If Grace's ligament wasn't buggered before, it will be now!

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I am completely at the end of my tether and can't stop crying!

This morning I walked Grace out in the arena because the fields are so wet (she is supposed to have 15 mins of a grass a day and will only eat in the field which is boggy with this weather). She has been walked out for the past three weeks and has had a few moments where she was silly, but nothing like this morning
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She started by coming out of her stable like a bullet... but I stuck to my guns knowing she had to be walked. I took her into the arena and started walking her and immediately I could tell she was on one
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I kept walking her, and then another horse came in and was as good as gold. Grace just expoloded. She kept doing this huge trot around me (with the left hind taking all of the weight), then cantered around me snorting (still the length of a rope) and started bucking and squealing. I just couldn't stop her and make her stand long enough to get her out of the arena. I managed to keep hold of her, but I now know that all the healing that suspensory has done over the past 10 weeks will now have been undone and we are back to square one
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I am looking into somewhere that she can go and live out as a companion as soon as she has finished the recovery from the colic surgery... I think that is going to be the only thing she can do in future
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I have phoned the specialist who has been dealing with the ligament and he is going to phone me back. The only option we have now would be to rescan and probably operate, and I do not think she could go through that!

I cannot believe 2008 is going to be as bad a year as 2007!
 
You must be gutted
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I am so sorry to hear that you are back at the beginning again.
I have my fingers crossed that everything will work out for the best, which ever way that may be.
 
Has she shown any increase in lameness since she had her prat around? as she is already 10 weeks into her recovery, it may well be strong enough to have withstood that activity without any further damage. Try not to worry too much until you know if anything has been damaged further.
Good luck
 
She was never lame to begin with and as it is at the root you cannot see any swelling or feel any heat! But the amount of elevation she was getting off the ground in the trot will almost certainly have redamaged the area as it is pushing off movement that causes this area's damage.
 
You don't actually know she's done any more damage though? When my pony broke his splint bone several years ago we had similar sorts of antics when he started being walked again and he made a full recovery.

If it had been hurting her surely she'd have stopped!
 
I know it's scarey but please stick with her , get her rescanned you might be nicely surprised.

Remeber turning her away will not help heel this problem in anyway.

Stick with her she's a super star. I know it's very hard and stressful to go through all this though.
 
I agree, most horses will get a bit excited when on box rest/being walked out, what about horses that bounce around their stables, I mean you could go as far to say that even just getting up from lying down could damage it, but its very unlikely Im sure!

Try not to worry too much! You dont know she has done any further damage.
 
Im sure she hasnt done anymore damage hun, you really need to chill out and stop worrying quite so much.

How come you dont lead her out in her bridle? as i would definately have her bitted and use a stallion chain so she cant be naughty and you have full control of her.

I know its easy for me to say not to worry, but you dont know for sure shes done anymore damage. Dont even think about turning her away, thats not an option - il come and drag her out of the field for you
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She will come back into work fine, i promise you. I know lots of horses that have gone through alot worse than Grace has and are now fit and competing again. Yes shes had it really tough, and i know you have too - but you cant just give up.

Chin up, hugs from me xxxxxxx
 
breathe and don't decide the worst has happened.
i know exactly how you feel - i've been there - honest.

wait for the specialist to call and wait for the re-scan, you don't know if she has done any damage so try not to dwell on something that you can't control or change - wait for the results (easier said than done!)

is she on ACP or anything. when aran was really explosive then I put him in lunging tack (side reins and 2 lunge lines) - it was the only way i could keep him walking (or slow jog) in a straight line. I also gave him a seditive if I really needed to.

You've had it hard - it will get better and you are not alone - there are lots in a similar situation. A friends horse had a hind-tendon injury followed by colic surgery in december. She has had a few explosions (we lost her twice in the paddock and she went over - horrendous!) but her colic scar and her tendon have both been fine.

Fingers crossed for you and Grace.
 
You don't know that it has been undone or that she can only be a companion horse. Wait until she has finished her treatment and the vet has seen her before you start to worry too much. Can the vet not give you tablets to sedate her so she can be walked in hand safely?

