Ligament damage - feed supplements?

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stencilface

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My horse has damaged his suspensory ligament and the vet has told me it is a chronic as opposed to an acute injury. He is being treated with shockwave therapy, box rest/restricted turnout and I have just bought him some magnetic boots (magnetic rug is in the post!).

Essentially I am looking for anything, however alternative that might aid his recovery. I have heard of people feeding ruta grav for ligament/tendon damage and wondered if anyone had any experience of feeding anything like this?

I know its not strictly CR, but you lot are an awfully knowledgeable lot, and its busier in here than in vets! :)

Pink panther wafer biscuits to anyone reading :)
 
Hi there- my boy had ligament injury over the pelvic area and got good advice from Riaflex - friend recommended as she uses them and her horse was diagnosed with arthritic hocks 3 years ago and now has clean bill of health- does question the initial diagnosis I know but - they gave me good advice about what the different types of ingredients do and how they can work together - MSM, devils alternative, Glucosamin etc

thanks - sorry may not be much help
 
Thanks, I hadn't found that website with my previous googling - will contact them and ask them about their stuff.

They don't seem to have any ruta grav (well, not mentioned on website anyway) so will ask about that too.

Thanks, v helpful :)
 
Hi, my boy has damaged his suspensory ligament, but have gone for the rest option, vet thinks it may have been acute, although trainer and i not convinced!
I was advised by someone on here to feed nucleotides. :)

ETA fingers crossed for your boy :D
 
I am resting him - although starting 15mins walking ridden tomorrow, which will be good as I think he is starting to go a little crazy! :eek:

I am doing everything the vet has said, but just thought if there was anything I could feed that might be lacking from his diet, or needing bumping up to help him repair then it would be worth a shot. Hope yours is doing well, and isn't getting cabin fever :)
 
My lad had the same injury 3yrs ago. He had a course of shockwave, a course of Adequan and 4 months controlled exercise (10 mins a day for 1st month, 20 mins a day for 2nd month etc) his injury started of as chronic (1/10th lame in a circle)but was made acute by pratting about in the field whilst awaiting visit to vets to diagnose - then 3/10ths lame! He also had sinoquin (sp?) as prescribed by the vets, it's a good strength joint supplement.
Once he'd done his walking and started trotting, then built up to going out, I chucked him in a massive field for 4 months before slowly bringing him back into work. He's now doing everything he did before the injury! Although I manage him differently, less schooling on a surface, more hacking and schooling on grass where poss. And he now lives out all year round.

Good luck with your boy :)
 
AandK - how did yours cope with the confinement? Mine is in at night, and turned out in a small (2x size of a stable) paddock in the day. Think it is starting to make him a bit mad, but hopefully as I can now introduce exercise he might start to mellow (except that now of course we're coming into winter, I work and have no facilties for riding in the dark!).

The vets haven't said anything about supplements (did ask them today) so might ask about sinoquin next time I see them (in just over a week) :)
 
I'm very fortunate that Andy is a saint on box rest! Was also lucky to be on a yard that had a horse walker, which came in very handy at this time of year as the evenings draw in. Although Andy did have the odd buck and squeal on the walker! I did all my walking under saddle (aside from the walker) as we both enjoyed it more.
As the vets prescribed the sinoquin, the insurance paid for it so I kept him on that for the year until the claim ran out.
 
Stencilface said:
I am resting him - although starting 15mins walking ridden tomorrow, which will be good as I think he is starting to go a little crazy! :eek:

I am doing everything the vet has said, but just thought if there was anything I could feed that might be lacking from his diet, or needing bumping up to help him repair then it would be worth a shot. Hope yours is doing well, and isn't getting cabin fever :)
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My boy is just turned out 24/7 as vet seemed to think that would be best option, it'll be 6 months in october, and we are re-scanning then to see what improvements we have, but I think we'll be looking at at least another 6 months :(
Vet advised against sending him to mainland UK for any treatment, as we live on an Island, hence why we've just turned out.
I'm totally gutted, and have bought myself a 3yr old to have a bit of chilled fun with, as not sure about his prognosis :( But fingers crossed we'll be back into light work next spring!
I haven't seen the results of nucleotides/msm yet, but am hoping to, anythings worth a shot!! :D Good luck!!!!
 
