Julia0803
Well-Known Member
Bit of a self pitying post really…
Some of you may remember that my lovely cob tore his straight sesamoidian ligament in August/September 2020 (the same injury as Boggle). We had a really rough time. He was prescribed 12w boxrest with twice daily walking, first in hand then once ridden and once inhand. All went well till that point so we were told to introduce small bursts of trot building up over 12w, and he could have an hour out in a small paddock, so long as he stayed calm, no running about.
Unfortunately he went lame again just at the end of the trot work… he’d reinjured himself. Back to 12w of boxrest and the walk program as before. By week 10 he was really struggling mentally, resulting in dangerous behaviour (absolutely NOT like him).
The vet came back as I said we can’t go on like this. Unfortunately he was still responsive to pressure on the area and 1/10 lame. We agreed to turn him him away for 3 months with daily turn out in the herd as being alone was (I think) contributing to his stress. After the three months, he was still very slightly short on it but vet said start walking him as you don’t want the ligament to shorten through lack of use.
We did 12w walking again, building up to 1.5hrs every day. At his next vet review he was sound and we were told to start trot work and build up to 15min of trot per day over 12w with as much walking as you like/can do. Due to winter that took longer but at the end of April the vet came out and finally signed him off- completely sound and no longer any reaction when the area was pinched/prodded. We were told to start cantering and finally go and have some fun after a really tough 20 months…
We were aiming to do some pleasure rides etc this summer and generally seize the moment and get out and about. We did our first local pleasure ride in may. He was an absolute star and I could have burst with happiness. The recovery had been so long and so bleak that for a lot of it I was very doubtful he’d come right.
A week later, on the 16th, he came in lame with a cut to the hock from (what looked like) a kick. Vet came out and stapled it, danilon and antibiotics and he should be right in a few days…. except he wasn’t…. So the vet came back on the 24th and said there was a ‘suspicious’ line on the X-ray. But it wasn’t quite in the right/expected place so probably not sinister but to play safe, boxrest him and re X-ray in 2.5weeks…
On Friday he was xrayed again… except now you can see another faint line at 90 degrees to the original ‘suspicious’ one, starting straight under the original cut (So an upside down L shape).
Apparently it is a non displaced hairline fracture. I’m absolutely devastated. He has to do another 4.5 weeks of boxrest and the vet will come back in mid July to X-ray again.
He is struggling with the boxrest. I think, having done so much of it over the past two years he’s got no patience for it at all- understandably! He’s very cross and making his feelings known.
I was just wondering if anyone has experienced a similar fracture and could tell me how things went for them?
The only positive seems to be the vet’s optimistic prognosis, that it should heal well and then not cause any further issue. Unlike the soft tissues, once bone has healed it isn’t inherently weaker etc and shouldn’t limit him at all.
Thank you for reading my long whinging post!
Some of you may remember that my lovely cob tore his straight sesamoidian ligament in August/September 2020 (the same injury as Boggle). We had a really rough time. He was prescribed 12w boxrest with twice daily walking, first in hand then once ridden and once inhand. All went well till that point so we were told to introduce small bursts of trot building up over 12w, and he could have an hour out in a small paddock, so long as he stayed calm, no running about.
Unfortunately he went lame again just at the end of the trot work… he’d reinjured himself. Back to 12w of boxrest and the walk program as before. By week 10 he was really struggling mentally, resulting in dangerous behaviour (absolutely NOT like him).
The vet came back as I said we can’t go on like this. Unfortunately he was still responsive to pressure on the area and 1/10 lame. We agreed to turn him him away for 3 months with daily turn out in the herd as being alone was (I think) contributing to his stress. After the three months, he was still very slightly short on it but vet said start walking him as you don’t want the ligament to shorten through lack of use.
We did 12w walking again, building up to 1.5hrs every day. At his next vet review he was sound and we were told to start trot work and build up to 15min of trot per day over 12w with as much walking as you like/can do. Due to winter that took longer but at the end of April the vet came out and finally signed him off- completely sound and no longer any reaction when the area was pinched/prodded. We were told to start cantering and finally go and have some fun after a really tough 20 months…
We were aiming to do some pleasure rides etc this summer and generally seize the moment and get out and about. We did our first local pleasure ride in may. He was an absolute star and I could have burst with happiness. The recovery had been so long and so bleak that for a lot of it I was very doubtful he’d come right.
A week later, on the 16th, he came in lame with a cut to the hock from (what looked like) a kick. Vet came out and stapled it, danilon and antibiotics and he should be right in a few days…. except he wasn’t…. So the vet came back on the 24th and said there was a ‘suspicious’ line on the X-ray. But it wasn’t quite in the right/expected place so probably not sinister but to play safe, boxrest him and re X-ray in 2.5weeks…
On Friday he was xrayed again… except now you can see another faint line at 90 degrees to the original ‘suspicious’ one, starting straight under the original cut (So an upside down L shape).
Apparently it is a non displaced hairline fracture. I’m absolutely devastated. He has to do another 4.5 weeks of boxrest and the vet will come back in mid July to X-ray again.
He is struggling with the boxrest. I think, having done so much of it over the past two years he’s got no patience for it at all- understandably! He’s very cross and making his feelings known.
I was just wondering if anyone has experienced a similar fracture and could tell me how things went for them?
The only positive seems to be the vet’s optimistic prognosis, that it should heal well and then not cause any further issue. Unlike the soft tissues, once bone has healed it isn’t inherently weaker etc and shouldn’t limit him at all.
Thank you for reading my long whinging post!
)
