How to increase work to a DDFT injury?

charleysummer

charleysummer

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... really annoyed as i typed this out, then mum came in and lent on the keyboard- don't know what she pressed but deleted the whole lot! :( ah well try again...

Bit of background history for those who don't know,
Summer went progressively lame over a couple of months and then in the last two days before she went to horsepital she went very lame (limping in walk). She was diagnosed with distal medial margin tear to the ddft (although the tear wasn't too bad- not too large as i saw on the screen, i believe it to have happened before and then left to heal before being sold on as sound, only due to the fact that the vet found lots of adhesions in the operation, and he said he would say its been there a long time) she has been on box rest for 7 1/2 weeks , left her in a little longer as she was broncing in hand and the ice was too risky to turn out on, so while she was behaving i thought i might as well let it rest even longer.

She is now out again on day turnout and has been for a few weeks. It has now been two months and a week since her operation, and she has improved a lot since, walks and trots up sound and i applied pressure to the area of pain that the vet pressed on, and she doesn't seem bothered now- before she almost went through the roof! And she's been fed on high levels of MSM, glucosamine and other tendon/joint supplements in her various mixes, powders and licks. She is in raised heel bar shoes which i plan on reducing gradually then eventually going barefoot.

So now i'm thinking of gradually starting to ride her again, although i for the first few days i'll probably just sit on her as she always got a little excited at the sight of the saddle and i don't want to cause damage. So i was wondering how do i gradually introduce work? i.e how long should i start for? when to introduce trot and for how long? etc etc... of course i know it is going to take a long time and i do not want to rush it at all. I won't start riding just yet, probably not until after january. So that gives me plently of time to plan her rehab regime!

thanks
 
Really it is your vet, who imo should be able to advise you on the correct approach to rehab and bringing Summer back into work.

I am a veterinary physio and work with a lot of horses with DDFT tears however it is very much a team effort and I work closely with my vets when it comes to rehab programmes. We devise them together.

I generally start my horses long reining when they are coming back into work.

What operation did she have?
 
When Kizzy came home from Liphook following the surgery on her DDFT David Lloyd the vet gave me a detailed rehab programme for her. Did they not give you any instructions at all when they discharged her? We did 8 weeks in hand walking/box rest, 8 weeks pen rest with ridden walking, then in theory introduced trot. However, despite all the walking the tendon has healed with a big adhesion, so she was turned away to see if paddock rest would fix it as I declined further surgery. It hasn't so she is now retired. As the poster above says, it is important to be working with your vet on this, & I am very suprised that you don't seem to have any instructions.
 
Izzy had a tear to her DDFT diagnosed Sept 09. We did lots of hand walking and box rest last winter, on the flat then out and about before ridden work commenced at the beginning of Feb 2010. We built the walking up but she stayed in until summer turnout in May. Trot work uphill was introduced 2/3 months after the walking. All the rehab routine was recommended by my vet so yes, agree with the above poster, liase with your vet. Your horse has been turned out whereas mine wasnt, it was too muddy and she did the injury tearing around in a small area so not an option for us. Also she is just coming out of egg bar shoes next month and will not be barefoot atall, she cant and to be honest I wouldnt want her to. My Farrier and the Vet say she would struggle on the stones etc and to be honest I wouldnt go against their advice which has been spot on so far. We didnt touch the school until last July but its her least favourite "subject" so we tend to hack out more. Shes fit and looks well and her legs are strong. Shes on NAF Msm and it seems to work. Im careful where I ride her and I wont jump her again. We have had one or two canters and a gallop up fields now on good ground. You can't rush the recovery with these injuries. I also used magnetic leg wraps on her and they seemed to help too.
 
Thanks for the replies, she had keyhole surgery to 'shave' the fibres, however due to adhesions the vet could not reach the tendon :( so nothing was done, she was just opened up and then closed again really.

Typing off the discharge form i have

'She required 6 weeks of restricted activity- box rest with walking in hand for 5-15minutes once or twice daily.
Ridden walking exercise could begin from mid december (up to 30min) and from the end of December she can then have access to a yard or small field, or alternatively ridden walking activity can be increased up to 60 minutes for a further 4 weeks.

Full turn out could be allowed from the end of January or a graduated exercise program could be introduced presuming she is sound. A rescan could be performed before a return to full work is attempted'

That is what it says word for word under the management section. So i have advice up to the walking stage but no further- which is why i am a bit lost with it all! she is now at the end of december having her accsess to a small field, i haven't ridden her at all yet since end of october when i'd reduced riding to a small walking hack anyway. I stopped riding her when i saw an onset of lameness for sure (i couldnt really tell to start off with).