Ok so i haven't tried it but global herbs do a tendoneaze not sure if it would fit the bill, they might have other productsd they can reccomend. But i have used or seen used diareeze, sarcx, move free and rigcalm and all do what it says on the tin (or seem to) worth a call maybe?
One thing i would say is they may reccomend several products and it would not be possible to feed due to the amount of powder. Hope he heals well
 
Why are horses so rubbish and get broken eh?

Are you on the IOM Scarlett?

Mine has been turned out 24/7 and lame (1/10 - 5/10s) since April - so the same time as yours I think Scarlett? My vet (not the specialist one I am now going to for all the treatments) said that full turnout shouldn't hurt, and in all honesty, it hasn't got any worse in that time - I think the time when he was lamer were when he had been messing around in the field. :rolleyes: People have been very guarded about prognosis for mine, but I am really hoping he comes fully sound again, I would just hack if I had too, but would be pretty gutting :(

Think I might end up 'working from home' a bit this winter to fit in the walking. Hopefully my boss won't mind!
 
Thanks Milo - I will have a look at them too, too many powders wouldn't work - he is on a handful of food really just to keep him happy at feedtimes so not much to mix into, daren't give him anymore! :)
 
Stencilface said:
Why are horses so rubbish and get broken eh?

Are you on the IOM Scarlett?

Mine has been turned out 24/7 and lame (1/10 - 5/10s) since April - so the same time as yours I think Scarlett? My vet (not the specialist one I am now going to for all the treatments) said that full turnout shouldn't hurt, and in all honesty, it hasn't got any worse in that time - I think the time when he was lamer were when he had been messing around in the field. :rolleyes: People have been very guarded about prognosis for mine, but I am really hoping he comes fully sound again, I would just hack if I had too, but would be pretty gutting :(

Think I might end up 'working from home' a bit this winter to fit in the walking. Hopefully my boss won't mind!
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Yep I'm in the IOM. yer that sounds pretty similar, Pee started in April too! I would just hack too, just keep looking at the big fat thing in the field and wishing I could get on him again, even though the baby is far far easier to ride!! Lol
Fingers really crossed for you keep us updated! :-) x
Nice if you can work from home! Make the most of it!!
 
Definitely seems to be a common injury! Fingers crossed for everyone :)

Have also realised that the Top Spec joint supplement we feed my sisters horse has the Glucosamine and MSM in it - so might have to give them a ring today too to find out more/dosage etc. :)
 
I'm also going thru this with my mare. She had only been backed for 3 months when she was diagnosed. She was never really lame, but was unwilling to go forward under saddle, napped etc. She was treated for ulcers at first as she showed symptoms but this didn't make any difference so she went in for a full lameness work up where she blocked sound to bilateral hind suspensories.

Her damage is chronic. The vet thinks she could have had it since being prepared for her mare test in Germany as a 3yr old. She's now 7 and has bred 2 foals. We tried the box rest with 3 x shockwave treatments plus steroid injections and although she showed improvement in mer way of moving, the scan did not change. The vet thinks that because the damage was old, the ligaments have already healed thickened and scarred which means the shockwave probably reduced the most recent inflammation but will not help the old damage.

So, yesterday she had neurectomy and fasciotomy with PRP, (see my other thread), and will hopefully be home at the end of the week. The vets are hopeful she'll recover as the treatment can have up to an 80% success rate depending on whether any other factors are involved. I have started all mine on Nupafeed Flex GLM which has so far made an amazing difference to my 17 yr old mare who has spavin. She's acting like a 3yr old.

For anyone who is interested, there is a PSD discussion group on facebook. Lots of people sharing their stories and experiences. xx
 
I am hoping that the damage, although chronic, may not have been for an unduly extended period before we caught it. Vet hasn't mentioned steroid injections so I might ask about those too.

I will have a look at the Nupafeed supplement too - thanks. I will also check out that facebook group, although not sure if it might depress me or not! :)
 
I have also been through this with my horse, we did the shockwave and rest and I researched supplements and used comfrey, boswelia and MSM, also used magnetic boots and tried Sportmax sachets when bringing him back into work. Unfortunatley after about 3 months under saddle he became lame again and has now had a neurectomy and fasciotomy. That was 9 weeks ago and we are now bringing him back into work slowly and fingers crossed he feels OK, I'm now just using Riaflex supplement and micronised linseed.
 
Thanks Lynsey - I will be looking at all the joint supplements mentioned now and will see which I think is best. Hope your boy stays sound this time :)
 
Thanks - another one to ring (who knew there were that many companies that did supplements!), one day I'll make a final decision, it'll be like x factor for supplements :D
 
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