My sympathies with those with tendon/leg injuries

[Shantor1]

My boy is lame on his near-hind. Vet coming Tues but I've kept him in. There is some heat around the inside of his cannon bone, just below the hock, in the region of the DDF tendon (I think ?!). I found a small hard lump in the area of the tendon that when you palpate causes him to nearly shoot out of his skin. Hock is slightly warm.

I ve confined him to his stable as he is quite lame especially on the turns. Prior to this he fell over in the field twice, my physio found lesions in hindquarter muscles and inside near hind. He has been swinging his hindleg in an obscure angle and twice this week he's been lame after working in canter and trot in large and small circles.

I've asked the vet for a full lameness work up as I want to get to the bottom of it, maybe tweaked a muscle and thus a tendon or a ligament but I thought there would be obvious swelling.

Oh the joys of keeping large horses!

 

[cellie]

Youve got my sympathy we have done ligament tendon bruised cannon bone overreach injury and now hock spavin hes only 6 .All of this in 16months.The vets suggestion is to write a book on dealing with injuries.
You should have swelling with tendon or ligament your doing the right thing keeping him in but you should cold hose twice a day this really helps both injuries.Cold hosing at this time makes a huge difference to the recovery period.Sounds like his ddf tendon but his other problem could be arthritis or bone spavin.I would see the vet asap poor boy hope he is ok

 

[janetbebs]

Hi, when my mare did her tendon I was told the first few days are vital! use lots of cold water, in fact she stood with her leg in a bucket while I trickled water down the leg for 10 mins while she was eating her feeds. I also found that magnetic boots helped as they increase the blood supply to the injured area. Hope all turns out ok for you and i would insist on an x-ray to make sure the diagnosis is correct..............been there got the T shirt if you know what I mean.

 

[cellie]

I agree with the magnetic boots but correct me if im wrong I think you use them after the swelling has gone done and not while there is still heat in the leg.Be best to check .

 

[Shantor1]

OMG Cellie your poor boy, you've had more than your fill. Hope he's OK.

I kept mine in yesterday because of the foul weather but today he came out the stable a lot better but points his foot on the turn. Seeing him in the daylight today, I've established there is no swelling around the tendons but his hock is warm. He is noticeably lame when turning on tight circles so could be his hock or stifle, esp as he's fallen over in the field several times this year due to pratting about.

He was in regular work until early Dec then with my flu, the weather, Xmas etc he had 3 weeks off. I don't hack him out as he is spooky and we're right on a main road, 18 months ago we collided with a car. Although I always warm him up and cool down, I think riding him in the arena is not doing him in any good, he is 18 hh and needs a good schooling session to settle him i.e. lots of trot and cantering in circles, serpentines etc. Been chatting to my friend and we think we'll have to box him up to another friends yard where I can hack him around the quieter lanes and give him plenty of hill work. When I resumed riding him last week, I loose schooled him first, no problem but the next day after I rode him, he came in hobbling.

Is anyone else restricted to riding in schools and fields due to poor hacking? If so, what work programme do you do? Just interested, may help me to reassess his work management.

 

[RachelB]

The first few days are certainly the most vital. I rode my horse after her tendon injury (not knowing) and have regretted it ever since. My mare tore her DDFT right don in her foot in Feb last year, and is on field rest until this April. I hope your horse turns out to be ok!

 

[native]

I hope he is OK? As others have said hosing is best with some pressure, but if he doesn't like it, ice is the next best thing.

We're 14 months down the line with a grade 4 core lesion to the DDFT. My 3 year old injured herself in the field and we still don't know how she did so much damage. My vet did stem cell treatment on her which saved her life as without it she would have had to be PTS she was so bad. She's still slightly lame and the vet said it can take 2 years for tendons to recover as much as they're going to. Don't think we'll be able to do anything with her, but she does look pretty in the field