Medial Collateral Ligament Injury

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lucy1984

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On April 6th I began to lunge my horse and noticed her head nodding in trot. Called out of hours vet out and he intially thought she had done her suspensory in the field. Anyway I box rested her for a week and then let her out in small areas to graze...

She looked as though she had come sound during the next two weeks but then all of a sudden one evening she was hopping lame. Decided to take her to the practice and she had x rays and scans. Medial Collateral Ligament Injury was diagnosed. It was only a slight strain though as they took ages to find it and even then they had to compare it to the good leg....phew...

So anyway the vet recommended box rest for two months and 6 weeks gentle rehabilitation exercise. I am 2 weeks away from finishing the box rest.

I was wondering what to do for the following 6 weeks. She is 4 years old, she was broken at 3, turned away and then I was bringing her back into work before this happened. I dont feel too happy about riding her just yet as she is still green and full of beans at the minute with being in. I can walk her in hand, what for how long? Will she be ok turned out into small paddocks for these 6 weeks and seeing how she goes before letting her back in the big field again?

Has anyone else had a simular experience? Also do you think I should have her rescanned at some point to see if it has finally 'fixed'? Will the insurance cover more scans? Even though it was just a strain do you think I should leave her until next year now?
 
First of all if you do a search on here you will find lots of news good and bad on collateral ligament damage.

It has a guarded outcome but she is young and you caught it early so that should help.

Treatments include lots of things including shockwave (not great as it is hard to reach into the hoof capsule), steroid injections, IRAP and various medications. However, the most important thing is foot balance and either very careful unshod rehab or very careful remedial farriery (lots of discussions on which to follow on here) with supervision from your vet. Recovery is usually long and slow and rest, or at least working in straight lines and using good surfaces is very important. An experienced equine lameness specialist is essential and one of the experts in the field is Sue Dyson at AHT in Newmarket.

I cannot, sadly, give you any good outcomes having had 2 youngsters with this over the years but others on here have had more luck.

Best wishes x
 
omg, i didnt realise it was such a serious injury. There is no level ground where I am to be honest. Her leg looks like normal now, no heat, no lameness, just a slight thickening but the farrier said it should disappear when she is out moving about more. She is unshod and my plan was to keep her unshod.

I have had nothing but bad luck so far with horses I only bought her as my tb had suspensory ligament damage and never came right, and now she is buggared too,and the outlook appears poor too.
 
i know how u feel. i bought my youngster because my old boy did his suspensory then his annular ligaments and now my new one has done his cruciate ligament and the prognosis is awful - he will never return to jumping even if he comes sound enough for dressage.

i would get your mare rescanned after your 6wks box rest and take it from there. recovery is slow for ligaments - you're looking at mths and mths.

i have just done the 6wks box rest with my boy, turned him out in a tiny paddock on fri and sat he came in lame on the other hindleg with a swollen hock - i just cant win!
 
Don't give up just yet - there are people on here who have had success so all is not lost yet! I do know how you feel we had one who did well eventing and then had to be pts following rupture of the medial collateral in his right fore. We then bought another TB who did his suspensory lt hind at 4 then his collaterals were both sprained in his fores at 8. In between he had various back, suspensory, and other problems followed by viruses and colic! We retired him at 11 and he has been paddock sound for a year but now looks rough and is on 2 bute a day in the field and will probably not see this winter - though he looks fab and is happy on the bute for now....

Good luck and do lots of research and make sure you have top notch support from vets and farriers who know the injury and know what they are doing.
 
hi. My big warmblood has medial collateral ligament damage to his left fore, he sustained this injury 2 years ago, he is now sound 99% of the time, if he does too much he will go ever so slightly lame. ted is only used for hacking now, he was bred to event but career got cut short, Ted is only 7 years old now he was 5 when it happened. He most probably wont ever jump again or do a lot of schooling but is happy hacking around. he lives out and has shoes on, he is fed on - happy hoof, flexi-joints, tribute and a bute if he needs one....hope this helps you. xx
 
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