ligament injury

[Paint it Lucky]

I read somewhere that suspensory ligament injuries never heal as well as they should, ie. not as elastic (I think) which worries me as my horse is currently recovering from one. ANyone had any experience of this? He is a dressage/allrounder, will he be alright to return to normal work once he's rested and then been refittened fully?

 

[MrsMozart]

Different horses respond differently and recover differently. Some go back to a normal life, others are okay at most things, some don't return to anything other than being a light hack.

 

[hattie2525]

It is true that ligaments dont heal as well as they were before. This is due to the elastic properties of the ligament being lost at the injury site and the join of new ligament fibers and old ones being a permanet weak spot. Although horses can and do return to elite eventing after suspensory damage the re-injury rare is high.
As long as you are carefull about warming up, ground conditions and not over exerting in sure your horse can return to dressage and lower level jumping with no problems at all! Just give him as much time as you can to recover, ideally 18 months. Then just see how it goes. Be ready to make sacfrifices. My 18 year old boy recovered very well from a check ligament 3 years ago but has now bust his superficial digital and is undergoing stem cell treatment. I have already decided that i will never jump him competatively again, i would rather dressage/hack and show him for another 10 years that win one jumping class and him then re injur and hae to be pts. Good luck!!!

 

[paulineh]

one of my endurance horses did her suspensory at the age of 10 had 9 months off and has come back to competeing and win Endurance race Rides.

Another mare has done both check ligaments had 18 months off (only because she was in foal) she too has come back to compete in Endurance.

Both horses also compete in X country with no ill effect