medial collateral ligament damage

I assume this is a front foot? I am sorry to say we lost one to this injury some years ago but things have progressed. Have had another since who returned to hack for a while...
Have a search on here - lots of posts on these problems.
It is a case of rest, foot balance, remedial shoeing or barefoot rehab, IRAP, shockwave and/or steroid injections. These things along with very careful rehab show some results but everyone has their own ideas. Personally I would look at Sue Dyson at the AHT. she is an expert in this.

What I can say is it is a bit of a lottery and you need a fab vet and farrier.
Good luck.
 
misst said:
I assume this is a front foot? I am sorry to say we lost one to this injury some years ago but things have progressed. Have had another since who returned to hack for a while...
Have a search on here - lots of posts on these problems.
It is a case of rest, foot balance, remedial shoeing or barefoot rehab, IRAP, shockwave and/or steroid injections. These things along with very careful rehab show some results but everyone has their own ideas. Personally I would look at Sue Dyson at the AHT. she is an expert in this.

What I can say is it is a bit of a lottery and you need a fab vet and farrier.
Good luck.
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Good advice- we have tried cartrophen,adequan,steroids, IRAP, Arthroscopy operation,special shoes and the last 2 years barefoot. He is still lame :( As long as he remains a cheerful field ornament then i am happy to continue otherwise neurectomy or PTS are the only remaining options
 
I class myself an expert on this now [im not] my horse had this after a year the vets telling me he had navicular iv had the tears and even booked to have him put down van and everything on the day my vet said try irap i had tryed everything else shoes paddock rest nearly a year on and of box rest more tears well after three irap injections still four out of five lame fourth injections looked better five soundish but two weeks after all injections stop did my first trot and he was sound even more tears joy this time and touch wood still sound dont give up you may be lucky may come good but a hard slog ahead good luck and i really mean that
 
My horse has a lateral collateral strain in his near fore. He's been on boxrest for 10 months, he had 4 months initally went into field for a few days and did it again! after all my careful rehab work! so back in box for six months with IRAP and controlled exercise, so far so good and he is sound and we are hacking 2 hours a day with some trotting up hills only and he's still sound, but he's not sane he's now fairly fit and he chucked me off on the road yesterday, my friend managed to catch him before he charged off. He will have to go into a restricted paddock very soon, as he's had enough now of being in and I don't blame him. So when he goes out if he stays sound then it will be great if he goes lame then i seriously have to think about what to do, i am not going to put him through 6 months of box rest again he's only 8 and it's no life for him, So it's a hard slog and each horse is different and each outcome is different,fingers crossed for you.xxxxxxxxx
 
thanks all, I have only just taken him on as a hack. he is a 7yr old beautiful chestnut hanoverian who was bred to do showjumping, but unfortunately his career was cut short 2 years ago when he had MRI scan in leahurst and was diagnosed with this. the owner had a loss of use on him as she payed over 10grand for him to event. he had IRAP, tildren and various other treatments, he is now intermittently lame. does this injury ever heal like for instance a tendon injury? as he had this injury 2 years ago is it ok to hack him when he is sound or should he be on boxrest when he goes lame etc, whats the management side of things? alsdo is there any feed supplements that may help also bute? thanks all. xxxJess xx
 
After two years i would say its best you are gonna get him be grateful for the days he not lame i wouldnt bother box resting him when lame but a couple of bute maybe but still not ride on his lame day i use vetrofen supplement and have used recovery eq just watch the ground not hard no ruts and no deep going thats the best i can offer sorry theres no real good new
 
Our lad with it is paddock sound but "breaks" when ridden. The extra weight of a rider especially on turns is just too much for him. I would suggest you speak to the vet as if he keeps going lame he is probably not really fit to be ridden. Ours cannot even cope with hacking in straight lines on good ground but is pretty much ok most of the time if he is turned away. So we have a handsome paddock ornament:p
 
to be honest if he was lame all the time then Id sooner have him put down as I couldnt afford to keep a horse that wasnt ridden. at the moment he has good days and bad days, but what he has done he has been out in the field and tweaked it messing around with the others in the field as they are all very playful. x
 