The vet says that looking at her injury he would say she will return to full work inc jumping but i am not so sure reading up on other peoples experiences :/ but i suppose he knows more than i do about it...
 
Have you been walking her out in hand then?

I would be really careful with a DDFT as from what I’ve read they can be really difficult. I’ve got a horse who did his check ligament early November, my vet gave me a sheet with specific instructions of what to do each week after tendon surgery but it didn’t really apply to my horse that well because his injury is not that serious.. don’t have it to hand now but it basically just increments time/trotting etc. really slowly over a period of about 6/12 months I think but it all depends on severity of injury. I’m surprised your vet hasn’t given you any more info?

IF you’ve been doing the leading out for a while then you would probably be ok to start riding her but I would check with your vet first, then if I were you, I’d probably start off with about 20 mins in walk and then really slowly bring that up to maybe an hour over the next 2-3 months? Then start with 5 min of trotting etc. until she’s eventually back in full work.

Good luck!
 
Thanks, yes she has been walked out in hand although unfortunatly that didnt all go to plan :( she started playing up and getting fidgety- then throwing in the odd fly buck (her favourite trick) and then once or twice she actually took off full pelt with me on the end of the rope- totally unexpected, i wouldn't have risked it if i'd known. i eventually anchored myself to the fence and got a couple of people to literally hold her down as we took her back to the stable ! so i really hope too much damage didn't come of this. i posted about the event on here some time ago when it happened! have a nice scar on my hand to prove it!

I will be ringing the vet to ask for more specific instructions and a more detailed opinion on her injury- i.e what % tear was it. although he said it is in a very strange area, (distal-medial margin) as i need to ring anyway to ask about shoeing- as she is in the raised bar heels and on the sheet it simply says on for 3 months then taken off! which i think is ridiculous, surely couldnt just drop the tendon like that? so i'm gradually reducing but i want the vet's go ahead to continue obviously.
 
Oh gosh!! What a naughty girlie!!! Have you got a horse walker you could put her on?

ETS – not sure on the shoeing but that does sound a bit daft!
 
No unfortunatly not, we have a concrete pen which i led her round in circles in for ages after the mad bolt, it has high walls all around and she behaved (mostly) in there.

luckily she is only 14.1hh so not too much to handle but she is a bit of a crazy mare as far as horses go tbh ! always tried her hardest to please, but doesn't like other horses much and will have her mad half hours.

Yes the shoeing does seem odd :/ but the vet i used is highly rated- Chine House.
 
With regard to the shoeing, Izzy has been in her egg bars all this year and is then going to quarter clips shoes next month. The wedges were lowered gradually over a couple of months to the egg bar shoe so yes, I would say clarify the shoeing needs. The heel on Izzy had to be supported well, shes probably had the egg bars on longer than some vets would recommend but my vet (who is a lameness specialist) wanted to give her extra support. Her tear was within her hoof and was only found via MRI. We couldnt have used a horse walker even if we had one as straight lines was the preferred rehab.

So far so good with her, shes sound and doing very well.
 
Mine did his 10 months ago. Surgery first then 6months box rest.
We started walking in hand for 2months, increasing to 20mins twice a day. He was a loon, a very dangerous loon, but with a chiffney & sheer stupidity I got through it.

Then ridden twice daily. Walking for 2months, worked up to 20mins.

Then start trot, again increasing that to 15mins solid trotting within 40mins work twice a day.

The we got turnout & then after another month we started canter.

I have to say, he has been more or less sound throughout & the regime we were given is what I did....to the letter.

We've got the all clear, but no more jumping (my choice) & the walking & trotting is really important. It must be on an even hard surface such as a farm track or road.

I really feel the effort I put in has been rewarded, it's tough though.
 
I am glad your is doing well :). I thought she was behaving on her turnout but seems that i jinxed it!

When down this afternoon to find the field churned up in a muddy mess, the owner of the other horse was scrubbing mud off and had put her in- apparently someone was shooting pheasants and the horses went nuts. Summer normally doesnt bother by the loudest of things but obviously was influence by her skittish friend in the next field!

And by the looks of it she has really gone for it :( i think she may have falling over as well at one point as she has one quite wet side. I swear it will be a miracle if she comes sound. can only hope though. No heat was felt an hour or so after and she was still walking fine so fingers crossed she is superpony ! i feel really irresponsible though for letting it happen and guilty even though i know i can't help her having her mad half hours :( or knowing when they will happen. I cant shut her in forever
 
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