I am sure she will be fine in the end, she has just had a run of bad luck
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I think you are being a teensy bit melodramatic I'm afraid.
Take a chill pill, and don't overevaluate things. Wait until the vet wants to re-scan and take it from there.
 
Oh Becki, I'm so sorry to hear you've got more to worry about after the colic op & everything else. Please don't give up on Grace just yet, like others have said the ligament may have recovered enough to cope with this for a short period & it's not as if she had the weight of a rider on her. Get her re-scanned before you start to panic, you may just be getting in a state unnecessarily but after all you have been through I can understand why you immediately think the worst will happen. I've seen horses on box rest with tendon injuries throw absolute flids in their stables/while being walked out in hand without doing any further damage so fingers crossed Grace will be the same. Please let us know what the specialist says when you speak with him.
 
She can't be sedated because it will slow the gut down which is not an option when she has just been through surgery for colic. I feel as though I am trying to fight two battles and bloody losing both of them! I cannot believe how crap I am feeling, especially after the year I have just had I honestly thought things would pick up.

I lead her out in a Maxwell pressure halter which is fantastic and did help the situation a lot. Without it, I know I would have been unable to hold her... But nothing would have stopped her this morning. She just kept dropping her shoulder and running around me!
 
It might not have done too much damage. My horse was on BR for 3 1/2 months last year after breaking his splint bone - the first time I took him out he went MENTAL - galloping round like a loon and afterwards he was so lame he couldn't weight bear on it. The vet thought he had re-fractured it and I was GUTTED! 2 days later though he was sound and he hadn't done any damage.

I know it seems endless and everyone elses horse is fine - you think 'why me?' quite often (been there!). But stick with it - I'm sure with all the care she's getting she'll come out ok in the end.

{{{vibes}}}
 
Maddie hadn't had colic surgery but she had dislocated her pastern and suffered massive collateral ligamnet damage. I was told to box rest her with short in-hand walks for a minimum of 12 weeks.
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I nearly had a breakdown - she was an absolute twat to lead out and after kicking me (chipped my thigh) when she bucked and double barrelled in excitement I wanted to give up and was crapping myself at handling her.

I was sobbing on the phone to my sister saying I couldn't cope, witht my previously, polite, even-tempered chestnut mare who had morphed into a raging, uncontrollable lunatic!

She was so unhappy and it was really stresful for me. I even talked about having her PTS rather than keep her in.

My sister immediately came to the yard and was great. She took charge and walked maddie in a chifney accepting no-nonsense and gave me time to repair her stable and sort her bed out while I talked to my OH about what to do. Long term-sedation was not an option, especially for a horse on prolonged box-rest.

So armed with some electric tape and a very strong charger we buit a pen 14ft x 16ft.

I telephoned the vet to speak to him and said she was doing more damage cantering round her box and flinging herself around while being led and that I wanted to sedate her and trun her out in a small pen with a friend in a quiet corner of the field.

He said he understood my concern that it was a risk but he felt it was the best possible solution especially if she was being very difficult to lead. He then said we knew where he was if we needed him...

So with 12 ACP in her, a very tired Maddie went out to her new playpen with Muley.

Everyday we dropped the sedation level till she was not sedated and she settled fine. We moved the pen regularly to keep them occupied with fresh grazing and supplemented with hay when necessary.

This may not be an option for Grace but might be worth a try for both your sanities.

Maddie made a full-recovery and was brought back into work - she is now in foal to Balouet du Rouet, as although her pastern and liagments were fine her hock was damaged resulting in unilateral trauma induced OCD. She may well return back to ridden work at a later date depending on how good a mummy she is.
 
i really think you need to lead her with her bit in and a chain on, then you can keep it really tight to keep control of her. The maxwell halters are all very wel in certain situations, but they dont give as much control as a bit and chain would. x
 
Makes you wish you could just have 24 hours with your horse where they understood everything you said to them and could tell you why they do some of the things they do. Still after 10 weeks she was obviously feeling well enough in herself to have the trot - easier said than done but try not to worry too much until you know if she's done any damage.
 
how long ago was the colic surgery - you may be able to give her something to take the edge off by now especially if she may damage her ligament - maybe check with your vet.

