How long before bringing back into work

[Dufus]

Hi, I have a horse who was kicked in September last year and ended up with a fractured splint bone and a lot of surrounding damage, she has had the splint bone removed and almost 5 months on box rest but she's back out in the filed now however has an enlarged suspensory and a swollen tendon sheath. how long would you wait to ride? i said 6 months to the vet who said she thinks sooner than that however i don't want to bring her back into work too soon and cause more damage, has anyone else had a horse with a similar injury and what have you done?

 

[hopscotch bandit]

The recovery time can depend on how well you manage the acute inflammation so I would be icing it as much as you can and supporting the leg with a bandage overnight and also giving anti inflammatories, all of which must be under the guidance of your vet.

 

[Dufus]

I haven't iced it however she was bandaged overnight whilst she was on box rest. The plan is to turn her away for 6 months however the vet who operated on her is now saying not to and keep her stabled overnight with daily turnout but my other local vet is saying to turn away arghhh! And the local vet is the one who saya she can probably be ridden before 6 months.

 

[be positive]

I would plan on scanning before starting to bring back to work just to be sure that it has recovered, you are still in a dilemma about whether to turn away or keep in at night and guess you would like her in so do that and hope she doesn't gallop around every morning or hang about in a muddy gateway waiting to come in, whichever you do if it works out then it will be right, if it goes wrong it will go wrong, you take a calculated risk and keep your fingers crossed.
Mine that had his fractured splint bone removed was chucked out 24/7 because I knew he would go crackers every day if he was kept in at night so he was sedated and turned out with a companion, he was fine.

 

[Dufus]

I would plan on scanning before starting to bring back to work just to be sure that it has recovered, you are still in a dilemma about whether to turn away or keep in at night and guess you would like her in so do that and hope she doesn't gallop around every morning or hang about in a muddy gateway waiting to come in, whichever you do if it works out then it will be right, if it goes wrong it will go wrong, you take a calculated risk and keep your fingers crossed.
Mine that had his fractured splint bone removed was chucked out 24/7 because I knew he would go crackers every day if he was kept in at night so he was sedated and turned out with a companion, he was fine.

Yeah that's be plan she will be scanned in July but now the vet is saying to keep her in more and not turn out 24/7 and she may come back into work sooner but I'm in no desperate rush to ger back on her as just want to do it when then time is right, and was shocked they said sooner than 6 months as I wondered if 6 months was too soon as it is. Ah I don't know what I want ☹️ ideally to save as much money as possible to get vet bills paid off quicker which would be turning away but don't want to do anything at the expensive of my horse ☹️ if I could see the fields at their worst I think I could make an informed decision but I'm seeing them at their best with no mud although also not alot of grass but if we had wet weather and they were bad then I would run the risk of my horse having mud fever and that's what worries me as she has chronic cellulitis when ever she gets it but I know weight wise and temperature wise she would manage living out and then anything else that sets her healing back does set the chance of riding again this year back also