they are half the price of Rossdales.

Mine had the op in Sept 07, then had the added complication of doing a front suspensory. Been jumping her BSJA, still sound - won aboout £200 in a few months. Best thing I did getting her operated on.

This is her post operation - does she look like a light hack to you?

WalesWest90a.jpg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMm0Sxm6aYI
 
friends horse had it in both hinds, didnt have op but has made full return to hard hacking (ie galloping and lots of fast work), novice dressage and 2ft-2ft9 jumping at RC level.

she was shockwaved, then turned away for a year and let nature do its stuff.
 
My horse was diagnosed approximately a month after I bought him (having passed a stage 5 vet check)... he had psd in both hind limbs

He was never lame I just knew something wasn't right...

He had 4 shockwave treatments followed by about 3 months box rest then building up the walking out - after a month he was allowed to be ridden and I built him up slowly from that point onwards...

My horse got the all clear approximately 2 and a bit years ago and is up to plenty of hacking out - he's capable of going alot further than I tend to go - but I'm happy doing what i do - he also is capable of dressage, lateral movements and I have done pole work with him.

I personally made the decision not to jump him not because he's not capable but more because I'm not fussed about jumping.

I honestly thought he would be reduced to a happy hack but i've been proven completely wrong, it's been a long process but completely worth it.
 
Hang on- its not clear exactly what the damage is here.

Everyone's talking about PSD- proximal suspensory desmitis- this is a different condition to a 'sprained' or inflammed suspensory ligament.

PSD does not show any outward swellings at all.

Is the ligament actually inflammed/swollen/hot Chloe? If so, it will be a different condition to PSD ( which is what everyone is talking about here!)
 
seabiscuit said:
Hang on- its not clear exactly what the damage is here.

Everyone's talking about PSD- proximal suspensory desmitis- this is a different condition to a 'sprained' or inflammed suspensory ligament.

PSD does not show any outward swellings at all.

Is the ligament actually inflammed/swollen/hot Chloe? If so, it will be a different condition to PSD ( which is what everyone is talking about here!)
Click to expand...

Well initially he went lame not massively lame just a little, came in from the field like that, then a swelling appeared on the hock, not too sure what the vet decision was at that point as not my horse but do know that mum was then advised to walk him out ridden increasing bit by bit, think she was up to 30mins then vet returned, by this point the swelling had gone but lameness remains, flexion tests, then thought maybe it was his back, no signs of anything on xrays, but nerve blocked in the hock and came sound....

I knew that you could have shock wave treatment on the front suspensory but not sure if it is as appropiate/successful on the back...

think next stage is scans to get a clearer diagnosis
 
Mmm- I wouldnt necessarily say that this was PSD it could also be hock spavin. Or it could be some sort of tendon tear or hole.It could be any number of things. The vet should be x raying the hock as well?

Shockwave therapy is only used for the treatment of PSD not anything else I dont think?

Either way, I am a big sceptic with regards to PSD as it can often be symtomatic of another problem.

Have a look at Roger Meacock's article on his naturalhealingsolutions website- it throws up some interesting ideas about PSD. May well be worth getting Roger out to have a look ( he is a vet) and is based in Wilts.
 
seabiscuit said:
Mmm- I wouldnt necessarily say that this was PSD it could also be hock spavin. Or it could be some sort of tendon tear or hole.It could be any number of things. The vet should be x raying the hock as well?

Shockwave therapy is only used for the treatment of PSD not anything else I dont think?

Either way, I am a big sceptic with regards to PSD as it can often be symtomatic of another problem.

Have a look at Roger Meacock's article on his naturalhealingsolutions website- it throws up some interesting ideas about PSD. May well be worth getting Roger out to have a look ( he is a vet) and is based in Wilts.
Click to expand...

Hock was xrayed and no boney changes
Thanks for that Roger appears to be at Swindon only 30mins from us might be worth a phone call.... Ta :)
 
Your vet can do 2 nerve blocks - a spavin one and a PSD one.

If the horse does not come sound on the PSD nerve block - don't operate. The area affected by PSD is fed by one nerve so easy to block for.
 
Hopefully my story will give you hope....
May 2007 Remy did both hind suspensories and I have to say I was completely gutted as she was only 6 at the time and had just done her first Newcomers and jumped a double clear. She didn't go lame but the canter felt very weak and when she jumped she wasn't her usual extravagant self so got the vets to look and was shocked when they told me it was both hind legs :(

She had 3 lots of shockwave in each leg, box rest for 9 months and a strict exercise regime. Started with 10mins walking in hand building up to ridden trot by October and canter in February. In November she came with me to the yard I was working at where I could use the horse walker twice a day and the racing trainers gallops next door when we started trot and canter so she had a good surface to work on in straight lines.

At the end of June 2008 she did her first BE event at intro level and 5 events later did her first novice. She also did 7 events last year and has already done 3 this year with 8 double clears at novice level.

The suspensory ligament damage was only minor but the vets said that she might not jump to the same height again. Fortunately she has proved them wrong in style :D

Please tell your Mum not to accept defeat yet. If you follow your vets advice and don't rush when he/she comes back into work then you will atleast have done everything you can.

Good luck!! I've got my fingers crossed for you and your Mum that yours will also be a success story.
 
Please dont just turn him away, we did that with Jerry and although it fixed his front feet, his back legs arent right (good enough for hacking) but I wish I had had him operated on at the time. Sadly due to the injuries in his front feet it just wasnt an option :(
 
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