Ours is the same he hoons around happily and makes himself worse and has "lame" days but does not seem bothered. It just got to the point where my daughter would get on and the first thing I would say is "how does he feel" and she would ask "how does he look". We expected him to be lame more than sound and it is disheartening to keep having to stop and start. He was a lousey hack as he was bought to event and was still young - he is only 11 now. He was not a horse to work through discomfort - he rodeod if it hurt which was also not much fun for anyone. Since retirement he has remained pretty much sound and has gained weight and become much calmer so for us it was definitely the right decision even though it was so hard and my daughter has no riding horse.:(
 
That sounds familiar. Mine was diagnosed about 18 months ago with mild strain to the DSIL, DDFT and Collateral Ligament. After having been stable and OK to hack and do light schooling for 6 months, after christmas he took a turn for the worse and was hooning round in the field and coming in on 3 legs. Virtually non weight bearing.
He's a horse that hates being in and I wasn't prepared to keep him in for 23 hours so I could ride him for 1.

At the start of Feb as a last resort I sent him down to Exmoor to a research project that seemed to be having good results rehabbing barefoot. And miracle it seem to be working.

He 's still there and I'm hoping to get him back about the end of this month.

The combination of diet and controlled exercise (He hacked 8 miles the other day) over the right surfaces is completely changing his feet, cue gratuitous link to a mention on the blog and shot of his foot.

http://rockleyfarm.blogspot.com/2010/04/geneticsreally.html


Why I think it's working for him is that for all the treatments, supplements etc, all they really do is try to promote healing of the strained tissues; what nothing seemed to help was his poor foot balance and toe first landing which put constant pressure on those tissues. So I could box rest him and he would come sound but because in his case the underlying cause wasn't fixed, he would relapse.

Before all this my vet advised he would have good days and bad days and to give him a little bute on the bad days and ride on the good.
 
Thank goodness you posted this Criso, I was wondering if anyone was having successful progress barefoot. Glad to hear your horse's health is improving, bet you can't wait!
 
Yes i agree barefoot my horse cannot wear shoes anymore they cripple him im lucky excellent feet even though my vet fought my decision best thing i ever done
 
I just wish barefoot REALLY was the magic cure- i have had Jacob barefoot- properly trimmed every 4 weeks and he stands with his feet as a pair- not pointing the bad one BUT is NOT any sounder :( I believe barefoot is definately the way forwards with navicular but when its coffin joints, its nowhere near as effective.

ETA anyone wishing to post or PM me about why dont i give up and shoot Jacob now- Please dont bother.
 
Sorry if you already know this but...the trim is only a small percentage of successful barefoot health - do you use a qualified and insured barefoot trimmer? Whoever you use will want to know the vet's diagnosis, and must advise and discuss your horse's diet, environment and exercise dependent on your horse's health which will change as the seasons and level of work changes, as well as carrying out the trim, and if you follow everything they advise and things don't improve then maybe it's time to change to another hoof care professional? Harsh but true.
 
Darkly_Dreaming_Dex said:
I just wish barefoot REALLY was the magic cure- i have had Jacob barefoot- properly trimmed every 4 weeks and he stands with his feet as a pair- not pointing the bad one BUT is NOT any sounder :( I believe barefoot is definately the way forwards with navicular but when its coffin joints, its nowhere near as effective.

ETA anyone wishing to post or PM me about why dont i give up and shoot Jacob now- Please dont bother.
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I really feel for you. Barefoot is certainly not a magic cure but I still believe it is the best thing for all horses. As he is now standing without pointing a toe he would seem to be more comfortable than he was before, so that, at least, is something positive. However as it is a joint involved then there is always the possibility that the joint has degenerated too far for it to recover. Barefoot can't cure things like arthritis but it can make those suffering more comfortable. Barefoot simply gives the body the best chance it can to repair itself i.e. we let nature do it's thing without human interference, let the body function as it evolved to do... humans like to think we can do better than nature but we're merely a tiny blip in the history of evolution of the natural world and the more we interefer and try to fix things, improve on nature etc etc the more damage we tend to do.
 