My friend felt exactly like you but her horse's guts and tendon are both doing fine despite a few incidences and some sedative. I had to put 2 lung lines on aran to stop him circling me - may be worth a try?

I hope the specialist gets back to you soon - honestly it will get better.
 
Please don't panic. Less than 10 weeks into the healing process my horse was repeatedly rearing up vertically and coming down on his front legs - the suspensory ligament damage was in the front - and it did not cause us any set backs in his recovery.

I was as paranoid as you are being - but honestly I was surprised how tough these horses are and they heal a lot faster than we realise.

Don't start rearranging Grace's future just yet. If you are worried get her rescanned, but I honestly think you will be pleasantly surprised by the result :-)
 
But she can't eat with a bit in at all...

Worried1 - All options have been discussed and thought about if the ligament has been reinjured. The fields are simply too wet to ever be able to turn her out safely, they are completely sodden and under water here. It all now depends on how bad the damage is that she has done, because I simply cannot put her through another GA as she had such a bad time of it last time. Andy thinks we should look into finding her somewhere she can live out, as she is not a horse who likes being in a stable without work to be honest, but if the damage is too bad I worry I have no other option. And that is killing me!

Ben_and_Jerrys... call me whatever you want, to be honest I couldn't care less at this point. You may think I am being melodramatic, but in reality I have tried staying positive for as long as possible and have now just run out of steam I am afraid.
 
i agree with tempi using a bit my old mare fractured her sesimoid bone (not sure how you spell it) she was on box rest for about 6 mnths with regular walks in the end she broke free running around we had to resort to using her bridle she was like a stallion to lead sounded just like your mare this morning but she made a great recovery it was a nightmare at the time though i know she had different problems to your mare but dont think the worst
get her checked out again and stick at it best of luck and fingers crossed will be fine
 
if she is getting silly why dont you have her on a magnesium based supplement? My vet recommended this after having to box rest her when she did her high susponsory.

also 10 weeks quite a while it may have settled and healed enough not to cause much damage!
 
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But she can't eat with a bit in at all...


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Why not?

If she doesnt like to then why not just walk her for the time you are supposed to, and give her a bucket of grass in her stable when you take her back in?

Surely that is better than having less control over her.

Just try not to think the worst, I would imagine every horse on box rest has a mad moment...or 10.
 
Becki if the only reason she is out is so she can have a pick of grass then hand pick the grass and feed it to her in her stable.
If she needs the walking then walker her with a bit in and feed her the hand picked grass in the stable.
There's many ways.

That said I agree we do all get to a point where we've had enough , Grace is wonderful and young so I'd try a little longer yet. But you own her she's your horse you know her and the situation best so it's entilry your decision and only you can make the right one for her.

Big hugs from me I know just how horrid it is.

I gave up on Mac when we hit the no good legs left point along with his age starting to show in general. He is happily retired and I will pay for his happy retirement til the end of his days. Thats the cruicial point you have to think about the future to.
 
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if she is getting silly why dont you have her on a magnesium based supplement? My vet recommended this after having to box rest her when she did her high susponsory.

also 10 weeks quite a while it may have settled and healed enough not to cause much damage!

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Grace cannot go on magnesium... the last time she was put on it she had a reaction to it and was shaking quite violently
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But she can't eat with a bit in at all...


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Why not?

If she doesnt like to then why not just walk her for the time you are supposed to, and give her a bucket of grass in her stable when you take her back in?

Surely that is better than having less control over her.

Just try not to think the worst, I would imagine every horse on box rest has a mad moment...or 10.

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Would Readigrass do the same thing?
 
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, I would imagine every horse on box rest has a mad moment...or 10.

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*shakes head ruefully*

Oh yes. I've been watching my big mare, who ruptured her peroneus tertius after we had owned her for 13 days and 20 hours, in her box having a stressy fit. She's been on week 11 of box rest.

She sits right back on her hocks and waves her front legs around, alternating that with doing an impression of those kiddies toy horses held by springs onto a frame as she sits down with her front legs up, then springs off her hind legs onto the fronts - repeatedly.


Arrrgggghhh!!!!!!

Sorry for you and empathise but have no useful advice I'm afraid. Hopefully she has done no further damage, 10 weeks healing will have made a big difference to the stability.
 
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