Medial Suspensory Ligament Damage.

[SerenNos.]

Hi,
My 14 year old Welsh D has just been diagnosed with 30% Medial Suspensory Ligament Damage.
The vet has explained what it is and is coming back in a couple weeks for more scans etc.
Normally, she would be doing between 15-20 miles on a hack, nothing done at a stupid pace on hard ground. I recently bought a trailer and wanted to take her out this year doing jumping and funrides, etc as she adores jumping.

I was wondering if anyone knew anymore information on this, such as how long on average must they be out of work for? Any ideas on if I will be able to ride her again, or what I will/wont be able to do with her?

Thank you in advance!

 

[AandK]

Sorry to hear about your mare.. I have copied this from another thread I posted in recently to save me typing it all out again!

My horse injured the medial branch of his left hind suspensory back in 2008 as an 11yo, he was eventing at PN level at the time. Vet advised it was a chronic (e.g. repetitive strain) injury rather than an acute accident type, also showing some calcification on the scan. I believe too much work on a surface (and it was a v good one!) coupled with him needing to wear wedge pads behind at the time, were the cause of the injury. He was box rested for 5 months in total, month 1 was 10mins walking daily, month 2 20mins walking, month 3 30mins walking, month 4 added short trot, month 5 40mins walking and 5 mins trot. He also had a course of Adequan injections and a course of shockwave treatment to the area in the first month after diagnosis. At this point I found grass livery for him and turned him away for 3 months. After the 3 months, I got back on him and spent the next 4 months very slowly bringing him back into work. He did his first ODE 14 months after the injury was diagnosed.
I totally changed how I managed him and I believe this has helped him carry on working for the last 7yrs with no further issues, he is 18yo now and since the injury has evented, team chased and drag hunted, and is still eventing/jumping! He lives out 24/7/365 and has done since I turned him away, no wedges behind (a period shoeless whilst recovering from the injury cured the need for them) and I try to limit school sessions to 3x a week max. Much more hacking now. Time, time and more time is absolutely the best remedy for tendon/ligament issues.