mrdarcy said:
I really feel for you. Barefoot is certainly not a magic cure but I still believe it is the best thing for all horses. As he is now standing without pointing a toe he would seem to be more comfortable than he was before, so that, at least, is something positive. However as it is a joint involved then there is always the possibility that the joint has degenerated too far for it to recover. Barefoot can't cure things like arthritis but it can make those suffering more comfortable. Barefoot simply gives the body the best chance it can to repair itself i.e. we let nature do it's thing without human interference, let the body function as it evolved to do... humans like to think we can do better than nature but we're merely a tiny blip in the history of evolution of the natural world and the more we interefer and try to fix things, improve on nature etc etc the more damage we tend to do.
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Thankyou- i agree with your points, especially re the state of the joint. When he had arthroscopy on the joint, he had extensive cartilage damage between P2 and P3. The surgical vet did the best they could to tidy it and thought there was an excellent chance of recovery..especially as we still had 2 syringes of IRAP for post-op care.My vet has literally spent hours on the phone/internet- even sending Jacob's details to experts in USA and South Africa- all at no charge to us BTW..

My farrier has 3 apprentices (at various stages of qualification), all of whom have done research etc on Jacobs feet. Everytime they come, we pour over the latest xrays, even thermographic and MRI scans. My farrier is the one who actually persuaded me to try barefoot. He has been for barefoot trimming instruction as its something he is absolutely fascinated in. He also does all the imprint range and even showed me some of the new "rocker" style shoes that are supposed to reduce the lateral shear on collateral ligaments BUT he still thinks barefoot is the way forwards. My friend in the next field has the barefoot trimmer and i am not at all happy with how her horses feet look- or how it moves..

I will however put my hands up and confess that i havent tried the holy grail of Rockley Farm rehab- sorry. My husband broke his back last year and cannot bear to be parted from his horse for the 6 months they would need him for. That doesnt make either of us cr*p horse owners

*awaits slap from admin for rude word*
 
Darkly_Dreaming_Dex said:
Thankyou- i agree with your points, especially re the state of the joint. When he had arthroscopy on the joint, he had extensive cartilage damage between P2 and P3. The surgical vet did the best they could to tidy it and thought there was an excellent chance of recovery..especially as we still had 2 syringes of IRAP for post-op care.My vet has literally spent hours on the phone/internet- even sending Jacob's details to experts in USA and South Africa- all at no charge to us BTW..

My farrier has 3 apprentices (at various stages of qualification), all of whom have done research etc on Jacobs feet. Everytime they come, we pour over the latest xrays, even thermographic and MRI scans. My farrier is the one who actually persuaded me to try barefoot. He has been for barefoot trimming instruction as its something he is absolutely fascinated in. He also does all the imprint range and even showed me some of the new "rocker" style shoes that are supposed to reduce the lateral shear on collateral ligaments BUT he still thinks barefoot is the way forwards. My friend in the next field has the barefoot trimmer and i am not at all happy with how her horses feet look- or how it moves..

I will however put my hands up and confess that i havent tried the holy grail of Rockley Farm rehab- sorry. My husband broke his back last year and cannot bear to be parted from his horse for the 6 months they would need him for. That doesnt make either of us cr*p horse owners

*awaits slap from admin for rude word*
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It sounds like you have a great team around you - and that's the most important thing. Your farrier sounds like a great bloke - do you know which barefoot trimming course he went on? Just being nosy really - I wish all farriers would be so open minded. Hate the thought of rocker shoes though - the term remedial farriery always makes me cringe... if there were no shoes to start with there would be no need to have to fix things with remedial farriery! Talk about creating a lucrative business out of doing a bad job to start with. Not including your farrier in that bunch though as he's recognised which way works best.

I don't think Rockley Farm is the Holy Grail any more than barefoot is a magic cure - there isn't anything they do at Rockley that can't be done at home with the help of a trimmer or farrier who knows what they're talking about. The advantage that Rockley has is the Paddock Paradise system - the fact that a horse can be in an environment best suited to strengthening the feet 24/7 - all this means is that results can happen quicker (though not necessarily) than having to make do with the facilities most of us have at our homes or livery yards.

Good luck with your boy - I hope he shows some improvement but he's obviously much loved and lucky to have you and your OH.
 
hi my horse injured his medial in one front foot and the lateral in the other , this is our 4th year after injury and we had a sucessful show season last year and its going good this year. showing and dressage this sunday and he went like a dream today, i consider myself very lucky. if you want to p.m. on the rehab process i will willing share my experiances. the rehab is very important. good luck, be careful with your horse that you don't do anything too soon x
 
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